Archive for dramatic winter plants – Page 3

Swim Spa Low Maintenance Landscape Design

Posted by Carol

· January 25, 2017

Landscaping The Swim Spa That Took Over The Backyard

Swim spa in small backyard required low maintenance privacy landscaping.

Rachael and her family like to swim even in December when this photo was taken with the blooming Camellia Sasanqua ‘Yuletide’.

Rachael and her family like to swim. They have twin toddlers who have been swimming since they were three months old. Seeing them playing like baby otters is adorable, even cuter than puppies which is saying something!

Existing Conditions

Prior to the swim spa their backyard was a pleasant place with a tiny lawn, a covered patio, and some easy-care plantings. They also had a beloved gorgeous 36-inch diameter trunk California myrtle tree that shaded half the yard. The new swim spa dominated the back yard and the mud from the construction process made it a poor place for toddlers to play. This new situation was beyond heading to the plant nursery to select a few new plants. They needed a designer to re-design the backyard, create solutions for privacy and manipulate the space to maximize every inch.

Landscape Design in a Day

Rachael and I talked on the phone and we were a great fit. We scheduled a Landscape Design in a Day, my collaborative design process, and they started preparing their base drawing and working through my landscape survey questions. I was really looking forward to this one but it was going to be so tricky! We met at their home one cool spring day to create the design together.

Privacy

The new 10′ x 20′ swim spa sits four plus feet above the ground making the swimmers very visible to neighbors. They wanted privacy for themselves and in case their neighbors didn’t really want to watch them swim, for the neighbors too.

Low maintenance screening plants for swim spa backyard.

Camellia Sasanqua ‘Yuletide’ helps screen swim spa.

The privacy issues for small properties with close neighbors is often tricky. On one side of the property it was easy. The California myrtle and a couple of mature rhododendron would solve most of the problems on that side. Three things would need to happen. We needed to stop pruning back the tops of the old rhodies, they would need to be treated each year for lace bug and be irrigated. For the last privacy hole on this side we would fill it with a New Zealand Box Tree. I will prune it myself the first few times, Azara Microphylla to help it fit into the difficult spot that is right next to the gate. It is needed to screen out a neighbor’s window that is on the first floor. It’s important to use a small tree that won’t get too big for this spot and this tree was the perfect solution.

Bamboo Screen

The back-property line was difficult because the swim spa was right next to the fence. We had only a few feet for a privacy planting and it needed to grow to 10 feet tall and very narrow in order to fit. I used my faithful clumping bamboo up in planters. This variety of clumping bamboo, Fargesia Robusta ‘Campbell’, stands straight up so it will not weep over and interfere with the swimming. Most varieties of clumping bamboo have too much weeping and arching shape to them and don’t work well for tiny landscapes. The planters were advantageous for many reasons. 1^st we would not need to dig deep and disturb the root system of the beloved California Myrtle tree. 2^nd we could use an ideal soil mixture in the planters so the bamboo would thrive. They will grow in our local clay top soil but will do much better in a soil mix that drains well. 3^rd by putting them in planters they would be taller from the beginning.

Newly installed landscape around existing hardscape.

We utilized the existing walkway which fit the client’s cottage garden style and her budget.

The privacy for the driveway side was the hardest. We needed to screen out a second story window at the neighbors and had no planting area to do it with. We decided to use an arbor. It fit beautifully and we were all enthusiastic about it. However, when all the numbers came in, the arbor wasn’t a practical choice. When I visited recently to see how things were growing along we talked about a more affordable solution.

Before swim spa low maintenance landscaping was installed.

Before – The new swim spa dominated the back yard.

Two small trees in very large pots placed strategically will be part of a future phase. In a small yard situation like this tiny backyard we can’t afford to leave the driveway to the garage read as a driveway. They didn’t use the small garage for parking a car. Using furniture and pots we made this area a sunny sitting area.

Rachael says

“Hi Carol, Nice to hear from you. Yes we would love for you to come by and take a look. All the Camellia Sasanqua are blooming and they are beautiful! The bamboo is already growing and we love our little backyard oasis. Thank you for referring us to Scott Schultze, Tellurian Gardens. He and his crew did a great job installing the new landscape.”

Categories : Before and Afters, Customer Testimonials, Plants I Recommend

Tags : dramatic winter plants, privacy, privacy screening, small back yard, stamped concrete pathway, swim spa

Entry Presence with Winter Red Foliage for Portland Landcapes

Posted by Carol

· October 20, 2016

‘Sizzling Pink’ Chinese Loropetalum is the focal point plant for a Willamette Heights Landscape Design in a Day client’s entry.

Entry Presence with Winter Red Foliage for Portland Landscapes

Exciting Winter Color Shrub

As a Portland landscape designer I have many clients who want exciting winter color in their landscapes. When new clients fill in their landscape preference survey they often circle the option for burgundy foliage and add little hearts! Sadly most burgundy leafed plants are not cold hardy enough here in the Pacific Northwest to look picture perfect in winter.

My Favorite

My favorite choice for dark red or eggplant purple foliage is called Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum or Red Chinese Loropetalum. Plain Chinese Loropetalum has green foliage and white flowers. I love the Red Chinese Loropetalum. It has amazing thick hot pink fringe flowers in early spring. The spring foliage emerges burgundy red or dark to medium red pink depending on the variety. Other varieties are dark red to an eggplant purple through the year.

Unique plant but tricky to site properly

My NW Portland landscape design clients, Dave and Rhonda loved this plant. It provided a very attractive color echo of their eggplant front door and visually softened the adjacent concrete area. It looked good until January and then for several years the leaves burned and they didn’t grow back in until July!. The love was there but it took too long to recover for an entry focal point plant. Their plant, facing east, got sun from 6 am in the winter until 1 pm. They had good drainage and were careful and consistent with watering. Perversely, I have seen other plants simply glowing with health, facing east, in February in the same exact siting. Can you tell I had a little trouble giving up on that one? I avoid 6 am winter sun for best outcome.

Spring flowers (Photo courtesy of Monrovia)

So why bother with this plant?

It is the wonderful purple red foliage color, the soft arching shape of the branches and the hot colored fringe flowers in spring. Its well worth it if you love purple foliage. If the plant gets cold east wind in winter, the leaves will burn (desiccate) and it may look terrible until May or June. Year round good looks is all about proper siting and a bit of luck.

Proven Winners variety called Loropetalum ‘Jazz Hands’

Two good choices

These two old varieties are still easy to find and are what I’m most familiar with: ‘Sizzling Pink’, which is also called ‘Burgundy’ (cold tolerant to 15 degrees), and ‘Pippa’s Red’ (hardy to 10 degrees). ‘Pippa’s Red’ is not as dark a red leaf as ‘Sizzling Pink’. I’m interested in ‘Hines Purpleleaf’, ‘Zhuzhou Fuchsia’ and ‘Jazz Hands’ but wasn’t able to find them to purchase.

There are many new varieties but most were hybridized (designed) for the southern states and are not tested here in the Pacific NW.

I love to drive around Portland and see them thriving. They saw it, bought it, and just happened to plant it in the right spot!! Whoever they are, they don’t even know its supposed to be a little tricky. I would be willing to try it in colder areas like Gresham but only where it is 100% protected from east wind. Even then, I’d consider it an experiment. A whole landscape of plant experiments is called gambling and is not typically the result we want in a landscape design. Most of my clients want a sure bet plant when it comes to their entry landscape.

I love to create welcoming entry landscapes, so contact me.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend, Winter Gardening

Tags : burgandy foliage, color echo, curved steps, dramatic flowers, dramatic winter plants, entry plant, entry walk, evergreen plants w color, Pink Spring flowers, Red foliage, Winter Color in the garden

Hellebore Heaven

Posted by Carol

· January 5, 2016

A sample of the many varieties of Hellebore in bloom at the open garden.

If you love Hellebores (like I do) don’t miss this open garden. The O’Byrne family designs Hellebores and have an international following. Marietta and Ernie are rock stars in the garden design world. Their Hellebores will dazzle you with color and form. Plus they are sturdy plants, bred in Eugene Oregon at the Northwest Garden Nursery.

Why go?

First, you’ll have a chance to buy these unusual and fantastically beautiful plants (most are not available locally). Second, you can buy them in a large 2 gallon size, not in tiny sizes.

Hellebore in woodland setting.

Display Garden

Walk through a 1.5 acre garden with many different micro climates. See Hellebores planted en masse in an open woodland with companion plantings of shrubs and spring bulbs.

Here are Hellebores with drought tolerant Yucca in full sun.

Also see the large sun garden where you will find Hellebores in combination with interesting rock garden plants, succulents and more. Most people think Hellebores are for shade only.

The garden art is unique, interesting and never overwhelms the garden, something I appreciate in a design.

My sister’s feet on a Jeffrey Bale stone mosiac landing.

Open Garden in February

Call a friend and save the date: Northwest Garden Nursery holds an open garden every year, typically the third week of February. Last year I took my sister Donna and her friend (and my client) Sherry. They are plant fiends and appreciated seeing such a large display of Hellebores. We were not able to purchase any plants, however, because they were sold out! So make sure you go early in the week if you want to make some purchases.

We also visited Greer Gardens and I got to say good bye to Harold Greer who is beyond the rock star status. His lifetime of work with Rhododendrons and other plants has enriched my designs and my life, so it was poignant to go and purchase a few last plants from him. I purchased a rock garden plant, Rhododendron kiusianum White Form. It was exquisite. He has closed his mail order company. Bloom River Gardens will be trying to fill Harold’s shoes.

Pictures left to right: Double Hellebore covers my fingers. Amazing foliage. Dark edge contrasts with sunlit pale petals.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, Plants I Recommend, Shade Plants

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic winter plants, flagstone in the garden, garden design with stone, long blooming flowers, spring flowers, Winter Color in the garden

Planning for a Cheery Winter Landscape

Posted by Carol

· December 10, 2014

Let’s start with art. An art object does not need pruning, watering or fertilizing. Art, particularly large art, is a way to get a powerful all season effect in the landscape. Place it so you see it from the most used room of the house. Add a little night lighting and really get your money’s worth.

Shapely trees and large shrubs with attractive branch structure will make 75% of your most dramatic winter picture. Buy trees or shrubs already pruned and shaped beautifully. There are specialty growers who do this as part of their marketing niche, or hire a landscape gardener or an arborist to turn your trees and shrubs into winter beauties. Out here in the NW it’s Nancy Buley with Treephoria and while her plants are grown way out in east county she comes in to some of the farmers markets to make it easier for you to connect with her.

Red Camellia in L. Waldron Garden

Here’s a series of shapely shrubs/small trees with cheerful bright winter flowers. My favorite of the chinese camellias is still Camellia Sasanqua ‘Yuletide’ but the growers have created a whole line of plants similar to Yuletide but in different flowering colors and different flower timing. Here are a couple of new ones I’m excited about. ‘Springs Promise’ a chinese camellia from Monrovia has an unusual orange red flower, a color hard to find in winter. The tree can be trained into a vase shape, an espalier or a thick shrub. We will see if the hummingbirds like it as much as they do the true red of the Yuletide variety. ‘Pink a Boo’ also has the smaller dark green glossy leaves (like Yuletide) but is that perfect frosty intense but pale pink. Camellia Sasanqua ‘Marge Miller’ is the only plant with a weeping shape. I’ve only used it once and am eager to get photos this January when my client Karen’s plant starts to flower.

calluna-vulgaris-robert-chapman360 port nursery

Calluna Vulgaris ‘Robert Chapman’ lights up in winter cold.

To have a cheery winter landscape we need plant color low on the ground with a dark mulch or hemlock bark to dress the raw earth. Too much mulch or raw muddy earth looks unfinished especially for a front yard. In the back yard your dog will happily churn up that mud and bring it in so I like to see it covered. Many people here in the Northwest like to have the soil covered with plants to conserve water, lessen the chore of weeding and for style. Others find it too busy and want to see the space around the plants as part of the design. No one wants mud so we all agree on that. Plant selection: Use plants that turn on the color in winter cold. The foliage of heathers light up in reds, russets, ambers, and golds.

Calluna Vulgaris ‘Winter Chocolate’

Cornus Sanguineum ‘Midwinter Fire’

For a January pick me up, we cannot beat a red twig dogwood or scarlet willow, although planning for space is an issue with these plants. The twig dogwood shrubs and small trees light up in hot reds, burgundy and yellow.

Notice what is going on outside. If you have become a person who never ventures out in the winter……give yourself a gentle little shake, put on some warm clothes and get out there and see what is going on. Slow down enough to notice light on the tree stems, chilled dew on a leaf, and the leaf buds swelling on your Japanese maple in preparation for spring. This is good for our spirits and our minds.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend, Winter Gardening

Tags : curb appeal, dramatic winter plants, Winter Color in the garden

3 Colorful Shrubs for Fall

Posted by Carol

· October 3, 2014

Compact Burning Bush
The most popular variety of Euonymus alata ‘Compacta’ because people think it will be small, say 3′ x 3′. It is not the least bit small and easily grows into a beautiful small tree. The smallest variety on the market is called ‘Rudy Haag’ 5′ x 5′. Even the variety called ‘Pip Squeak’ is 6′ x 5′. If Burning Bush is not placed with room to grow, these shrubs get turned into ugly muffins by frustrated gardeners. If it is sheared properly, thinner at the top and wider at the bottom, this can be a very attractive hedge but it will need to be sheared two or three times a year. Ugh! Too much work for me.

I love to use this shrub as a shree (part shrub, part small tree). A client of mine, Ruth in Scappoose has hers planted in full sun and pruned into small multi-stem trees. They are underplanted with a hot orange summer flowering Euphorbia which is a wow combination. These “shrees” have been in their location for over ten years and they are not irrigated at all. Other than having a professional pruning every year or three, this privacy planting is very low maintenance and simply stunning. The ridged and winged bare stems of the Burning Bush are attractive and add winter interest. To establish this plant, water it once a week, or twice in hot weather. Once established, it will thrive with once a week watering. As it ages in place it needs less and less water. A plus … The deer don’t bother this plant in Ruth’s garden.

Fothergilla ‘Mt Airy’, (Bottlebrush) in full fall color.

Witch Alder (also called Bottlebrush)
This shrub has two seasons of wow, one is spring where the fragrance is heavenly, the bottle brush flowers are attractive in flower arrangements and if pruned properly, the shape of this “shree” will look good year round. The 2nd wow is the fall color.

Fothergilla (BottleBrush) fragrant flowers on naked stems delight in spring

This plant, Fothergilla ‘Mt. Airy’ will need regular water until it has been in place for many years. Almost all plants, even those listed as drought tolerant, look better with some irrigation in our Pacific NW Mediterranean style summer. See fabulous colorful art made from these leaves!!!

Hydrangea Quercifolia Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Gatsby’s Moon’ is a new variety from Proven Winners.

Oakleaf Hydrangea
I’ve written about this plant many times but that’s because it’s so great. The full size plant may not fit in most landscapes but there are two semi dwarf plants that will. These plants have huge white conical flowers in mid- summer that fade to a nice pink. In fall the large and well textured leaf turn the most fabulous rich reds and stay on the plant well past Thanksgiving. These leaves always go in my Thanksgiving table centerpiece. Once the leaves fall, there is great rusty exfoliating bark on the stems that glow in the winter light.

Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Sikes Dwarf’ and ‘Pee Wee’ are the two varieties I use the most. They are NOT tiny shrubs, still expect a 3′ to 4′ wide and tall plant. My experience is that ‘Sikes Dwarf’ is taller than ‘Pee Wee’. The leaves are smaller than the species, 4 to 5 inches instead of 8 to 10 inches and they still have the interesting grainy texture and great flowers. One drawback … deer seem to like the leaves. It is native to the South Eastern United States.

It’s easier to prune than a traditional hydrangea AND it doesn’t need as much water. If you want you can cut it off at the ground in late winter and start over. Here is a video “How to Prune Oak Leaf Hydrangea” by Cass Turnbull of Plant Amnesty.

Categories : Dramatic Flowers, Fall Gardening, Garden Tips, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic winter plants, fall gardening tips, Winter Color in the garden

Archive for dramatic winter plants – Page 3

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