new thread
Since winter is a great time to PLAN a garden, I'll share a few gardening "secrets" that I've learned over the years (for those interested in this off-topic)...
Companion planting is nothing new: it's one of the most ancient all-organic methods of toxic-free pest control, both for vegetable gardens and ornamental gardens alike. More popular in Europe than in America (often referred to as "Cottage style" in the UK, for example), to me, it is more aesthetically pleasing to look at than more formal styles of garden design.
In this pic, the tall spikes of Digitalis purpurea (AKA Common Foxglove) look great next to the round flowers of the roses. Below that is a silvery-grey foliaged plant called Stachys byzantina (AKA "Lambs Ears"), which has subtle mauve flowers that get tall & narrow as well. These Foxglove plants do a "job"in the garden, besides just looking pretty: the roots (and the entire plant actually) are poisonous to gophers. When the rose roots intermingle with the Foxglove, the gophers leave the rose roots alone (which otherwise would eat every single rose they can get their munchy little teeth on)! The gophers also tend to leave the Lambs Ear plants alone, too -- although not as "guaranteed" as the Foxglove.
Most of us only have a small amount of garden space to work with -- at home, I only have a deck, for example (the photos in this thread are all from a deer fenced garden that I maintain where I work). The smaller the space, the more you will thank yourself if you limit your color scheme to a well thought out plan.
In this pic, the single-petalled shrub rose called, "BALLERINA", -- a very healthy repeat-bloomer from the late 1930s -- gets along with almost everything, because pink & white are considered "safe" colors... (unlike, for example, a shocking shade of orange or red)
The Penstemon blooming underneath it is called "Blue Springs" -- which is unmistakably VERY blue (which is why I love it)! Underneath that is a lime-green ground cover herb called, "Golden Oregano" -- which makes the blue Penstemon "pop" out at you even more!
There are plenty of other color schemes to choose from; but the example in this pic shows how "safe" colors can sometimes be right next to more eye-blinking color combinations...
- Ken
For those who are familiar with what an artist's color wheel looks like, the most important thing to know is how to pick either color harmonies (colors that are next to each other on the artist's color wheel), or color compliments (contrasting colors, that are opposite each other on the artist's color wheel).
Pinks and mauves are considered to be a very harmonious color combination -- very "restful" to the eye, giving the overall feeling of a peaceful & serene garden, even when in peak bloom.
Green in any garden is always a given... So if you prefer a more "exciting" garden color scheme, choose red flowers -- red is the opposite on the color wheel from green. Pink is just a softer version of red ("toned down" with some white in it) -- and mauve is basically a softer version of purple.
The companion plants growing with this powerfully fragrant pink "SCEPTER'D ISLE" rose are (from left to right): 1) Erigeron (AKA "Santa Barbara Daisy"); 2) purple Bearded Iris (in the foreground); 3) white Dutch Iris (in the background), and last but not least; 4) Nepeta (AKA "Catmint" -- the hazy lavender-blue flowers just starting to bloom to the right of the purple Iris)...
Here is a close-up shot of the deliciously fragrant English rose, "SCEPTER'D ISLE" (a modern shrub rose by British hybridizer David Austin). Growing with it is some soft lavender-blue Nepeta (AKA "Catmint").
Besides aesthetically "easy on the eyes", the Nepeta does double-duty: because of its strong minty fragrance, the gophers stay away from this plant, thus helping to protect the roses' roots from getting eaten -- as well as any other plant in the mint family do the same "job" (like: lavender, rosemary, sage, spearmint, peppermint, etc....)...
Hey, if a plant happens to be useful AND beautiful to look at, wouldn't you say that I really got my money's worth here? (LOL)
- Ken
Horticulturally, Lilacs and Rhododendrons are not often found growing side-by-side outdoors together (Lilacs prefer more sun, whereas Rhodies usually are found growing under some amount of shade). However, they usually bloom at the same time, this pic being a good example of an indoor flower arrangement I did for the front reception desk where I work, from a couple of years ago.
The curly willow, by the way, is the only store-bought ingredient here -- usually any flower arrangement I do for work is made strictly out of materials all picked from the garden or grounds on the property (including these Lilac & Rhododendron blooms).
- Ken
You certainly have a talent for flower arranging. They are just beautiful.
This apricot-orangy rose is one of my all-time favorites, called "TAMORA" -- it has an incredible fragrance of myrrh (which traditionally is normally only found after gathering the sap from a desert tree in the Middle East).
To show the color off to its best, the starry-shaped little sky-blue flowers of the Borage plant (an herb that tastes sort of like cucumber, and which self-seeds like crazy!) is seen popping up in the background --a "happy accident", to be honest, since I only planted 3 tiny little baby borage plants over 7 years ago, which were originally not even planted anywhere near this location (and yet I have never needed to buy any more Borage plants since)!
Orange and blue are opposites on the artist's color wheel -- as are red & green, purple & yellow. They "flatter" each other all day long (imagine if humans were as lucky as that - LOL)!
Quick funny story:
One day my sister-in-law asked me, "Ken, could you use a weird-shaped tall vase like this at home? Scratching my chin and thinking about my small studio apartment that I lived in, I quickly answered, "No."
But then I thought some more about it, changing my mind and telling her, "But maybe I could use it at work..."
I swear, I have used this crazy tall vase probably more than ANY other in my collection of vases, it is just plain fun!!
One of my landscaping bosses had a client who loved "hot" colors -- no red, orange, yellow, or neon-purple was ever "too bright" for her!! Under the brilliant California summer sun, they looked fantastic; but for those living in more northern climes with softer summer sunshine, too much boldness can sometimes look a bit "garish"...
In my opinion, the colors in this pic are not all that "shocking" together, even though I realize that orange and magenta-purple are far from "traditionally acceptable" to most garden folks.
The 3 orange roses in this pic are (from left to right): 1) coppery-orange "PAT AUSTIN" (although still in bud); 2) apricot-colored "CLIMBING ROYAL SUNSET", and, one of my new favorites; 3) tangerine / tropical-looking "LADY EMMA HAMILTON" -- with the magenta-purple ground cover behind it being Geranium icanum.
- Ken
The late Karl Foerster, a famous German horticulturist and author, once said: "Grass is the hair of the earth."
The first time I ever heard that quote, I can't begin to tell you how moved I was. My step-mom had just bought me a nice birthday present, a rather expensive gardening book called "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ORNAMENTAL GRASSES", by John Greenlee. It was the summer of 2000, only about a month after I had impulsively cut off my waist-length hair to short -- and I was still quite depressed and deeply regretting that stupid haircut decision. My landscaping boss at the time (I was a full-time professional gardener then) thought I was nuts to be whining so much over a silly haircut; but anytime I saw ANY ornamental grass (in ANY garden), I found my eyes were instantly attracted to it... AND my boss often caught me & teased me about touching it!
Heck, I missed the long hair that used to be so plentiful on my own head -- so can you blame me for being such a weirdo? (LOL)
Anyway, back to the O/T of Gardening with Companion Plants:
This short-growing California Native grass is called "Calamagrostis folioso" (I know, It's a mouthful), AKA "Leafy Reedgrass", if you prefer an easier name to pronounce! It is growing at the feet of the soft yellow shrub rose named "CHARLOTTE" (sort of a "granddaughter" of the more famous bright yellow GRAHAM THOMAS rose). The silvery-grey foliage and subtle mauve flowers of Stachys byzantina (AKA "Lambs Ears') add even more foliage interest and texture to this little garden scene...
I wish I could claim credit for designing, installing, or at least maintaining such a gorgeous garden as this; but, that would unfortunately be lying!
It doesn't matter that it's not "my" garden -- it's a good example of how beautiful a back yard can look when including ornamental grasses in the planting scheme. AND most ornamental grasses tend to also be very drought-tolerant (something that we here in the Western United States have to be very concerned and conscious about)...
I think the tall, luxurious, opulently-flowing grasses remind me a little bit of a great head of long hair, don't you?
Same garden, same garden tour (a few years ago); different view...
The shorter-growing ornamental grasses on the right are that same California Native grass that I mentioned earlier (the one I planted with the soft yellow "CHARLOTTE" rose inside the deer fenced garden that I take care of where I work)...
I hope you enjoyed the garden pics, as well as enjoyed looking at some of these examples of "the hair of the earth!"
- Ken
I have that same book, but never picked up on the quote....too kool.
Ornamental grasses are my favorites and I have many around my place.
I love these threads, Ken, but you are making me horribly homesick.....sigh
I do have several houseplants in my hotel suite though...
As always....Thanks for Sharing
Walter
It's in the foreword by Wolfgang Oehme, 3rd paragraph down.
Cool!!!
LOL!
You're welcome Walter! I guess I'm just getting spring "out of my system" (since I know I'm too premature to enjoy the real thing yet -LOL)
A question, does California still do grass? The last I had
heard was the drought in California was so bad that they were
encouraging people to remove their lawns to save water.
So is it legal to have grass in California?
And how do you water it with the water restrictions?
I don't know about legal but I've heard California has excellent grass. Only from what I've heard of course!
Jason, you crack me up! (Yes, I caught your "drift" - LOL!!)
LOL!!)
As a resident of Mendocino county I'm not saying anything.
Well, who needs to? For anybody living in CA for any length of time, it's pretty famous now!!
Such a beautiful county (that, plus Sonoma, Humboldt, Del Norte, etc....)... If i had a job offer to move up there, I'd do so in a heart-beat!
- Ken
First of all, re. lawns, there are MANY different varieties of fescue (the landscaper's name for lawn grasses). Two examples of well-known varieties would be: 1) "Kentucky Blue Grass" (one of the most sought-after, but very water-thirsty), and; 2) "Bermuda Grass" (very drought-tolerant, but not always well-liked because of its weed-like invasiveness). I'm not an expert in lawn grasses; but let's just say that in general, the large expansive lush green lawns that you see on the East Coast of the US, the British Isles, and other temperate moist / humid climates where summer rainfall is natural and usually abundant, these are the ideal climates for lawns -- the arid West and summer-dry California (usually referred to as having a "Mediterranean" climate) are NOT a practical choice here. But.... ornamental grasses are not lawns -- they have a totally different purpose in landscaping, and many varieties are also incredibly drought-tolerant. And there are thousands upon thousands of them across the planet!
Here in Northern California, in most cities & suburb towns, it is legal to have a lawn; but if you go over your allotted water usage, you will get FINED (and in some of the stricter towns, quite heavily)!! Some general rules are: 1) water early in the morning or late in the evening (NEVER mid-day, when the temperatures are hottest, evaporation is at its peak, and thus more water is wasted); 2) water deeply, but infrequently (to encourage the roots of your garden plants to develop deep roots, which will help them survive droughts better; 3) plant more garden space with naturally drought-tolerant plant material, rather than planting water-loving exotics.
I have no idea what kind of grass we have around here, but we've had a number of years where the water restrictions prohibited any
watering of the lawn at any time. The result is a lawn that is mostly brown. I've lived in a number of locations over the years and they all had water restrictions at some point.
You certainly know your plants, Ken. Thanks for sharing all this information and photos. James and I are going to be building our "dream house" this year on our wooded 5 acres and I definitely want to do more gardening after I retire at the end of June. I might solicit your advice when I get ready to start gardening, although I think there are a lot of plants that you can grow in your area that will not survive the heat and humidity of SW Florida summers. It will be fun researching about plants for this area. I also want to start a little vegetable/herb garden.
Thanks for the kind compliments, Marx! I'm originally a Midwest boy, born & raised in a suburb town north of Chicago, very near to the Wisconsin border -- where winters can feel like a looooong endurance test (pretty damn near "eternity"), and most of my favorite garden plants get killed to the ground... hence my thrill when I moved out to California in 1977!!!
I've only visited South Florida twice in my lifetime -- and from an Illinois boy's perspective, at first I thought of Calif. and Florida as having "identical" exotic (to my view) climates... but eventually I learned I couldn't be further from the truth.
The climate of the majority of California is referred to as, "Mediterranean" -- which essentially means: the summers are warm & dry (no rain usually whatsoever); the winters are wet but mild (in most locations, frost-free or nearly so). The exceptions to this rule are of course in the extreme inland deserts of CA, as well as in the high mountains. Generally-speaking, the further south you go in Calif., the drier and warmer the climate -- whereas the further north you go, the cooler and wetter the weather. Also, re. East to West: the closer to the Pacific Ocean you are, the more frost-free the climate; whereas the further inland you go, the more you will be likely to experience more pronounced seasons (especially if you go up in elevation).
To be honest, I don't know much about the plants that do well in Florida, because your state experiences hot humid rainy weather year-round (although i realize that your winters are much more pleasant than the summers). I cut my gardening "teeth" way out West here, so the plants that I know best are those that do really well in our naturally summer-dry (but sometimes foggy & cool) coastal climate, which probably in most cases are very different from the ideal plants for the humid subtropics.
But when you do retire, I'd love to hear about your garden as it develops!
Thanks again for your nice reply, Marx, I greatly appreciate it!
- Ken