Foliage in Landscape Design

Foliage in landscape design will be blogged today by people from the Garden Designers Roundtable. I am opting out this month. However, I would just like to point out one suggestion when working with plant leaves.

That point is TEXTURE.

Make sure when you are selecting plants that those adjacent to each other have different textures. This is because the contrast in foliage creates interest. As an example, here are a few plant combinations:

Rhododendron and Boxwood (small leaves and large leaves)
Ornamental Grasses and Nepata (Catmint)
Roses and Lavender
*I would not use Boxwood and Azalea together, since they both have small leaves.

Follow these suggestions, and your garden will have lots more interest.

So...now please visit the wonderful other garden designers of the Garden Designer Roundtable to read in depth articles with the designers' individual points of view! Go to Garden Designers Roundtable for the direct links.

Landscape Trees In A Garden

What an impact landscape trees in a garden can make!

Once in awhile I come across a garden that really moves me. Oh, I know, you are probably thinking of lots of colorful perennials and flowers. It's true they can be striking. Another type of garden might be an overall great landscape with enchanting features such as a glorious waterfall, a beautiful pergola with vines, and so on.

So for a little different spin, I really enjoyed seeing this garden. I thought, "Is this a garden?" It looked more like a park. But upon corresponding with the owner, I found out that yes, it was indeed a garden.

Take a look at the beautiful colors and textures of these great trees...in Mike's garden...31 years in the making!



Fall 2009

Rose Garden Display in England

I remember the first time I saw a rose garden display. I decided to visit the New York Botanical Garden to see their rose display at the right time...for once. I always seemed to miss it.

If you have never been there, it's an experience. First of all it's a sunken garden. As I approached it, I couldn't really see what was there since it was down below. All of a sudden it was upon me and it was breathtaking. So many roses, so many colors, so many fragrances!

This video of David Austin's roses in England brings back that memory. A great thanks to Gardens of a Golden Afternoon for finding this.

Garden Designers Bloglink: The Virginia Landscape

As part of a larger effort to provide information on regional gardens and landscaping in America, here you'll find my personal take on the Virginia landscape. See other blogs (links at bottom) by other wonderful landscape designers in other areas on this topic!

Please also visit my extensive website Landscape Design Advice

Being from the Northeast, I've noticed some interesting landscape features of Virginia since I've lived here. Growing up in another area ...New Jersey/New York...has given me an interesting perspective on the differences in the two regions.

Here are some of my observations.

The Virginian Landscape

The first thing that comes to mind is how I think of Virginia as compared to the Northeast. Virginia is a beautiful landscape, made up of rolling hills, mountains, appearing and disappearing vistas, and lets not forget the cows and horses grazing throughout the land! Rather than being made up of individual, segmented homes and gardens, it is the total landscape that gives Virginia its character.

It also has what I would term "farm" lawns. Acres of lawn can be seen. However, instead of being pristine, always green and perfectly mowed, these lawns are "green" in the environmental sense of the word. There are no sprinkler systems using up valuable water, no chemicals are used, and mowing, or "bush hogging", is done only a couple of times a year.

This is not to say that there are not developments (or sub-divisions as they are called here) with regular lawns. It's just that they do not dominate the landscape and proportionately, land-wise, they are in the minority.

As an aside, these observations are for the Central Virginia area, close to Charlottesville. As you venture out into the more populated areas, many of this does not apply.

More Detailed Information

A Long Gardening Season

Virginia has a fairly long gardening season. As I am writing this, I look outside at about 20 inches of snow. However, this is quite unusual! In the six years I have been here, there has been little snow. In addition, contractors are able to work mostly throughout the year, with the exception of a sometimes relatively cold spell in January and February.

This long growing season means that before you turn around, it's planting time again. How nice. I remember the long winters of New Jersey and the longing for spring.

On the other hand...I find myself missing the real winters. Being snowed in, bundling up when you go outside, lots of roaring fires for an extended period of time, and so on. For a northerner, there is something odd about stepping outside in the "winter" and it not being really cold...in the time I have been here, anyway.

Interesting Plants

While I miss the White Birch, which typically does not grow here unless you go up into the higher temperatures of the mountains, I do love the Southern Magnolia, which flowers. To see a large flowering evergreen tree is quite nice...huge white flowers appearing among the evergreen foliage in the summer.

Another lovely flowering evergreen, a large shrub, is the Camelia. I recall walking around Richmond at Christmas time and seeing these lovely plants in bloom with their beautiful colorful, large flowers.

The last plant I have come to like is Nandina, the species. This too is an evergreen shrub. It gets rather tall, albeit narrow, but is covered with berries in the winter.

Zoning

I recall when I first moved here and was working on a landscape design. It was for a large property with quite a bit of land. The clients wanted a swimming pool. As appropriate, I contacted the county to find out the zoning setbacks. When I asked about this regarding a pool, the response was "What do you mean"?

I began to understand that zoning in Virginia is not nearly as regulated as in New Jersey! Who cares what the setbacks are for a pool when it is surrounded by 10 acres?! Once again, in the more populated areas, zoning regulations are in place and must be followed. I have found them to be less strict though.

Summary

The rural life has its pros and cons. A slightly slower pace, bounds of greenery and views, and a more countrified existence are things that can be very welcoming and peaceful. But only a New Yorker would understand it when I say "I sometimes really miss New York!"


Please visit these other blogs for more great articles on regional diversity in the landscape to see what they have written!


Jocelyn Chilvers (Wheat Ridge, CO)
The Art Garden

Susan Cohan/Susan Cohan Gardens (Chatham, NJ)
Miss Rumphius' Rules

Michelle Derviss/Michelle Derviss Landscape Design (Novato, CA)
Garden Porn

Tara Dillard (Stone Mountain, GA)
Landscape Design Decorating Styling

Dan Eskelson/Clearwater Landscapes (Priest River, ID)
Clearwater Landscapes Garden Journal

Scott Hokunson/Blue Heron Landscape Design (Granby, CT)
Blue Heron Landscapes

Susan Morrison (East Bay, CA)
Blue Planet Garden Blog

Pam Penick/Penick Landscape Design (Austin, TX)
Digging

Laura Schaub/Schaub Designs Fine Gardens (San Jose, CA)
Interleafings

Genevieve Schmidt (Arcata, CA)
North Coast Gardening

Ivette Soler/(Los Angeles, CA)
The Germinatrix

Rebecca Sweet/Harmony in the Garden (Los Altos, CA)
Gossip in the Garden

Landscape Videos

I like to have fun with videos. No, I don't take them with a video camera. There are various places where you can create them from your photos. I created many videos on my website with Photostory 3, but this one I created with animoto.com. You can create a free version which is shorter. To create the longer one like I did here costs $3.00. They also have a very reasonable yearly fee.

Anyway, here it is.