Filoli in August

I have to admit that my plan to visit Filoli several times this year fell apart over the summer....but I did visit the gardens yesterday, August 8th, and took a few snapshots. This time, I watched people (and eavesdropped) as much as I enjoyed the gardens. The light was glaringly bright, and good pictures difficult to get, but my ancient digital camera and I did our best.

It was a great day for people watching, though.  The visitors I encountered were (if accents are any indication) from all over the world, and they brought lots of kids with them (which can be both hysterical and loud).  There were also some people there talking about their own gardens....perhaps looking for design ideas?One couple appeared to be touring the garden with their designer. This is what I overheard:Wife: I love those white flowers over there (they were a full bed of white Agrostemma). I mean they're all nice, but I do have some sun and I like those, they're so delicate.Designer: Yeah, with those you need to have full sun.Husband: uh huh.Wife: They're just so pretty.Husband: But this is the Summer. Think about what they'll look like at other times of the year, it will be just this (points to the soil underneath).Designer: yup.What???  Is he kidding?  Not to get into that specific plant, and I have no idea what they are designing for/around...but Agrostemma is an annual and one can plant bulbs underneath or ground cover plants if a spot of bare soil is a major issue for the husband.   In addition, the designer could (should!) be designing so that the garden's inherent design is beautiful whether it is Summer or not (and needs to illustrate this to his clients). If the wife is smitten with white Agrostemma, they should be at least under consideration.  To be fair, I don't know what happened after that....I try not to assert design "rules" because for every rule, there is likely at least one successful example that breaks it...but I do believe that Filoli is a fantastic place to see occasions when an area in its 'off-season' is beautiful, too.What you are focused on is what you will notice.  If you are focused on how much you hate a certain view, guess what?  That view will bother you all the time.  If you are looking for bare patches of soil, congratulations!  Bare soil is what you will find.  What would happen if we all adjusted our attention? What if we saw more than bare soil and ugly views?The paired images here are from Feb 2010 and August 2010.

Sentimental Plants

My mom used to have "naked ladies" (Amaryllis beladonna) in her garden until she dug them all up and gave them to a neighbor.  Lucky for me, she had some Nerine bowdenii shoved in a corner of the yard (not planted, just set aside bare) and when I asked if the Amaryllis were all gone, she stuffed the Nerine in a box and gave them to me.  Hey, close enough.  Every fall when these things bloom, I think of "home" (though I haven't lived there in quite a long time).I've had a few clients with similar hand-me-down plants, and I think these are (depending on the client's wishes, of course) essential to any new design work.  How rude would it be if you had a Hydrangea from a loved one's garden (heaven forbid that person is gone!) and I just designed it right out (and oh, yes, I've seen this happen) of the new garden.So below are my Nerine.  I'll come clean with you: my yard is a disaster area (no, check that - it is a teensy American Meadow), I haven't done any maintenance since spring, staying inside and working on everything else instead.  I live in an apartment, so yes, my friends, the Nerine are living in a kitty litter bucket with holes drilled in the bottom.   They don't seem to mind, I pay them absolutely no attention whatsoever and look what they gave me back this year:

Ridiculous quantities of inspiration

GAP Photos is a UK based website that has an insane quantity of garden photos.  They've got the most amazing search abilities, and their photos list actual plant names whenever possible.  Being of the UK, most of the images are "english garden" types, but there's also images of flower shows (like Chelsea) and beautiful veggies.   I think the site speaks for itself, just watch the clock - a person could get lost in there for hours.

Ruth Bancroft Garden

flowering blue palm

Ruth Bancroft Garden Oct 09

Bench at Ruth Bancroft Garden

I finally went.  I've been meaning to go to the Ruth Bancroft Garden for years, and I am so glad I finally went today.  Nice and overcast, not hot out, quiet with few visitors.  They're closing soon for most of the winter, so this was a last chance day.  I enjoyed the garden, but I was surprised both at how big it is and also how small given the reputation.  Getting there is easy, figuring out what to do next was confusing.  I passed the whole thing the first time, having missed the entrance....then we drove around the back to park in (apparently) someone's driveway?Anyway - the whole experience was fun, the garden could do with some work, more seating, and a proper gift shop.  Today was one of those instances when I badly wish I could win the lottery and make it all better.  Even though it is scrappy in many areas, it was also easy to find a flattering angle for pictures - something I attribute to the layout being very relaxed and organic, no edging or excessive ornament, and the plants being a well layered mix of nice big mature specimens with smaller plants.  There were lots of plant labels but no labels on plants I wanted to identify / verify.All in all, worth the ten bucks to support a local treasure.....even if it did mix all kinds of weird stuff in with natives with little explanation of what we were looking at and there was only one bench in the whole place.  I'd not call it a botanical garden, but I had a really nice half day out.

Color kismet - bloom times

A quick thought today - more color kismet.I currently have 'Cupani' Sweet Peas and Rosa 'The Prince' (an english rose from the David Austin Collection) in bloom.  Every year their seasons coincide and I have the luxury of picking these sweet smelling gorgeous things for the inside.Sometimes being matchy-matchy is kinda nice.  One hopes that planting palettes don't come off too saccharine, like a Valentine's Day card.  But allowing for some plants to really coordinate with each other in hue, saturation, and value can pay off big.  I love that this happens for me every May, but I also appreciate the mix of other perennials as they join in - usually right when the sweet peas are done - and the sweet peas bloom after the bearded irises, and......

How long will it take?

How long will it take?Every client wants to know the answer to this question, and most want the answer right up front.  Some even want to know before the designer has been to the site.  Understandable, but unrealistic.In all honesty, it takes as long as it takes.  One factor is coordinating the clients', designer's, and contractor's schedules.  Everyone is busy, that is a part of life.  There is sometimes a lot of time wasted waiting for meetings  - simple math.Deciding:  Some clients need more time to ponder decisions than others.  It can take a while to get responses to calls made to a variety of consultants, municipalities, etc - research of any kind requires a bit of patience.  Never mind the time required for neighbor comment periods in some areas (eeek)!  There is also the design work itself and the time it takes to produce the documents needed for each meeting.Scope!  Not the mouthwash.  If the list of things that the designer and the client are working on together is extensive, that can take some time.   It is funny sometimes, how designing for a residence can be as time consuming as for a public park.  Projects on such an intimate scale, especially because they are where someone lives, can hold a great deal of meaning and detailing.  Details all the way down to the angle of a drain cover in a field of paving are important at this level.Seasons and availability:  Oh, my.  Availability is one of the biggest stumbling blocks of Landscape Architecture and garden design.  Materials come with their own special problems.  Finding the materials desired is one thing, making sure that they're available and will meet the specifications is quite another.  Stone for paving, depending on where it comes from, can be just as difficult to obtain as an out-of season plant.  For instance, bluestone from back east, if still in the quarry, can be hidden under feet of snow for a good part of the year.   I once had occasion to reject stone samples coming to California from Oklahoma three times because the ability of the quarry to cut the stone accurately wasn't within accepted tolerances and they persisted in sending samples of the wrong color.Add in the availability of plant materials at different times of the year and the lead times necessary for ordering certain kinds of plants, and it can take a good amount of time to install a garden that has exactly what you wanted.  When planning for year-round interest, this can be particularly important.   Spring bulbs are ordered in the fall (much cheaper to get the bulbs in the fall than try to find them growing in the spring!), fall bulbs are ordered in the spring.  Bare root Roses are ordered in November or December, then delivered in January (here in N. CA).  Most nurseries carry plants that are in bloom NOW,  whenever now is, so if you are sourcing something through the wholesale or retail nursery trade, that can be pretty limiting.The bottom line?  Patience.  The design process can happen as fast as the designer can work and the client can respond....the rest is a matter of strategy and patience.

Green - the color, not the movement.

I once said to a client that their plant materials would have foliage in different shades of green.  The husband looked at me like I was from mars, he thought that green was green.  Sometimes, it isn't.  Oh, and by the way - that big gorgeous bearded Iris in the blog header is green, too.  It's a lovely chartreuse in real life.