Wild about Wildflowers, Part 1

Bluebells at Denver Botanic Gardens, where it’s hard to find the ice cream but easy to find the flower.

This week I had great fun with the Ft. Bend Master Gardeners in Rosenberg, Texas. They wanted to hear about one of my plant passions: wildflowers. (I’m sharing a list of my favorite wildflowers at the end of this post, plus a FREE BOOK for a lucky winner!)

Many Americans alive today were not around to remember when wildflowers were called “weeds.” That transformation in thought is a recent developement. (RECENT if you are an old fart, like me.) The Beautification Act of 1965, championed by then 1st lady-Lady Bird Johnson, brought much deserved appreciation for our natural beauties. (Okay, I wasn’t in school yet when LBJ was president, so maybe I’m not THAT old.)

The entry sign at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, TX. For more info on the childhood of Lady Bird Johnson, read MISS LADY BIRD’S WILDFLOWERS, by Kathi Appelt with art from Joy Fisher Hein, illustrator of my book, BLOOMIN’ TALES.

For many years, our native wildflowers were sought after as foreign favorites, proven to be hardy additions to European gardens. A prophet in his own land, right? Mrs. Johnson’s love for her Texas roots – and the attached flowers – bloomed into a determination that her fellow Americans were missing the boat. Or at least the wheelbarrow.

So what is a wildflower? “A flower not intentionally planted or seeded,” says Wikipedia. How is that different from a weed? Maybe it’s not. A new friend from Ft. Bend Master Gardeners (thanks, Vic!) says “a weed is a plant that no one has discovered a use for yet.” In my experience, a weed could be a misunderstood wildflower. It’s often a plant that happened to take hold in a spot where it’s unwanted. A wildflower in a flower bed might be okay, but that same plant in the lawn is considered a weed. Why do they seem to thrive in the lawn instead of the well-tended garden? Because most prefer a depleted soil. We take too good of care of them, in other words.

Butterfly weed attracts and feeds the monarchs.

A monarch caterpillar on butterfly weed: if you want butterflies in your garden, give ‘em their favorite food!

There’s some disagreement on whether a plant should be indigenous to an area to be truly considered a wildflower. Insects, animals, and birds probably prefer dining on natives over foreign plants. Most of us are leery of unknown foods, right? In my book, an INVASIVE plant is always a WEED. Intent on crowding out our native plants, gorgeous flowers lull us into a stupor as they plot to take over the world.

Weed or wildflower, here are 10 of my favorites. Next week I’ll share 10 more easy-to-grow wildflowers.

I’d also like to hear and see some of your favorite wildflowers. Share your wildflower stories and shots with me as a comment here to be in the running for a FREE copy of my children’s book BLOOMIN’ TALES, full of legends telling how some of our wildflowers got their names. And if you are in the Austin area next weekend, the illustrator -Joy Hein- and I will be signing copies on Saturday, April 27th, from 1-4 in the Wildflower Center’s bookstore.

• fragrant aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)
• beauty berry (Callicarpa americana)
• beebalm (Monarda spp.)
• blackfoot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum)
• bluebells (Eustoma exaltatum)
• blue sage (Salvia farinacea) (Salvia x ‘Indigo Spires’)
• butterfly weed (Aeslepias tuberosa)
• cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
• Hinkley’s columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinkleyana)
• purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Figs gone wild: YOU CAN GROW THAT!

home-made fig preserves recipe

A few months ago my doctor put me on a LOW-FODMAP diet.  The bottom line is I can’t eat lots of things I love anymore. Including figs. That might not be a big deal to you, but it is to me. Making fig preserves each autumn is a tradition for my dad and me to do together.

So is EATING fig preserves. (I’ll give you the recipe in a bit.)

When my youngest daughter got excited about having a fig tree at her house, I got excited, too.  Like most young couples, she’s limited in her landscaping budget. Fortunately, figs are forgiving….. and giving…. and giving again.  Know someone who has a fig tree with low, pliable branches?  You’ve got a FIG donor!

Got a low FIG branch? You have a baby tree waiting to sprout! This easy propagation method is called “layering.”

Here’s how you do it.

Bend a branch so it can be put into soil.  It will need to be pliable enough to bend without breaking and also have leaves or small branches on it.  Remove those to create an “injury” and bury that spot in a bit of soil. I put a heavy rock on the site to weight it down and keep it from moving around.

roots mean it’s ripe for planting

Wait a few months.  Lift the branch to make sure it has developed some nice healthy roots.

Now cut it away from the rest of the plant and put your new roots in their new home.  Wherever that might be.

FOSTER FAMILY FIGS: 3 c. unpeeled ripe figs, 3 c. sugar (or 2 c. sugar/Splenda blend), juice of 1 lemon, opt. box of pectin – Combine all ingredients and let set for a 1/2 hour.  (We play a couple hands of cards at this juncture.) Cook on medium heat in a large saucepan till thick.  Put into sterilized jars and seal with heated rubber lids to allow seals to set properly. Spoon onto toast or pour over cream cheese.

HIT: making your own fig preserves out of your own figs!

Planting seeds straight into the ground

Lately, I’ve gotten several questions about the best way to start seeds in the ground, also called straight sown seeds. (Of course, I don’t DO straight lines, so that is a bit of an oxymoron at my house…..)  I don’t know that my way is the BEST, but it works well for me.  I’m open to suggestions – and welcome royalties from a patent partnership –  if you’ve found one that’s better.

Bottomless, this pot-o-basil is not what it appears.

HIT: starting your own plants from seed is inexpensive and EASY if you protect the seedlings!

First off, be sure you’re planting the seeds at the proper depth. If they’re from a packet, it should tell you how deep to put them in; as a general rule, seeds and bulbs require planting between double – and – triple their height. (Here’s my friend WILLIAM MOSS with Patti Moreno showing you how it’s done with veggies.) If you’ve planted them properly, you’ll start seeing green several days or weeks – or even months – before they are established well-enough to become actual rooted plants. During that time, the underworks are branching out to support the upperworks, making it vital you baby those fragile seedlings. I find the main protection my new seedlings need are actually from ME, though. Forgetting I’ve put seeds down, I mulch over that bare spot. Or I can’t remember what I put there because the tag is missing.  Sometimes a heavy downpour is the culprit and my seeds end up down the street.

We even have a neighborhood pooch whose owner allows him too much roaming space and he did in some cassia seeds with a well placed dump.  Yes, it is organic, but come on!

I used to stack rocks, cairn-like, stick a flag in it with the plant name, and cross my fingers as I walked away.  Either the flag, the rocks, or both ended up missing.

All you need to be a seed superstar is a plastic planting pot, scissors and a marker!

Now I hold on to all those small pots when I buy plants at the nursery and recycle them into seed starting studs.  I use a few the traditional way, but what works even better is making them into a TEXAS-STYLE SEEDLING CORRAL. I cut the bottom out, turn ‘em upside down, and write down the plant’s name and the date I planted it with a silver marker.  Then I bury it partially into the ground, up and over the “lip” that used to be the top of the pot. Then I add a bit of potting soil and push the seeds into place.  I’m always looking for activities to lure in kids to gardening and think this might be a great one for little ones to try.  (As a bonus, this method allows me to know exactly where I need to mist when it dries out, and it holds in the water for longer.  And this isn’t proven, but it seems the black color of the pot absorbs the day’s heat and gets my seedlings going faster in early spring.)

Cut the bottom 1/4 off the small plastic plant pot and turn it on its head for a plant perimeter/marker.

Ignore the label on this one….it’s actually G. aestivalis winklerii ‘Grape Sensation,’ not ‘Purple Passion.’ But I wouldn’t know WHAT or WHERE it was without its seedling corral, would I?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might want to cut the perimeter away once the seedlings are up….

or just leave it in place so you remember those bulbs are there even when they aren’t in bloom.

WARNING: if a varmint wants those seeds, even an armed guard can’t stop ‘em!  Need proof?

Here’s who came to dinner at my house last week.  Yes, those are carefully dried/saved/planted hibiscus seeds this little guy decided to grab in the run-through at Casa Colburn-a!

Biblical plant names (and life) can be confusing, depending on your perspective

Scary to see someone you love labeled as sick, isn’t it?  The feeling of helplessness is overwhelming.  However, after 5 days in the hospital with a family member who I almost lost, I’m back out in my garden, thankful for the abundance of life around me and recognizing its incredible fragility.  What I labeled as “healthy” was not at all; it was illness incognito.  I’ll not take wellness in myself or those I love for granted again.  At least I pray I do not.

rain lily (Cooperia pedunculata, also labeled Zephyranthes drummondii)

On a walk last night, this little rain lily was peaking out from between the stacked moss rock and curb at a neighbor’s house.  It’s one of the bulbs Chris Wiesinger and I featured in our book HEIRLOOM BULBS FOR TODAY.  A stalwart Texas native, this lab-coat white bloom is at home in any garden.  While I was oblivious to changes in weather outside the hospital windows, a place of sameness no matter what the clock says, the tiny bulb sensed moisture from a rainstorm passing through town, responding with a hearty yawning bloom, slightly fragrant and completely beautiful.

althea or rose-of-sharon (Hibiscus syriaca)

Another favorite I discovered as I wandered the streets at dusk is a shrub called althea,  known to me growing up as “rose-of-sharon.”  As with many plants, that common name is not only inaccurate, it is misleading.  First of all, althea is not a rose; it’s in the same family as cotton and marshmallow.  The Latin name is Hibiscus syriacus and it’s a native of Asia.  Don’t think it has much to do with sharon either, which refers to the Plain of Sharon spoken of in Old Testament literature, an area that runs along the Mediterranean between present-day Haifa to the north and Tel Aviv to the south.

Convallaria majalis, known by Europeans and Americans as “lily of the valley” or “Soloman’s seal”

While I’m on this tangent, the true “lily of the valley” plant spoken of in the Bible – according to Jewish scholars – is the yellow, fall-blooming Sternbergia lutea - native to Israel, not the white nodding perennial found in the Appalachians and in cool areas of Europe and Asia.  Apparently King James’ translators took liberties with the Hebrew word for flower bulb, turning it into “lily” in the Anglicized translation of the Bible from the early 1600′s, which many believe was done in an effort to appease the Puritan faction within the Church of England.  Sternbergia might not have been known in England at the time, or maybe the many Christian legends associated with Convallaria majalis – the plant Europeans and Americans call “lily of the valley – prompted its association with this common name instead. (The tiny white blooms are said to be the tears of Jesus’ mother when she saw her son on the cross of Calvary. It’s also the symbol of humility in the language of flowers.)

My week has given me perspective on many things, recognizing that while labels might help distinguish or describe, they are not stagnant.  My idea of “sick” was disguised in a seemingly healthy body, a deadly infection masked in a way only my loved one heard in the pain shooting through his body. Names vary and change, depending on who you are, where you are, and when you are there.  Plants and people receive titles according to the labelers perspective.   Confusing to one may explain it all to another, or could lead everyone down the wrong path entirely.   c:

YOU CAN GROW THAT: squash isn’t just a child’s game!

When you follow the rules in gardening, it works.  When you don’t, it doesn’t.

A harvest in summer requires following the recipe in spring.

But the rules we must follow are not OURS.  They are nature’s rules.  That’s why gardening seems difficult.  We Americans tend to be proud of our rule-breaking ways! Actually, rules make things much easier and as Andy Rooney loved to ask, “EVER WONDER WHY…. ?”.  Well, in gardening, you don’t have to wonder.  The law of sowing and reaping cannot be bargained with or altered.  It offers a comforting predictability. Plant a squash seed, get a squash, unless yet another of nature’s rules intervenes, such as survival of the fittest squirrel or cutworm or squash bug. When it comes to planting any seed, it will have its own set of rules.  Too deep for one is just right or too shallow for another.  Think Goldilocks.  As trying as it may be, knowing thy seeds is much like knowing thy child (or spouse): they are all different and have specific needs that, like it or not, require meeting if they are to thrive.  Okay, back to seeds….  squash seeds, in particular. I grow primarily two types of summer squash. (I’ve put out seeds for winter squash, too, but those disappeared in a downpour the next day. Probably could look in my neighbor’s yard for them, but didn’t have a decent LOW-FODMAP recipe for them anyway, so just waved good-bye.)

4-6 seeds per mound for zucchini squash is a good start.

RULES FOR SUMMER SQUASH

1) Both my summer types – zucchini style and the yellow straight-neck – have the same basic needs list: SUN, WATER, and TIME.

2) Seeds sown in hills – with 5 or so seeds to a mound and a 1/2 inch soil and a sprinkling of pine straw mulch – is my success recipe. My daddy taught me how and his Uncle Jim taught him.

3) Germination to ripened harvest is a couple of months, but the time from production to harvest seems only a few minutes.  It’s a booger keeping up once they start popping. I find it easiest to have a couple of sowing dates (mid-March and mid-April here in Texas) so they don’t all ripen simultaneously. Squash fatigue sets in pretty quickly at my house.  If I miss early seeding because of a late-cool snap, I purchase plants from my local nursery instead of using open-pollinated seeds stored from last year’s crop, a reputable seed company or CSA.

4) Keep squash plants picked to keep them producing.  The flowers are also tasty, which alleviates some squash over-load.  Top a salad with a yellow squash bloom for a lovely edible garnish.  Folks here along the Gulf Coast eat them fried, too.  (I might try that this summer since my daughter found a gluten-free breadcrumb mix for me.  Thinking about using corn flakes as batter…anyone experimented with that?)

Slice squash thin for freezing or dehydrating.

5) Squashes are impatient. Pick while young so they aren’t tough. And since they rot quickly after harvesting, what I don’t eat or share, I slice thin, put on a cookie sheet in the freezer then into containers and back into the freezer.  Since slices freeze individually on the cookie sheet, they easily pour out individually.

Introducing children to gardening is one of my passions. Passing on to them that there are natural rules and consequences we cannot change makes for a more fruitful – and less frustrating – life, for both parent AND child.  So get a packet of squash seeds and grab a kid (your own, preferably).  A bit of spring sweat will turn sweet come summer.  In fact, it will be a summer neither of you will soon forget. c:

HIT:Gardening with kids teaches EVERYONE patience!

Container Gardening = Endless POTS-abilities

It can be overwhelming to start a project, can’t it.  There are just WAY too many possibilities.  But section it out, come up with a theme, and most of the choices are made for you.  If you haven’t started landscaping because you don’t know where to begin, how about putting it into perspective?  Bite off a small portion by beginning with a pot.  Not just any predictable pot, mind you.  Go with a theme, either based on the style of your environment or make an environment with your theme.  Clear as mud?

Fern urn or fern gully....your choice if you like shady characters!

In a couple of weeks, I’ll head to Little Rock to speak at the annual Arkansas Literary Festival.  I’ve been paired with one of the city’s own landscaping legends – author and owner of Botanica Gardens Chris Olsen – to show folks the easy way to DIG A LITTLE DEEPER into gardening.  Chris and I will put together some of our favorite plant combos for a little hands-on show-how for gardens anyone can make just about anywhere.  Whether it’s whimsy or wow you want,  a few simple tools and secret ingredients are all you need to create a barrel – or BUCKET – of fun.

TRADE SECRETS FOR POTTING IT UP!

HIT:sprinkle a few "watering crystals" into your potting soil to HALF the number of times you have to water your pots!

Soil: Scooping up a few handfuls of plain ‘ol dirt from your landscape just won’t cut it.  Why? Mainly because it lacks the ability to drain well, retain moisture and give off nutrients to your new plants.  A good potting soil will keep you steady on the tightrope between too much water and not enough. Don’t forget to feed it appropriately, too.  You wouldn’t give your baby dog food….although my nephew thought dog treats were cookies for some time!

Duel purpose, this container also holds rainwater runoff to irrigate the nearby veggie garden.

Container: Although it might hold plants just fine, your “pot” – in whatever form it comes – will probably need a few tweeks to make it a proper container for healthy plants.  Make sure there are holes of some sort for excess water to drain, or a “false bottom” allowing drainage to go somewhere else besides the root area.  Very few plants like wet feet. Or you can do what I do…put a smaller pot  within a larger, ornamental pot.

Instead of soil, I top the cinder blocks and brick pieces in this ornamental container with a FREE plastic pot from the nursery, insuring good drainage and easy change-ups!

And speaking of larger, teeny tiny pots = LOTS of trips with a watering can, so use the largest container possible to enable enough soil and water to be maintained around the roots of your plants.

Now that you have pot parameters, have some fun. Here are a few ideas you can borrow to explore the POTS-abilities for your landscape…….and I bet you’ll have a hard time containing yourself!

• JUST EAT IT! – no disrespect to Michael Jackson or Weird Al for his parody of Michael’s song, but this is an edible pot you just can’t BEAT; fill with lots of lettuce, garlic, onions and peppers for a salsa pot, or Italian herbs and tomatoes for a pizza pot
• MARGARITAVILLE  - combine some of your favorite adult beverage ingredients
• LEMONADE STAND – citrus won’t grow in your clime? put it in a moveable pot for a moveable feast (bring this inside for harsh winter protection)

• 

  This FAIRYLAND CASTLE pot I found at Blue Moon Gardens in Edom, TX.

• FAIRYLAND  -  a great one for little girls, or little girls at heart
• JURASSIC POT – plants that are as old as dinosaurs
• FERN GULLY – shady lovers
• CLIMBING TO NEW HEIGHTS – rebar, wire coat hangers, just about anything that can be bent to your will gives vines a chance to grow
• FOR THE BIRDS – berries and seeds and nesting, oh my!
• WINGED WONDERS – hummingbird and/or butterfly plants bring beauty to your balcony or patio
• LIGHT IT UP – pair flower bulbs with light bulbs for a night-time knock-out
• EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES – roses come in all shapes and sizes and most don’t mind be contained, so spill ‘em and stake ‘em and everything in between
• SEASONAL WISDOM – change out a couple of props, or do a make-over for each month’s special day
• CUT IT OUT – enjoy having cut flowers in your kitchen all the time? grow your own!
  

  Cut flowers from my yard in a vase my daughter made. LOVE monochromatic pairings!

• PRETTY IN PINK – monochromatic is NOT monotony (one of my favorite themes)
• UP AGAINST THE WALL – got a boring vertical space with no room below to garden? put a climber in a pot and give it something to hold on to then watch it go!
• LIVING IN A GOLDFISH BOWL- fish for compliments with watery delights in an old goldfish bowl or make it into a terrarium
• REBOOT – repurpose your favorite worn-out boots
• MINT TO DO THAT – plant your favorite add-on for iced tea within arm’s reach of your kitchen sink
• SWEET DREAMS – gather a few night-blooming plants for a dreamy combo

Now that I’ve stirred the pot, bet you come up with something even better.  Love to see what POTS-abilities you discover!

Easy to grow from seed: LET US have LETTUCE!

Some of the new kids on the block...or at least in MY block!

Some of my lettuce is beginning to bolt.  Just when it starts getting too hot in the kitchen and I prefer a cool salad over a warm meal, my salad fixins’ peter out on me.  While I LIKE flowers, when a stalk shoots up on lettuce to produce flowers – thus producing seeds – I know my fresh-from-the-garden lettuce days are numbered.

'Vulcan' lettuce from seed, new to my garden this year.

A few things about growing lettuce…..

1) Most salad greens – like lettuce and spinach – prefer cool weather.  That means the Gulf Coast version of winter makes perfect growing conditions, while summer (and spring and fall) are too hot for them.  They bolt, another word for “going to seed” as my grandmother called it.  When they start this route in order to propagate (make babies), the leaves soon turn bitter. I do have a couple of varieties that last a little longer: ‘Red Sails’ and an oakleaf type whose seeds came to me from a neighbor.  She calls it “Israel lettuce” and says seeds traveled to Texas in an unnamed pocket after a visit to the Holy Land. Jury’s still out on several new ones – a tennis ball heirloom I bought from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, ‘Vulcan’ that Sakata Seeds sent me and an organic blend given to me by Territorial Seed Company – to see how they do in the heat.*

2) They key is to NOT dig a hole for the tiny seeds; instead, dot them around on moist, scratched dirt and top with a sprinkling of potting soil.  Keep them damp, but don’t pour water. The deluge will dislodge the seeds and they’ll end up sprouting somewhere else, like at your neighbor’s house.

3) I start putting out seeds around Labor Day and plant a few more in a couple of weeks.  By Halloween, I’ve got enough salad to feed my subdivision.  I have enough to feed my family long before that.

4) Some folks swear they’ve found a good summer greens substitute with Malabar spinach.  I’ve grown this vine and while it is pretty, its taste is a bit strong to me.

5) Lettuce makes a great bed edging if you are more into aesthetics than edibles.

6) Salad greens work GREAT in pots if you are yardless, or if you have trouble bending to garden.

7) Different types of greens have different nutrient levels. Texas A&M put together a chart to show you what’s what.

HIT:lettuce is easy to grow from seed!

So…..would you like some seeds?  Leave a comment to tell me and I’ll mail some out when mine go to seed.  We’ll have a salad together.  Wanna try the Vulcan? Don’t know if it will last the summer, but put enough of my Asian dressing on it and I think even my garden clogs might taste pretty good!

Live long and prosper.

(*While I do not receive compensation, I was paid in SEED MONEY…..got free seeds from Territorial and Sakata companies.)

GARDEN DESIGN: Drawing Your Plan

Got a great view? Play it up. A not-so-great view? Put a mirror up instead!

Now that you have a BASIC LANDSCAPE LAYOUT graphed out from last time, you should know where permanent features and plants will be staying.  Time to make final decisions on what goes where for your new do/redo.

HIT: if you know the why, where, and what, PICKING PLANTS should be fun instead of overwhelming

1)  Think about the why of it to determine the where.  Clients tell me they want their summer kitchen in gazebo at the back of the property…..WHY?  Schlepping out to the back forty every time you want burgers isn’t practical. Locate things so they are the most convenient and work for you, not you for them.

2) Pick the right tool for the task.  Is the view from the guy behind you’s 2nd story gameroom YOUR family room?  Shade trees at the fence may seem the best solution, but how long it will take them to grow?  A pergola covered with fast-growing evergreen vines above the windows may be just right to block the view.  Make notes on your decisions.

3) Will it work?  Lay out your proposed new beds, patios, etc. not only on paper, but in your landscape.  Use a water hose, strings, or spray paint to mark things out and live with your new design for a few weeks, if possible.  Bed edges shouldn’t look like a drunk guy designed it – even if he DID.  Lawn areas need to be trial-run to ensure the mower will make the curves okay, too.  How about watering?  Can you get a wheel barrow to an area easily?  Think about maintenance as well as use.

Make your plan simple and easy to read.

Move all this onto a clean piece of graph paper that will be your final plan. Note existing materials and the new stuff, including sizes of items – including plants’ names, or at least sizes and types (15′ TREE vs. 3′ EVERGREEN SHRUB) –  even if you don’t know WHICH plants yet. To make wise plant choices, start by showing your plan to your local independent nurseryman. If you have a plant list or photos, those should go, too. (Remember, you taped those samples to the edge of your bubble diagram a few weeks ago?)  Contact your county extension office and Master Gardener groups. They’ll have lists of appropriate plant materials for your area and often give free classes. (By FREE I mean your tax dollars already paid for them!) I’m also a fan of native plant societies found in most states. They’re a great resource, with online plant lists and often with free classes and plant sales. Garden clubs, the Herb Society, community colleges, and many other groups offer free or inexpensive horticultural education classes, too.  And libraries and independent bookstores often have books and magazines featuring plants perfect for your area.

The best way to get a beautiful landscape? PLAN for it!

Okay, don’t get frustrated.  I’ve spent the last 20+ years doing this, so don’t expect to become an expert overnight.  You don’t have to know it all; you just have to know where to get help. And one of the spots you can get it is HERE.  Just send me a note and I’ll try to direct you down the right path.  Or even help you create the right one!

Landscape Design – STARTING YOUR LANDSCAPE PLAN, Part 1

Last time, we talked about how to get started with a landscape design plan, going over the pre-requisites to think about before you actually begin buying plants and installing them.  You are ready to put your homework to the test: time to start drawing your plan.

Creating a landscape plan shouldn't leave you STUCK without options!

Now, don’t get skeerd, as we say in Texican.  Nobody else will see your masterpiece unless you show them.  This is a simple schematic drawing that gives you a road map so you can actually arrive at your destination with the least amount of detours.

HIT: Dig out your property's PLAT, an easy way to get exact dimensions for your landscape plan.

MAKE A PROPERTY MAP, using either graph paper or a FREE downloaded pattern on standard computer paper.  Draw your property to scale.  I like to make 1 square=1 foot, mainly because it’s easy.  If you don’t have a plat with your home and surrounding yard’s dimensions from when you purchased your property, walk off the area you’ll be landscaping.  (For you left-brainers, take your tape measure to get it exact or you won’t be able to sleep tonight.)  Mark all existing plants that will remain as well as property lines and easements.  I use an “X”  with the variety name – if you know them – for trees and squiggly circles colored in for shrubs.  This is also a good time to find out if your community has stipulations for changes to your property and note those, such as types of fences allowed if that’s one of the items on your agenda.

A BUBBLE DIAGRAM prescribes what will go where in the area you are landscaping.  Inexpensive tracing paper placed over your scaled property map gives a backdrop of the permanent fixtures.

plat

Begin with a simple "bubble diagram" to get your ideas onto paper.

Now draw “bubbles” to show where your new additions will be.  This method allows painless changes to be made, making a new patio larger or smaller or even moving it to the other side of the backyard simply by putting a clean sheet of tracing paper on top.  It can be as detailed as you’d like, but I usually make general notations at this step.  You might want to tape photos – of bed border materials (like a specific stone you like), hardscaping (such as tumbled pavers), furniture or any other features on your wish list – on the edge of your bubble diagram.  (Use painter’s or masking tape so it’s removable, just in case you find something you like better!)

I don’t mean to leave you dangling, but….. Well, actually, I do, with the intent of giving you a chance to get ready for the next step, a leap from your preliminary to your permanent plan by PICKING MATERIALS, including plants.  Time to get your wallet out because we’re going shopping!

Landscape Design-WHERE DO I BEGIN?

We just bought a house and the “landscape” consists of a few trees and a weird assortment of shrubs here and there.  Where should we start?

HIT: plan before you buy to save bucks and backs!

All of us long for a yard out of Southern Living or Architectural Digest.  In reality, most of us inherit something between The Jungle Book and Grapes of Wrath, so let’s do an overview of how to start a home landscape plan.

Don't make a trip to the nursery without a list of what you need....THINK ABOUT IT 1st!

DESIGN PROCESS  Unless you already know the principles of design or have a plan in your hand, visiting the nursery with your pocketbook instead of your notebook is an exercise in frustration. Even if you have the luxury of a local, independent nursery with appropriate plant materials for your area AND great advice on how to use them, hold off on going there.  Nurseries sell gazing balls, not crystal ones. The answers to “how many” and “which kind” can’t be answered by anyone till you know what the purpose of each plant will be in your landscape.

• 1st STEP     Section your home’s landscape into three parts: PUBLIC (street side, or accessible to passersby), PRIVATE (often the backyard, but any area invited guests will see), and SERVICE (where you keep things you need but don’t want others to see).  Sometimes necessity dictates locating service items in the public or private areas, but don’t add to a utility box’s obviousness by planting geraniums around it!
• 2ND STEP     Look honestly at each of these spaces and note anything you can move to better segregate items into their designated areas.  Will bringing the fence three feet forward hide the trash can?  Is the 1′ turquoise tile birdbath from your mother-in-law a good fit in front of your 3-story Cape Cod home or better in the rose garden out back? Take into consideration style, size/scale, and purpose to decide where items should be placed, or if they should be in your landscape at all.  You’ll be surprised the immediate difference a few small changes will make.
  

  MYTH: never enough chotchkies. Know when to say NO!

• 3RD STEP     Take a personal inventory of what you need to make your landscape more usable year round.  Do you need sit-down dining for 10 or will a couple of comfortable chairs and a side table be sufficient?  How about something to bring in wildlife, or keep it away?  Would you like a beautiful view out of specific windows or to erase the vision of your neighbor’s car on blocks?  Write your wish list down and rate them as to what’s most important.
  

  Considering seating? Cushioned chairs are more comfortable - but often more MAINTENANCE - than a bench.

We’ll go over the steps to drawing up a landscape plan that fits any budget, but feel free to COMMENT or SEND PHOTOS with specific questions about your home landscape plan in the meantime. And if you’re in the Houston area, come see me at the SUGAR LAND HOME AND GARDEN SHOW on Saturday, January 21st where I’ll show you how to revive your DROUGHT-STRICKEN yard!