Our final column is an introduction to landscape development, which can be a timely exercise in the early winter months.
This column can be downloaded from the Sentinel archive: tinyurl.com/59mvjvtm.
If you have progressed through the early stages of garden development as shown in this column, you now have (a) annotated drawings to scale of the area to be developed, (b) plants and buildings that you wish to keep (not the ones you selected to remove ). ), (c) plans for the general development of the park, and (d) new trails or other landscaping required for the new development.
Congratulations on your progress. This takes a lot more work than reading my column!
The next part of the garden development process involves landscaping and plant selection.
Before delving into this topic, please note that today's photos do not illustrate any aspect of garden development. Illustrative photos are irrelevant, since the development of your garden involves a multitude of possibilities, many different garden situations and the personal preferences and aesthetic approaches of every gardener. As you think about your garden development project, you can visualize your goals by visiting other gardens in person or virtually, reading gardening magazines and books, and searching online for ideas and inspiration.
With that in mind, today's photo shows a seasonal garden scene: some winter flowers and some heralds of spring.
Let's return to the process of mastering the garden.
First, let's admit that garden planning (discussed above) and landscape design involve both aesthetic choices and practical considerations. For present purposes, we consider garden planning to be the initial stages of garden design in relation to the size and shape of tracts, the pathways between those tracts, and other landscape features. Landscaping is the next stage related to the spatial relationships of plants.
The third stage is the selection of plants, which will be our next study.
Although we could discuss these topics separately, they are interrelated and builders need to keep them in mind, shifting attention from one to the other as needed.
exterior design
If you're designing more than one bed, you might want to think of a different layout for each bed. A bed dedicated to edible horticulture is beyond the scope of today's column; We only refer to decorative landscapes.
The design process can start with a floor plan (areas you want to see) and screenshots (areas you don't want to see).
The entire park is visible, but certain points of interest may be present. Make a list of the areas you want to see and use in the landscaping. It can be an area visible from inside the home, next to a porch or patio, or any other location chosen in the garden design.
Also consider "borrowed landscapes" that are an interesting sight outside of your garden, near or far. Plan your landscaping so that these areas are visible and even framed with plants in the garden.
Then make a list of areas that you want to be less visible. Garden options include a place to store trash cans, an air conditioner or power generator, a gardening area, a pet aviary, etc. These areas may be obscured by well-placed bushes or trees, but still provide easy access.
Identify the "credit picture" you do not want to see. This can be a utility, an industrial facility, or a nearby building that may be surrounded by a fence, tall shrub, or tree. Screening decisions protect the aesthetics of the landscape and should not impact public outreach or perpetuate closure.
Landscaping can be based on any of the recognized gardening styles: traditional, formal, regional, naturalistic, ecological, etc. Adopting a particular landscape style can be both challenging and rewarding when embracing the specific style and character of the landscape. .
Many different styles are featured in gardening books and magazines. We cannot include these descriptions in this section, but interested gardeners have free access to online descriptions of the various styles. A Google search for "garden style" yields a great list of sites to explore. An example is prettypurpledoor.com, which provides an overview of the four broad categories of garden styles.
With so many options for garden designs and garden styles, a short list of landscaping rules can help with plant placement.
• Rule number 1: Determine the size of mature plants before planting them in the garden.
• rule no. Tip #2: Place plants in spots that offer a view and don't interfere with neighboring plants or walkways.
• rule no. 3: Place the taller plants behind or in the middle of the flower beds to show off the shorter ones.
Map out your landscape on your garden drawing, labeling individual plants with their category names: ground cover, small shrubs, large shrubs, vines, small trees, and large trees. These labels can be your own sketches or if you have digital art skills you can use plant symbols available online. For example: ideas spectrum.com.
This exercise focuses on the type and number of plants to be included in the project rather than the selection of specific plants, which we will discuss in the next column.
Enjoy your garden!
Tom Carwin - Past President of the Friends of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and Monterey Bay Iris Society, Past President and Life Member of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society and University of California Master Gardener for Life (certified 1999-2009). Today he is a board member of the Santa Cruz Hostel Society and active in the Pacific Horticultural Society. To see daily photos of his garden https://www.facebook.com/ongardeningcom-
566511763375123/. For gardening information and an archive of past gardening columns, visit http://ongardening.com.
