Rediscover the Connection with Nature with Beautiful and Undemanding Plants

I hope spring has revived your gardening interests to rediscover your connection with nature, and that you have been well.  My spring clean-up is not done yet; I’m still finishing bird netting over my strawberries, refreshing mulch, and getting my irrigation in shape.In my last two posts, I was considering how hardscape has come to dominate many of our landscapes, and how the beauty, intimacy and romance has gone out of them. Today I want to show how well-selected plants can balance out the hard structures making our gardens softer and more welcoming.[I’ll be speaking about this topic at the Water Conservation Garden on June 11, from 10-12 a.m. Come and join me and see more in-depth information and examples. I’d love to see you there!]This design looks like many prized landscapes that boast a lot of flawless architecture; an artful pool, perfect stucco’ed retaining walls, a big deck with BBQ and Palapa dominate this backyard. Naturally we are proud of the beautiful materials used in these designs, but to me these landscapes look overdesigned and lifeless; I feel that they miss the opportunity to provide a true connection to the land, our family, even ourselves.However, our gardens can be ideal vehicles to give our lives greater depth when we give plants greater importance and let them enchant us, when we let them make our gardens softer and more welcoming. Here is a list of plants that have presence in the garden, have in their combined use strong emotional impact and fulfill many of the functions that we have handed over to the “hardscapes”. Most of these are very drought-conscious or drought tolerant, so not only do they serve our immediate needs, they also help conserve water...

TREES

Most gardens, even the smallest ones, need at least one or two trees. Trees shelter a garden space; anchor a home to its site by giving it the right proportions; they can frame a view, impart age and “wisdom” and provide needed shade and well-being. As architectural elements, they provide a “vertical element”; give a sense of place.The following lists are by no means exhaustive; they only give a glimpse of what’s possible.Obviously, a good choice unites the site conditions with the tree’s character as well as the likes and dislikes of the person who will live with the tree.Also, consider that a tree that naturally suckers can be trained into a “multi-trunked” tree that offers the opportunity to enjoy its trunks better, show off its shape and create an open, airy screen. A multi-trunk Crape Myrtle comes to mind…Medium to large deciduous trees: canopies for shelter and shadeChinaberry Melia azederachWhite Empress Tree Paulownia fortuneChinese Pistache Pistachia chinensisChinese Flame Tree Koelreuteria bipinnataMesquite Propopis spp.Mimosa or  Silk Tree Albizia julibrissinEvergreen treesStrawberry Tree Arbutus ‘Marina’Texas Olive Cordia boissieriSweet Bay Laurus nobilisPhoenix Date Palm PhoenixOak (many species) Quercus spp.MagnoliaAcacia & Wattle (many) Acacia spp.Primrose Tree Lagunaria patersoniiSmall deciduous, attention-grabbing speminen treesPaperbark Marple Acer griseuChinese Fringe Tree Chionanthus retusCrape Myrtle Lagerstroemia indica & Lagerstroemia hybridsPalo Verde Parkinsonia aculeataCalifornia Buckeye, Horse Chestnut Aesculus californicaTrees with distinctive foliage and/or attractive fall foliage; or with great winter silhouetteCrape Myrtle Lagerstroemia spp.‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud Cercis Canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’Locust Robinia pseudoacaciaMesquite Prosopis spp.California Buckeye Aesculus californicusCork Oak Quercus suber

ENCLOSURES & SCREENING  (TREES & SHRUBS)

Let plants do the screening and enclosing (or at least hide the hard materials). The enclosure responds to an ancient desire for protection, and screening out an unwanted view or our neighbors’ homes and windows creates the best environment in which we can feel completely at ease, relax and connect with ourselves.Camouflaging the boundaries to our private “universe” creates the sense that we are surrounded by nature which can make our gardens feel larger. Hedges of mixed plantings can provide a good screen or enclosure that requires only minimal pruning and shows off a variety of textures and colors.Screening Plants (some might need gentle pruning to integrate into the hedge)Toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia (a California native)Yew Pine Podocarpus macrophylus and P. macrophyllus maki Shrubby Yew PineOleander Nerium oleanderBamboo Bambusa spp.Lemon Bottle Brush Callistemon citrinusBay Laurus nobilisBoxwood  Buxus sempervirens (when left unclipped as it is rarely seen, it develops a form that is sensuous and curvaceuous)Exclamation points & Beacons; “Power Plants”, & columnar/fastigiated plantsThese are plants with strong presence that replace gate columns or other devices of directing traffic; they also impart a very personal character to the garden.Cedar Cedrus spp.Boxwood Buxus sempervirensGreenlee’s Blue Rocket Cupressus guadalupensis ‘Greenlee’s Blue Rocket’Tecate Cypress Cupressus forebesiiItalian Cypress Cupressus sempervirensBottlebrush ‘Sim’ Callistemon vimiminalis ‘Slim’Icee Blue Yellow-Wood Podocarpus ‘Icee Blue’Kohuhu Pittosporum tenuifolium (various)

THE FOREGROUND

Some form of pavement might be welcome for certain activities in the garden, such as dining, lounging or hanging around a pool.  However, many plants can be employed to soften the edges of pavement, to connect spaces, and to break up large expanses of pavement.They can also guide our paces and allow rich encounters in the garden. Their closeness to the visitor demands a variety of textures and colors.Low-growing, softening perennialsTrailing Buttercups, Sundrops Calylophus drummondii (or Calylophus hartwegii)Little One Verbena Verbena bonariensis ‘Little One’Stalked Bulbine Bulbine frutescensGround Morning Glory Convolvulus mauritanicus (C. sabatius)Woodland Strawberry Fragaria vesca F. vesca californica (fruit bearing, excellent groundcover for shady situations)Pink Spice Cranesbill Pelargonium ionidiflorum

THE MID GROUND

Mid ground shrubs anchor the design, provide longevity and structure; they serve as also fillers; some can do double duty as accents.  For these, I like to use shrubs with woody character; they are needed to “ground” the soft and inherently ephemeral perennials. In most designs, I prefer evergreen shrubs; they need not be shrubs with attractive bloom.In landscapes with more succulents, I like to use shrubby succulents that keep their form and their ‘leafy’ or fleshy foliage (Senecio, Aeonium haworthii).Mid-ground shrubsDwarf variegated Myrtle Myrtle Myrtus communis ‘Variegata’ compactaCreeping Barberry Berberis repensHummingbird Sage Salvia spathaceae  (California native plant)Rockrose ‘Sunset’ Cistus ‘Sunset’ 2-3 x 6-8 ft; evergreen, magenta flowersSenecio amanensisAeonium haworthiiGeraldton Waxflower ‘Purple Gem’ and ‘Purple Pride’ Chamaelaucium uncinatumBlue Bells Eremophila hygrophanaGrevillea rosmarinifolius ‘Scarlet Sprite’ , foundation shrub, 4-5 ft,Cacti, succulents, yucca-like plants: Plants with striking foliage and/or formCentury Plant Agave spp. Aloe spp.Candelabra Cactus Cereus peruvianusSotol Dasylirion spp.Dragon Tree Dracaena dracoBarrel Cactus Echinocactus spp.Beargrass Nolina spp.Prickly Pear OpuntiaYuccaClumping Bamboo Bambusa spp.Sago Palm Cycas revolutaChamal Dioon spp.

THE LARGE STUFF: Accents & “signature”

Sometimes it’s useful to employ shrubs that draw the eye, perhaps in order to distract from an unwanted sight behind it… These shrubs can be “signature” plants that enhance or underline the character of the garden: Subtropical, or Mediterranean, or California native, or Urban/modern.Tecoma ‘Solar Flare’Texas Ranger Leucophyllum frutescensBaja Fairy Duster Calliandra californicaBrazilian Copper Tree Euphorbia cotinifoliaArabian Lilac Vitex trifolia ‘Purpurea’Large backround shrubsSome shrubs are needed to simply give the illusion of being surrounded by endless nature, as back ground plants.Griselinia Griselinia littoralisSweet Olive Osmanthus fragransToyon Heteromeles arbutifoliaBay Laurus nobilis

EMOTIONAL IMPACT, NOT ARCHITECTURE

I believe a garden, in order to enhance our connection with nature, to nurture us and to be memorable, needs to appeal to our emotions, whether is has a modern geometric design or is more free-form, naturalistic in character. I’d do this by making the garden look “grown” and casual, not forced, like in this example: When creating a southwest garden and imitating the desert floor, consider a mix of several sizes and textures of that hard material: A desert floor is made up of fine textured sand, coarser gravel, and small and large pebbles interspersed with rocks. A groundcover therefore made of a uniform cover of gravel would look unnatural.Placement and size of plants: When placing a bold grouping of, say, Barrel Cacti, make sure the placement is asymmetrical, in order to achieve a nature-made effect. Introduce these plants in different sizes, not all the same which would look contrived.Mix textures:  Avoid making a garden with only strong textured plants; in nature, those plants are always surrounded by more ephemeral, fine textured plants.In other words, study how plants and landscapes grow… disguise the hand that is designing the garden, and aim for the emotional impact that a naturalistic garden can impart, even when it is a geometrically organized, modern design.Look to my next post for more on how plants can help us create living designs.