Gardens

Refresh, Renew, Redo

Advice for Green Thumbs

    So you want to refresh or renew or completely redo your garden, but you just don’t have any idea where to start. Let us see if I can help you a bit.
    Lists are a great way to start. The first list should be a “wish list” of sorts—how you want or need your garden to work for you and your family; features you have always desired but didn’t think you could have; aspects you have always hated but didn’t know how to change. Garden design usually breaks down into two categories—hardscape and softscape. Fences, paving, irrigation, arbors, etc., are considered hardscape, and the plants are the softscape; don’t worry about plants here—that’s another list.
    After the wish list, make a second list, one as specific and realistic as possible. For instance, how much time and desire do you and your family have to play in the dirt? Think maintenance here, so be brutally honest and realistic. Are your children young enough to need a place to play and for how many more years? Once kids are in the double-digit age spectrum, they would usually rather play anywhere else but home. Is there a dog that must be considered? Is privacy an issue? Liking your neighbors is a good thing, but do you want to make eye contact every time you go into your garden?
    Now you can work on your plant list. Have a column for likes, dislikes, favorite colors, fragrance or no fragrance, flowers or no flowers, and so on.
    Spend some time in your garden simply looking at it. Notice how much direct sunlight you get (or don’t get) in any given spot; check it morning, noon and evening to get a full and accurate picture. Think about sunlight and the changing seasons and where the sun is during the winter as opposed to spring and summer. Is there “borrowed” landscape in your neighbor’s garden that needs to be considered, including trees that affect your sunlight and thusly your landscape? Is there an eyesore on the other side of the fence that offends you every time you go outside? Has that beautiful tree you planted when you first moved into your home now grown so tall that it has changed your environment? Just this past week, I was in my back garden planting my herbs and feeling frustrated because they just haven’t thrived for the past few years. Taking the time to really look up, I realized that my neighbor’s lovely tulip magnolia (magnolia soulangeana) that grows over my east fence (borrowed landscape) had developed such a tall canopy that it extends over my already sun-deprived patio some 15 feet, filtering all but a few hours of valuable sunlight.
    Really looking at your garden with a fresh perspective can be very illuminating. What worked beautifully 20 years ago may be all wrong today. For instance, lawns are a useful playground for small children, but as they grow older, the paved area becomes the desired place to be. The sandbox and swing set are abandoned for the patio table and lounge chairs. Interestingly, even adults seldom venture off the hardscape patio onto the lawn, no matter how crowded
the patio may get. When considering a paved patio or a deck, be sure to make it large enough to accommodate all the people and furniture you expect to be on it—and leave room to spare.
    Just because something has always been there does not mean it has to stay there. Often reconfiguring a walk can change the whole dynamic of a garden; replacing a lawn with paving can do the same. Adding a simple metal arch can enhance an entrance or subtly direct traffic; cover it with a colorful blooming vine and it can distract the eye from that eyesore next door. Removing a less-than-desirable tree can open up whole new vistas or create a totally new environment by letting in more light. In that same vein, a lovely green wall or hedge can create a private room and act as a background for garden art, a specimen plant or a colorful border. I love the look that a clipped ribbon of green hedge adds to the landscape. From a practical standpoint, that ribbon of green can cover a multitude of sins (weeds, less-than-wonderful annuals, dead leaves, etc.); from an aesthetic standpoint, it can be the soothing element in the untamed garden or enhance an interesting architectural feature.
    Are you familiar with the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”? Well, taking photos of your garden and then printing them in an 8-by-11-inch format can be a worthwhile effort. Choose as many views as possible, including from inside looking out and from across the street if working on the front garden. Creating your own album helps you study the site and conceptualize any enhancements or changes. You can also sketch on the printouts to help get a better visualization. When I advise customers on their gardens, I always stress that it is much like layering a cake—the hardscape being the cake and the plants are simply the icing on the top. Irrigation, either installing or changing, is the first step, followed by the hardscape—paving, fencing, arbors, stones, —and finally the planting.
    If you find that you are still undecided and will need professional help, know that all of your efforts have not been for naught. Those lists and photos will be a goldmine of information to whomever you choose to help you. Remember, a garden is always a work in progress.

—By Iris Watson