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| Large Terrace for Dining and Intertaining |
Design of Garden
In January 1992, we began the design of the new garden. The house was built with a number of windows to the back and with a glass Garden Room with a wrap around deck overlooking the garden.
It was our intent that the design of the garden was to be a four seasons, strolling garden with color year round. We wanted calm and not too much chaos, formal and yet a little informal, color and fragrance, a little whimsy, delight and amusement and something new and exciting each step as you stroll around the garden paths. We also wanted to attract birds and butterflies and some wildlife.
Plants with texture, interesting foliage, color and fragrance were to be used. Since we had both sun and shady areas there could be a variety of plants.The original design of the garden was to be large terraces with island beds for planting and a large decomposed granite area in the center of the garden with a grass path around the garden.
Since we had a rainy season, we were not able to get grass planted until April and then soon had problems with the grass. We decided to make numerous changes in the plan and over several years the following garden design was accomplished.
High Maintenance Grass: While St. Augustine grass is probably not the best grass for our area, it still remains the grass of choice. It has a flat dark green appearance and takes foot traffic fairly well; however, it has a number of problems such as damage from chinch bugs, grub worms, brown patch and St. Augustine decline, etc. It was our hope that the new grass would not give us problems for several years, however, much to our dismay, within three months it was diseased. We were advised to treat it a number of times with Actinovate, but this did not seem to help and the next Spring the disease was back again, even more so.
Due to the water restrictions and the grass having so many problems and requiring more maintenance, we decided to eliminate all grass in the back garden by putting in a pave stone pathway.
Pave Stone Pathway: When we did away with the grass in the back garden a new 6' X 6' pave stone pathway was added that circled the entire garden. We used 16" X 16" brick faced pavers and added small decomposed granite on each side with matching stone edging. This is an enjoyable walk around the garden as you are seeing something of interest on both sides and the trees stand tall above you.
Soil: The soil in the garden was almost solid limestone. A few inches of topsoil had been added but due to the heavy rains during the winter, most of it was washed away. The lot slopes away from front to back, and while this is excellent for drainage, soil is lost in heavy rains. Since there was only a small amount of soil on top of the limestone, we knew it would be difficult not only to plant anything but to keep it growing. Every hole for plants had to be dug with a hatchet or crowbar; however, we found if we planted the proper plants they adapt readily to the limestone and do well with a minimum of water since the limestone acts as a sponge and holds water gradually releasing it to the plants.
Decomposed Granite: A large decomposed granite circle was put in the center of the garden with a number of native trees. Yaupon Holly is planted around four different clusters of trees. This is a very inexpensive and low maintenance way to take up a large area of the garden and still have something of interest. The Yaupons are usually watered about three times each season. The numerous Cedar Elm Trees have very small leaves and usually do not need much raking. A large Birdbath sits in the center of the decomposed granite and a pathway in this area curves around from the large terrace and back up to the deck.
Island Flower Beds: This type of flower bed takes much less water, as well as making maintenance easier since you have access from both sides and there is only a short distance across each bed. These island beds are between 3' to 5' wide, some being larger in areas to vary the design. When these type beds are planted densely, they appear to be much larger, as you do not realize there is a walkway behind them.
Terraces: One large pave stone terrace was installed at the beginning, then four more were added at different times around the glass garden room, each surrounded by island flower beds. Pave stone walkways are throughout the garden.
Balance of Hardscape to Softscape: In this type design, a balance must be met between the hardscape such as the terraces, decomposed granite, pave stone terraces and pathways and the soft scape of the plants, container plants, shrubs and trees.
Keeping Year Round color: This was achieved in several ways. Planting substantially in all the flower beds so that when one plant goes out of bloom, the next one is coming on. There is not one specific area with a lot of the same plant, such as a day lily bed, but plants are repeated throughout the garden. In this way, there is not an area that blooms for one month, then has only low greenery and then goes completely dormant.
Plants that have year round color were used with Winter color coming from the gold of the Aucuba and the peach, gold, rust, yellow and red from the Nana and San Gabriel Nandina. The whites, grays and silver from Artemisia, Powis Castle, Santolina, Silver Germander, Chinese Privot and Texas Sage. The reds come from the Martha Gonzales Rose and Cramoisi Superieur Rose, Loreopetulum, Iresine and Purple Oxalis, etc. Different shades of green such as the light blue green of the Columbine, the pale fern green of the Fern Yarrow to the deep green of the Eonymus and tall Will Fleming Yaupon.
Ground Covers: It is necessary to have ground covers in our garden due to the winter wind blowing wild seeds in from plants and trees and the seedlings are everywhere in the spring. If you don't cover the ground Mother Nature will cover it for you and it is not always something you want. Heavy mulch does not seem to control them. We use variegated Ivy which is easily contained in the island beds, Erigeron (Fleabane) which gets about eight inches tall and spreads quite well, Variegated Vinca, Trailing Ruella and gray Wooly Stemodia.
Vegetable Garden and Herbs: A small garden in a sunny corner of the garden was set aside for vegetables and was then filled with a garden soil of loam, sand and compost. A space was also reserved in this area for a herb garden that usually has garlic chives, Greek oregano, and rosemary that are used year round in cooking and in the summer basil, lemon balm, and dill are added. A new plant this year called Thyme Oregano was added. Thyme does not do well in this area so we are hoping this new plant will work here. It looks like Thyme but the aroma is both like Oregano and Thyme.
Objects for Year Round Interest: In order that there was something of interest to see each step along the path, whimsical items were placed throughout the garden. For year round interest, we added objects such as birdbaths, fountains, benches, garden furniture for relaxing and dining, arbors, Mexican fireplace (chiminea), birdhouses, and colorful rocks, which also add to the garden when it goes into winter dormancy.
Statues: Statues were placed throughout the garden. These were purchased over the years for special occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays, etc. They are set on stones with a small walkway and or terrace that leads up to each one. They are all set on axis so that if you stand in the center of the large decomposed granite circle in the center of the garden, each of these large statues can be seen.
The Garden House: The Garden House was designed to blend in with the main house and was situated as a focal point for the entire garden. While the Garden House is only 8' X 10', it still seems to have plenty of storage space for pots, urns, garden equipment, etc.
The rafters were left exposed for hanging tools, peg board, etc. A number of long shelves are there for storage.
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