Satori Garden Design

In Praise of the “old-fashioned”

Camellia japonica happily hugging a partly shady wall

I’m reading a book right now called the “Paradox of Choice.”  As you can probably guess, it’s premise is that we now have tremendous choice in our lives about virtually everything and this is not necessarily a good thing.  In landscape design it’s no different, there is an exploding array of new plants and materials to choose from.  It’s thrilling to discover a new variety of something, and instantly one thinks “hmm, where can I use this?”   But time and time again, I am reminded about how some “old timers” like the Camellia are still as relevant and appropriate as ever.  For some, the Camellia just seems like something out of grandma’s garden and it definitely does reside there next to the twisting juniper and overgrown jade plant.  Just because the Camellia is at home in the garden’s of yore doesn’t mean it’s not a super performer in today’s garden.  Let me count the ways…..Camellia’s bloom when not much else does (mainly winter), Camellia’s are generally easily espaliered saving ton’s of “floor space” and providing a nice wall of glossy green leaves and blooms,  Camellia’s have limited pest problems and once established are surprisingly thrifty on water and Camellia’s can brighten up a shady area like few other plants.  The right Camellia can fit in with many different garden styles…cottage, Mediterranean, Japanese, formal, etc…

For an excellent selection of Camellias check out Nuccio’s nursery in Alta Dena.  They sell retail and wholesale and are very helpful in getting you the perfect Camellia for your location and design.  Here are some helpful care tips for Camellias.

A Plant Geek’s Favorite

amazing Euphorbias

Like any self-respecting plant geek, hardly a day goes by when I don’t fall in love with a new plant or revisit an old favorite.  In fact, for me, the challenge of designing landscapes is more what plants to leave out than which ones to put in.  BUT… if you where to aim a garden hose at me and force me to decide I would say Euphorbia’s were my all time favorite.  They are a huge and varied genus ranging from ground hugging Euphorbia myrsinites to striking succulent forms E. canariensis.  There are euphorbia’s with very soft, textural qualities like E. dulcis ‘Chameleon’ and there are stiff, oddly beautiful forms like E. resinifera. I have placed the E. characias ‘Portuguese Velvet‘ in a cottage garden and used a E. tirucalli (sticks on fire) in a very clean-lined modern design.  And as far as blooms are concerned, well few last as long as the fused bracts (which form around the true flowers) of the E. characias wulfenii.  And with striking colored foliage like the blue of Euphorbia ‘Blue Haze’ or the copper wine of E. continifolia, euphorbia’s look good year round.

In general euphorbia’s are tough, pest resistant, water thrifty plants.  Their milky white sap is known to be irritating so take care when pruning.

Here’s a great article on Euphorbia’s if you want to know more about this amazing plant.

Plants that go POW!

I love plants that put on a show when the rest of the landscape is going through the “drabs.”  Take this little Ginko biloba for instance.  I was driving home from the market and it practically jumped out in front of my car.  It’s so gorgeous and delicate.  This tree makes a great case for deciduous trees because it is always interesting.  Even when it drops it leaves it does so politely all at one time creating a very pretty golden leaved mulch.  I’m lucky enough to have 3 mature Ginkos, one of which tops 50 feet.

Here’s a work-in-progress list of plants that go POW! in the fall and winter for our mild Southern California climate. Please send me your favorites.

What’s in a name?…a lot actually.

Cat Claw Vine or Macfadyena unguis-cati

Sure it’s a lot easier to say “Cat Claw Vine” than Macfadyena unguis-cati but knowing the botanical name of plants goes beyond the verbal gymnastics.  The latin names tell us a lot about the plant.  For instance, the first part of the name tells us what genus the plant is in while the second tells us the variety.  The botanical name can give us hints about the plant in question.  Undulatum would denote an undulating leaf margin while palmatum describes a palm-shaped leaf and serritifolia tells us the leaf margin is serrated.  We get color hints too; alba for white, glauca for a blueish color, incanus for gray, and ruber (rubrum), sanguineus, roseus, and coccineus all denote red.  Plant growth habits can be described as redolens (low and spreading), pendula (weeping), compacta (I bet you can guess that one) and so on.  Sometimes the names reflect the region where the plant grows such as californica, pacificum, japonica (japan), chinensis (china), etc… While other times the name just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense like with Erigeron karvinskianu (this name might reflect the name of the plant’s discoverer) or Cornus controversa (can’t even guess on that one).

Botanical names don’t change by region the way common plant names do, but they do change when botanist determine that a plant is a member of a different genus than previously thought.  Quite a bit of this is happening now due to advances in genome typing.  The former botanical names tend to hang on for a while at the nurseries and with the plant folks out there.  It can be a challenge to learn a new name for a plant you’ve known by another name for so long.  And don’t even get me started on spelling!

Helpful links:  for common and botanical cross-referencing, for the plant geeks take the taxonomy quiz, to learn how cultivar names are chosen.