Satori Garden Design

If there’s running water…they will come

Last August I finally acted on a long time urge to get some high quality bird feeders in my garden. I was just leaving Arrowhead with my family after a week at Bruinwoods UCLA family camp when I spied a cute little store that was all about birds. I rushed in and pick up two great feeders one for tiny birds and one for larger birds. I immediately filled and hung the feeders when I got home. I was told that in a week or two “you’ll have more birds than you know what to do with.” Well, I didn’t. We all waited and waited for those birds to come for months. I was worried the food would spoil before I had any visitors. Then I was listening to a speaker talk about supporting habitat in your garden and someone in the audience mentioned that she hand-waters her garden and has a ton of birds. Aha! I had just that week repaired a fountain that had been broken and it was now running – would this do the trick? It did! I soon had lots of birds. Now my challenge is keeping the feeders full and the cats in “observation only” distance.  We have our feeders hung so that they are viewable from our family room sofa.  I also have hummingbird feeders hung just outside my kitchen sink.  It’s nice to have visitors.

Bike storage that looks good

now that's a solution

Some storage solutions are just plain unattractive, and I’ve found this to be especially true for bike storage.  Unless you are willing to invest in a custom made bike shed you are either left with leaving your bikes outside to rust or putting them into some bulky plastic tomb.  (Okay maybe a few of you out there can actually fit all of your bikes in your garage – this post is not for you)

I feel in love with this bike locker at first sight.  It’s sleek and practical and fits 3 adult bikes.  Now you won’t throw your back out getting your bike out of some crowded corner.

Here’s a few sites that I found who sell this item:

http://www.bikecare.co.uk/cycle_shelters.html

http://www.taylorsgardenbuildings.co.uk/store/customer/product.php?productid=17106

Solitude and Unexpected Beauty

collection of heart-shaped rocks

Last week after the winds and before the torrential rains I took a hike up Westridge.  On a whim, I went by myself and I’m so glad because it was gorgeous, clear and quite.  It does something for your soul to be out in an expansive natural environment.  For a few hours I replaced the onslaught of ringing phones, questions and requests with the buzz of insects and twitter of birds.  I visited a collective shrine of sorts that my friend, Ania, had showed me.  I was pleased that the collection of heart-shaped rocks had grown.  I added a tiny white heart (it’s the one winking on the bottom of the image). Every time I go on a hike I think “Why don’t I do this more often?”  I hope this year I won’t have to ask myself that anymore.

Little Helpers (on their own terms)

At some point or another most parents who have put in a garden have wistfully imagined their kids joining in of the garden chores.  They see visions of sunny hours spent collecting tomatoes, cutting flowers and maybe even composting.  Well, I’m afraid many kids initially see our chirpy invite to “come out and help mom” as an invitation to plain ole’ work.  Not that I had a choice when I was young.  Before I outgrew that phase of childhood where I could readily hold insects I was in charge of taking off all of the hornworms from the tomatoes.  Okay, those things are freaky!  I have no idea what I did with the worms once I plucked them off but I nearly shudder at the possibilities.  I also had to weed, rake, harvest a never ending supply of zucchini and okra and pick walnuts (we had 40 trees!).  Believe me – my sister, Carrie, and I knew what chores were.  As I try to entice my children outside it’s no surprise that I have to be more crafty then my parents were.  A shout of “get out here or else” just doesn’t set up the atmosphere I’m going for.  Instead, I must tap into each personality I’m dealing with.  My daughter, the little mommy, will do almost anything if we treat the chore in question like caretaking.  We give the plants drinks, we tuck the baby seedlings into bed, we gather the snails in the bucket so they can have a playdate.  That sort of thing.  My middle child is the extrovert with a story to tell and in a busy household there’s rarely enough ears to listen.  He’ll join in on a chore if it means he has my undivided attention.  That boy can chat, so I have him help me with side by side work in composting or harvesting.  My oldest gets excited if there’s some pounding or cutting involved.  The more potential for injury the better with him.  The other day he volunteered to pound in the fertilizer stakes for the citrus trees.  Whatever works.  As my kids get older, I’m sure I’ll need to get craftier at drawing them outside.  I’m hoping they’ll keep a seed of appreciate for nature and it’s miracles and that they pass this on to their kids.  If they don’t, I will.

Permeable Prettier Pathways (say that 3 times!)

broken concrete and brick path

I’ve been so delighted as of late to see many people breaking up their concrete driveways or paths.  The results are not only very attractive but serve a greater purpose in allowing the water to percolate down rather than going into the storm drain system (and out to our ocean).  It’s funny how this approach makes so much sense and yet for decades it was all about paving things over and moving the water off site.  Design wise you can go in any direction.  For instance, this photo from fine gardening fits in with an naturalistic/informal garden but you can go more modern.  This Los Angeles Times article shows how concrete can be saw-cut for a linear and contemporary look.  Here’s some of my favorite permeable path images:

cobblestone garden path

stone and decomposted granite

crushed limestone path

large stone path in soil

pathway of long slabs and pebbles

How does she know?

My pug, Puddin’, has a sixth sense about my photo taking.  It’s really funny but when I go out to document something she manages to get in the shot.  Here I was taking a shot for photos I had to submit for the Santa Monica Landscape Grant program.  She has taken to drinking from the fountain quite a bit.  Something about running water I guess.  I love this pondless fountain, and it was super easy to install.  It gives the quiet sound of running water as well as the visual focal point without loud splashing and water wasting.  Jackalope, in North Hollywood has lots of great pots to choose from as well as the pumps and basins.  I got the landscape grant, by the way, so soon you’ll be hearing about that garden going in.

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.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (and breakfast, lunch….)?

hummingbird visiting Salvia spathacea (Hummingbird Sage)

Let’s say you do decide to remove your lawn and replace it with a gorgeous mix of climate appropriate plants.  You will in effect be saying “hello nature, come on over.” Your garden will now be a welcome habitat to birds and beneficial insects alike.  In fact, if you plant California natives, you’ll really be helping out since 90% or more of these insects are dependent on the native plant species they have co-evolved with.  Your actions would help sustain a complex network between plants, animals, fungi and microbes that make up our native ecosystem.

Do you like scent in the garden?  Well few gardens rival the aroma of a Mediterranean garden.  Why you might ask?  Well, many of these plants give off scents in the hot mid-day sun to protect themselves from dehydration.  The oils contained in the foliage of many of the Mediterranean and natives plants allow them to perfume the air.  The Salvia species (in particular White Sage and Cleveland Sage) and Monardella species (Butterfly mint) as well as the Lavenders come to mind.  Here’s a few links to fragrant natives:  Fragrant California Natives Fragrant California Native Herbs

Where did all the green carpet come from?

Carex pansa lawn

Lawns have become such a permanent fixture in our collective psyche that it’s hard to imagine a time when everyone didn’t have their plot of green.  We can thank the wealthy, well traveled Americans in the early 1900’s who returned from England with visions of estates with sweeping green lawns.  The lawn soon became a status symbol of wealth, for only the wealthy could afford to maintain a plot of grass just for looks not for grazing.  If you consider how different our climate is from England’s and the East Coast, for that matter, it’s easy to see how out of place big lawns are in Southern California.  Replace your lawn and suddenly fertilizing, de-thatching, aerating, overseeding, mowing, lawn pesticides, grass clippings, constant water, etc… are a thing of the past.  If you’re still on the fence about going with a lawn alternative you may want to do the water usage calculations of your current lawn.  Imagine the savings in money and resources with less pollution and chemicals to boot!  Check out more scarey facts about lawns.

We can replace our lawns with ground cover, gravel, decomposed granite, permeable pavers, etc…  Santa Monica has a great description of many ground cover alternatives to lawn.  And for tips on how to get rid of your lawn so you can plant something else check out “Four Ways to Remove Your Lawn“