The Basics of Garden Design: Scale

The Basics of Garden Design

Part II

Scale

Scale is the relationship of objects to one another. For instance, the height of the ceiling in your house may be 8, 9, or 10 feet. This is a comfortable space for an individual human or a family group. The h

eight of a ceiling in a department store may be 10, 12, or 15 feet. This is because the space accommodates many more humans and things, in this case merchandise. The space feels comfortable and appropriate for the use.

When designing your garden, you should consider scale in several ways. First, how much of the exterior space of your property will be garden compared to house size or lawn space? Second, what plants-due to their hight and width-will fit comfortably in your garden and work with the size of the house? Size of the house in particular being height, and secondarily mass. Third, which of the plants you choose will be massed to create one large form and how big will that form be to balance with the size of your house or property? In the example at right, the yard space between houses is narrow. The space was divided into different elements to create the illusion of a larger space. The ‘room’ area of the back deck is a space its own, and the size of the deck does

not overwhelm the space as a whole. The pot on the terra cotta colored pedestal is just about eye level. This brings in a ‘layer’ under the

taller trees. It too is sized proportionately to the space, not too wide, not too tall. The amount of green groundcover around the pedestal balances the white patio stone and the size of the deck. The small fountain in the foreground complements the size of the entry to the garden. Any larger and it would take all the attention away from the other elements of the garden.

Let’s begin with the first consideration of garden size to house size. If this is a project you plan to implement yourself, meaning you are performing all the labor, then your garden may be predicated on how much work YOU can comfortably accomplish. My advice to everyone: start small, be reasonable. This will help you accomplish a goal in a reasonable period of time. It will also keep you from be overwhelmed if you have a large piece of property. With these thoughts in mind, where do you want to begin? Around the front door, around the mail box, at the end of the driveway, or across the front of the house? Take out your garden hose and outline the space you would like to design. Leave the hose in place for a few days and walk around it to see if this size feels comfortable. Take a digital photo of the area and its surroundings. I will give you instructions on how to use this later in the article.

Next, let’s consider the plants you may want to use. You may have seen plants in other yards in your neighborhood or on your travels around town. Write down all your plant names and begin to research their sizes. If you are in the central Texas area, the Landscape Guide to Plants produced by the City of Austin’s Grow Green program is a first, easy, free, resource for plant growth conditions. Here is where you want to consider height and width of plants in size and their relation to your house or other structures. A common example I use is to think of the size of a

bald cypress which can grow up to 60 feet tall. Now, if it were planted near a small cottage or bungalow style house, or any one story home which is commonly only 12-15 feet tall, that huge tree would feel completely out of place. (Unless you happen to live next to a river where these magnificent trees are growing naturally). If you want a tall tree for shade: monterrey oak, chinquapin, burr, etc., be sure you have the width to your property as well. Additionally, to bring these taller trees into scale with your house, plan for space for shorter trees and shrubs downgrading in size as they lead to the house or outdoor living space. Alternatively, if you are working on a plan for a courtyard, be sure of the mature sizes of trees and shrubs in relation to the amount of space you have.

In the example to the left, a standard southern magnolia is the shade tree and featured element of this front garden. This magnolia is in front of a two story house with a steep pitched roof. The roof reaches up tall next to this tall evergreen tree. The plants in this garden graduate in size from the magnolia giving the eye a full screen of interest from top to bottom. Next in size down from the magnolia is a bay laurel. At maturity it will be several feet taller than shown here, standing solidly next to the magnolia. Down from the bay are spring bouquet viburnums. Viburnums are large shrubs in this setting. And at the foot of all are bi-color iris.

Now back to the digital photo of the area you want to plan. Print out the photo and tape a piece of tracing paper over the photo. Draw in the outline of the garden bed and start to sketch in the new plants you want. Use nearby

plants in the landscape for scale, i.e., height and width as a reference for how big to draw your new plants. For instance, in t

he photo below we have a topiaried boxwood that is three feet tall. Now, if you want to plant a sweet olive next to it, by research you have found that this small tree can grow to 10 feet tall but is a slow grower and is going to stay about six feet tall. So you would draw an outline of the sweet olive about twice as tall as the boxwood. This reference from this point of view will give you a better feel for how your new garden will feel when full.

Here are some more photos representing scale. Notice how the structures are comfortable sizes compared to garden size. Also notice the ‘layering’ where there is plant interest throughout the

vertical plane. In the photo with the tiered fountain, there is a short picket fence in the background. The height of the fountain is approximately 5’. If this were a taller fountain with more tiers or wider, it would overwhelm the space it is in. The large fountain would be cumbersome, hard to work around, and take all the visual appeal up for itself. With this fountain sized just right, your mind is available to view the entire scene, to sit back and relax and see who else is visiting the flora.

The Destination in the Garden

Your garden may be large, small, medium, divided, split, on the side, in the back, or in a courtyard. Where ever your garden grows, there is a reason for visiting it. This is the focal point, or destination. It is the attraction that draws your neighbors to meet you, to stop on their walk and admire, to sit a spell.

Pictured here are a couple more examples of focal points in the garden landscape. To the left is a simple stone bench with a piece of stone the garden owner considered important. The gardener set the white stone off, i.e. highlighted the white, with the dramatic dark green spikes of coral yucca and its coral, hummingbird attracting flowers. Imagine you are looking at this garden from the street on your evening walk and you are caught by the stone and yucca. You slow down, if you know your neighbors, you stop to sit at the bench-exactly what it is for. By sitting on the bench you can enjoy the rest of this bountiful garden. You want to enjoy it to learn what these great hearty plants are blooming in the heat of Austin's summer. In the foreground from left to right: lipstick red canna lily, fall aster (to bloom end of summer), a single purple coneflower in the foreground with the flower above the purple heart, purple heart, sago palm, datura (night blooming for moonlit garden strolls).

Also notice in this plan the ample pathway. The path serves as a way to move through the garden as well as a line of sight or "axis." More on axis and line of sight to come. But understand this, the path or line of sight generally leads your eye to the focal point.

Here is another example of a focal point. What is drawing your attention in this garden? Not only from the point of view of the photo, but from the house. The house is on the right, imagine you are looking into the garden from the back porch of the house, what would you be looking at? The blue pot on the pedestal with a pindo palm planted in it. The focal point is something very different from the rest of the garden. This object is clearly important and an object that most of us would want to inspect more closely. What kind of palm is that-you don't see one of those everyday? What is that pot sitting on (a block of limestone)? Is that a ceramic pot or plastic pot? All questions subliminally worked into the wonderful plan to get you into the garden.

Again, with this example, there is a nice wide path to maneuver through the garden. The path also allows a line of sight to the entertaining area as well as space to move food and/or drinks to the dinning area. Another basic idea of garden design is the 'gateway' effect, demonstrated here with the two fan palms flanking the entrance to the dinning area. This gate, or door way delineates one space from another. Thus, the idea of outdoor 'rooms.'

In most garden designs, the focal point, or destination, is where the plan begins. Think about what you want to do in your garden. Do you want a dinning area, a reading bench, or a water feature? Or, have you received a piece of garden art that needs a home. Walk around your yard, feel where you want that destination to be. Stand or sit in the rooms of the house you use most and look out the windows. Are there spots in the yard that you watch the most? Or are there spots on the other side of your yard you want to disguise or draw attention away from? This spot may be the place where you build your gazebo, pond, or plant that beautiful flowering tree. Mark that element on your site plan and then work your garden around that.

What to do in the September Garden

Ok, watering is limited, eating dinner outside- still not an option, and don’t even think of planting. What’s a gardener to do in August and September?

There is some routine maintenance necessary. Trim dead material off plants. Put trimmings in compost pile. Turn the compost pile. Use your kitchen sink grey water to soak the compost. Do this only if you use environmentally friendly soaps, i.e. low to no salts, no phosphates, no artificial dyes or perfumes. After trimming non-necessary plant material, give your garden a good shower. Fill a hose end sprayer with liquid seaweed and spray the garden down for heat stress relief. Plants can take water and nutrients in through openings in the leaves. This is like us drinking electrolyte filled sports water after working outside all day. A good boost for the weary.

Mulch your larger woody plants. Soak soil around needy plants and then mulch around their base. Soaking first is important so the mulch can do its job and keep the soil moist. Do not put mulch right up next to trunk, smaller shrubs and trees start 2-4 inches from base. Large shrubs and trees, 4-6 inches from the base. Mulch out as close to the drip line as possible (drip line being the edge of the leaf span) and mulch 2-3 inches deep. No deeper or the mulch will absorb all water before it gets down to the roots when watering.

Prepare your fall/winter vegetable garden for planting. Remove spent summer plants, add fresh compost, and till or stir the soil up. Spray it down with water and cover with mulch to let rest while you make your list. Use a larger mulch such as shredded cypress or seedless hay. Many nurseries have fall veggies in stock. Its ok to plant now. Just be sure to water every other day. If temperatures climb back up to the 100s, you may have to put a shade cloth over the new babies.

Drink water! Just because the temps have dropped below 100 does not mean we are at less risk of overheating. The relative humidity is still low, and though it feels better, 97 is still pretty hot.

Take note of beautiful fall bloomers:
Yellow bells
Gayfeather (liatris) is starting to pop
Firebush
Mexican honeysuckle
Autumn clematis!!!!
Coral vine
Trumpet vine
Coral honeysuckle
Texas sage (when the barometric pressure changes)
Spider lily (if you find a wet spot)
Mexican oregano
random lantana

LCRA elevates water conservation

For those in the City of Austin, TX, the LCRA (wholesale water supplier to Austin) has increased water conservation restrictions. Where we previously were able to water twice per week, Austin residents and commercial properties may only water once per week as of August 24. No adding to pools, no use of ornamental fountains. See the Austin Water website for more information: www.cityofaustin.org/watercon/stage2.htm

This makes it even more critical to consider plant and landscape materials selections.

To learn how you can effectively plan an adaptive garden in the Austin area, look into the classes I teach in the area:
Art of Gardening at The Art School at Laguna Gloria
theartschool.amoa.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=1010#
Select the Home and Garden title


Go Native U at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
http://www.wildflower.org/gonativeu/
This is a native plant gardening series through The University of Texas Informal Classes program. Six classes taught by experts in each field.

Visit the Native Plant Society website for monthly meetings on native plants, this month is Denise Delaney from the City of Austin's Grow Green Program
www.npsot.org

The Story of the Sick Spirea

© Ginger Hudson

Spirea, Bridal wreath, Spirea cantoniensis, S. japonica, S. nipponica, S. prunifolia, S. thunbergii

Spirea in full sun, thin alkaline soil

Once upon a time, before air conditioners, before water conservation, there were fabulous homestead gardens that boasted plants brought from home (the east or Midwest) or attempted to replicate English gardens. The replication effect came from garden books of the time, written by the English or by successful gardeners along the east coast of the U. S. As gardening expanded to become a show of aesthetics not just food production, the homes wanted a rich display of vegetative color and life. Homeowners in the central United States and Texas in particular wanted to have ‘fluffy’ lush gardens just like homes in the longer established states and towns of the time. My once-upon-a-time is ambiguous because this could be the late nineteenth century, the early turn of the century, or classic mid-century landscaping practices.

One of the mainstays of the old fashioned garden was Spirea, also known as bridal wreath with its arching, cascading white flowers. This member of the rose family is usually implemented as a shrub. Most varieties originate from Europe, China and Japan–regions with much more even keeled weather than that of Central to North Texas (note the latin names above for obvious clues). Although many gardening books produced in the U.S. claim Spirea are not particular about soil, I am going to disagree with that claim.

As evidence, I present the story of the sick Spirea which inhabit Central Texas. These subjects do grace the garden with wreaths of white flowers in the early to mid spring. Paired with a purple lorapetalum the combination is spectacular. However, as the year wears on temperatures climb, water supply weakens, and the alkaline affects of the soil eat into the plants causing their health to decline. The leaves of the Spirea yellow through their life with the classic sign of chlorosis, lack of access to iron in the soil. Yellow leaves with green veins. This can be corrected and symptoms treated in the short term with addition of ironite to the soil. Acidic compost blends or sulfur can be added to the beds and results will be seen in weeks to months after application. But the symptoms re-appear year after year.

Additionally, the heat stress exacerbates the yellowing effect as days on end of 90 to 100 plus degree temperatures stress the shrubs. With low rainfall totals in the Texas areas of question, the Spirea struggle to maintain their whole. They will let entire branches die off in the effort to save the heart of the plant. The summer gardener will rotate between watering and trimming of dead plant parts for three to four months of the year. This becomes a difficult chore in communities where water conservation efforts restrict landscape water usage to twice a week and eventually to once per week. Some communities on well-based water supplies may out-law landscape water usage altogether. In the end, the sickly Spirea are leaf-bare, and dried out. A wet winter may bring about new suckers and shoots for a season of spring blooms. But the headache of routine fertilization and watering is not worth the effort in a region where tougher plants should be selected for their adaptability.

In closing the case, gardeners have two choices in a soil and water challenged environment. First is to build up garden beds with rich, well-rounded composts. This can be accomplished with the addition of locally produced and blended garden soils, or with creation of the gardener’s own compost. Also, try to place the specimen in a zone of the landscape that naturally collects water you will face less of a heat stress issue. After a few seasons or couple years of build-up of a balanced soil, the Spirea will enjoy a healthy life in the garden. The second choice is to opt out of the Spirea selection altogether. If, however, you live in an area with higher rainfall, such as generally east of I-35 in Central Texas–Elgin, Bastrop, Columbus, and on into the Houston area, your soil may naturally be a little more acidic. Also, these areas tend to contain pine trees or the like that have produced a slightly lower ph soil base. In these regions the gardener will have more success with the Spirea family.