These clients had a boring and not very inviting small backyard that they wanted to upgrade to better fit their style and needs.
Here are the before pictures:
Backyard East
Backyard West
My design included hardy, colorful and bee friendly plants to provide year round interest and for an extension of the paver patio for the BBQ area. The far corner of the west end we wanted to screen the view of the houses and initially planned for a small corner pergola but supply issues had the clients looking elsewhere and they found some gorgeous panels in an antique shop that really helps that corner pop!
After:
Here is the back corner, just perfect for a little getaway!
In the east side of the back yard I added a Hydrangea tree to anchor the corner overlooking a water feature surrounded by bee friendly hardy perennials. Within hours of installation the clients were happily surprised by how many bees and other beneficial insects were visiting, it really livened up their yard!
In the years to come the clematis vines will cover the trellis's and the plants will fill in to create a hardy but lush and inviting backyard oasis.
Horticulture magazine just posted an article on their website highlighting Ilex verticillata 'Sparkleberry', a lovely addition to brighten up the winter landscape or to bring branches indoors for decoration. This prompted me to do a little more research since I am familiar with the evergreen hollies for our area but haven't delved into the deciduous varieties as much. Since 'Sparkleberry' is a deciduous shrub, the red berries that persist through the winter really stand out adding a lovely red sparkle to the landscape.
There is disagreement as to which zone it grows best in. I've seen it listed as growing in zones 3 - 8 but most of the listings show it as zones 5 - 9. It is widely adaptable to varying soil conditions but since it is an Asian cross it prefers more moisture. For best fruiting plant it in full sun and since this is a female variety, it needs to be paired with a male for pollination. Ilex 'Apollo' has been bred to be used as the best male pollinator but other male hollies will work as well.
Sparkleberry may get up to 8 feet tall (it's listed as 12 but that is "valley speak", plants in Central Oregon never grow as big as listed on the tags) and wide and is a nice dark green turning yellow in autumn.
As with most hollies, the berries are a great food source for birds and will bring in a large variety of birds to feed on the shrub. Another delightful addition to the landscape!
I wish I could say that I was there but at least I have some images for you. This link was sent to me by High Desert Diva and is full of stunning images of the show. I love the living walls and the rolling/shaped lawns and the great use of different types of containers. Do enjoy! Mitchell Maher images of the SF Show
At the end of February I dragged my family to the Portland Home and Garden Show. While my husband chased our toddler around I absorbed design and plants and was extremely in my element.
There were two buildings of home related products (my daughter loved climbing into all the empty hot tubs) and only one building of garden and of course I wanted more. I have been to the garden show down in San Francisco which was held in the Cow Palace and was huge. I loved it. So I had my expectations set a little high for this event and was a little disappointed but as always, I looked for the positive in the experience and got some great ideas out of it.
The Shop People, an industrial arts club of Portland, had their members displaying their wares and I saw these lovely dog sculptures which I think would be great in a garden.
The next craftsperson I came across really blew my socks off. Art of Rain does a wide range of functional metal art pieces, mostly copper it appears, that raise the bar on functional art. I was drawn in by his water sculptures and his downspouts pieces but his catalog shows range hoods for the kitchen, architectural chimney caps and sconces for the interior or exterior.
Here are some of his water sculptures, in the second photo, you can see one of his downspouts in the background - what a beautiful piece!:
These next images were created by Solterra Systems:
What I love about these designs is the use of the unconventional surfaces such as the walls and the roof. I also love when functionality and aesthetics are married in such a fantastic way.
Creating a green roof can significantly reduce the heat pool effect that occurs in cities and can also reduce storm water runoff. In cities particularly, where space is at such a premium, green roofs enable people to have gardens and places to relax they would otherwise not be able to experience so easily.
These next few photos are all surrounding the Idea House and I apologize in advance that I do not remember the name of the designers involved in the landscaping. Different sides of it showed different styles of design all of which I thought worked very well.
This image shows a great use of space in combining edible plants into the ornamental landscape. Edibles are no longer relegated to their own section of the garden but can be incorporated into all your beds.
It's difficult to see but it's a mix o perennials, blueberry shrubs and an espaliered fruit tree (which I love).
If you are interested in mixing edibles into your garden please contact me, I would love to help you with that.
We have made almost a full circle around the Idea House and I love all the modern design elements, especially this blend of rock, grass and metal here in this last photo, it just speaks to me in a certain way.
What you see here is just a portion of the space that The Bamboo Man created for the show. He had a variety of bamboo product (fences, gates, etc.) and obviously can make almost anything out of bamboo.
This is a fully furnished yurt as a destination for this more contemporary landscape.
This next one is called Dream Garden and was created by Natural Landscapes, it does look dreamy.
This last one is a sculpture by Ivan McLean:
All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable show and I look forward to more and more shows packed full of plants and design.
If any of these designs struck a chord with you, please contact me and we can discuss designing your landscape to fully reflect your style.
Our fleeting Summer is here (except for this funny cold snap we're experiencing - it was 32 degrees the other night!) and we've spent the Spring cleaning up, planting, adding compost so now what do we do?
Well, one thing to do is to enjoy it. I personally prefer Gin and Tonics on the front porch while I survey all that is mine and chat with the neighbors, but Ice Tea is nice too. Another thing to do is to add some color to bare spots in your landscape. Annuals are great fun and are instant gratification. Remember to think of the overall color theme of your garden before you get all crazy at the nursery and buy a rainbow. My experience is that sticking with a theme (maybe just a few colors) makes it look more manicured and intentional and easier on the eye (unless you're doing a bunch of red, I just can't look at bright red and green together).
For those of you with plants in containers, I hope you added Quench (water absorbing/dispensing granuals) to the pot so they don't dry out too fast, but you still need to keep an eye on them and remember to water them. If you have quite a few pots it is worth it to invest in a drip irrigation system so you're not having to water every other day. If you have small pots, place them where you will see them everyday so you remember to water them. The small ones dry out too fast.
I'm not a big container person (I prefer plants that can be forgotten about for lengths of time and pots aren't that) but I wanted to draw more attention to my main entry which is on the side of my house. People notoriously come to the kitchen door since it faces the street and I guess I don't blame them, an entry door is usually on the front of the house but my husband and I don't have your typical house so we put ours on the side.
Anyways, here's a picture of my little collection. We have Hakone Grass, Hardy Sempervirens, Sedum Stonecrop Purple Emperor, Sedum Stonecrop Autumn Joy, Blue Hair Grass and Creeping Wire Vine. As you can see in the background we still have a lot of work to do to our own landscape but in the meantime I'm enjoying creating beautiful landscapes for the rest of Central Oregon.
If you have questions about gardening or landscaping here in Central Oregon or for what else to do in your garden feel free to email me at tanya@carlsengdesigns.com and remember to check out my website carlsengdesigns.com for more information and great photos of projects I've done.
Born again gardener. I started gardening professionally in college but thought I needed a "real job". It took me years, but now I'm back and loving every minute of it. I have a great balance of quiet working time at my table and time outside talking with clients and walking landscapes.
