Archives for 2016

Large growing trees, commonly known as shade trees, take a lot of time and space to achieve a mature size. They need to be carefully sited, as they will eventually tower over a good bit of the square footage around them.  The maples that many cities planted at one time or another in the tree lawn – that space between the sidewalk and the street – eventually suffer. Their roots dislike being confined as much as their canopies. Many of those badly placed trees are gone, or in a serious state of decline.  Parks are a better place for the biggest growing trees to grow and thrive. But shady streets in the heat of the summer are welcomed by all.

The shade that trees provide in the landscape is a topic of great interest right now.  We have had week after week of glaringly sunny skies and searing heat. Most lawns have turned a parched shade of beige. The temperature at 6am is too hot. Added to that mix – no rain, and no breeze. Our planting taking place in sunny locations is miserable for both the planters and the plantees. Keeping a new planting watered is a next to full time job. Even work that was done weeks ago needs to be monitored closely. A new plant not yet rooted into the surrounding soil can perish quickly if not kept watered. High heat means that water is evaporating from the soil at a rapid rate. A hedge of DeGroot Spire arborvitaes we planted recently is on a drip irrigation system that runs twice a day. The soil was dead dry and dusty down 36″ when we planted. It took over 2 weeks of this irrigation program for moisture to reach down to the bottom of those root balls. I have spent a lot of time on the business end of a hose, both at work and at home. Last but not least, if I am outside for any length of time, I am looking for a shady spot to land.

The Princeton Gold maples in my yard, pictured above, were originally planted to screen the neighboring properties. This maple is a medium sized tree, meaning that it tops out at about 35 feet. There are lots of smaller growing trees suitable for smaller properties that can endow your landscape with shade. My maples have done a great job of making this part of my yard private. But with that privacy came a lot of shade. At first, that annoyed me. This summer in particular I am enjoying the shade they cast. After work, this shady part of the garden, and the fountain spraying water into the air makes a 90 degree day tolerable. A summer day when I cannot get out into the garden after work is a miserable day indeed. Though I like the freedom of choice that a sunny site provides, there are plenty of reasons to value a shady spot. There are not so many shrubs and perennials that will thrive in shade to this degree.  I grow hellebores, sweet woodruff, Japanese Beech ferns, European ginger, pachysandra and yews in this tree dominated garden. It is subdued, and mostly green. It is a fine place to meet and relax on a hot summer day.

Dogwoods are usually open growing, but this particular tree in my yard is dense in leaf. From the vantage point of my upper deck, the cupped and curling leaves are an expression of distaste for the heat. There is nothing I can do to mitigate the temperature, but I do keep this tree well watered. My decks face east, which means they are shaded by the house in the late afternoon and evening. A terrace you intend to use located on the south or west side of a garden will need a shade scheme.  No doubt a canopy of leaves is cooler than an umbrella. To paraphrase from Wikipedia, only 2 or 3 percent of the water plants take up from the soil is used for growth and metabolism. Transpiration or the evaporation of water from stems and leaves is associated with the process of photosynthesis.  “Transpiration also cools plants, changes osmotic pressure of cells, and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients and water from roots to shoots”. The transpiration process that governs the life of leaves in the heat of the summer will cool you, too.

A pair of magnolia planted on either side of my driveway have grown together overhead, and shade this spot in the drive.  If I park my car here on a hot sunny day, the time it takes to cool off is vastly less that if I had parked it in the sun. Though it was 95 degrees the day I took this picture, it even looks cooler. Extreme and long standing heat is a deterrent to gardening, but it can also be a call to provide shelter.

A staircase going to the kitchen door has a less dense canopy of shade, cast by a pair of dogwoods. There are plenty of plants that tolerate this level of light.  In addition to the usual hostas and ferns, I am also able to grow campanulas, lady’s mantle, and acanthus.

A shade garden holds its moisture much longer than a garden in full sun. A thorough soaking once in a while is all it needs. An established garden sheltered by trees can take advantage of moisture in the soil around it. An irrigation system or sprinkler is fine for maintaining an adequate level of moisture in the soil. This is not to say that the most established of trees do not suffer during periods of no rain. The interior leaves of many shade trees will turn yellow, and drop, when the soil is too dry.  The tree will jettison interior leaves in an effort to conserve what precious little water there is for those outer leaves that actively photosynthesize. Our little leaf lindens at the shop drop interior leaves the moment they are dissatisfied with our sandy too well draining soil. We water them with a small rotating sprinkler called a poppy, made by Nelson. Our version is every bit of 20 years old. Poppy Sprinkler  It can be turned down such that all of the water your tree needs will soak in. London Plane trees are notorious for dropping their leaves in hot and dry weather. Their larger than life leaves have more opportunities to transpire.

We have been in the process of planting a large shade garden for a client. The area is large enough for kerria japonica pleniflora, aralia cordata Sun King, thalictrums, and dwarf oak leaf hydrangeas. The dappled light means we have a wide range of plants that will thrive here. No small amount of the installation has been the watering in. We watered again today.  And celebrated a few hours of rain this afternoon.

Not only will this garden be lovely when it has some age, it was a relief to have some shade during the planting. Though the irrigation for this garden will be installed this Tuesday next, every plant will need water directly to their root balls until they have had time to grow roots into the surrounding soil. New plants need lots of hand watering. The old spruce are a huge help.  They take the brunt of the sun and heat, and protect the new plants underneath them.

Milo’s long black fur coat looks hot as blazes. He is not a fan of this heat.  He is much happier when we have 28 degree weather.  Though I know that fur to a point insulates him from the heat, he has a considerable appreciation for a shady place. Wherever he can get it. The gardener in me is taking a cue from him.

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Our garden cruise July 17 raised $14,470.00 for the Greening of Detroit. Nine years of tours means we have raised $107,500.00 in support of their mission; I could not be more pleased about that. One of the landscapes and gardens on tour this year is a project we have been working on for several years. It was finished just days before this year’s tour. My clients support and identify with The Greening-who has had their eye on the reforestation of Detroit, sponsorship of urban farms, and education regarding the environment since the mid eighties. I should preface my remarks about their landscape design with a few more words about my clients. They purchased this house built in the 1920’s with their eyes wide open about what would be required to restore the house and the grounds. It has taken some time, but they stuck with it start to finish. I admire this about them. They are young people, with loads of energy, and a commitment to the city of Detroit.  Their neighborhood, known as Palmer Woods, is on the north side of the city. A raft of old homes built in the early part of the century are now owned, prized, and looked after by a diverse group of people who love the old homes and graciously sized properties. They are a group of people whom I greatly respect.

I did post about the installation of their driveway some time ago. Should you be interested in that earlier post, type  A New Gravel Driveway  into the search line. It was difficult to convince them to install a drive court in front of the house.  They were concerned it would take up too much room. That it would be the beginning and the end of the front yard landscape. I was not concerned about this, but explaining to a landscape client what drives your design is part of the process.  It is a long way to walk from the street to the front door. The driveway to the the rear is narrow, and is only useful as a way to get to the garage. My clients have lots of friends, and entertain regularly. The front yard was large enough to take a house side parking area.  I know they like it now, as they and their guests are using it. The landscape from the street side does a great job of screening that drive court from the road, without obstructing the view to their beautiful home.  The shape of the bed mimics the shape of the parking area, which features a long shallow curve in the middle. The curve is planted with dwarf red barberry on the street side, and allium “Millenium” on the inside. This is my first time ever specifying dwarf red barberry. The color perfectly responds to the color of the brick on the house. At a maximum height of 24″, they endow the view of the front of the house. That barberry atropurpurea nana traverses the front yard from the north drive to the south drive. The lawn area on the street side is just that-lots of lawn, punctuated by a pair of katsura trees.

The interior of the drive court reveals what the street view conceals.  There is ample space for parking to the left. To the right, a driveway that makes it possible to to drop off guests or packages at the front door, or continue on to the right, and through the port cochere, to the garage.

The front facade of the house is anything but symmetrical. The oversized front walk centers the view on the front door. At the out skirts of that walk, a quartet of Jackie boxes made by the Branch Studio further emphasize the entrance. The treatment of the front door organizes the space. The red and lime color scheme-a request from my clients.

The landscape near the house is largely handled by big blocks of boxwood, and an outside frame of Nova yews. The dwarf and feathery Allium senescens is planted on the front edge of a pair of gorgeous classically styled concrete benches, while blocks of allium Millenium frame them on either side. Allium Millenium is a carefree perennial with gorgeous foliage all season long that deserves a spot in any perennial garden. The massive planter in the side yard is planted with an equally massive banana. That banana is all the more striking, in textural contrast to the hedge of DeGroot Spire arborvitae planted behind it on the north side lot line.

The gravel driveway that goes under the port cochere to the garage switches to concrete aggregate, in the back of the house.  Going in and out of a garage, and the walk from the garage to the house asks for a material that can withstand lots of backing up, and moving forward, traffic, and snow removal. Concrete aggregate is a favorite material used in concert with contemporary homes, but it is equally friendly with homes of great age. It has the look of gravel, with the serviceability of concrete.

A new brick wall separates the garage, and the coming and goings of several vehicles, from the back yard. Any landscape design needs to address the need, while treasuring the look. This is not always so easy. It is important that the landscape be just as functional as it is beautiful. The back yard is screened from the garage and pavement by a substantial brick wall. That brick wall was original to the house, and in great disrepair when my clients signed their purchase agreement.  Given that the wall would have to be rebuilt, we changed its contours to fit the new landscape.

My client was about to install a small rectangular terrace off the back of the house.  I asked that they consider another idea. I suggested that they go big and wide with the rear terrace-a substantial terrace that would not only include the entrance and exit from the kitchen, but also a way to access the screened porch. I am happy that they went wide. A generous gesture in the landscape always gets noticed, and appreciated.

This is the first round swimming pool I have ever designed. It seemed right for the space. At 20 feet in diameter, it would not overly dominate the landscape. The ground rose naturally from the house to the rear lot line. The yard is formally terraced into two levels by the pool, and stairs on either side. The garden behind the pergola sweeps around to the right, and falls naturally on a gentle slope to the grade set by the house. This past year was all about the design and fabrication of the wall, pool, pergola, spa, and the house and pool terraces. Late last fall, a hedge of American arborvitae were planted on the rear lot line. Buck and his group at Branch fabricated the pergola you see in the distance.

The rear of the pool deck is spacious enough for lounges. The circular center area under the roof is large enough for a table and chairs. The floor of the pergola is gravel. This made it easy to plant clematis on the front poles, and grapes at the back.  The lattice panels on the pergola provide another layer of privacy. My client chose the location for the pair of pots planted with hydrangeas on standard. Next year, the hydrangeas planted in front of the arborvitae, and behind the pergola will make a strong visual relationship to the hydrangeas in pots.  We will plant them in the ground for the winter season.

All of the furniture was chosen by my clients, as was the chandelier.

the view from the screened porch door

raised planters for vegetables and herbs

the view from the pool terrace to the house

dining table and chairs outside the screened porch

sweet autumn clematis on the pergola

The view from shade garden towards the front yard

the view to the street

This could be my favorite feature of the landscape.  The stone contractor created this walkway to the back yard from limestone and brick original to the house.  I call it the history walk. Every time I see it, I am reminded of how much my clients did to restore and preserve this historic building, and add themselves to that mix.

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