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Where Would You Like To Sit?

I took a picture of my tripod outside the shop today.  I shortened the telescoping legs as much as I could.  This height put my camera just 24 inches above grade.  What is my idea here?  The perspective from which you view a garden, or a landscape, much influences how it should be designed.  My driveway is set at the same grade as my basement.  This means that even though I have a 1 story ranch, I see my driveway from a deck which is one story above that basement.  I don’t really spend time in my drive.  I load the dogs, and drive to work.  I unload the dogs when I come home from work, and walk up the basement steps to get into the house.  But  Buck and I frequently sit on the part of the deck that overlooks the drive.  This means we are looking down on that landscape.  This garden is an overlook garden. 

My tripod set at 24 inches tall records a different view.  The view I see when I am seated in my garden.  This post is not only a discussion of those factors that influence landscape design; it is my prelude essay to talking about choosing and planting containers.  The questions I ask first up, whether it be a consult for a landscape, garden, or containers-how will you view it?  Will you be looking from a second story window?  Will you be sitting next to it on a lounge chair on the terrace?  Will you be looking as you drive or walk by?  Is this a space you view from a window, or a place where you sit and spend time?  

Small containers are perfect on an outdoor table.  When you are seated, the presentation of a container and a planting is close to eye level.  The view of an 8 inch diameter pot when I am standing-a bird’s eye view.  Small pots, containers and urns need to be elevated for good viewing-and placed where you are likely to sit. 

Seated on a bench, I have a great view of these handmade Italian Terra cotta pots from the side.  I also have a great view of a pair of machine made Italian terra cotta pots.  What do I make of this?  Those places where I sit in my garden, those containers need to be every bit as beautiful as what is planted in them-I have a view that asks for that.  I sit in my rose garden.  I have faced down my arborvitae with boxwood; I need a landscape element at eye level that is beautiful.  Arborvitae tend to get thin and straggly at the bottom.  Were I viewing the arborvitae from the second floor, I would be less concerned with their habit at ground level. What is all around me in that part of the landscape where I spend time needs to stand up to close observation.  Places where I am looking from afar, or looking down-I need serviceable containers that feature the plants.  Any fabulous pot or garden ornament needs to be places where it can be seen-regularly.

Though I might be seated in a garden, I would not want every element at the same level.  A change of level provides great interest.  This two-tiered planter welcomes other elements at its feet.  It also permits a view through to an element further away.  The Cotswold stone pedestal is a visual stopper; it is solid and weighty.  The mix of the delicate steel legs and solid stone,  the objects set at different levels is visually interesting.  Every element here is providing company to what I see when I am seated. 

When I stand in my garden, the sky, and the trees of my neighbors comprise a large part of my view.  When I am seated, the sky is eliminated from my view.  The view as pictured above represents a much more intimate garden experience.  Landscapes that involve mountains and sky make for a much different, less personal experience.  

I have been made much more aware of the importance of what goes on at eye level, thanks to my corgis.  Their legs are barely 8 inches long.  They experience the world at a level that I never do-unless I am lying down on the lawn in my yard.  The world is entirely  different from this perspective.   

I love how I am seeing every container in this picture from the side. Low to the ground makes for clear observation of the details.  In the landscape industry, some trees are designated “park grade”.  This means they will suffice visually at a great distance.  A poorly grown tree will not survive visual scrutiny up close.

Many changes of level are represented here.  Were I to photograph the same spot while I was standing, the changes of level would not read nearly so well.  The idea here?  Any place you view your landscape standing up should be tall and taller-and then very tall.  Create an interesting great view at eye level.  The pots you choose for your front porch need to read from the street, and read when friends come to call.  This means large pots, planted rather tall.     


All of the dogs are greatly entertained by each other, and by what goes on near the ground.  It is a landscape they recognize-a world friendly to them.  There is a lot going on here-at their eye level.    What goes on in your landscape needs to engage your eye-wherever that eye of yours might be.  Well done landscapes engage on many different levels.

Posted on: May 2, 2011 3 Comments
Filed Under: Garden Design, Landscape Design Tagged With: , ,

An Extraordinary Garden

I do think I wrote this winter about some of the books I was reading-winter means gardening from afar in my zone.  Given the snow-I read.  Courtesy of and on the recommendation of Rochelle Greayer at Studio G, I  I bought a book.  “Close: Landscape Design and Land Art In Scotland”.  The well written essays in the book were written by Tim Richardson.  The stunningly beauty photography-by Allan Pollok-Morris.   

I have had really good reason to be reading this book.  Spring got arrested some weeks ago, and has yet to make her bail.  The past few weeks, 4 days of seven have been called on account of rain.  Can you hear me sighing?  Moving on beyond a missing a good many days of spring season-I am reading.  Some books take my mind off the winter that seems to be lingering.  This particular book deserves a place in your library, should you have the space.  One garden in particular has captured my imagination.  Dunbeath Castle, Caithness, Scotland, is extraordinary in every regard.  Dating from the 17th century, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea-heartstopping.   

The gravel drive to the house is lined with ancient and windswept London Planes.  How the drive is sunk into a valley between a pair of grassed knolls-stunning.  The welcoming light at the house, all the more intense given the probable length of the exposure of this photograph-so beautiful.  The sea visible beyond the house- this is a long view with no end.  This may be the most enchanting landscape I have ever seen.  Maybe more extraordinary than the landscape-this photograph.  My copy is poor, but you get the idea.  Allan Pollok-Morris created a work of great beauty.  If there ever was a perfect moment in a landscape-this has to be it. 

I was astonshed to read that this cliff in Scotland regularly endures 100 mile an hour winds.  I see no evidence of that here; the perennial garden is walled.  These perennial borders are breathtaking.  The book tells me that the landscape designer of record currently is Xa Tollemache.  What she has accomplished here, in  concert with her client, is extraordinary.  The stands of heliotrope blue campanula- breathtaking.  

The tall walls protect the perennial gardens here from high winds.  Every spring at the shop, we have broken pots, topiaries snapped off -utter distruction from wind.   This photograph makes me understand that a truly beautiful garden depends on a committment to protect.      

This walled garden is a considerable distance from the castle perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. The work that is involved to foster and permit this garden to thrive is staggering-this is obvious.  My garden is by no means a fairy tale-but I do work at it.  My garden, and the gardens I design, ask for a gardener in charge who happily takes responsibility.  I know lots of gardeners like this. Fairy tale gardens-I depend on these to encourage me to do better.  

At the center of this rose garden-an ornament whose provenance is unbeknownst to me.  No matter. The very tall and beautifully blooming tritoma would be lost without that central ornament of unknown orgin.   The rose garden laid out in concentric circles-lovely.   

The cairn pictured above-do not ask me its material, or inventor.  The plant material clothing this steep slope dropping to the sea-I cannot provide any information.  The red steel reindeer a third of the way down the precipitous slope-I have nothing to add to this photograph.  Make all of what you see in this photograph what you will.  All of the delight of it is the visual experience.      

I love the congestion suggested by Mr. Pollok-Morris’s photograph.  Lots and lots of plants.  A relationship he suggests between a castle, and a distant gazebo overgrown with plants. The sea in the background-anything but cultivated and tended.   


This meadow at Dunbeath Castle-I cannot take my eyes off this photograph.  It is as beautiful as any perennial border I have ever seen.  Amazon has this book available-I highly recommend it.  Beyond this,  I can only say that landscapes and gardens of this caliber are rare; the chance to see it in any form is a great pleasure. The essays of Tim Richardson, and the photographs of Allan Pollok-Morris,  in regards to extraordinary landscapes in Scotland-they shine.

Posted on: April 25, 2011 1 Comment
Filed Under: Garden Ornament, Garden Design, Landscape Design Tagged With: , , , ,

A Driveway

 

For good or for ill, most of us inherit a driveway that comes with the home we buy.  They are a necessity of life-most of us drive any number of places in a given day.  There is a need for space for multiple cars, a place for company to park.  Plenty of driveways are designed by exuberant contractors that love their hard surfaces better than they love anything else.  This accounts for diveways like the one pictured above.  It looks big enough to host a pair of UPS trucks side by side, and it is.  19 feet wide, that is.    

Sometimes you get lucky; this driveway was 28 years old, and deteriorated.  It needed to be replaced, which meant it could be redesigned.  A new material might be considered.  A giant concrete landing pad in front of the garage doors had doubled as a basketball court for quite a few years.  The kids are grown now; a client’s use of their landscape can change over the years. 

My first idea was to make it smaller.  I pull my chevy Suburban in and out of my driveway every day; at one point the drive is but 8 feet wide.  This drive will have a finished width of 13 feet.  Less is more, and less is nice-unless you have different than average requirements.  Some streets do not allow parking on the street.  Some families are big families.  Some people entertain a lot, or have 4 drivers going in and out at different times.  Should you have a very wide driveway by default, or need a wide drive, there are ways to minimize the impact on the eye.  The use of several materials, and the color of the surface can make a world of difference.  

As this house has a contemporary feeling about the architecture, the drive is being poured in concrete that will have an exposed aggregate surface.  A grid of steel rebar will be laid in-this gives the concrete considerably greater strength.  Portland cement, water, and an aggregate are mixed together prior to the pour.  I am sure you have all seen a concrete truck, the barrel of which turns constantly.  Concrete will begin to set up very quickly; the motion keeps the aggregate evenly dispersed in the cement cream until it is poured. 

The mixture is released from the chute as the contractor requires.  This is a lot of batter to look after.  The forms that hold the concrete have been set up to insure that the finished surface pitches away from the house.  The driveway being replaced had little pitch; my client would have ice in her garage on occasion as a result.  Much the scale of a grading rake is a concrete screed; it helps the contractor to smooth the mixture to the level set by the forms.   

He tells me this mixture is a little soupier than he likes, but the finished product will be fine.  Once the mixture is poured, it will be covered with plastic, and allowed to rest until the lower level firms up.  Though the curing process is a chemical reaction, the cool and rainy weather will slow the initial hardening process.  At precisely the proper moment, the concrete cream which has risen to the surface will be washed away, leaving 1/3 of the stone exposed, and 2/3 of the stone securely embedded in the concrete.  Beautifully executed exposed concrete aggregate is an absolutely beautiful surface.  It is a difficult surface to do well.   This driveway is being done by Albaugh Stone and Masonry; they are well known for the quality of their work.     

You can see from this picture that the basketball court where I am standing at the end of the old drive is no more.  Once the drive is done, a decision will be made about how to l;andscape the space.  This photograph says everything about what my client sees when she comes home every day.  The driveway landscape is a very important one-most people visit it every day. 

How the transition between the garage and drive gets handled is important to the functionality of the drive.  Water has to drain away.  The narrow transitional strip of garage upon which the garage door sits will be removed.  The sand strip you see here, and the garage strip will be repoured as a single piece; this piece will drop 3/4 of an inch from the floor of the garage.    

Exposed concrete aggregate is a very sturdy and strong driveway surface which survives our harsh winters quite well.  The textured surface from the exposed stone is visually lively, but very clean and uniform.  The crisp surface will compliment the architecture well. 


Once the concrete is poured, washed and sawcut, I will write again about the design of the surface. Any beautiful material asks for a thoughtful design.

Posted on: April 25, 2011 4 Comments
Filed Under: Landscape Design Tagged With: , ,

Bare Bones

 

This landscape under renovation is at an even more bare bones stage than it was when I posted about it early in the week.  Over the past few days, all of the boxwood surrounding the walk got transplanted to the east and west property lines.  All you see left are large and irregularly growing patches of sedum.  Sedum does a decent job as a groundcover in full sun, but a plant in this prominent a spot needs to be better than decent.  It needs to be stellar.  Few very short groundcovers for sun are better than lawn.  No living material better describes the sculpture that is a large piece of ground or land.  How little could I live with in a landscape?  Grass-whether it be mowed or left rough, and some trees.     

In addition, a very large bed to the east had been mounded quite high with soil.  A pink horsechestnut had been planted very high; the bed surrounding it had been built up to the grade established by the crown of the tree.  Most of the tree was dead-the living part derelict.  The grade would need to be lowered.  Cleaning out and regrading takes a lot of time and hard work, but it is the foundation upon which everything to come is built. The shape and grade of the beds and lawn play as important a part in the design process as the plant material.  


I posted this picture of the house from last October several days ago; there were 15 trees in the front yard.  9 Japanese maples, 1 amelanchier, 2 red horsechestnuts, 1 sugar maple, and 2 red maples.  Of the 15, 7 were in an advanced state of decline; I doubt they would have survived but another year or two.  Lots of landscape asks for lots of maintenance; the two go hand in hand.   

I took this picture yesterday; all of the boxwood has been moved to other spots in the yard.  12 that were heavily damaged by leaf miner and who knows what else were pitched.  The ground was regraded to match the grade of the sidewalk and the paver landing at the street. 

I do have a thing about how a driveway is landscaped.  Everyone drives up and down their drive every day. This arrangement is particularly jarring.  On the left, lawn, boxwood, a very handsome hemlock, and some hollies.  On the right side, a field of ornamental grass intersected with one lone serviceberry, and a blob of hydrangeas.   

kkTransplanting boxwood to line the drive reveals a particularly handsome and well kept yew hedge which happens to belong to the neighbor.  This arrangement which respects that hedge makes it seem as though the yews belong to this property.  Borrowing this view helps to visually set the drive within the landscape more gracefully. 

This picture says much about the relationship of the lawn to the landscape beds.  The small piece of lawn that runs from the sidewalk to the street is in stark contrast to the giant lawn bed on the far side.  Conversely, the landscape bed in the foreground dwarfs the bed on the other side of the walk.  This speaks to visual balance.  I like asymmetrical compositions, as long as they are balanced.  Sometimes it is a good idea not to press a hard boundary too hard. This little snippet of grass next to the curb is all but overpowered by all of the pavers. 

So here we are, on the verge of something new-always a daunting proposition.  A landscape renovation of this depth is also a luxury; my client decided to just about start from scratch.  Landscapes ordinarily need renovation.  Plants fail to thrive or die.  A storm can take a giant tree down.  A small area may need to be reworked.  But this is a large scale renovation.  The best of what it has going for it at this moment-a very beautiul house 


This is a very important and exciting moment-there is a spirited conversation going on.

Posted on: April 23, 2011 1 Comment
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