Month: November 2010

Written by Barbara Gee

In Rhode Island turfgrass is a big deal. The turfgrass industry is one of the largest in the state. Research conducted by the plant sciences department of the University of Rhode Island has gained the university a national reputation as a recognized authority on the subject. “The Skogley Memorial Turfgrass Research Facility at URI is the oldest turf research facility in the USA,” says Dr. Brian Maynard or the plant sciences department. “The turf industry in RI basically owes its existence to research and outreach conducted by URI.” 

Selecting the right grass
If you are starting a lawn from scratch, as with any element of your garden, it’s worth taking the time to plan and do it right. Assess the site and your requirements for that site. Is it in sun or shade, or a combination? Will it get high or low traffic – family football games or a quiet reading area? How do you want it to look – manicured or more natural? What type of soil do you have? Questions and choices – but they’re yours to make, and there is a grass to meet every need. 

The staple New England grass is 100% Bluegrass says Glenn Chappell of New England Turf in West Kingston, but he says they incorporate different species in with the Bluegrass to create mixes that serve a variety of purposes. Examples of mixes would be Bluegrass and Fescue, and Bluegrass, Fescue and Rye. NET’s Farm Manager Mark Pearson says they also grow Shortcut Bluegrass which is a dwarf variety that you can mow up to under half inch.  “It=s great for the golf course industry but also for the homeowner who likes a tight perfectly manicured look. It=s a very pretty grass but you have to be prepared to mow 4-5 times a week.” 

Maintaining a lawn
Nothing beats getting professional advice from lawn care companies. John Bannon owns Coastal Care in Pawtucket and says he is happy to come out and give you a free estimate on your lawn. “No customer is too small,” he says. “I’ll help anyone in anyway I can.” 

But in short, a lawn needs water, food, air, sunlight and regular haircuts. If you have a healthy lawn then the problems won’t be too daunting. If you inherited a lawn it is wise to find out what grass is in your lawn. You can take a strip of it to your local garden center, or stop by a sod farm in your area. They will identify it for you.        

Recommended watering requirements are about one inch a week. Regular watering helps establish a deep root system. You can measure the amount of water you’re putting on your lawn by placing straight-sided cans around to catch the water.  

Dealing with weeds can be as painful or painless as you choose to make it. Tim McGuinness at the Olde Bristol Ferry House Bed & Breakfast in Portsmouth finds digging dandelions out by hand relaxing and therapeutic. His lawn reflects the care he puts into it – dealing with weeds before they take over.  The web site for SafeLawns.org (www.safelawns.org) has plenty of information on non-toxic lawn care and getting rid of weeds.

Mowing
Joe Gibson of TrimLawn Landscape & Lawn Services in East Providence believes correct mowing is key to a healthy lawn. “Mow high,” he says. “Three inches – for shade and photosynthesis. Less light is able to reach the soil surface which means it will be shaded and therefore provide less opportunity for weed germination … Higher mowing also provides more grass blade leaf surface so sunlight is more readily absorbed helping with photosynthesis.” 

A higher cut, according to Gibson, also improves appearance because “it looks thicker from a distance, blemishes are less noticeable, and the grass has a deeper root system.” He adds that the color will also be better due to the shaded soil.

Experts agree about leaving the grass clippings on the lawn, unless they are too long when they will choke the lawn, and look messy. Paul Tukey, author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual and founder of SafeLawns.org says “Grass clippings decompose quickly – they are 80% water and organic. They recycle nutrients back into the soil.”           

To feed the grass a fertilizer with 20-5-10 ratio is usually advised. Normally two applications are recommended one in the spring and one in the fall. And whether to put lime on your lawn or not is a regular question gardeners have. Lime helps raise the ph level of the soil to make it less acidic. If you haven’t done a soil test to determine the ph of your soil then the normal recommendation is 50 to 100 pounds of lime per thousand square feet every two years. 

Pests and diseases are an indication of a less-than-healthy lawn. But don’t whip yourself into a frenzy if you see birds pecking at the grubs in your lawn, or you see ugly rings in the grass – just identify the problem and get advice on how to deal with it.

If you have a grass that is adapted to your site and to your uses the best advice I can think of is to let nature take care of it. A brown lawn in the summer is part of living in RI.  It does not mean the lawn is dead simply that it is a cool weather grass and goes dormant in hot weather. If you see folks with lush bright green lawns in August then they are putting a lot of water on it.  When there are water bans don’t worry about your lawn – it will come back.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Written by Barbara Gee

Most of us assume that strolling in the garden will be a wonderful uplifting experience. But what if it isn’t? What if the stroll depresses you? What if the color combinations do more than unsettle you? Or you find the entrance to the garden unwelcoming? The answer could be more than just bad landscaping. Your garden may be in serious need of Feng Shui.

Feng Shui (pronounced Fung S’way) literally means “wind” and “water”.  It is not a religion, as many think, but an ancient Chinese environmental philosophy that is all about building harmony between mankind and the environment. Chinese farmers relied on Feng Shui to determine where and when to plant their crops and how best to embrace the spiritual forces of nature to ensure a more abundant crop. This does not just mean good soil and lots of sun and rain. The philosophy of Feng Shui demands a far deeper and more spiritual understanding of the workings of Mother Nature in order to connect with the sacred in our lives.

In this country the application of Feng Shui is more commonly associated with buildings so many architects and interior designers here are familiar with the concepts. But having good Feng Shui inside your home or office building does not assure a happy environment unless the Feng Shui of your external surroundings is good. How can a building be a happy building if it is placed in an unhappy location? There is good Feng Shui, but there is also bad Feng Shui and the trick is to ensure you have all the good and none of the bad. Bad Feng Shui, however, comes about more from the misapplication, or lack of application, of the principles of Feng Shui.

Garden Feng Shui is a holistic approach to gardening. A Feng Shui analysis of a garden will incorporate an analysis of the air and the soil. This is not to be confused with an American-style soil test which evaluates the Ph and lime content of the soil along with the levels of plant nutrients, organic matter and mineral components of the soil. A Feng Shui analysis calls into play the energy of the soil. The Chinese word for this energy is “Chi”, as in the well-known meditative exercise of T’ai Chi. Chi is the life force of all living things. It is the driving force in human beings, and it is the quality of the environment, the power of the sun, the moon and the weather. The energy present at a location can be altered dramatically with Feng Shui, both for good and bad.

The Chinese have a saying: “First, there is luck; second, destiny; third Feng Shui; fourth, virtue and fifth, education.” As you can see Feng Shui is only a part of the whole. Central to the philosophy is the symbolism of celestial creatures: the Dragon, the Tiger, the Turtle and the Phoenix. These four creatures symbolize landforms, and the position of these landforms around your house dictates whether you have good or bad Feng Shui.

The forces of Yin and Yang are also central to the practice of Feng Shui. They are forces which are opposite to each other but complementary. Yin is dark and conceptualizes the passive female energy symbolized by the moon. These Yin forces are most powerful during the winter months. Yang is all things light and positive and conceptualizes the strong male energy symbolized by the sun and are most powerful during the summer months.

The five types of energy which are so important in Feng Shui are symbolized by the Five Elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water – all of which rely on each other and work together in symbiotic fashion.

There are different schools of Feng Shui but all stress the importance of land formations and the shape, direction and position of water elements. The largest, the most well-known, the Compass School, uses the baqua (or ba’gua) compass which utilizes complex mathematical computations and measurements of various elements at a site. The baqua is divided into eight aspects of life such as career, family, health, and their corresponding elements – wood, metal, earth, etc., as well as their corresponding colors. For instance, the North of the property is associated with career, water and black, the Northeast is knowledge, earth and blue, the East is family, green and wood, and so on. The baqua is superimposed on the site plan to ensure the correct assignment of landscape elements to the correct segment of life to bring about balance and harmony.

With any landscape design there will be a variety of scenarios to consider ranging from a virgin plot to an old and well-established landscape. A virgin plot allows for a total Feng Shui design from the outset. The house itself can be designed in such a way as to ensure good Feng Shui with all the right number of doors and windows facing the right way and so on, and then it can be positioned correctly on the plot according to the principles of Feng Shui. The important elements for good Feng Shui can all be manipulated to ensure good Feng Shui and decrease the potential for bad Feng Shui – the raised terrain will be on the correct side of the house and the essential water feature will be given an auspicious placement. Feng Shui is even applied to the position of the barbecue area.  With the house oriented correctly to bring good Feng Shui inside then the external surroundings can be designed in such a way as to dramatically augment the good energy inside the home. The choice of landscaping material will be based on shape, texture, height, and so on, and can be positioned correctly according to Feng Shui principles.  The choices are based on principles inherently different to those of our accepted concepts of landscape design.

You should not be downhearted, however, if you do not come to Feng Shui with this pristine empty space. You can still make changes to your environment without re-orienting your home or uprooting trees and diverting rivers through your property. You can make changes, and that is the strength of Feng Shui. Recreating the classical Armchair Configuration created by the positioning of the celestial creatures can be accomplished without shifting your home.

See next month for Part 2 of Feng Shui in the Garden, including resources.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Most of us assume that strolling in the garden will be a wonderful uplifting experience. But what if it isn’t? What if the stroll depresses you? What if the color combinations do more than unsettle you? Or you find the entrance to the garden unwelcoming? The answer could be more than just bad landscaping. Your garden may be in serious need of Feng Shui.

Feng Shui (pronounced Fung S’way) literally means “wind” and “water”.  It is not a religion, as many think, but an ancient Chinese environmental philosophy that is all about building harmony between mankind and the environment. Chinese farmers relied on Feng Shui to determine where and when to plant their crops and how best to embrace the spiritual forces of nature to ensure a more abundant crop. This does not just mean good soil and lots of sun and rain. The philosophy of Feng Shui demands a far deeper and more spiritual understanding of the workings of Mother Nature in order to connect with the sacred in our lives.

In this country the application of Feng Shui is more commonly associated with buildings so many architects and interior designers here are familiar with the concepts. But having good Feng Shui inside your home or office building does not assure a happy environment unless the Feng Shui of your external surroundings is good. How can a building be a happy building if it is placed in an unhappy location? There is good Feng Shui, but there is also bad Feng Shui and the trick is to ensure you have all the good and none of the bad. Bad Feng Shui, however, comes about more from the misapplication, or lack of application, of the principles of Feng Shui.

Garden Feng Shui is a holistic approach to gardening. A Feng Shui analysis of a garden will incorporate an analysis of the air and the soil. This is not to be confused with an American-style soil test which evaluates the Ph and lime content of the soil along with the levels of plant nutrients, organic matter and mineral components of the soil. A Feng Shui analysis calls into play the energy of the soil. The Chinese word for this energy is “Chi”, as in the well-known meditative exercise of T’ai Chi. Chi is the life force of all living things. It is the driving force in human beings, and it is the quality of the environment, the power of the sun, the moon and the weather. The energy present at a location can be altered dramatically with Feng Shui, both for good and bad.  

The Chinese have a saying: “First, there is luck; second, destiny; third Feng Shui; fourth, virtue and fifth, education.” As you can see Feng Shui is only a part of the whole. Central to the philosophy is the symbolism of celestial creatures: the Dragon, the Tiger, the Turtle and the Phoenix. These four creatures symbolize landforms, and the position of these landforms around your house dictates whether you have good or bad Feng Shui.

The forces of Yin and Yang are also central to the practice of Feng Shui. They are forces which are opposite to each other but complementary. Yin is dark and conceptualizes the passive female energy symbolized by the moon. These Yin forces are most powerful during the winter months. Yang is all things light and positive and conceptualizes the strong male energy symbolized by the sun and are most powerful during the summer months.

The five types of energy which are so important in Feng Shui are symbolized by the Five Elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water – all of which rely on each other and work together in symbiotic fashion.

There are different schools of Feng Shui but all stress the importance of land formations and the shape, direction and position of water elements. The largest, the most well-known, the Compass School, uses the baqua (or ba’gua) compass which utilizes complex mathematical computations and measurements of various elements at a site. The baqua is divided into eight aspects of life such as career, family, health, and their corresponding elements – wood, metal, earth, etc., as well as their corresponding colors. For instance, the North of the property is associated with career, water and black, the Northeast is knowledge, earth and blue, the East is family, green and wood, and so on. The baqua is superimposed on the site plan to ensure the correct assignment of landscape elements to the correct segment of life to bring about balance and harmony.

With any landscape design there will be a variety of scenarios to consider ranging from a virgin plot to an old and well-established landscape. A virgin plot allows for a total Feng Shui design from the outset. The house itself can be designed in such a way as to ensure good Feng Shui with all the right number of doors and windows facing the right way and so on, and then it can be positioned correctly on the plot according to the principles of Feng Shui. The important elements for good Feng Shui can all be manipulated to ensure good Feng Shui and decrease the potential for bad Feng Shui – the raised terrain will be on the correct side of the house and the essential water feature will be given an auspicious placement. Feng Shui is even applied to the position of the barbecue area.  With the house oriented correctly to bring good Feng Shui inside then the external surroundings can be designed in such a way as to dramatically augment the good energy inside the home. The choice of landscaping material will be based on shape, texture, height, and so on, and can be positioned correctly according to Feng Shui principles.  The choices are based on principles inherently different to those of our accepted concepts of landscape design.

You should not be downhearted, however, if you do not come to Feng Shui with this pristine empty space. You can still make changes to your environment without re-orienting your home or uprooting trees and diverting rivers through your property. You can make changes, and that is the strength of Feng Shui. Recreating the classical Armchair Configuration created by the positioning of the celestial creatures can be accomplished without shifting your home.

See next month for Part 2 of Feng Shui in the Garden, including resources.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

 

 

 

Written by Barbara Gee

When designing a garden space it is important to be clear about what kind of environment you want to create. Do you want a peaceful meditative garden, an action-oriented space, a funky whimsical spot, or a kitchen garden? Whatever kind of garden you decide on Feng Shui dictates that it should be built and treated with love and respect. Gill Hale, in The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui, writes “In the garden we are in partnership with other living things. If we work with them, balance and harmony will follow.”

It may not be within your power to determine the natural phenomena in your garden but you can still have a forceful hand in the installation and placement of the plants and garden features. With an understanding of the principles which govern Feng Shui (see Part 1, Vol. 4, Issue 6) you can choose furniture, plants and colors which work in harmony with each other and the surrounding area in order to create a balanced and harmonious environment. You can also install features which are specifically designed to clash thus creating a more vibrant energy in the garden. The correct choice of color is very important and red, in particular, is a pivotal color for good Feng Shui because it is the color of luck, power and energy. Emperor yellow is the second most auspicious color in Feng Shui, and if you like blue you should go for indigo because it comes from the seven colors of the rainbow and refractions from cut crystal.

In the garden the Yin and Yang interplay of sunlight and shade, dry and wet, smooth and rough, soft and hard, all contribute to the Feng Shui surrounding your home. The terrain can be shaped to simulate the “embrace of the celestial creatures” so that the house can, in fact, be in the correct position even though it has not been moved.  The back garden should be higher than the front garden for protection. If this is not the case a wall or fence can be installed, or a clump of densely foliaged trees can be planted to simulate the mountain.  The garden on the left side of the home – the Dragon – should be higher than that on the right – the Tiger. Again, if this is not the case you can install a bright light on a high pole on the left side to raise the Chi on that side thus keeping the Tiger under control. An important element in the garden is the Phoenix which is symbolized by a very slight mound or incline in the front of the house. This mound symbolizes a footstool which is part of the armchair configuration. If this is not already there you can create a small raised mound in front of your house planted with bright red flowers.

You can certainly do everything to bring good Feng Shui to your home and also decrease or even eliminate the bad Feng Shui by ensuring that Poison Arrows, do not direct bad energy into your home. Poison Arrows are interpreted as anything straight, pointed, sharp, or irregular. But whether animate or inanimate they direct bad energy into your home diluting or destroying the good Feng Shui. Elements such as a straight road pointing at your house, a neighbor’s triangular roofline facing your house, a tall tree trunk outside your window are all poison arrows. Even a straight path heading towards your front door is bad and if you add to that a mailbox pointing toward your house you have an extreme poison arrow. You can however diffuse the bad energy by planting something like a densely foliaged shrub between the mailbox and your house. You can also soften the edges of the straight path in such a way as to decrease the flow of bad Feng Shui into your home. You can either redesign it into a curvy shape, or simply plant containers all the way along, to divert or slow down the flow of chi.

Some primary problems which may surround your house can be remedied with garden lighting to activate the Yang energy in the form of fire. If your house has an irregular or “inauspicious” shape, or if your house is facing a straight road, you can diffuse this bad energy with the correct lighting to enhance the good Feng Shui.

Boundaries around your property are important but they should not cut you off from the outside world. Therefore the height of your boundary and the positioning of the entrances is important. A garden gate, for instance, should always look friendly and inviting. If it is ominous and off-putting then change it to a smaller, lighter, brighter one.

Whatever you do in or to your garden you should always show love and respect for it. One way to do that is to resist using chemicals and use only natural fertilizers and pest control. The results will be much longer lasting and far better for your environment. You should not be a prisoner to the forces of your environment because you have the power and the tools to change these forces for the good. Once you are familiar with the concepts of Feng Shui it is virtually impossible to sit back and take no action. You can never look at a landscape or garden the same way again.

If you like the philosophy of Feng Shui you can try any of these techniques but educate yourself so that you really understand what you’re doing – and why. While it may be fun to dabble in Feng Shui you probably won’t benefit from its implementation. Bring in a Feng Shui consultant to assess your space and advise, or at the very least read up on the subject. Here are some suggestions for books on Feng Shui in the garden.

Feng Shui Garden Design: Creating Serenity, by Antonia Beattie

The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui, by Gill Hale

Feng Shui in the Garden, by Nancilee Wydra

The Complete Illustrated Guide to Feng Shui for Gardens, by Lillian Too

Feng Shui in the Garden, by Richard Webster

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

When designing a garden space it is important to be clear about what kind of environment you want to create. Do you want a peaceful meditative garden, an action-oriented space, a funky whimsical spot, or a kitchen garden? Whatever kind of garden you decide on Feng Shui dictates that it should be built and treated with love and respect. Gill Hale, in The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui, writes “In the garden we are in partnership with other living things. If we work with them, balance and harmony will follow.”

It may not be within your power to determine the natural phenomena in your garden but you can still have a forceful hand in the installation and placement of the plants and garden features. With an understanding of the principles which govern Feng Shui (see Part 1, Vol. 4, Issue 6) you can choose furniture, plants and colors which work in harmony with each other and the surrounding area in order to create a balanced and harmonious environment. You can also install features which are specifically designed to clash thus creating a more vibrant energy in the garden. The correct choice of color is very important and red, in particular, is a pivotal color for good Feng Shui because it is the color of luck, power and energy. Emperor yellow is the second most auspicious color in Feng Shui, and if you like blue you should go for indigo because it comes from the seven colors of the rainbow and refractions from cut crystal.

In the garden the Yin and Yang interplay of sunlight and shade, dry and wet, smooth and rough, soft and hard, all contribute to the Feng Shui surrounding your home. The terrain can be shaped to simulate the “embrace of the celestial creatures” so that the house can, in fact, be in the correct position even though it has not been moved.  The back garden should be higher than the front garden for protection. If this is not the case a wall or fence can be installed, or a clump of densely foliaged trees can be planted to simulate the mountain.  The garden on the left side of the home – the Dragon – should be higher than that on the right – the Tiger. Again, if this is not the case you can install a bright light on a high pole on the left side to raise the Chi on that side thus keeping the Tiger under control. An important element in the garden is the Phoenix which is symbolized by a very slight mound or incline in the front of the house. This mound symbolizes a footstool which is part of the armchair configuration. If this is not already there you can create a small raised mound in front of your house planted with bright red flowers.

You can certainly do everything to bring good Feng Shui to your home and also decrease or even eliminate the bad Feng Shui by ensuring that Poison Arrows, do not direct bad energy into your home. Poison Arrows are interpreted as anything straight, pointed, sharp, or irregular. But whether animate or inanimate they direct bad energy into your home diluting or destroying the good Feng Shui. Elements such as a straight road pointing at your house, a neighbor’s triangular roofline facing your house, a tall tree trunk outside your window are all poison arrows. Even a straight path heading towards your front door is bad and if you add to that a mailbox pointing toward your house you have an extreme poison arrow. You can however diffuse the bad energy by planting something like a densely foliaged shrub between the mailbox and your house. You can also soften the edges of the straight path in such a way as to decrease the flow of bad Feng Shui into your home. You can either redesign it into a curvy shape, or simply plant containers all the way along, to divert or slow down the flow of chi.

Some primary problems which may surround your house can be remedied with garden lighting to activate the Yang energy in the form of fire. If your house has an irregular or “inauspicious” shape, or if your house is facing a straight road, you can diffuse this bad energy with the correct lighting to enhance the good Feng Shui.

Boundaries around your property are important but they should not cut you off from the outside world. Therefore the height of your boundary and the positioning of the entrances is important. A garden gate, for instance, should always look friendly and inviting. If it is ominous and off-putting then change it to a smaller, lighter, brighter one.

Whatever you do in or to your garden you should always show love and respect for it. One way to do that is to resist using chemicals and use only natural fertilizers and pest control. The results will be much longer lasting and far better for your environment. You should not be a prisoner to the forces of your environment because you have the power and the tools to change these forces for the good. Once you are familiar with the concepts of Feng Shui it is virtually impossible to sit back and take no action. You can never look at a landscape or garden the same way again.

If you like the philosophy of Feng Shui you can try any of these techniques but educate yourself so that you really understand what you’re doing – and why. While it may be fun to dabble in Feng Shui you probably won’t benefit from its implementation. Bring in a Feng Shui consultant to assess your space and advise, or at the very least read up on the subject. Here are some suggestions for books on Feng Shui in the garden.

 Feng Shui Garden Design: Creating Serenity, by Antonia Beattie

The Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui, by Gill Hale

Feng Shui in the Garden, by Nancilee Wydra

The Complete Illustrated Guide to Feng Shui for Gardens, by Lillian Too

Feng Shui in the Garden, by Richard Webster

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

 

Written by Barbara Gee

Well your space may be small but your ideas don’t have to be. Your canvas is minimal but your palette doesn’t have to be and you certainly don’t have to be timid. You can still make bold choices. And the petite size can be a blessing. You have possibilities with a small space that may get lost in a huge landscape. Think of your oh-so-manageable space as a framework within which you must work and this will help you focus your design. Look at what you have: maybe an interesting wall between you and your neighbor, some lovely old shade trees next door, a rustic fence, or great front steps leading directly onto the street… The structural elements of the house or apartment building become more important in the design of a small garden because they’re “in your face.” But don’t dismiss the existing elements. Incorporate them into your design.

There are certain aspects of landscape design that are common to any space whatever the size. Perhaps the most important is getting to know the space. Note how the sun moves around it throughout the day. Look at the growing conditions and the soil which, on a city lot, may need some serious improvement. Think about how you want to use your garden: for entertaining, relaxing, exercising… and ask yourself if it’s more important to you to see your garden from inside your home or outside, or both.

Susan Pasquarelli, a busy college professor is very happy with the size of her tiny garden in Newport, RI, specifically because of its size. “I love the amount of work it takes – or doesn’t take! I can do the spring cleaning in one full day, and lay down mulch the second day while making a list for the garden shop of what plants I may need as replacement.”

Pasquarelli then has time to do the other things she loves which is spend time relaxing in her garden having cooked a gourmet meal for family and friends. “Some gardeners never get to sit and relax in their gardens because there’s always work to be done,” she said.

Pasquarelli designed her garden entirely from the second floor bedroom windows “I could see the whole garden,” she said. “It was easy to get the big picture.”

One piece of advice she has for folks who garden in small spaces is plant upwards. “When I first started the garden I didn’t realize how important the upward climbing plants would be for privacy.”

This is important when people live close to each other. Pasquarelli solved her problem by erecting a trellis and made of it a “living fence” using ivy, honeysuckle and climbing hydrangea. The next thing she did was open up the space by pruning the lower branches of the gigantic and overly dominant holly trees. This gave her room to plant underneath and to build a bluestone “terrazzo” for table and chairs.

Many folks with limited space make use of container planting. Grouping the containers together creatively is a great way of building a garden without having to plant in a bed. You can stagger the height of the containers, place them on steps or hang them from anywhere and everywhere – fences, walls, porches, overhangs, screens, trellises… Pasquarelli planted a selection of herbs in containers right outside the deck door which is near to the kitchen.

In a small space where the eye is intimately drawn to plantings containers allow you to make changes quickly. When something stops blooming you can exchange it for something that’s in bloom – but don’t forget that foliage can be the best feature of a plant. It’s not always about the blooms.

And city gardeners don’t have to go without their home-grown produce: fruits and vegetables can be grown in containers. Tomatoes work beautifully, so do peppers, beans and strawberries, and different lettuce varieties make a gorgeous display grouped together. Don’t be afraid to mix edibles up with non-edibles in the containers – just know which is which.

Shrubs can also be grown in containers and, at a pinch, small trees but these may have special overwintering needs which city dwellers can’t accommodate. There are some wonderful small trees and shrubs that work well in small spaces but if you’re up to the task you can still control a larger shrub and keep it small with judicious pruning.

Garden design isn’t just about the plants. The hardscape and accent ornaments are an important element. Another Newport resident Susan Champagne gardens on a lot that is 3,400 square feet total including the house but this does not stop her from using every inch for planting. She and her husband took out an old deck which took up most of the back yard along with a tiny strip of beaten up old turf and paved the entire area in bluestone creating two levels surrounded by bluestone raised beds. They also built a raised bed running the length of the driveway embellished all the way down with fun statuary and ornaments Champagne has collected over the years. They installed a privacy fence and a gate inviting visitors into the back yard thus creating a little mystery. True to her mission of planting everywhere Champagne designed different area plantings around the house including a “tropical garden” – yes, in New England – which is enclosed between her house and the next door neighbor: “it holds the heat and is relatively dry because the rain doesn’t always finds its way in,” she said, “so I can have fun there.”

City gardens have limitations and some of them may come from next door. Champagne had to contend with two big old trees in the neighbor’s yards that almost completely blocked the sun from her back yard. She pruned them back, with the go-ahead from the neighbors, but still there’s very little sun. Undaunted she incorporated a lot of unusual shade plants into her design and hung plants on the walls to catch what sun there is.  

 On a final note don’t forget about wildlife even in a city. Birds and butterflies bring life to a garden so hang bird-feeders taking care to place them somewhere that cats can’t reach. Take the same care with the placement of bird baths.   

 Pasquarelli and Champagne love the economy of work load in a small garden: “nothing bothers us about the size,” they say.

Plants for small gardens

Trees:

 Maple ‘Emerald Elf’

 Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Shrubs

Weigelia ‘Midnight Wine’

 Mugho Pine ‘Slow Mound’

 Spirea ‘Daphne’

 Chamaecyparis ‘Nana Gracilis’

 Lilac ‘Prairie Petite’

 Buddleia

Ornamental Grasses:

 Miscanthus ‘Kleine Fontaine’

 Sesleria nitida

Perennials:

 Artemesia ‘Silver Mound’

 Campanula ‘Blue Harebells’

 Heuchera ‘Chocolate Ruffles’

 Daylily ‘Stella d’Oro’

 Chrysanthemum ‘White Bomb’

Annuals:

 Calendula officinalis

 Centaurea cyanus

 Scabiosa prolifera

 Zinnia peruviana

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Well your space may be small but your ideas don’t have to be. Your canvas is minimal but your palette doesn’t have to be and you certainly don’t have to be timid. You can still make bold choices. And the petite size can be a blessing. You have possibilities with a small space that may get lost in a huge landscape. Think of your oh-so-manageable space as a framework within which you must work and this will help you focus your design. Look at what you have: maybe an interesting wall between you and your neighbor, some lovely old shade trees next door, a rustic fence, or great front steps leading directly onto the street… The structural elements of the house or apartment building become more important in the design of a small garden because they’re “in your face.” But don’t dismiss the existing elements. Incorporate them into your design.

There are certain aspects of landscape design that are common to any space whatever the size. Perhaps the most important is getting to know the space. Note how the sun moves around it throughout the day. Look at the growing conditions and the soil which, on a city lot, may need some serious improvement. Think about how you want to use your garden: for entertaining, relaxing, exercising… and ask yourself if it’s more important to you to see your garden from inside your home or outside, or both.

Susan Pasquarelli, a busy college professor is very happy with the size of her tiny garden in Newport, RI, specifically because of its size. “I love the amount of work it takes – or doesn’t take! I can do the spring cleaning in one full day, and lay down mulch the second day while making a list for the garden shop of what plants I may need as replacement.”

Pasquarelli then has time to do the other things she loves which is spend time relaxing in her garden having cooked a gourmet meal for family and friends. “Some gardeners never get to sit and relax in their gardens because there’s always work to be done,” she said.

Pasquarelli designed her garden entirely from the second floor bedroom windows “I could see the whole garden,” she said. “It was easy to get the big picture.”

One piece of advice she has for folks who garden in small spaces is plant upwards. “When I first started the garden I didn’t realize how important the upward climbing plants would be for privacy.”

This is important when people live close to each other. Pasquarelli solved her problem by erecting a trellis and made of it a “living fence” using ivy, honeysuckle and climbing hydrangea. The next thing she did was open up the space by pruning the lower branches of the gigantic and overly dominant holly trees. This gave her room to plant underneath and to build a bluestone “terrazzo” for table and chairs.

Many folks with limited space make use of container planting. Grouping the containers together creatively is a great way of building a garden without having to plant in a bed. You can stagger the height of the containers, place them on steps or hang them from anywhere and everywhere – fences, walls, porches, overhangs, screens, trellises… Pasquarelli planted a selection of herbs in containers right outside the deck door which is near to the kitchen.

In a small space where the eye is intimately drawn to plantings containers allow you to make changes quickly. When something stops blooming you can exchange it for something that’s in bloom – but don’t forget that foliage can be the best feature of a plant. It’s not always about the blooms.

And city gardeners don’t have to go without their home-grown produce: fruits and vegetables can be grown in containers. Tomatoes work beautifully, so do peppers, beans and strawberries, and different lettuce varieties make a gorgeous display grouped together. Don’t be afraid to mix edibles up with non-edibles in the containers – just know which is which.

Shrubs can also be grown in containers and, at a pinch, small trees but these may have special overwintering needs which city dwellers can’t accommodate. There are some wonderful small trees and shrubs that work well in small spaces but if you’re up to the task you can still control a larger shrub and keep it small with judicious pruning.

Garden design isn’t just about the plants. The hardscape and accent ornaments are an important element. Another Newport resident Susan Champagne gardens on a lot that is 3,400 square feet total including the house but this does not stop her from using every inch for planting. She and her husband took out an old deck which took up most of the back yard along with a tiny strip of beaten up old turf and paved the entire area in bluestone creating two levels surrounded by bluestone raised beds. They also built a raised bed running the length of the driveway embellished all the way down with fun statuary and ornaments Champagne has collected over the years. They installed a privacy fence and a gate inviting visitors into the back yard thus creating a little mystery. True to her mission of planting everywhere Champagne designed different area plantings around the house including a “tropical garden” – yes, in New England – which is enclosed between her house and the next door neighbor: “it holds the heat and is relatively dry because the rain doesn’t always finds its way in,” she said, “so I can have fun there.”

City gardens have limitations and some of them may come from next door. Champagne had to contend with two big old trees in the neighbor’s yards that almost completely blocked the sun from her back yard. She pruned them back, with the go-ahead from the neighbors, but still there’s very little sun. Undaunted she incorporated a lot of unusual shade plants into her design and hung plants on the walls to catch what sun there is.  

 On a final note don’t forget about wildlife even in a city. Birds and butterflies bring life to a garden so hang bird-feeders taking care to place them somewhere that cats can’t reach. Take the same care with the placement of bird baths.   

 Pasquarelli and Champagne love the economy of work load in a small garden: “nothing bothers us about the size,” they say.

Plants for small gardens

Trees:

 Maple ‘Emerald Elf’

 Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Shrubs

Weigelia ‘Midnight Wine’

 Mugho Pine ‘Slow Mound’

 Spirea ‘Daphne’

 Chamaecyparis ‘Nana Gracilis’

 Lilac ‘Prairie Petite’

 Buddleia

Ornamental Grasses:

 Miscanthus ‘Kleine Fontaine’

 Sesleria nitida

Perennials:

 Artemesia ‘Silver Mound’

 Campanula ‘Blue Harebells’

 Heuchera ‘Chocolate Ruffles’

 Daylily ‘Stella d’Oro’

 Chrysanthemum ‘White Bomb’

Annuals:

 Calendula officinalis

 Centaurea cyanus

 Scabiosa prolifera

 Zinnia peruviana

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

 

Written by Barbara Gee

Gardeners in southern New England live with truly erratic weather! Take last year, for instance – the spring was long and wet, the summer was kind of blah, and the winter was just plain weird – my cherry tree was trying to bloom on Christmas Day! Even the experts were not sure what this would mean for the spring this year. 

Planting perennials is one way of dealing with the questionable aspects of weather. But this does not mean that “perennial” is synonymous with “easy.” It can be if you choose the right perennials. But just because an established perennial plant survives for many years does not mean that it can do so without assistance. 

Perennials produce seeds and blossoms more than once in their life span. A perennial comes back year after year – in the right conditions. You have to give your perennials the conditions they want or they will not be happy. A plant like Mandevilla, for instance, that gorgeous vine with electric pink blossoms, is perennial in its native land of Brazil but behaves more like an annual in Rhode Island. The winter is too harsh for it and the plant dies, unless brought inside and overwintered. 

Perennials are classified as either herbaceous which means they have soft stems and tops which die back to the ground in the fall, like Bleeding heart (Dicentra), or woody which means they have stiff, shrub-like stems, like Russian sage (Perovskia). 

Perennials are also defined as hardy, semi-hardy or tender depending on their ability to survive the winters here. Hardy perennials, such as bellflower (Campanula), need very little protection through the winter; half-hardy or semi-hardy perennials need some protection, such as mulch; and tender perennials like salvia’s do not survive the winters. Tender perennials, often tubers such as dahlia’s, can be left to die or dug up and stored through the winter to be replanted in the spring. 

Perennials in the Garden
“Perennial borders” often contain a mix of shrubs and annuals because very few perennials bloom all through the spring, summer and fall. Plant form, structure, and foliage are just as important as flower color. When choosing perennials go for ones that have beautiful foliage so that when they are not in bloom they still look good. If you use plants that loose their foliage even while still blooming, like ornamental onion (Allium), plant something like Lady’s mantle (alchemilla) that will come fast behind and cover up the spent foliage. But if you love color through the seasons then choose perennials that bloom at different times.

Perennials for Sun or Shade?
Plants have different needs – give them what they want. Some, like nicotine plant(nicotiana), need full-sun, which is 6-8 hours of sun a day. Others like partial sun or shade. Cimicifuga, hostas, ginger, ferns… love the shade.  

 Island Beds or Straight Borders
Traditionally perennial borders are placed against a backdrop such as a wall or hedge. These are designed to be seen from the front. But island beds have become more popular in recent years. They are free-standing and designed to be seen in the round, from all sides. Front-viewed borders usually have taller plants at the back, gradating down in size to the low plants in the front. Island beds require the height to be in the center but it can also be a garden structure such as a teepee.

Plant in groupings of three or five and continue the groupings along the border to give a cohesive look. 

Containers
Most people think only of annuals in containers but don’t pass up the opportunity of putting perennials in containers. You will probably have to bring it in to overwinter, but if the foliage and structure are great then it may be worth it. Bergenia, for instance, looks great in a pot. The wonderful leaves and red stems continue to look good even when its pink flowers have gone by. 

Buying Perennials
A perennial is a plant that should be around for a good number of years so buy strong, healthy plants from a reputable nursery. Check the plant to make sure there are no signs of disease, or lack of care. You can always shake a plant gently out of its pot to make sure the roots are healthy. 

Take note of the size the plant will become at maturity, and plan accordingly. 

If friends offer you a plant from their garden don’t take it just to be nice. Make sure it is something you want and not a plant that will take over your garden.

Perennial Care
Healthy soil will ensure a healthy plant. Care for your soil and the plant will take care of itself, pretty much. If your soil needs amending add organic material, like compost, when preparing the bed. Fall is a good time to do this – the amendments will have time to settle in before you plant in the spring. 

Plant in a hole that is big enough to accept the spread of the plant’s roots. Add a little fertilizer to give the plant a boost of nutrients and plant the crown of the plant at soil level. Then water. Keep watering regularly for the first week or two, after which you can ease off and establish a regular watering routine. It’s helpful to cut or pinch back a plant with heavy top growth so that its energy goes into the roots rather than the foliage. Perennials don’t necessarily look great when they’re first planted. They grow to look better the second year and get better after that.

Transplanting
In general, the best time to transplant a perennial is after it has finished blooming, either in the spring or the fall. Don’t transplant too late into the fall or the plant may not have time to settle into its new home before the cold of winter hits.

Garden Maintenance
Plants need water either from you or nature so make sure they are getting it. The other tasks include deadheading, pinching, pruning and cutting back. These all make the plant look nicer and help it put energy into root growth and new bushy upper growth. You may need to stake tall plants like boltonia.

Keep the garden weed free – they compete for everything – nutrients, water, air, space. 

A late-fall cleanup of the garden makes it look tidy and makes less work in the spring. Removing debris ensures a clean garden which cuts down on conditions conducive to pests and diseases.

Keep records of what you planted when, and where.

There is nothing more fun than seeing perennials peek through in the spring. You feel the garden come alive. There may be sad moments when your favorite dianthus doesn’t appear, but then you see your new cranesbill (Geranium) beginning to show. Perennials just keep on giving if you treat them right.

Great Perennials for Rhode Island
Daffodil (Narcissus), yellow

Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), white

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis), deep pink

Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), chartreuse and green

Ornamental onion (Allium aflatunense), purple           

Cornflower (Centaurea), blue

Catnip (Nepeta mussini), lavender and gray

Meadow sage (Salvia x superba), blue

Queen-of-the-prairie (Filipendula rubra), lavender

Snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum), white

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Written by Barbara Gee

Fresh herbs bring so much pleasure all year. We grow them for a number of uses all of which are to make you feel good. You can eat them, drink them, smell them, smooth them into your skin, heal yourself with them, or use them as a dye. You can also simply grow different herbs in different rooms to create a specific mood – lavender in the bedroom to soothe and calm you, spearmint in the bathroom to perk you up, scented geranium in the office to make your work day a little more pleasant, and a sweet basil in the kitchen to inspire the culinary imagination… 

 You can start herbs indoors any time of the year and then move them out to plant in the garden when the temperature allows. Growing them indoors has any number of virtues not the least of which is the delicious fragrance wafting through the house.

While many herbs are edible this does not mean that you can grab a bunch of leaves as you pass by and start munching. Each plant has different properties and extracting them may involve infusing the leaves, steeping the bark or roots, or cooking and crushing the berries.

Probably the most common reason for growing herbs is to have a constant source of fresh herbs for cooking. Tom Vanicek, a Rhode Island nurseryman, devotes so much of his life to growing plants for other people that he grows none at his Portsmouth home except herbs. “I love to cook and there’s nothing better than fresh herbs for the smell and the taste,” he says. “I always have some in the house in the winter and in the garden later on.”

SOWING THE SEEDS
If you are sowing herb seeds in order to plant them outside time your sowing based on the projected last frost date. Simply work back the correct number of weeks for germination to take place and for the plant to be strong and healthy enough to be planted outside at the right time. The seed packets will have this information. If you want herbs all year indoors then it doesn’t matter when you sow them.  

Most seeds should be sown at a depth equal to three times their diameter. Plant in a good seed-starting mix moistened. Some seeds need darkness to germinate, some need light. In the first case cover the seeds with the seed mix and cover the pots with a dark cover, or put them in a warm, dark cupboard with a transparent cover. If they need light to germinate don’t cover the seeds with the mix just press them in lightly and cover the pots with a transparent cover and place them in good light. You want to create moist and warm conditions to encourage germination. Lift the cover if it is too moist inside.

When the plants sprout remove the cover and place them in a good light. A very sunny windowsill can work if you turn the pots every day but a “grow-light” set-up is more reliable. These fluorescent lights should be left on for up to 18 hours a day and should be set about 6-12 inches above the plants at all times. Water very gently or from the bottom so you don’t disturb the seedlings.

When you see the first two true leaves you can bring them out into the “real world” of your house still maintaining a good light source. Locate your herbs in the place in your home where they will thrive. Just as you would follow the dictate “right plant, right place” outdoors so you have to adhere to this indoors.  Most commonly used culinary herbs like basil, need at least six hours of strong light a day, so a sunny windowsill on the south side of the house would be ideal. Bear in mind, however, that window glass does cut down on available light, and winter sunlight is often weak and short-lived. Turn your plants every day if you can, or move them around the house to bring them to the light. You may even want to consider supplementing with artificial light.

CARING FOR THE PLANTS
If you like the look of the herbs all in the same container don’t “plant” them in the soil – keep them in their own pots and place in a container. Heavily harvested herbs begin to look unsightly and it will be easier to replace them without disturbing the other plants. To improve the appearance of this type of container Barbara Chaves of Chaves’ Gardens & Florist in Middletown recommends putting florist’s sheet moss around the top. “It looks pretty and pulls it all together visually,” she says. “You would never know the herbs were not planted and the moss also helps retain moisture.”

Plants have differing needs in terms of temperature, humidity, watering, light and feeding so read up on each plant and don’t assume that they will all grow well in the same location and conditions. Most herbs generally prefer warm temperatures: 60-70°F during the day with about a 10 degree drop at night. They do not respond well to sudden drops in temperature or draughts which can stress them.

When watering it’s better to err slightly on the side of too little. Plants will spring back with some water if a touch dry but may rot or develop diseases if too wet. Water in the morning and make sure the plants drain well and are not left standing in water.

To keep the plants healthy fertilize lightly once a month preferably with an organic or herbal fertilizer. Home air can be dry so mist them occasionally or, says Chaves, “take them to the sink once a month and hose them down gently.” This will knock off any insects and clean off household dust which prevents the leaves from breathing.

If you see a problem do not use a chemical spray – these are edible plants. Either remove the blemished part of the plant, or discard the entire plant and replace with a new one.

When spring arrives you’ll have a head start on your herb garden by taking your indoor plants outdoors. But don’t forget that indoor plants have become used to the good soft life so get them adjusted to the outside gently by “hardening” them off. This simply means getting them adjusted to outside conditions gradually over a few days moving them out in the morning and in at night when the temperature drops. In a few days you can plant them outside in the garden or a container.

HARVESTING HERBS
When harvesting herbs for use snip off what you need from the bottom of the plant – this not only keeps the plant looking attractive but encourages new growth.

MOST COMMONLY-USED CULINARY HERBS 

Basil (Ocimum)

Parsley (Petroselinum)

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

Oregano (Origanum vulgare)

Dill (Anethum graveolens)

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Thyme (Thymus)

Marjoram (Origanum majorana)

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Parsley (Petroselinum)

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

Oregano (Origanum vulgare)

Dill (Anethum graveolens)

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Thyme (Thymus)

Marjoram (Origanum majorana)

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

 

Written by Barbara Gee

You may have just bought a new house. You may have bought an old house. You may have a bare lot and are waiting to build, or you may simply want to revamp the garden of your existing house. Whatever your reason for wanting to start a garden you have to answer the question: am I planning this garden for me, or for the neighbors to see and admire? You can, in fact, accomplish both, but the point is that your attention to this question will help you focus on what you want the garden to do for you.

It’s important to know the space around your house and how you want to use it. If you have a family of six young rambunctious children, two dogs and a cat you may be forced to plan accordingly and design a soccer field – at least until the children have moved on to cars. If, on the other hand you are heading for a leisurely retirement and want to potter for hours in your garden you may be able to design a labor-intensive garden with lots of flowers to take care of. Whatever your current life-style the garden should reflect that. And remember, it is your garden to do with as you wish.

Spend some time thinking about the garden – really thinking. Walk around the space as it exists now. Take a chair out and sit in different areas to see how they feel and how they look from different points in the garden. Look out of your windows at different times of the day and think about what you want to see from them. Observe how the sun plays around your house. Is the garden shady, sunny, or both? Are you happy with the amount of privacy you have, or would you prefer a little more? Do you want to create a privacy barrier (a nice one, of course) between you and your neighbors? Are there existing trees on the property – do you like them? On this one, however, you may be financially forced to like them since removing trees is costly. Which brings us to the next question you have to ask yourself – how much are you willing to spend?

Size of budget does not dictate beauty of garden. Having a design and a plan of action will do more to dictate that, and will help you spend your money wisely. An immediate and not expensive path to take is to hire someone knowledgeable to walk around your garden with you for an hour. You might ask someone from a local nursery or garden center, or a landscape designer, or even a knowledgeable friend to give you some time and advice. Don’t expect the gem of a fellow who mows your lawn to necessarily know about landscape design. He may well know, but just be sure. During that hour you will come to know your property more intimately and get a good sense of a design direction in which to go – or even get a couple of options to choose from. This is a minimum investment but is time and money well spent.

Now, do you intend to do the gardening yourself, or is it your intention to get a gorgeous garden but have someone else tend it? Be truthful because a large garden can easily become a burden if it requires too much maintenance. Don’t put in a huge flower garden thinking you will do the planting, weeding, fertilizing, pruning, and dead-heading if your husband and children are expecting you to go canoeing with them every weekend. Adjust the size of your garden workload to your lifestyle. Don’t become hostage to your garden. Gardens beckon and seduce the unsuspecting – it happens all too easily. You should know, however, that there really is no such thing as a maintenance-free garden. Anything you plant will need some maintenance whether by you or by someone you hire.

Are you an obsessive enough gardener to want to go the whole nine yards yourself in designing and creating your own garden, or are you more comfortable seeking the services of a professional landscape designer? If it is the latter you have options. You can hire a professional to do the whole job: design, installation and maintenance, or just a portion of the job, such as the design. Some designers prefer to do everything, some are more than happy to create a garden design and hand it over to you to implement. Just know which way you want to proceed, and take your time. Creating a work of art is a process and change is inherent, but changing your mind four of five times will cost you money so make sure you know your mind. When you work with a professional you are not just paying for a garden design you are paying for that person’s knowledge of plants and also of people in the nursery industry. If the landscape designer is not going to install the garden for you they will still be able to advise you on where to buy your plants, or who to hire to plant them for you.

Creating a garden takes time. Enjoy the process, even over years. Taking a garden from design to mature growth spans years, and the garden will get better as time passes. While it is hard to imagine that a new garden freshly planted with 12″ plants will ever grow into the lusty perennial border of your dreams (or of the original design) chances are it will. Patience pays off in gardening. Your excitement about your new garden is understandable and appropriate, but don’t go the seductive route of immediate gratification buying the biggest plant at the nursery. The plants will be healthier and better adjusted to your particular garden if they grow to maturity in your garden, not in the garden center. Allow your garden to mature naturally. Don’t force it. It will pay off in spades in terms of longevity, and beauty.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

You may have just bought a new house. You may have bought an old house. You may have a bare lot and are waiting to build, or you may simply want to revamp the garden of your existing house. Whatever your reason for wanting to start a garden you have to answer the question: am I planning this garden for me, or for the neighbors to see and admire? You can, in fact, accomplish both, but the point is that your attention to this question will help you focus on what you want the garden to do for you.

It’s important to know the space around your house and how you want to use it. If you have a family of six young rambunctious children, two dogs and a cat you may be forced to plan accordingly and design a soccer field – at least until the children have moved on to cars. If, on the other hand you are heading for a leisurely retirement and want to potter for hours in your garden you may be able to design a labor-intensive garden with lots of flowers to take care of. Whatever your current life-style the garden should reflect that. And remember, it is your garden to do with as you wish.

Spend some time thinking about the garden – really thinking. Walk around the space as it exists now. Take a chair out and sit in different areas to see how they feel and how they look from different points in the garden. Look out of your windows at different times of the day and think about what you want to see from them. Observe how the sun plays around your house. Is the garden shady, sunny, or both? Are you happy with the amount of privacy you have, or would you prefer a little more? Do you want to create a privacy barrier (a nice one, of course) between you and your neighbors? Are there existing trees on the property – do you like them? On this one, however, you may be financially forced to like them since removing trees is costly. Which brings us to the next question you have to ask yourself – how much are you willing to spend?

Size of budget does not dictate beauty of garden. Having a design and a plan of action will do more to dictate that, and will help you spend your money wisely. An immediate and not expensive path to take is to hire someone knowledgeable to walk around your garden with you for an hour. You might ask someone from a local nursery or garden center, or a landscape designer, or even a knowledgeable friend to give you some time and advice. Don’t expect the gem of a fellow who mows your lawn to necessarily know about landscape design. He may well know, but just be sure. During that hour you will come to know your property more intimately and get a good sense of a design direction in which to go – or even get a couple of options to choose from. This is a minimum investment but is time and money well spent.

Now, do you intend to do the gardening yourself, or is it your intention to get a gorgeous garden but have someone else tend it? Be truthful because a large garden can easily become a burden if it requires too much maintenance. Don’t put in a huge flower garden thinking you will do the planting, weeding, fertilizing, pruning, and dead-heading if your husband and children are expecting you to go canoeing with them every weekend. Adjust the size of your garden workload to your lifestyle. Don’t become hostage to your garden. Gardens beckon and seduce the unsuspecting – it happens all too easily. You should know, however, that there really is no such thing as a maintenance-free garden. Anything you plant will need some maintenance whether by you or by someone you hire.

Are you an obsessive enough gardener to want to go the whole nine yards yourself in designing and creating your own garden, or are you more comfortable seeking the services of a professional landscape designer? If it is the latter you have options. You can hire a professional to do the whole job: design, installation and maintenance, or just a portion of the job, such as the design. Some designers prefer to do everything, some are more than happy to create a garden design and hand it over to you to implement. Just know which way you want to proceed, and take your time. Creating a work of art is a process and change is inherent, but changing your mind four of five times will cost you money so make sure you know your mind. When you work with a professional you are not just paying for a garden design you are paying for that person’s knowledge of plants and also of people in the nursery industry. If the landscape designer is not going to install the garden for you they will still be able to advise you on where to buy your plants, or who to hire to plant them for you.

Creating a garden takes time. Enjoy the process, even over years. Taking a garden from design to mature growth spans years, and the garden will get better as time passes. While it is hard to imagine that a new garden freshly planted with 12″ plants will ever grow into the lusty perennial border of your dreams (or of the original design) chances are it will. Patience pays off in gardening. Your excitement about your new garden is understandable and appropriate, but don’t go the seductive route of immediate gratification buying the biggest plant at the nursery. The plants will be healthier and better adjusted to your particular garden if they grow to maturity in your garden, not in the garden center. Allow your garden to mature naturally. Don’t force it. It will pay off in spades in terms of longevity, and beauty.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

 

 Written by Barbara Gee  

Incorporating annuals into your garden designs is great fun. You get a lot of “bang for your buck.” Most annuals flower throughout the summer and really take very little care once established. And they come and go in one season so you can change your color palette, shapes and textures every year.

An annual is a plant that goes through its life cycle in one season from germination to setting seed, and finally “expiring.” People often get confused between annuals and biennial. “Bi” simply means two, so a biennial like foxglove or hollyhock goes through the same cycle over a period of two years. Biennials often spread seed profusely and so new plants pop up making it look like the original plant never died.

Choosing Your Annuals
Most annuals like full sun and most are easy to grow. There’s a wide variety of choices in color, size, texture and foliage – and, of course, there are annual vines too like Black-eyed Susan vine, or Cardinal climber. And a few annuals will tolerate some shade like pincushion flower.  Certain annuals, like coreopsis, should be sown directly into the soil outside. Others, like petunias, need to be started indoors. Different annuals require a different amount of time to germinate – for some, like ageratum, it can be less than ten days, while others like gerbera may take up to three weeks. The seed packet will usually have this kind of information.

To garden economically know what you want to buy before you head for the garden center. It’s way too tempting once you get there and are faced with all the choices. Keep in mind the purpose for which you want the annuals – containers, cutting gardens, in a border… and take into account the garden conditions you have – sun or shade? And some annuals need a rich soil while others like nasturtium actually prefer a less fertile soil.

Look for plants with strong stems and healthy leaves – not wilted or yellowed. Check the roots – they should be moist, white and fairly loose in the soil. Even knock a plant gently out of the pot to check.

If the plants are in bloom you may want to pinch them back when you get home to help them grow stronger roots and bush out. If the soil in the pot is excessively dry it may show that the garden center hasn’t been diligent about watering.

Starting Annuals
Whether you sow seeds indoors or outside, the date you start should be determined by the last frost date in your area. Work back from that date calculating the number of weeks to allow for seed germination and for the plant to be strong and healthy enough to be planted outside.

Use flats or individual pots and a good soilless seed-starting mix which should be moist – not wet. Most seeds are sown at a depth equal to three times their diameter. Some need to germinate in the dark and some in the light. For the first cover the pots with a lid or put them in a dark cupboard. For the others just press the seeds lightly into the mix.

Warmth and moisture are required for germination.  So create those conditions by covering the pots with a transparent lid or plastic wrap. Check regularly to make sure conditions are not too wet, and lift the lid to let air in. When they sprout take the lid off to allow them to grow.

You need a good source of light. Put the pots on a very sunny windowsill and turn them every day. Or use a fluorescent “grow-light” setup. Keep the soil moist, not wet.

If you see the fungal disease “damping-off” you may lose some but not necessarily all the plants. The seedlings will wilt and collapse. Damping-off travels quickly so eliminate the affected plants and increase ventilation.

Seedlings that have developed their second set of leaves can be transplanted into individual pots. Peat pots are a good investment because the entire pot can be planted and the pots decompose. Some plants like nasturtium don’t like to be disturbed so planting them in the pot or directly in the ground minimizes the disturbance.

Planting and Care
Plants that have been grown indoors will need to go through the process of “hardening off” to prepare them for life outdoors. This simply means getting them used to being outside. You can do this by putting the plants outside for a longer period each day bringing them in at night, until such time as they can be left outside all night. They can then be planted.

Good soil is key to successful gardening and cuts down on your need for extra fertilizer. A good slow-release fertilizer at the time of planting should do it, but you may want to add some more occasionally through the summer. Just remember that some prefer a lean soil. Read the literature to find out. Mulching helps retain moisture and prevents weeds from taking hold.

Annuals need basic care once in the ground.
Deadhead the plants – this means removing spent blooms which helps the plant put energy into new blooms. It also makes the plant look nicer.

End of the Season
As the first frost approaches, you can harvest and save seeds. Harvest the seeds when ripe which is usually when the seedpods or capsules turn brown and dry.

When you are closing up the garden for the winter you can either pull out the spent annuals or cut them back to the ground leaving the roots to decompose in the ground.

Clear your garden debris away so that you don’t create a habitat that encourages insects, pests, or diseases. Removing debris also makes it more difficult for insects to overwinter.

And always remember to enjoy your garden work.

A Few Choice Annuals

Love-lies-Bleeding (Amaranthus)

Cockscomb (Celosia argentea)

Basket flower (Centaurea americana)

China Pink (Dianthus chinensis)

Lupine (Lupinus luteus)

Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica)

Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)

Milkweed (Asclepias)

Arctic Poppy (Papaver croceum)

Sunflower (Helianthus)

Black-eyed Susan vine (Thumbergia alata)

Cardinal climber vine (Ipmoea x multifida)

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Written by Adam Latham

Water is essential for the physical health of people and plants, but it can also bring life to you and your garden in other ways. Who isn’t drawn to the sound of moving water? What child won’t reach their hand into a flowing fountain? Bringing water into the garden can be quite simple or very complex — your design preference and budget will determine the form it takes. If you are fortunate enough to have a natural water body in your garden or a view of a pond, river, or the ocean, you’re already one step ahead.

Reflective Basins and Bird Baths
The simplest water features are reflective bowls, shallow pools, and birdbaths. Because of their relatively small size, they should be placed in a location next to a path, bench, or window to allow for easy access for viewing and maintaining. Gazing at the mirror-like reflections of clouds, sky, or plants in these structures is very soothing. For the best reflective qualities choose a dark-bottomed vessel.

Almost any watertight vessel will do. The most common materials include stone, glazed ceramic, fiberglass, copper, and concrete. Naturally occurring bowl-shaped stones are perfect for an informal garden setting. The water in the bowls should be changed every few days to provide fresh water for birds and to keep it free of mosquito larvae. Clean the basin every few weeks, or as needed, with a small amount of bleach, lemon juice, or vinegar mixed with water to remove algae and kill bacteria harmful to wildlife.

Fountains, Streams, and Waterfalls
From gracefully flowing forms to geyser-like displays, cascading water enchants sight, sound, and touch. Simple, small, manufactured fountains are readily available at local garden shops and are easy to set up. There are also small, wall-mounted fountains that are perfect for tiny spaces or to add interest to a bare exterior wall. Because fountains contain no fish or plants, these features are easy to care for throughout the season. Changing the water in the fountain weekly will reduce the occurrence of algae discoloring the water. Monitor the water level in the fountain at least weekly and keep the reservoir full, as too little water in the reservoir will damage the pump. Prepping for winter involves draining the water, removing the pump, and placing it indoors. You may also wrap the fountain with a weatherproof cover.

Creating an effective display with a waterfall and stream is a bit more difficult. For the best naturalistic setting, streams and waterfalls should be designed to fit into naturally occurring sloping land. It is very difficult to create a natural looking waterfall on flat ground. No landscape looks more contrived than a waterfall constructed on a lump of earth that is out of scale and context with its surroundings. If your garden is on a nearly level lot, the best water feature is probably a fountain or pond.

Water Gardens/Ponds
Man-made, small scale, ornamental ponds are increasing in popularity. These features offer the opportunity to bring the widest variety of plants, fish, and other wildlife into the garden. Incorporating moving water into a water garden using a fountain or waterfall is essential for adding oxygen to water for healthy aquatic life. Years ago these ponds were constructed of concrete and were usually geometric in shape. Today, flexible liners permit nearly endless possibilities for the form a pond can take.

Still, don’t dismiss the use of a geometrically shaped pond; it might be the most appropriate design for your setting. Of all the ways to bring water into the landscape, these ponds require the most intensive construction and maintenance. Although you can install these features yourself, for the best detailing and proper function of the mechanical system, I recommend an experienced installation company. And if you don’t have the time to perform the required maintenance but really desire a pond in your garden, hire the same landscape contractor or water garden specialist to do the work for you.

You need not dig a hole in the ground to have a water garden. If taking on the care of a backyard pond seems a bit daunting, try a miniature version. Tubs of various sizes and materials are perfect for placing on your patio, deck, or into your perennial garden. Beware, however: because these smaller tubs lack a filtration system or a well-balanced natural system, they require close monitoring to maintain clean water. In comparison to a large pond, you’ll save time on the maintenance, but not the frequency of performing it.

If you are fortunate enough to have a small, natural pond on your land, you’ve eliminated the time and expense of constructing one. You can concentrate on embellishing it with plants that will form a backdrop to the water surface. These plants will be reflected on the water surface in the spring, summer, and fall and in the winter can provide color and a resting spot for new-fallen snow. On larger ponds, structures can be added to bring people closer to the water. Gazebos, boardwalks, small bridges, and docks make great additions within the scene.  

The Borrowed Landscape
If you don’t own a sweeping expanse of waterfront property, but live near a body of water, you may be able to capture a portion of your neighbor’s vista. Through selective thinning of plant material on the ground, or raising the tree canopy, you can open and frame scenic vignettes. If you’re faced with an objectionable view between you and the water, properly placing the appropriate plant material can screen out utility poles, outbuildings, unregistered cars, or your neighbor’s boat that has spent years in dry dock.

Many people, even experienced gardeners, are timid about bringing water into the garden. It’s not quite as complicated as it may seem. Adding the sound of moving water, light reflection, and wildlife at any scale offer many benefits to the garden and gardener. For inspiration, I recommend reading “Gardening with Water,” by James van Sweden, which showcases ways to bring water into the garden at varying scales and different settings, as well as the dramatic use of plants in and around water.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Water is essential for the physical health of people and plants, but it can also bring life to you and your garden in other ways. Who isn’t drawn to the sound of moving water? What child won’t reach their hand into a flowing fountain? Bringing water into the garden can be quite simple or very complex — your design preference and budget will determine the form it takes. If you are fortunate enough to have a natural water body in your garden or a view of a pond, river, or the ocean, you’re already one step ahead.

Reflective Basins and Bird Baths
The simplest water features are reflective bowls, shallow pools, and birdbaths. Because of their relatively small size, they should be placed in a location next to a path, bench, or window to allow for easy access for viewing and maintaining. Gazing at the mirror-like reflections of clouds, sky, or plants in these structures is very soothing. For the best reflective qualities choose a dark-bottomed vessel.

Almost any watertight vessel will do. The most common materials include stone, glazed ceramic, fiberglass, copper, and concrete. Naturally occurring bowl-shaped stones are perfect for an informal garden setting. The water in the bowls should be changed every few days to provide fresh water for birds and to keep it free of mosquito larvae. Clean the basin every few weeks, or as needed, with a small amount of bleach, lemon juice, or vinegar mixed with water to remove algae and kill bacteria harmful to wildlife.

Fountains, Streams, and Waterfalls
From gracefully flowing forms to geyser-like displays, cascading water enchants sight, sound, and touch. Simple, small, manufactured fountains are readily available at local garden shops and are easy to set up. There are also small, wall-mounted fountains that are perfect for tiny spaces or to add interest to a bare exterior wall. Because fountains contain no fish or plants, these features are easy to care for throughout the season. Changing the water in the fountain weekly will reduce the occurrence of algae discoloring the water. Monitor the water level in the fountain at least weekly and keep the reservoir full, as too little water in the reservoir will damage the pump. Prepping for winter involves draining the water, removing the pump, and placing it indoors. You may also wrap the fountain with a weatherproof cover.

Creating an effective display with a waterfall and stream is a bit more difficult. For the best naturalistic setting, streams and waterfalls should be designed to fit into naturally occurring sloping land. It is very difficult to create a natural looking waterfall on flat ground. No landscape looks more contrived than a waterfall constructed on a lump of earth that is out of scale and context with its surroundings. If your garden is on a nearly level lot, the best water feature is probably a fountain or pond.

Water Gardens/Ponds
Man-made, small scale, ornamental ponds are increasing in popularity. These features offer the opportunity to bring the widest variety of plants, fish, and other wildlife into the garden. Incorporating moving water into a water garden using a fountain or waterfall is essential for adding oxygen to water for healthy aquatic life. Years ago these ponds were constructed of concrete and were usually geometric in shape. Today, flexible liners permit nearly endless possibilities for the form a pond can take.

Still, don’t dismiss the use of a geometrically shaped pond; it might be the most appropriate design for your setting. Of all the ways to bring water into the landscape, these ponds require the most intensive construction and maintenance. Although you can install these features yourself, for the best detailing and proper function of the mechanical system, I recommend an experienced installation company. And if you don’t have the time to perform the required maintenance but really desire a pond in your garden, hire the same landscape contractor or water garden specialist to do the work for you.

You need not dig a hole in the ground to have a water garden. If taking on the care of a backyard pond seems a bit daunting, try a miniature version. Tubs of various sizes and materials are perfect for placing on your patio, deck, or into your perennial garden. Beware, however: because these smaller tubs lack a filtration system or a well-balanced natural system, they require close monitoring to maintain clean water. In comparison to a large pond, you’ll save time on the maintenance, but not the frequency of performing it.

If you are fortunate enough to have a small, natural pond on your land, you’ve eliminated the time and expense of constructing one. You can concentrate on embellishing it with plants that will form a backdrop to the water surface. These plants will be reflected on the water surface in the spring, summer, and fall and in the winter can provide color and a resting spot for new-fallen snow. On larger ponds, structures can be added to bring people closer to the water. Gazebos, boardwalks, small bridges, and docks make great additions within the scene.  

The Borrowed Landscape
If you don’t own a sweeping expanse of waterfront property, but live near a body of water, you may be able to capture a portion of your neighbor’s vista. Through selective thinning of plant material on the ground, or raising the tree canopy, you can open and frame scenic vignettes. If you’re faced with an objectionable view between you and the water, properly placing the appropriate plant material can screen out utility poles, outbuildings, unregistered cars, or your neighbor’s boat that has spent years in dry dock.

Many people, even experienced gardeners, are timid about bringing water into the garden. It’s not quite as complicated as it may seem. Adding the sound of moving water, light reflection, and wildlife at any scale offer many benefits to the garden and gardener. For inspiration, I recommend reading “Gardening with Water,” by James van Sweden, which showcases ways to bring water into the garden at varying scales and different settings, as well as the dramatic use of plants in and around water.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

 

 

Written by Adam Latham  

Nearly everyone enjoys spending time near the ocean, and many plants do, too. But it can be very challenging to grow plants in weather conditions that can be brutal one day and docile the next. Seaside gardening isn’t limited to those who live directly on the waterfront. If your home is in a coastal community, it’s influenced by the bay or ocean. Wind, waves, salt spray, saltwater flooding, fog, sun exposure, and soil conditions all play a part in formulating your home’s unique microclimate. Understanding these environmental factors and knowing which plants are adapted to thrive in maritime environments is your key to a successful garden.

Dividing It Up

The area of land affected by coastal influences is divided into zones known as exposure belts. Remember that there are no hard lines delineating these zones, and growing conditions can change dramatically within a few hundred feet along the shore. You’ll also notice transition areas between the belts, where plants from one exposure belt intermingle with another based on local conditions.

Exposure Belt 1 – Seashore Conditions: land immediately adjacent to the water, including dunes, rocky shores, or marshes.

Exposure Belt 2 – Coastal Plain, Bay, and Protected Areas: land a bit back from the waterfront, slightly protected by trees, dunes, or other coastal landforms.

Exposure Belt 3 – Land even further away from the water but still affected by ocean weather.

If you are living directly along the Narragansett Bay or Atlantic waterfront in exposure belt 1, you benefit from a front seat on Rhode Island’s beautiful coast, but the plants in your landscape are put through the most rigorous tests of survival, exposed to gale force winds, salt water flooding, erosion, salt spray, and difficult soils. In this belt, you’ll find mainly perennials like seaside goldenrod and beach wormwood, and grasses like American beachgrass. Along Narragansett Bay in this belt, some woody plants can anchor their roots in the soil, but at the ocean, few woody plants can withstand these conditions. If your home is in the harshest of these environments, you’ll probably find it best to grow ornamental plants in containers.

Seaside Container Tips

Container gardening allows you to control the soil and moisture conditions. Select large, sturdy, heavyweight containers, not lightweight plastic or fiberglass ones that are more likely to tip over.  Position the containers in protected areas behind a fence or wall.  Don’t limit your container plant selection to annuals alone. Perennials, ornamental grasses, and low-growing shrubs are good choices as well, and all types of plants can be mixed in the same container. Stay away from tall shrubs and trees, as these plants, placed in relatively small pots compared to the size of the plant, may topple in heavy winds.  Select drought-tolerant plants for your containers if you only visit the home on weekends.

In Sheltered Locations

In the more protected areas of exposure belt 2, woody plants are able to get more of a foothold and the available planting palette increases dramatically. When you’re beginning the plant selection process, observing the native vegetation in the area is always a good place to start. Understanding the growing requirements of native plants will give you clues to selecting ornamentals that favor similar conditions. Here you’ll find shrubs including bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), inkberry (Ilex glabra), beach plum (Prunus maritima), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), and arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum). Beach rose (Rosa rugosa) is also here, but you may be surprised to know that this ubiquitous, fragrant, thorny shrub is not a native. Its fruit, called rose hips, which contain the plant’s seeds, are easily spread along the coast by moving water, birds, and animals. Native trees that are at home in shelter belt 2 include the evergreens Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and American Holly (Ilex opaca) and the deciduous Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) and red maple (Acer rubrum).

Improved selections of many native coastal plants are available at your favorite nursery. You can also find ornamentals that will thrive in exposure belt 2 gardens, such as butterfly bush (Buddleia sp.), mophead and lacecap hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), lilac (Syringa sp.), and hybrid landscape roses (Rosa sp.).

In exposure belt 2, the use of hedges for privacy also has the added benefit of creating planting areas protected from strong and constant coastal winds. These sheltered pockets are where it’s safe to install plant material that in windy locations is prone to dry out or suffer from broken stems and tattered leaves. Hedges can take the form of formal, sheared shapes where space is a premium, or a looser, staggered planting with a mix of plant shapes and sizes.

            Gardeners further back from the water, in exposure belt 3, have the advantage of being able to grow the widest variety of plants. Here gardens have the benefit of a temperate coastal climate and are able to support plants that may not grow successfully just a few miles inland. For example, in Bristol, Warren, and Swansea, the Mimosa or silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) grows quickly into beautiful, mature specimens. But in North Rehoboth, about 10 miles inland from the bay, the tree is frequently damaged by slightly lower winter temperatures, resulting in smaller, weaker trees.

            The greatest challenge to growing plants in this belt may be dealing with fungal disease on plants. Conditions are right for an explosion of fungal disease when moist fog settles in. The most likely plants to have their foliage damaged by disease include summer flowering garden phlox, lilac, roses, aster, and beebalm. To help avoid this problem, select disease-resistant varieties.

            Whether your home is on the coast or set back from the water, you need to take the distinctive features of your location into account as you garden. When you do, you’ll be able to spend more time enjoying the seaside views and less time addressing problems in the landscape.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com

Nearly everyone enjoys spending time near the ocean, and many plants do, too. But it can be very challenging to grow plants in weather conditions that can be brutal one day and docile the next. Seaside gardening isn’t limited to those who live directly on the waterfront. If your home is in a coastal community, it’s influenced by the bay or ocean. Wind, waves, salt spray, saltwater flooding, fog, sun exposure, and soil conditions all play a part in formulating your home’s unique microclimate. Understanding these environmental factors and knowing which plants are adapted to thrive in maritime environments is your key to a successful garden.

Dividing It Up

The area of land affected by coastal influences is divided into zones known as exposure belts. Remember that there are no hard lines delineating these zones, and growing conditions can change dramatically within a few hundred feet along the shore. You’ll also notice transition areas between the belts, where plants from one exposure belt intermingle with another based on local conditions.

Exposure Belt 1 – Seashore Conditions: land immediately adjacent to the water, including dunes, rocky shores, or marshes.

Exposure Belt 2 – Coastal Plain, Bay, and Protected Areas: land a bit back from the waterfront, slightly protected by trees, dunes, or other coastal landforms.

Exposure Belt 3 – Land even further away from the water but still affected by ocean weather.

If you are living directly along the Narragansett Bay or Atlantic waterfront in exposure belt 1, you benefit from a front seat on Rhode Island’s beautiful coast, but the plants in your landscape are put through the most rigorous tests of survival, exposed to gale force winds, salt water flooding, erosion, salt spray, and difficult soils. In this belt, you’ll find mainly perennials like seaside goldenrod and beach wormwood, and grasses like American beachgrass. Along Narragansett Bay in this belt, some woody plants can anchor their roots in the soil, but at the ocean, few woody plants can withstand these conditions. If your home is in the harshest of these environments, you’ll probably find it best to grow ornamental plants in containers.

Seaside Container Tips

Container gardening allows you to control the soil and moisture conditions. Select large, sturdy, heavyweight containers, not lightweight plastic or fiberglass ones that are more likely to tip over.  Position the containers in protected areas behind a fence or wall.  Don’t limit your container plant selection to annuals alone. Perennials, ornamental grasses, and low-growing shrubs are good choices as well, and all types of plants can be mixed in the same container. Stay away from tall shrubs and trees, as these plants, placed in relatively small pots compared to the size of the plant, may topple in heavy winds.  Select drought-tolerant plants for your containers if you only visit the home on weekends.

In Sheltered Locations

In the more protected areas of exposure belt 2, woody plants are able to get more of a foothold and the available planting palette increases dramatically. When you’re beginning the plant selection process, observing the native vegetation in the area is always a good place to start. Understanding the growing requirements of native plants will give you clues to selecting ornamentals that favor similar conditions. Here you’ll find shrubs including bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), inkberry (Ilex glabra), beach plum (Prunus maritima), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), and arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum). Beach rose (Rosa rugosa) is also here, but you may be surprised to know that this ubiquitous, fragrant, thorny shrub is not a native. Its fruit, called rose hips, which contain the plant’s seeds, are easily spread along the coast by moving water, birds, and animals. Native trees that are at home in shelter belt 2 include the evergreens Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and American Holly (Ilex opaca) and the deciduous Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) and red maple (Acer rubrum).

Improved selections of many native coastal plants are available at your favorite nursery. You can also find ornamentals that will thrive in exposure belt 2 gardens, such as butterfly bush (Buddleia sp.), mophead and lacecap hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), lilac (Syringa sp.), and hybrid landscape roses (Rosa sp.).

In exposure belt 2, the use of hedges for privacy also has the added benefit of creating planting areas protected from strong and constant coastal winds. These sheltered pockets are where it’s safe to install plant material that in windy locations is prone to dry out or suffer from broken stems and tattered leaves. Hedges can take the form of formal, sheared shapes where space is a premium, or a looser, staggered planting with a mix of plant shapes and sizes.

            Gardeners further back from the water, in exposure belt 3, have the advantage of being able to grow the widest variety of plants. Here gardens have the benefit of a temperate coastal climate and are able to support plants that may not grow successfully just a few miles inland. For example, in Bristol, Warren, and Swansea, the Mimosa or silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) grows quickly into beautiful, mature specimens. But in North Rehoboth, about 10 miles inland from the bay, the tree is frequently damaged by slightly lower winter temperatures, resulting in smaller, weaker trees.

            The greatest challenge to growing plants in this belt may be dealing with fungal disease on plants. Conditions are right for an explosion of fungal disease when moist fog settles in. The most likely plants to have their foliage damaged by disease include summer flowering garden phlox, lilac, roses, aster, and beebalm. To help avoid this problem, select disease-resistant varieties.

            Whether your home is on the coast or set back from the water, you need to take the distinctive features of your location into account as you garden. When you do, you’ll be able to spend more time enjoying the seaside views and less time addressing problems in the landscape.

www.rhodeislandhomedesign.com