Blue and Weeping

It was love at first sight; the Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) and I go way back. I vividly remember when I first saw this tree as a child, probably about 1962, because three had just been planted on a lovely estate, Elmcourt, on Belleview Avenue. in Newport, RI (I grew up in Newport). Although many of the grand old estates in Newport had magnificent trees, I had never seen this icy blue conifer before, and there were no old ones that I knew about. I was so taken by its distinctive color and look, I eventually convinced my dad, Raymond, to plant one on our humble - though lovely- suburban yard. The last I saw, that one had become a magnificent tree. I was always proud of that tree since I had learned my love and enthusiasm for plants and the techniques of gardening from my late dad, yet he had listened to my advice. I don't recall when I first saw the weeping or pendulous variety, 'Glauca Pendulum', but I'm sure it only increased my appreciation of this magnificent conifer. And although it was rare when I was a child, it has become quite widespread in temperate climate horticulture since then. I have always had a weakness for pendulous or "weeping" plants, coniferous or otherwise. Again, as a child, my favorite plant in Newport was the magnificent weeping European beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Pendula') so common on the large estates. But it could be a hemlock (Tsuga), mulberry (Morus) or elm (Ulmus); if it weeped, I loved it. I think, as a child, the space created underneath these pendulous plants was special - as adults seldom thought it worth going there, yet it was like a secret space that I could enjoy. I've tried since, to mimic this "space within a space" concept in many landscapes Planet Horticulture (www.planethorticulture.com) has created.

A lovely old farmhouse in Western Sonoma County, CA. In front of the house is a raised terrace, separating the house from the driveway, but the terrace and house were largely exposed to the frequent "traffic" on the driveway. We had the fortune of working for a wonderful couple who own a 6 acre parcel in Graton Valley, part of the greater Russian River drainage, located in a very scenic part of Sonoma County between the small towns of Graton and Occidental. (Some of you may be familiar with Occidental as it was closest town to the famous Western Hills Nursery (www.westernhillsnursery.com), founded by the late Lester Hawkins and Marshall Olbrich. The garden serves as an inspiration for generations of horticultural enthusiasts).

The yard presented many interesting design challenges, many which I'll discuss in future blogs, but linking disparate spaces and structures, and providing more privacy were two crucial issues with the clients. The elevated terrace on the S side of the house was previously planted with blocks of lavender (Lavandula) and the so-called lavender cotton, (Santolina) (see first photo.) Using lavender in big planting blocks became popular in California about 2 decades ago, and seems to have become de rigeur in estate-type plantings. Our clients gave the nod to our suggestions to move on to a new layout and plant palette. The clients wanted to spend more time on this sunny front yard terrace, especially in the winter months, but there was no privacy from the driveway. It was frustrating for them to be in such a remote location, yet feel like they were visible to anyone driving in. Even with rural properties, screening and privacy are a primary concern.

The solution came while I was visiting Sweet Lane Nursery (www.sweetlanenursery.com) E of Petaluma. This nursery specializes in specimen plants. Generally in Planet Horticulture designs, we prefer to use 30 or 40 moderately sized plants, to one large specimen. This permits the clients to have greater diversity with a moderate budget, as specimen sized plants, while more immediate in effect, are typically high priced. Because of my love of the Atlas cedar, particularly the weeping variety, when I saw the above specimen I took some pictures, as I wanted to show Dave this gorgeous specimen. I remember thinking, "It would be so wonderful to use a plant like this in one of our gardens" as the "value" of specimen plants is that you can get age without waiting; this plant is estimated to be 70 years old. Whoever started this, obviously never lived to enjoy its current beauty.

What I also like about this is that it hadn't been trained into the "S" curve trunk that seems to be standard in the nursery trade today - why I've never been sure as it gets tiresome to see such a plastic and variable shaped plant trained into some boring cliche. This specimen had been grafted onto a vertical trunk at about 5' tall, thus formed a lovely, irregular umbrella effect, longer than wide, thus also had potential as a living curtain.

As you probably guessed, Dave sent some pictures of the plant in the nursery to our client, and they loved it and decided to "splurge", since it seemed to fit the aesthetic of their 19th century farmhouse look, and would screen off a large stretch of the terrace from the driveway immediately. In the above picture the previously boxed specimen had been placed at the top of the terrace wall. Instead of planting it in a hole in the ground, we decide to add greater height to the screening effect by building a mound around the root mass, thus gaining another 3' or more. It also meant that the trailing branches could be left on the plant rather than trimmed up which would have been necessary if planted at ground level.

Another picture from within the terrace showing the root mass set at soil level before the mound was created. You will also note from the picture that we had replaced the block of lavenders with a naturalistic planting. With paths and seating areas carved out, the area became a stroll garden with hang-out spaces rather than some simple pattern to be looked at from a distance.

Looking N toward the house from a meadow on the other side of the drive. Note how perfectly this weeping blue Atlas cedar fits the scale of the house, as if some foresightful early resident had planted it decades ago. Although there are still some evident gaps in the screening, these have been planted with a variety of screening shrubs of smaller size, chosen mostly to play off of the sculptural and colorful cedar.

Looking toward the weeping Atlas cedar from the sitting area nearby. Here you can see the mound planted with a mosaic of low herbaceous plants that can tolerate the shadowy understory. The elevation of the mound also reinforces the enclosing aspect of the tree. The beautiful foliage of the lotus banana (Musella lasiocarpa) is on the left. (More on that remarkable hardy plant in a future blog.) The front yard terrace is now a pleasantly private space, part garden, part living area. Making spaces of any size more usable by the folks who own them is one of Planet Horticulture's favorite achievements.

This garden has been an exciting and fun project to work on and this landscape will become one of the great gardens of Sonoma County as it matures.

Silverado Brewery beer garden

It may seem to some that read my blogs (and previously my emailings) that my primary occupation is observing plants in the wild; this unfortunately is not the truth. Designing landscapes and gardens with my partner, David McCrory, is my actual profession. There are a number of common threads in the two activities based on perception and the implications of a given site. But one is concerned with observing what is there and the other is about creating what someone will observe.

We recently completed a project in the Napa Valley just N of St. Helena, located at a historical stone building now housing a micro-brewery and restaurant. The restaurant has a outdoor eating and drinking area in front of the building but separated from busy Rt. 29 by an old, low stone wall. The outdoor space is dominated by a huge valley oak (Quercus lobata).

One of the problems with the site is that the brewery building is connected to a whole series of other buildings that form a complex, with multiple parking lots and many different entrances, thus it is confusing where one should go if one wants a beer or meal.

The entry we first encountered was a wide gravel road off of the parking lot. Although the outdoor picnic tables were evident, it was unclear if this was the main entrance or a service entry.

To improve the perception of this as the main entrance the proprietor had a wide, yet narrower concrete walkway poured to lead to the front door (in the center of the facade). Another improvement was removing a strip of asphalt to separate the parking area from the building, which while creating some strange-shaped gaps, did make it clear that one should not drive up the walkway.

We took his concrete walk several steps further. First the concrete was stained with iron sulphate to give a warm rust color that picked up on the brownish red of the stone facade. A ranch-style gate frame was built to give the parking area an obvious entrance directing traffic to the front door. A sign saying Silverado Brewery will hang from the top piece, re-affirming that this is indeed the path to the brewery. We also extended the planting along the walkway to make the first part of the passage more of garden experience.

(above) Entry walk and beer garden tables before.

Same view after new planting.

A view inside the gate. The plantings along the entry walk were part previous plantings, but edited and supplemented with many new items. We used a number of edible shrub/trees such as black mission fig (on left), Santa Rosa weeping plum, two citrus and many herbs that could be harvested for the restaurant. Golden leafed hops were used repeatedly as vines.

One plant we featured, although it is currently not conspicuous in the pictures are 8 golden leafed Robinia 'Frisia', a type of black locust. These were used outside the skirt of the large valley oak, to provide summer shade for the outdoor tables, as sitting in the sun when the temperature is 85 degrees (F) or greater - a common occurrence in the summer here - is unbearable.

I first became enamoured with the Frisia golden locust nearly 3 decades ago when I saw them at Western Hills Nursery in Occidental CA in Sonoma Co. The golden-hued light that streamed through the lacy foliage reminded me of autumn under a Norway maple "back East" where I grew up. However with Frisia, you have that golden light from leaf break in early May through October when the leaflets fall. Unlike many golden-leafed trees, this one does not turn green a month after leafing out, nor does one have to wait until fall, as with some trees. Other pluses this tree has is it is deciduous, thus the welcome winter sun will not be blocked, it is quite drought tolerant, it grows quickly, takes pruning well, and does not sucker from the roots as do some locust, and rarely sets seeds. But it is the radiant glowing golden light that really sets this tree apart. Some diners and/or drinkers, will probably feel like they are reaching that pleasant euphoric glow that good food and beer can create.

While nearly all the plantings have flowers, we did not want to create a flowery effect, as the owner wanted the beer garden to have a masculine feel. Thus the plantings are meant more for foliar effects and to create separation and shade. We also emphasized the edible potential by using many vegetables - at least as temporary fillers as the more permanent elements grow in. Corn, squash, tomatoes, etc., along with the herbs and fruit trees, should give the garden a practical, casual, grounded feel quite different from the fluffy yet stiff formal landscapes you see everywhere else in the valley around wineries.

On axis with the main walk we placed a large beer barrel made into a recirculating fountain, both as a focal point while walking to the main door, and to provide visual and audible pleasure of water. The main door is to the right of this picture and not seen. The doorway behind the fountain is not used by the public but allows a view into the beer making section of the building.

A view from the N end of the building before showing the recent concrete walkway to the front doors, and the parking lot in the distance. In this picture the nearer door (where the concrete walk meets the asphalt walk) is used primarily as a service entrance and as a view into the brewery section of the building, and is not used by the public as an entrance.

Same view afterward. The odd asphalt section was removed and turned into a foundation planting bed, as is the next strip against the building. The half wine barrels were removed. Most of the beer garden space is to the right of this view, and is not substantially changed except for the over-story golden locust trees added to provide shade. After all, the primary need of a beer garden/outdoor eating space is space and flexibility for good food and good beer. Though it is also nice to find the front door.

Weeping flowers; a nod to the pendulous flowered California buckeye

California buckeye, Aesculus californica, is a much loved native tree. I tried to convey my affection for this versatile deciduous small tree in a recent article in Pacific Horticulture magazine (Vol. 70, #1, Jan - Mar 2009) which was illustrated with Phil Van Soelen's excellent photos.

Each May and June as I drive around the North Bay counties, I revel in the gorgeous floral display found along nearly any road and even within many towns and cities. Since my brain always focuses on variation in the wild, I've become intrigued by the various ways the long flower trusses are produced, their size, length, width, color and angle of display.

Most commonly the flower clusters are up and outward-facing, giving an exuberant, almost celebratory character to the round-headed trees or shrubs. Some trees have a range of angles, usually the upper flowers being erect, the side branches being horizontal and the lower branches angled downward, creating a radial look.

A small number of trees have predominantly nodding or pendant flower spikes. This character seems especially well expressed in the Napa Valley and the picturesque town of St. Helena seems to be the epicenter of this rather rare trait. These floral waterfalls are - in my opinion, stunningly beautiful, and it is odd that so little is ever mentioned concerning them.

Here is one just south of town (St. Helena) on Charter Oak Dr. growing along the margins of a small creek.

Not far away, this tree graces the picnic grounds of Taylor's Refresher, a popular local drive-in eatery.

Just west of town, this beauty is on Spring Mt. Rd. just before it heads into the hills, making a wonderful statement at a road junction.

This is the above tree (closer) showing the densely packed flower spikes - a lovely swoop of fat fragrant flowers.

Unfortunately, California buckeye does not root easily, so clonal propagation of these forms is restricted to grafting. I've tried collecting seed from some of my favorite plants, but the character is probably recessive, as the only ones to flower so far (after 5 years) are erect flowering.

Just N of town on Rt. 29 this festive tree always brings a smile to my face, such prolific beauty for free and without work.

If there were a contest for most pendant, this tree above the bus stop on the main street in town near Pine Street would certainly win. Although it tries to grace the bus shelter, the clutter of the street sadly detracts from its beauty - in a park it would be a feature plant. Close up of the nearly vertically descending trusses - much like a wisteria - of the bus stop beauty.

As the buckeye might say, "There's not just one way to flower; just do it beautifully!"