Lilac Lawns – Or Why Water-Wise Rocks

When I start talking about Water-Wise Gardens I get all excited. My audience’s eyes however seem to glaze over and I can hear the occasional sigh …

Another one of these barren looking landscapes they think.

Gravel, desert look, spiny plants, a layer of dust is the picture in their mind. And maybe it is in yours too. Not surprising seeing the many examples of ‘water-wise and barren’ we got treated to over the last twenty something years. They sure were great from an environmental point of view, but beautiful or enjoyable to live with?

So how about ‘water-wise, lush, and quirky’? Let me show you an example from my practice where water-wise is not only good for the environment, but also fun, colorful, and easy to deal with.

The landscape shown below was originally all lawn and then all weeds. It was turned around into a relaxing outdoor retreat with a ‘lawn’ (why the quotes around the lawn? I’ll get to this in a minute), lush plantings, a small water feature, an outdoor living room and a secondary get-away in the back.

This garden looks wonderful and is lots of fun to hang out in, but it has some extremely redeeming features that revealed themselves within a short time of living with it – much to the delight of the owners:

The gravel ‘flooring’ of the outdoor living room is an area that naturally holds storm water in the winter. Non-pervious hardscaping would encourage water runoff into the bay, but this gravel area allows water to be retained just long enough to allow it to sink into the ground and help restore our ground water levels. No special drainage area had to be built. It often is enough to make an educated decision on the ‘flooring’ material to make a positive impact on our environment.

The ‘lawn’ isn’t a lawn; it is thyme. It takes the occasional foot traffic very well. It is low growing and not invasive. It establishes within about 12 to 18 months to a fully covering ground cover. It needs watering only every ten days, and – here is the best – it needs mowing only once a year. Again, another environmentally very conscious decision.

Now to the fun and quirky part: The ‘lawn’ turns lilac once a year for about two to three weeks in June. And that‘s the time to have a garden party. There is no other conversation starter needed.

The lush planting is extremely drought tolerant – it is a mix of non-spiny succulents, CA Natives, and Mediterranean plants. They are selected to stay in their given space and not outgrow their welcome to minimize maintenance. They are also chosen for their year-round color and interesting texture. These plants are great for the owners and great for the planet.

This garden’s maintenance requirements are extremely low. The owners have a fine gardener going through the garden every three months for a couple of hours and everything that needs to be done can be handled in these only four visits per year. Compared to the usual weekly maintenance requirements of other gardens this is a huge time and budget saver.

In summary, this is water-wise garden that delights its owners with its minimal upkeep requirements and the quirky lilac lawn, allowing them to enjoy a lush and peaceful retreat without nagging thoughts of maintenance. And try to sit still in your garden and relax when the lawn is too tall … I for sure never managed.

Astrid Gaiser, APLD is an internationally certified landscape designer, Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor (CLIA), and Certified Green Building Professional (CGBP). She specializes in drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, sustainable gardens designed for extensive outdoor living and lots of fun. For more information call 650-224-2895, see www.astridgaiser.com or e-mail Astrid@astridgaiser.com.

This article was first published in the Los Altos Town Crier in March 2012.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - August 2009

Giant Bird of Paradise & Castor Bean

I just learned about Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and was delighted to find a way to share the flower of a Giant Bird of Paradise that decided to grace my garden in Mountain View. So far this month I had shown this flower to every single friend, visitor or client that came to my house - some may have had to see it twice ;-) ... I was relentless. Maybe I can stop doing so after writting this!

You ask why this one had me so excited? Now Mountain View, CA is not Hawaii and I had only rarely ever seen this plant flower in our area before - therefore there was no expectation to ever see one of these in my own garden, but here is was. Intricate and beautiful, little pearls of orange and pink sap running down its sides. White "feathers" proudly held high and a black beak to die for. And this from a plant that was under-watered and much neglected in a corner, just grown for it's huge leaves.

To top this one off - my Castor Bean has turned into a sparkling fireworks of red and maroon. And yes, the beans are really poisonous, but I love the plant. See for yourself.


Happy Bloom Day,
Astrid

The Grass Is Not Always Greener on the Other Side

Or how you can have a lawn that is environmentally more green

If you really must have a lawn (really, really must have it!) then please read on and learn about how you can be more environmentally responsible ... by watering less.

Here is my personal recipe on how to train the lawn to expect less water and become more drought-tolerant. I just shared it with some colleagues and wanted to make it more widely available:

1. Assume you water with a sprinkler system every day for ten minutes. The roots are all on the surface – there is no reason to grow down, since this is not where the water is.
2. Change the watering to every other day and water for 20 minutes (use two start times if you experience runoff) – so in essence the grass still gets the same amount of water, but now the roots need to grow deeper to get it. Do this for four weeks.
3. After four weeks start to cut back the watering by 4 minutes to 16 min every other day.
4. After six weeks cut back by 4 minutes to 12 min every other day. This puts us to the beginning of October and the roots are now certainly deeper down in the soil than ever.
5. After 8 weeks change the watering to 2 times a week, e.g. Monday and Friday: Water for 18 minutes 2 times a week – which is close to the amount of water it got with 12 minutes every other day.
6. Since by now it is middle of October, you can start decreasing this as you usually would at the end of year.

Once you start up watering in spring, only provide water on two weekdays and start off with a low number of minutes. Increase the watering as needed when it gets warmer. The strongest growth months are June and July – so I expect you could set the timer to two times 20 – 25 minutes as the max. watering time in these two months (make sure you have enough start times to avoid runoff). Taper off the watering for the season starting in August.

A very nice side effect of this treatment is the fact that the lawn gets more resistant to any invasion from other plants - the stronger roots provide a better base for a stronger growing grass that can outgrow the competition.

Conservation Gardening - Part 2

Or Healthy, Sustainable, and Cost-Saving Ways to Garden



‘Green’ Lawn Care

Our lawns have one of the biggest impacts on the environment. Water is wasted, unbelievable amounts of fertilizers are collected in streams, lakes, and the oceans and lead to algae blooms and dead zones in the water, and herbicides and pesticides known to cause cancer are used at a rate only surpassed by agricultural operations right where our children and pets are playing.

You can however have a green lawn with much less negative impact on the environment:

• Reduce it in size – less grass means less water, fertilizer, and time. See the example of a thyme / flagstone 'lawn' in Palo Alto.
• Feed your lawn responsibly: Leave grass clippings on the lawn. Clippings can supply about half of your fertilizer needs, and mowing without bagging takes less time.
• Mow frequently – cut about 1/3 of the height. Frequent cutting maintains a healthy balance of roots and leaves, and the clippings are so short they decompose quickly if left on the lawn.
• Leave grass high. An ideal mowing height for grasses used in our area is at least 2 ½”. Long grass supports deep roots and shades out weeds. No herbicides needed. And if you see a weed – use a good soil knife and just pull it out.
• Fertilizing only three times a year with a time released, low-Nitrogen and low-Phosphate organic lawn fertilizer product. (All three numbers on the package should be 9 or under.) Most important – follow the instructions on the packaging and do not over-fertilize. This harms the lawn, the environment, and the check book the most.
• Water infrequently, but deeply: Watering too frequently or not deep enough encourages shallow roots that are vulnerable to drought and pests. It also wastes water and leaches nutrients from the soil. Even in the hottest time of the year your lawn will survive beautifully if only watered every third day and much less often in the months before and after.
• Compacted soil keeps air, water, and nutrients from roots. To avoid compaction aerate your lawn in spring or fall while the soil is moist and the turf is growing vigorously. Core aeration pulls plugs of soil, leaving holes that let that air, water, and nutrients into the root zone.
• Thatch is a brown mat of dead roots and stems on the soil surface that, when over 1/2-inch deep, keeps nutrients, air and water from roots. Thatch can be removed in early spring using a power thatch rake. Since this is not a regularly occurring chore – it’s only done if needed – and it’s rather specialized, this might be a good time to get the help of a professional.
• Top-dressing with compost (spreading 1/4 to 1/2 inches of compost on the lawn) renews soil without digging it up. Top-dressing is most effective after core aeration opens up the soil.

Environmentally-friendly Controls

Avoid the application of herbicides and pesticide as much as possible – they can quickly become a problem to the environment, your health, and the garden’s health. There are other, low-impact methods to control weeds and pests:

• Pull out your weeds while they are young or at least before they go to seed – remember the old saying One year's weed - seven years' seed. And while you’re pulling the weeds try to disturb the soil as little as possible. This way you avoid more weed seeds getting into the soil where they will germinate happily and quickly. Still the best defense against weeds is however a thick cover of mulch.

• Usually nature takes care of itself – if there is a pest infestation, beneficials (predators of the pest that do not harm the plant) are attracted to the new ‘food source’ and take care of the problem. However, many pesticides will kill the pest and the beneficial and guess who rebounds faster – this time without an enemy on its heels? A good natural way of attracting beneficials is to plant companion plants. For example lavenders can protect nearby plants from insects such as whitefly, and lavender planted under and near fruit trees can deter codling moth. Dill is known to improve the health and growth of nearby cabbage. And the scented versions of Marigolds and chrysanthemums are two great pest deterrent known to discourage many insects – so plant them throughout the garden.
  
  
• An easy way to support the predators of your garden pests is too keep the ants out of the playing field. Ants love all pests that secret honey dew – scales, aphids, and whiteflies – and they will defend them against their natural predators. Keep the ants out of the way by adding a band of ‘Tanglefoot’ or similar products around the trunk of your trees and let nature take its course.

Save Water

Considering the current drought saving water is the right thing to. Consider your water bill and you will agree even if you usually don’t think about the environment.

The first thing to do when you want to save water is to check your sprinkler system. Do you overwater an area? Is there a permanently wet sport in your garden even in summer? Is there run-off onto pavement or street? Do you water every day? Do some of your plants do poorly? An evaluation of your system can be done by a professional, yourself, or – often for free – by your water district. Call them for more information.

Always a great way to save water is to reduce the size of your rather thirsty lawn and create planting areas for more drought-tolerant native and Mediterranean plants (see an example to the right.) Salvias, rosemary, and lavenders are some of the choices that will add long lasting blooms, scent, and beauty to your garden while asking for nothing in return.

Another option is to turn your lawn into a patio area – or at least part of it. Turn a corner of your backyard lawn into a Mediterranean plaza complete with permeable gravel ‘flooring’, recirculation fountain, sun protection, and citrus trees in pots. Or lay out stepping stones and interplant them with beautiful ground covers. And – if you are one of the less faint of heart – you may even consider adding an entire front yard entry court to your house and totally do away with the front lawn.

Be different – it will ‘pay back’ and not only improve your and your neighbor’s health, but also help the environment and your pocket book. Happy ‘Green’ Gardening.

Conservation Gardening - Part 1

Or Healthy, Sustainable, and Cost-Saving Ways to Garden

The buzzwords ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ are currently to be found in every garden magazine. It’s a great trend, because who does not want to be environmentally responsible and live in more healthy ways? Usually however ‘green’ means more expensive, but this does not need to be the case and we’ll show you how.


Conserve & Reuse

A very easy way of living more sustainably is to keep from adding to the landfill. You can do so by reusing and conserving whatever you can. Here are some examples.

1. Reuse existing hardscape:
Hardscape that became unsightly over the years can become a new focal point by using one or more of the following options: Always the first choice – especially if you have a nice old brick or flagstone patio – is to get it cleaned. Sometimes that is all that’s needed. Resetting pavers on their sand bed also does wonders while preserving the great ‘used’ look. If you have a cement patio you can get really inventive and use one or more of the methods below to freshen up your patio:

• Acid-stain your patio – the younger the cement the more exuberant colors this method creates, but even old cement can take on a nice new shade, just a bit more subtle (see the picture to the right - this was a 50-year old cement patio)
  
• Cut into shape – cut rectangular cement patios into a new curvy shape. Outline with another material like a flagstone border.
• Break it up and use it as pavers with groundcovers planted in-between – a very natural and beautiful look.
• Or break it up and use the pieces to stack up a retaining wall (see the picture on top.)
• You can also use your cement patio as a perfect base for a new tile, brick, or flagstone patio.

2. Reuse existing plants:
Established and healthy existing plants that don’t look great anymore may become the foundation of your established looking new landscape when pruned and cared for correctly:

• Reduce in size
• Retrain shrubs into their natural shape – no more ‘green blobs’.
• Interplant with new plants for a quick established look. A word of caution: Hire a professional for great results. Renovation an older plant is sometimes a difficult pruning job done over several years.

3. Reuse your plant debris:
Keep your yard waste in your own garden: Old leaves, pruning debris, in short all organic materials from the garden can go right into your compost pile and will after some months provide the ideal basis for new growth. They will have turned into beautiful, nutrient-rich compost that will feed your plants naturally.

And the best is you can use your compost as mulch: Add it about 3” deep to your planting beds twice a year. It looks great and it will feed your plants as nature intended – slowly and constantly. No digging in needed.

As you may have noted, the composting is the ‘double green’: You save the transportation of yard waste to the city’s facilities and you avoid the production and transportation of mulch and fertilizer to use in your yard. An additional bonus: It’s guaranteed organic – especially good to know when growing your own vegetables.