Japanese Garden in Los Angeles
You can learn basic elements of garden design by visiting the Japanese garden in Woodley Park in Van Nuys, starting with the entrance gates. There are three contiguous gates, but only one is open. ...
Category Archives: Garden Design
Tactile Plants
Everyone loves petting zoos, especially kids, and I was just wondering if, maybe alongside them, petting gardens would be appropriate. A petting garden would feature leaves with furry, fuzzy, bumpy, ...
Favorite Red Flowers
Red is the most powerful color. If you put it near your front door, you will quickly tire of it. A red hedge of roses or poinsettias looks good when you are moving, whether down a path or down a r...
Variegation is the Garden Spice of Life
Coprosma ‘Tequila Sunrise’ I have known gardeners who were obsessed with variegated plants. Their gardens were devoted exclusively to these schizophrenic beauties. Variegated refers to ...
Garden Design Basics: The Hardscape Makes The Landscape
Turning an untamed jungle into a habitable outdoor space may take years, especially when you do the work yourself. But if you have a vision of orderliness and a simple color scheme, you can slowly f...
Divide and Conquer: Garden Design Made Simple
You do not need to take a course in garden design in order to design a garden. In fact, there is only one principle to which you need to adhere in order to achieve reasonable success in any garden de...
Gravelscaping & The Emperor’s New Clothes
“To Create a Garden is to search for a better world. In our effort to improve on nature, we are guided by a vision of paradise. Whether the result is a horticultural masterpiece or only a modes...
Simple Plant Combinations Leave Lasting Impressions
Over the years I have noticed that simple combinations of plants leave lasting impressions. For instance, on both sides of an entryway in front of a house in my neighborhood, three plants alternate i...
Every Plant Has Its Place
“I hate that plant” is a statement no experienced gardener will ever make. Just when you think there is no rhyme or reason for the existence of a certain plant, you see it growing in a sp...
Fast Growers
In Los Angeles, plants grow faster in May than in any other month. In May, the lengthening days and warming nights push plants to grow at a rapid pace that continues through most of June. Then, the s...
