By Barb Whitmill, U. C. Master Gardener of Napa County
Spring and fall are opportune seasons to plan and create a new garden. On Saturday, February 25, U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a public workshop on drip irrigation and garden design (details below). Please plan to attend if you are plotting a new landscape or revamping an existing one.
Landscape design involves organizing outdoor spaces using both hardscape (such as walkways and walls) and plants to create a functional, attractive environment. Well-designed gardens serve their intended purpose, while minimizing the use of water, fertilizer, pesticides and labor.
Before creating your garden plan, do a site assessment. This analysis is important whether you are reworking an old garden space or starting fresh.
Evaluate the natural topography of the site: its hills, slopes and drainage. Study the sun and wind exposure in different areas. Map out existing structures such as a home, garage, pool, fences and walkways and how they are oriented to the sun.
Determine the water source for the irrigation. Locate mature trees and large shrubs that you intend to keep, and note the sun and shade patterns they create. Look beyond the property to consider views you may want to enhance or screen out.
What is your objective for the landscape and how will you use it? Perhaps you want to create an inviting entry to your home or a play space for young children. Maybe your wish list includes an ornamental or edible garden, an area for entertaining, a cooking space, a water garden, a potting shed or storage area. Consider traffic flow, how people will move from space to space. Note any concerns about loud neighbors or road noise.
Now comes the fun part, using design principles to create your landscape. Professional designers think about scale, balance, perspective and unity.
A tree planted next to a large house needs to be big when mature to fit the scale of the house.
Balance can be symmetrical—a house with identical plantings on each side of the front walk—or asymmetrical. You create asymmetrical balance if you plant a large tree on one side of the walk and several smaller shrubs on the other side.
Perspective tricks can help you visually enlarge your garden. Strong foliage colors and textures, tapering walkways, flowerbeds that draw the eye outward or “borrowing” a view beyond the property line all make a space appear larger.
Unity can come from repeating geometric shapes or design elements. For example, designing a curved lawn border for front, side and back yards will create unity.
Simplicity provides impact. Better to use a few plants in groupings rather than a lot of plants in singles. Defining the transition between plantings will create harmony.
Drip irrigation is suitable for all kinds of plantings: vegetable gardens, flower gardens, shrubs and both fruit trees and ornamental trees. Drip irrigation is efficient with little water lost to evaporation or runoff. It can be applied only when needed, and it limits weed growth as the water is supplied only to the plant. And drip lines and emitters can be easily repositioned when you move plants.
However, drip systems are not problem-free; they require monitoring and maintenance. Emitters may clog and you may not be aware that a plant is dry until it's too late. Also, drip systems can be damaged by animals, insects and humans.
Choose plants that are adapted to our climate and group them in “hydrozones” according to water needs. Each hydrozone should have its own valve that you can control individually to meet the needs of the plants in that zone. Many gardens have four hydrozones: routine irrigation, reduced irrigation, limited irrigation and no irrigation other than rain.
Most likely, your drip system will have a control center with multiple valves, a pressure regulator, a filter and a timer. Transmission to the planting area is usually constructed with PVC pipe or PE (polyethylene) hose. Emitters can be attached directly to the PE hose, or narrow tubing can be used to reach plants with emitters or sprayers. Drip tape, pierced with small holes, can be used for plants grown in tight rows, as in many vegetable gardens.
Drip emitters deliver water at a specific rate, usually one to three gallons per hour. Knowing the water needs of each plant will enable you to choose the proper emitters. Once the system is in place, each valve timer can be programmed to deliver the necessary amount of water to each hydrozone.
Anyone can learn to install a home drip-irrigation system. If you're planning a new garden or simply want to do a better job of managing your existing drip system, please attend the Master Gardener's upcoming drip-irrigation workshop.
Workshop: U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a workshop on “Drip Irrigation and Garden Design” on Saturday, February 25, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Learn how to use drip-irrigation components in your home garden in this hands-on workshop. Online registration (credit card only); Mail-in registration (check only or drop off cash payment)
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
By Cindy Weiner, Butte County Master Gardener, April 12, 2013
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the selection of plants at the nursery? Or bought a plant that looked great at the nursery, but did poorly (or died) in your yard? Spring is here and it’s tempting to rush out and buy new plants for the garden. But don’t be too hasty! Choosing the right plant for a particular location requires some homework. The time you spend beforehand will pay off by greatly reducing plant "failures."
First, consider the function you want the plant to perform in the garden. Do you want it to provide shade or act as a windbreak or hedge? Will it be a focal point? Would you like colorful flowers? These decisions help narrow your choices at the nursery.
Next, consider the environment of the site. Many factors in your yard affect how a plant grows. Is the soil heavy or does it drain quickly? Is the site in full sun or shaded? Does it get blazing afternoon sun? Is it exposed to reflected heat from a patio or wall? How much water will it get from existing (or planned) irrigation?
When selecting a plant, carefully consider the specifics of the site. Look at the plants growing nearby and think about how you want the new plant to blend in, in terms of size, color and texture. Will the plant be under power lines or by a fence or pool? These elements can affect your plant choice. Tall shrubs or small trees planted under power lines will require frequent pruning. A large plant can grow into your neighbor's space or drop litter into a pool.
After thoroughly analyzing the planting site, think about the characteristics of the desired plant. Do you want a tree, a shrub, a low-growing perennial, or simply annual color? Evergreen or deciduous? What height and width should it be at maturity? You don't want it to outgrow the available space. What water requirements should it have to match the surrounding plants? It's much easier to plan appropriate irrigation to keep plants healthy if plants growing in the same area have the same water needs.
There will still be a large number of possible choices, so you'll need to narrow your selection more. Consider choosing natives or other plants with lower water needs, since they are well adapted to our climate, and many attract beneficial insects. Talk to your neighbors, and look at their garden successes. Call the Master Gardener hotline for advice (530-538-7201.) Visit a nursery to look at their plants, examine the labels, and ask employees for suggestions. The labels have information about eventual plant size and temperature tolerances.
Check to make sure the plant is suitable for our climate. Choose plants appropriate for your USDA Hardiness Zone (these are based on winter minimum temperatures in an area) OR refer to the Sunset Western Garden Book's plant climate zones, which also take other factors, such as heat, humidity, wind, and length of the growing season, into consideration. In Sunset's system, Paradise is in Zone 7, Chico and the valley floor are in Zone 8, and the Oroville foothills are in Zone 9. There are gardening books and online sources with good plant suggestions for these zones. The Sunset Western Garden Book describes 9000 plants that grow in the West and also has lists of appropriate plants for specific situations. The UC Davis Arboretum publishes a list of 100 Arboretum All-Stars, easy-to-grow plants that do well in our valley climate. Arboretum All-Stars can be found at:
http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/arboretum_all_stars.aspx
Doing your homework to choose the right plant will improve survival and make your plant selections more satisfying.