By Denise Seghesio Levine, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
First, a disclaimer. While there are many wonderful landscape and garden designers who are Master Gardeners, I am not one of them. Garden design is still pretty experimental for me even after all these years.
After taking seminars and classes and reading books and articles on designing a garden, it seems to all come down to questions. Where are you? How much space do you have? How much time do you have? How much water do you have and where does the sun shine? Are you in town or does your garden blend into the surrounding landscape? Do you need fences and do you have deer?
Are you craving a colorful, disheveled explosion of flowers and a whimsical cottage-chic retreat, or the stark repetition of agave plants and background of gravel for a calming, low-maintenance, meditative space? Do you have a blank canvas of a subdivision plot around a new house, a corner yet undone in an otherwise well-established garden, or even just a deck, patio or balcony to bring the outdoors in? A well-designed garden can be a haven, create an attractive frame and curb appeal for your home and provide privacy so it is worth taking the time to think about it.
I have a longtime friend, a botanist and herbal gardener, whose familial roots trace back to an old Scottish castle. Several years ago, he was honored to be tasked with restoring and recreating the historic gardens that used to surround the family castle. The gardens had been abandoned decades, if not centuries, ago.
His garden restoration design was guided by necessary historical references. The boundaries were set, the plant lists were recorded, the scale was predetermined by the magnitude of the stark, angular castle and the steep terrain that sloped up to it.
We usually do not have such dramatic limitations and can branch out into our garden wish list with more abandon. Yet, if you have a new garden space to create or a tired spot to enliven or recreate, many of the same principles apply.
Garden designers consider contrast, proportion, balance, repetition and rhythm. Colors, enclosures, structures, shapes and textures are fun and necessary considerations as we imagine garden spaces. And depending on personal preferences, other criteria may be included.
I recently read an article about the original garden design at Disney's Epcot Center in Florida. Given that Epcot Center is built upon acres of swamp, Disney's main concern was mosquito control. To that end, none of the plants used has leaves that collect water. Mosquitos breed in standing water and not even leaf puddles are allowed in Disneyland. All the plants have waxy, sloping leaves and shed water into the mulch below.
But back to Napa. How can you pull your different garden spaces together so, at the end of your design journey, there is a feeling of cohesiveness and harmony?
Often this is where path and hardscape choices come in. Paths and outside living areas can be purely utilitarian or add to the whimsy or mood of your garden. Certainly, a straight concrete or aggregate patio or path lined with stark agaves has a different feel than redwood rounds or soft wood chips with nodding ferns and forget-me-nots softening the edges.
Look at your garden from all vantage points. Will the area be a private space enclosed with plants or open to a larger landscape? Perhaps the space you are designing is your view from a kitchen, living room or bedroom window. Drag a chair out, grab a cup of coffee or an evening beverage, and spend some time imagining. This is the part I am good at.
One mistake many new gardeners make when trying to achieve a colorful, diverse garden is to plant just one of each. Nature rarely does that. Planting in groups of three, five or seven is a basic, although flexible, rule for a natural look.
Stroll through your favorite nursery for plant ideas and advice. On hikes, note what grows together in nature. As you walk around your neighborhood, note which garden styles and plants you like. When considering a plant, learn its preferred sun exposure, soil requirements, watering needs and rate of growth. So many questions.
In our new Napa County reality, it is also a good idea to incorporate FireWise design principles. No shrubs or trees close to your foundation. Keep landscape trees limbed up. Avoid planting pampas grasses, resinous shrubs or other highly flammable plantings. Look online and at the University of California Cooperative Extension office for a list of FireWise plants. There are abundant magazines, books and online sources for diving into garden design on your own.
Workshop: “Sustainable Vegetable Growing” (Four-Part Series) on Sundays February 23, March 1, March 8 and March 15, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. For more details & online registration go to Online registration (credit card only) or call 707-253-4221.
Workshop: “Step-by-Step Garden Design” on Saturday, February 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. For more details & online registration go to On-line registration (credit card only) or
Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only) or call 707-253-4221.
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
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.