Organic , No Panic - Direct Deposit Method.

I call this compost set up "The Direct Deposit Method" .

I designed this as part of an educational exhibit for the 1990 San Francisco Garden Show.

Last week I babysat a friends bunny while they were away on holiday and I received so much joy from having
"Little Gray Elephant" that I am considering adding a bunny to my house hold.

The "Direct Deposit Method" of composting consists of having an elevated rabbit cage with a porous screen flooring.
The high nitrogen rabbit poop falls down into a compost bin directly below helping to activate the heat process.
Fallen leaves, grass clipping and veggie food waste that the rabbit does not eat , goes into the compost bin along with the
rabbit poop.
Easy peasy pie .... fast and easy..... and back into the garden it goes .

From random photos

Artistic endeavors in pruning.

It’s just all too easy to dismiss or make fun of something that you may not understand.
Horticultural pruning seems to be one of those subjects.

If a heavily sculpted or renovated tree or shrub was seen in a middle class neighborhood one might say it was “butchered, devalued, defaced or just bad horticultural practices”.

But what happens when the same plant is severely pruned or cut back for renovation and it is at a world class horticultural institute ? Then it is not snickered at and upheld as good horticultural craftsmanship

This smacks of ignorance , or at the very least a lack of understanding.

Example :
Is this poor shearing or creative slight of hand ?
One see’s this type of shearing in many middle class neighborhoods.
This example happens to be at Filoli Gardens in Woodside CA

From random photos

How about this ?
This is a type of renovation pruning but some who may not have the experience to understand this type of pruning would mistake it as a hack job.
This is how you renovate a very old Taxus baccata .

From random photos

These are the same Taxus (yews) The light grey sheared tree in the front left and far rear centers are sheared olives at Filoli Gardens. When I worked at Filoli I was involved in a major renovation project of the Taxus hedge in the foreground. We cut it back to little stubs and within 3 months it was leafing out. It took a year for it to completely fill in.

From random photos

A residential middle class homeowner showing their artistic horticultural side is Tsck tsk’ed

From random photos

But this is acceptable . Silly isn’t it.

From random photos

Japanese cloud pruning is especially prevelent here in California.
If seen at Botanical garden it is upheald as art.
If it is done by a gardener in a commercial or residential setting it is devalued.

From random photos

From random photos

Would snarky remarks be made if you saw this residential garden ?

From random photos

How about this ? Surely the peanut gallery would find something to cackle about.
Now inform the ridiculers that this garden is going into a national trust for its artistic vision.

From random photos

From random photos

From random photos

Horticultural bullying is really not that attractive.

Water - conserve, recycle, reuse. Blog Action Day

Blog Action day - The topic : WATER

Next week I will be starting the certification process to become Bay Area Landscape Friendly certified in Sustainable Garden Design practices. LINK http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=8

I’ve been practicing some of what they preach for many years now but I feel it is always a good thing to keep current with new and emerging techniques and also brake some old traditional habits.

Below are a couple of ways that you can save WATER, a valuable resource, in your landscape.

1. Choose drought tolerant plantings that do well in your climate and soil conditions.
-succulents and leucadendron

From Pina Colada

leucadendron, yucca, agonis, anigozanthos, miscanthus

From Garden Porn

phormiums, salvia leucantha and salvia pt. sal

From portfolioMay08.jpg

euphoria, grevillea, succulents and chondropetalum

From portfolioMay08.jpg

salvia leucantha and pennisetum ( check your local climate to understand if pennisetum is invasive in your area)

From Carmel Valley Estate

2. Conserve moisture in the soil by applying mulch - Here at this Carmel Valley we used the native Oak leaves.

From Carmel Valley Estate

3. Reduce storm water run off by keeping your rain + clean grey water on your site.
Below is a slow percolation dry stream bed which takes on excess runoff water in the winter rainy season

From portfolioMay08.jpg

4. Plant a deciduous shade tree on the South West side of your house to keep your house and hardscape surfaces and surrounding soil cool, this reduces the need to water and the eliminates possible heat sinks.
Trees are Crape myrtles and Citrus.

From portfolioMay08.jpg

5. Consider alternative materials for a groundcover instead of using live grass.
Gravel-

From portfolioMay08.jpg

Recycled plastic and soy based artificial turf

From portfolioMay08.jpg

6. Use permeable surfaces in the landscape as in this dry laid stone path

From portfolioMay08.jpg

Dry lay permeable path meanders through a drought and deer tolerant hillside garden
Kniphofia, salvia, cistus, berberis ( not invasive in our area - not even an aggressive grower ) and sterile variegated pampas grass

From portfolioMay08.jpg

How are you making an effort to conserve, recycle or reuse water ?

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David Feix Landscape Design Retrospective Oct. 2010

David Feix Landscape Design Retrospective Oct. 2010

On a bright sunny Sunday in early October several S.F. based horticultural clubs joined together to tour Alameda, Berkeley and Oakland to see and be inspired by the landscape design work of David Feix.

The enthusiastic group was large and most of the gardens were compact in size. Combine those factors along with a very bright sunny day and you can guess how difficult it was to capture a decent photograph.

Regardless, here are a few images of David’s work from this day, enjoy :

From david's garden photos

Welcome, come on down and enjoy the view

From david's garden photos

The colorful entry border to the front door - bromeliads, ferns, clivia and annuals

From david's garden photos

The front entry portico ‘

From david's garden photos

The stairway down to the back yard

From david's garden photos

Look closely at the vines growing on the upper balcony railing - stunning color combo

From david's garden photos

The view from the balcony

From david's garden photos

Not to be overshadowed by the view of the water feature beyond.

From david's garden photos

Closer up. - Beautifully designed and integrated into the landscape . An extention of the architecture.

From david's garden photos

A cluster of pots on the upper balcony

From david's garden photos

Begonias to beg for.

From david's garden photos

Architectural details

From david's garden photos

The next few gardens were in very bright full sun. Apologies in advance for the harsh contrasts.

A nice seating area in a compact garden

From david's garden photos

A nice combo of echiverias, aeoniums and astelias

From david's garden photos

Big pots flank the entry to a swimming pool area

From david's garden photos

An entry garden in the hills

From david's garden photos

I’ve been to this garden before when the light was more condusive to photography.
Here is the picture I took that day and another picture I took a year ago

From david's garden photos

same place

From david's garden photos

Quite a difference.
Here is a detail shot on the sunny day :

From david's garden photos

Thanks for taking this virtual tour of David Feix’s Garden Retrospective Oct. 2010.

Afternoon shots of the pool, deck and garden project -Marin Hillside

These photos were taken in the afternoon. Earlier on the same day I took some morning shoots that are in the blog post prior to this one.

Marin hillside pool, garden and deck project

From Smith Project

The drain grate

From Smith Project

The diving rocks

From Smith Project

The view of the bay and the city beyond ( a bit of a foggy day )

From Smith Project

From Smith Project

The afternoon breeze picking up . Balls dance across the water.

From Smith Project

Main hillside deck, pool and garden project

Morning shots.
Trying to get a few portfolio worthy shots for the portfolio .
Will go back this late afternoon / early evening to capture a few more shots.

Hillside deck, pool and garden project.

From Smith Project

From Smith Project

From Smith Project

From Smith Project

From Smith Project

From Smith Project