What she's essentially saying (with much more eloquence than I am capable of) is "If life gives you lemons, don't try to make a banana smoothie, make lemonade". I love it when things can be boiled down to pithy clichés.

This is why I'm such a big fan of native gardens. Back when I was doing designs, I always tried to base the main structure of my gardens around native plants. My shade tree of choice was always Oak, with maybe some Redbud & Birch sprinkled in. (I know, redbuds and birch aren't native to Modesto specifically, but at least their native to the wider area, come-on, give me a break here!)

I also tried to fit in Silver Lupens, and Manzanita when posible, along with all the native grasses and wildflowers. Of course, I was always willing to break the rules for a really nice Japanese Maple, and one of my favorite designs was a redwood garden with misters up in the trees to re-create the feeling of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The larger issue is that you choose a style and the plants that will fit into your natural environment, you don't try to make your environment fit some picture you pulled out of a magazine. Modesto is not Seattle. You know what, I like the valley in the summer. After we haven't had rain for months, and all the grasses have bronzed to the color of hay. The flower seeds are fully formed, just waiting for a fall storm to blow them around, so the process can start over again. Why not re-create that in your garden?

Come by and say hi!

That may be true, but repeat after me, plants are not furniture, again, plants are not furniture, again... They aren't knick-knacks to pretty up the garden. They ARE the garden. They're the architecture of the out-of-doors, and are necessarily natural.

I have no problems using non-traditional materials, or with exposing the influence of society in the garden (how can you ignore it with a huge honking house right there?), but the goal of the designer is then to harmoniously blend the two, not to outright reject natural forms in favor of complete artificiality.

Martha Schwartz's creations may be excellent art pieces, in fact I could see them as statements of how you can't reject natural forms, I mean look at her work, this stuff is surreal:

But would you want to live there? I could see them in some large-city Museum of Modern Art, but they aren't the place for a human being to actually experience nature.

Lastly, can you imagine the maintenace on a garden like that? I rest my case. What are your thoughts?

There are three possibilities. First is some disease attacking the trees, second is a chemical problem where the trees are picking up something in the soil or water, and last is a drought problem,

Ed Perry the Stanislaus County Urban Home and Farm Advisor has been sending samples in to Sacramento to see if they can detect a disease, so far with no success.

In areas using city water, the water quality is generally good enough that it seems unlikely to be a water quality problem. If you have affected trees and are using well water it would be a good idea to get the water quality checked. On the west side of the county, including areas west of Modesto to the San Joaquin River, there are areas of problem water. One sample I had tested showed sodium high enough to be the problem.

For most trees we have come to the preliminary conclusion that they are running out of water in the 2-3 ft depth in the summer. This can be made worse by watering to the same depth all the time and allowing salt to build up at that depth. Our recommendation, whether or not you are now having problems, is to deep water the trees once a month over the entire root area of the tree. This is not just close to the trunk but also at the drip line and beyond. It seems that drip watering also can contribute to the problem.

Redwoods are noted for being drought intolerant and salt sensitive. To grow them successfully in our climate we have to be sure to give them the best conditions. If you have additional questions or would like to report successes or failures call the nursery and talk to one of our California Certified Nursery Professionals.

Thanks to Compost.org for the link.

Garden seating is something often overlooked, but very important if you want to really enjoy your garden. Too often what I see is a set of table and chairs on the patio, and then no other seating anywhere else in the garden. This is wrong, a good garden design should entice you to move through the garden. If you find yourself always standing on the deck or patio, like a king peering over his domains, then something is wrong. Add a path with another seating area at the end. Even small yards can be divided and broken up to entice movement.

If you inherited a single expanse of concrete in your small patio garden, break it up with some large pots, and maybe a bamboo screen. If you can, change paving materials to accent the different spaces. If you make each area an individual experience, it will create the impulse to enjoy each of them.

And at the end of every path, should be a seat. Seating is the reward for going around the next corner. It can be a small, simple stone bench, a low retaining wall at the perfect height to perch on (around 18"), a set of adirondack chairs, or the ultimate reward, a hammock strung between two shady palm trees, with a servant to fan you and feed you grapes. If you don't have any servants, (gasp!), I guess just a hammock would be nice too.

Before you complain about gardening here think about my friend in New Jersey. I didn't have enough nerve to tell him we are expecting 85 F this weekend.

Why aren’t they more used? The big problem is that foliage looks rough during the dry heat we have here. There is a way around that though: Plant them with other vines. I have started mixing them with Climbing Roses, Lavender Trumpet Vines and Hardenbergia (Lilac Vine). This masks the bad foliage and gives an additional color or lengthens the bloom season.

Clematis also prefer a cool root system and by blending them with something heavier it protects the roots.

At the Nursery we have a single-petaled, soft-white Sally Holmes with a purple clematis growing in with it. This it the entrance to the back parking lot.

I prefer the smaller flowered varieties like Etoile de Violette or Alba Luxuriens becaust they tend to be heavier blooming and are more reliable about continuing to bloom during the summer. The large-flowered varieties will also do well though, and are more impressive in the Spring.

In any case it can be a wonderful way to extend the bloom season. If you plant them together at the same time they can be planted fairly close together (About 2’ apart). If you are mixing it with an established vine you need more separation to allow the clematis room to get established.

A technique that I have not used or at least not seen established is allowing a clematis to grow into a tree. By growing into a tree I mean planting it so the tendrils start growing into the branches of a small tree. I started this but moved away before it got established.

If anyone has tried this I would appreciate a note and tell me how it did.

Maybe we should try that...

He also pointed us to a great article on the importance of drainage when planting trees. This is a big issue here in the Central Valley becase most areas tend to have a fairly impervious hardpan around 18" under the topsoil. This is an issue even if laying sod, but is really a problem with large trees. If the water doesn't penetrate the hardpan, the roots won't follow the water down, and you end up with surface roots, split concrete, broken pipes, and general unpleasantness.

So make sure to break through that hardpan! And pay attention to surface drainage!

The 5 Basic Mistakes That Beginners Make:

Whenever a beginner bonsai enthusiast is having bad luck, it is usually due to one of five reasons:

If I remember correctly, there's a special program in our area that funds school gardens. Is that still in effect? If any parents or teachers are out there, send in photos of the gardens at your schools, we'd love to post them up!

Growing these "Pears-in-Bottle" starts in late May, when the small pear will still fit in the neck of the bottle. The correct way to do this is to slip the pear in, while still on the branch, and tie the bottle to the tree so that the bottles neck faces down. This helps to prevent condensation from building up inside the bottle and ruining the fruit. The bottle should be left in place until ready to harvest, typically in late August.

Once the pear is fully grown, and the bottle has been harvested, the only thing to do is to rinse the bottle out as thoroughly as possible, and add the wine! We have included a recipe for pear wine below, or you can simply purchase a bottle and use that!

Pear Wine Recipe
(It is strongly advised that you read further on proper wine-making techniques before attempting to make your own wine!)
Pears 4.5 lb
Sugar 1 lb
1 lb Potassium Sorbate
Citric Acid
Water 1 gallon
Pectic Enzyme
Wine yeast
Yeast nutrient

Chop up the pears and place into a large fermenting bin. Add the sugar and citric acid to the bin and then boil the water and pour in. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved then leave to cool. Once cool, add the pectice enzyme, stir and leave for 24 hours. Add the yeast and nutrient and then place in a warm place. Stir daily for 5 days then rack off into a carboy and fit a bung and airlock. Rack off for the first time after 3 months. Prior to bottling, add the potassium sorbate to stabilise and prevent additional fermentation.

We carry only the most mildew resistant varieties available. The best of the varieties we try to keep available include:

Muskogee: this is a large and fast growing variety to about 25-30’ tall. It’s a soft lavender that is easy to use in most color schemes.

Natchez: Another large growing variety to about 25’ plus. This time it is white with striking exfoliating bark in the winter. I use this a lot.

Tuskagee: a watermelon pink-red that also grows large in the 25’ range. It has somewhat spreading growth.

Tuscarora: a coral pink-red with more upright growth than the above varieties. It is also somewhat smaller growing to about 20’.

Red Rocket: this new variety is in short supply becuse it is new. It is true red with reddish new foliage. one of the best true reds.

Hopi: medium pink growing to 12-15’ tall

Pecos: this is another pink with almost weeping branches growing to 10-12’.

Zuni: this is a rich lavender with more upright growth also growing to 10 or 12’ . tall.

Crape Myrtle really shines in the Central Valley and with the new mildew resistant varieties we carry, they really are extremely problem-free.

His instructions are simple and straight forward. They are the same directions I give to design clients when talking about french drains, with one exception. In step 6, he recommends putting coarse sand with sod on top. Usually, I add a different recommendation. This is a bit old-school, but I find that putting a layer of sod up-side-down, following by sand, followed by a layer of sod right-side-up can be beneficial. It further helps prevent dirt from working it's way into the drain, and thus extends the life of the drain. Also, I often recommend installing direct-line drains that go past the first layer of sod and the sand. This can help because often the water doesn't seep through the top layer fast enough to help.

I should also say, that I usually only recommend French Drains as a last resort. Here's why:

They don't work

On Saturday, I went out on a design consultation to look at a problem yard. One of the problems was bad drainage in the backyard. The client had recently put new sod down in her backyard, and had put in a brand-new french drain at the time. It wasn't working. Water was still pooling. The newly laid sod was rotting out where the water had been standing, so it was clearly not just an instance of "I just watered 5 minutes ago".

I don't doubt that the problem is better than it was before, but French Drains can only handle so much. If the top layers don't allow the water to seep through quickly enough, then the benefit can only be marginial (This is where those by-pass drains can come in). Often, a much easier, much more effective technique is to grade the yard towards a dry pond or streambed filled with cobbles. an above-ground drainage pond has a couple other advantages:

1) It's easier to clean. Yard debris and dirt can be much more easily monitored and corrected when massive amounts of digging aren't involved.

2) More capacity. Since with french drains you're burying them, they have a smaller volume, and so can't handle as much water

3) In a worst case scenario, a dry pond can be pumped out to the street. If more water is coming down than even the pond can handle, rent an electric pump, and send the water to the street, where the storm sewers are designed to handle it. (Double check your local regulations before sending water off your property, but in cities, water is usually supposed to drain to the street when possible.)

Aparently the average American's backyard is veritable obstacle course of lethal, or at least mildly annoying, injuries and accidents. Besides the obvious thing like turning on a chain saw while holding the wrong end, the society has a number of good tips on garden safety:

While I don't want sound too much like Chicken Little, a lot of this is good solid advice. Come by the nursery, and talk with Michael or Diana about what you can do to make gardening more safe, comfortable, and enjoyable. For those not in the Modesto-area, check out Fork and Spade (our mail-order branch) for a great selection of gloves, kneepads, and ergonomic (without finger-grooves) tools.

Well, I've found out that gardener's have the same opportunity. This Sunday, for ONE DAY ONLY, The Gardens at Heather Farms will be host to a Garden Faire. There will be a number of fun events for both children and adults:

Best of all, the faire will include a troupe of Morris Dancers. If you don't know what Morris Dancing is, it's worth the trip just to see them!

Anyone who goes, I'd love to hear your comments afterward!

We've been up now for 4 months, and the traffic has gone up considerably from the only static webpage (up over 1000% actually!), so we must be doing something right. Still, I'd love to hear from everybody!