Blue Planet Garden Blog

Ebook Giveaway – Everyday Feng Shui: A Plant Lover’s Guide to Garden Design

What makes a California garden designer, whose education and experience is firmly rooted in Western design principles, think she can write a book about Feng Shui?

The short answer is, she can’t.

Like many of you, however, I consider myself a life-long learner. And when the subject at hand relates to garden design, so much the better. I’ve been dabbling in one specific aspect of Feng Shui for several years now, and recently published an eBook on the subject. What sets Everyday Feng Shui A Plant Lover's Guide to Garden Design (On Your Own Design) apart from other books on garden Feng Shui is that rather than a complex system of space planning, the focus is on the plants themselves.

The Creative Cycle

I’ve concentrated on one of the core tenents of Feng Shui—the Creative Cycle. At the heart of the Creative Cycle is the belief that all things have their origin in one of the five elemental groups: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water or Wood. Just as Western garden principles strive to create balance in the garden, Feng Shui similarly focuses on harmony, teaching that for a garden to be truly welcoming, all five elements should be present. Now here is the fun part: each of the elements can be represented by specific plant characteristics! A perfect design tool for gardeners, as we already see plants as the heart and soul of the garden.

Here is a brief description of each of the five elements:

Fire – Symbolic of energy and aggression. Represented by the color red and triangular or jagged, sharp shapes.

 

Earth – Symbolic of harmony and balance. Represented by the colors brown and yellow and square, flat-topped shapes.

Metal – Symbolic of creativity and collecting. Represented by the colors white, silver and gray and by circular or domed shapes.

 

Water – Symbolic of meditation and reflection. Represented by the colors blue and black and by wavy, meandering shapes.

 

Wood – Symbolic of growth and trust. Represented by the color green and by rectangular shapes.

What makes this approach to garden design so appealing, is that rather than replacing traditional Western design principles, it enhances them. As an example, take the following photo:

From a Feng Shui perspective, this front yard is suffering from an excess of Earth (represented by the square shapes of the lawn, driveway and severely-pruned bushes) and Wood (via the color green). Peaceful to the point of boring. Zzzzzz. The key to bringing it back into balance is through the introduction of the other elements on the Creative Cycle. If this were my client, I would begin by removing the unnaturally-shaped shrubs, downsizing the lawn and adding curved planting beds. Budget allowing, I might even add a curved path from the street to the front door. These changes would bring in Water’s meditative influence. Next comes filling the beds with plants in a mix of colors and textures, making sure to include plants with variegated foliage to bring in a touch of Metal’s elegance as well as some sharply-textured New Zealand flax or aloes to channel Fire’s bright energy.

While similar conclusions can be reached without recourse to the Creative Cycle, of course, determining what is wrong with an existing garden is often more challenging than creating a new one from scratch. Why not add another diagnostic tool to your gardening toolkit? Not to mention it’s just plain fun to rethink an outdoor space through the lens of the Creative Cycle.

If you are looking for easy-to-implement ways to make your garden a more enjoyable space that is alive with positive energy, then Everyday Feng Shui provides a roadmap to achieving a new level of harmony in your garden. No need to redesign the garden’s entire layout or rip out and replace planting beds wholesale (unless you enjoy that sort of thing, of course). With a few additions or subtractions, almost any garden space can become more balanced, welcoming and harmonious.

To learn more, go to Amazon and download a sample of the book. Or better yet, leave a comment here or on my Facebook page. I’ll be giving away 3 copies, winners to be announced next Thursday, December 13th. As an FYI for those of you with gardeners on your Christmas list, if you’ve never given a Kindle book as a gift before, it’s incredibly easy. All you have to do is enter the recipient’s email address and voila! It’s done. Should you prefer to bestow your gift in person, simply have the gift certificate emailed to yourself.

In the unlikely event that you're not interested in this giveaway, check back next week anyway. I'll be giving away a copy of the just released Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?: 255 Extraordinary Alternatives to Everyday Problem Plants.

Update 12-13-12: The winners are in!

Chosen by a random number generator, congrats to commenters  #8 Loree/Danger Garden, #13 Sheila Schultz and #15 Judy Tilson. Keep an eye on your email for a message from Amazon!

Wordless Wednesday: Marcia Donahue's Garden

 Recently I had the opportunity to visit Marcia Donahue's amazing Berkeley garden during the Garden Conservancy's Open Day tour. But you don't have to wait until the next one, because Marcia generously opens her Garden of Earthly Delights and gallery every Sunday from 1-5.

My one minute highlight reel:

 

If you'd rather linger, here's the gallery.

And if you want more photos and a thorough analysis of Marcia's vertical garden style, visit this Fine Gardening post by Billy Goodnick. Since its Wordless Wednesday, I'm letting someone else do the heavy lifting.

Fearless Color - Keeyla Meadows Garden

I confess to skipping more local garden tours than I attend. So many feature newly-installed McMansion gardens, heavy on the high-end hardscape - think oversized outdoor kitchens that look like no one has ever eaten in them, let alone prepared a meal - and endless stretches of uninspiring, pristine lawn. But when I read that this year’s Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour in the East Bay included several of my longtime, wish-list gardens, I realized this particular tour was not to be missed.

 Keeyla Meadows' garden was my first stop of the day. I’ve blogged about the well known designer, author and sculptor before, whose most recent book Fearless Color Gardens: The Creative Gardener's Guide to Jumping Off the Color Wheel pushes the boundary on color in the garden. Many garden designers emphasize foliage color and texture over flowers, and limit bright colors to a few containers or the occasional focal point wall. Cheekily thumbing its nose at such restraint, Keeyla’s garden celebrates color with an exuberant ferocity that makes a visit there a one-of-a-kind experience.

Walls in a range of colors form the backdrop for her custom containers,

 

art work,

 

and of course, flowers..or edibles like this artichoke that's been allowed to flower.

 

But spend too much time looking around, and you’ll miss the riot of color, shapes and textures on the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

Playfully painted and bejeweled seating is tucked throughout the garden.

 

How perfect is the contrast provided from the loropetalum peaking around the corner?

 

A corner is transformed into a colorful nook.

 

For those of you with small gardens like mine who complain about lack of space, take a cue from Keeyla. Anything is fair game, including the roof of her design shed.

 

In addition to the walls, floors and rooftops, the plants themselves are not shy, adding plenty of garden color on their own. 

Hot plantings in shades of red, orange and pink are toned down with peachy hues,

earthtones,

 

and the occasional shot of cooling blue or lavender.

 

Shown here with Garden Conservancy volunteer and director of the new Sunset Western Garden Plant Collection Janet Sluis, Keeyla was a warm and gracious hostess, making all of us gushing tour-goers feel welcome. (If you’ve never met either of these charming ladies, Keeyla is the one on the right – her clothes and personality are every bit as colorful as her gardens.)

On a final note, my once daring purple wall seems pretty tame in comparison. Time to break out the paint cans! Stay tuned…

 

Garden Designers Roundtable: Four Ways to Make a Small Garden Feel Like a Big One

 

 

This month’s Garden Designers Roundtable topic is our own home gardens. I thought about going with my favorite lazy-day post option and showing a montage of images – like a Wordless Wednesday but delivered on a Tuesday. Instead, I’m using my pint-sized garden to share some of the solutions to a question that comes up over and over again with my clients: how do you make a small garden seem larger?

I fondly refer to my tiny back yard as my 50 Foot Garden, since it’s not much wider than that. At a mere 20 feet deep, achieving a look that’s cozy rather than closed-in is a challenge. Here are four strategies I’ve used in my own little retreat that are easily translated into just about any space in need of a spacious feel.

 

Use every square inch

In our book Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces, my co-author Rebecca Sweet and I dedicated a large section to the over-looked opportunity of gardening in side yards. Yes, the narrow space and odd sun-shade patterns can be a challenge, but side yards give you the chance to create a space strictly to be gazed on – a rare occurrence in a small garden, where many features must do double or even triple duty.

 

 

Include a road less traveled

You know that famous infomercial line: But wait - there’s more!  Well, that’s what your pathways should be saying to visitors in your garden.

 When I’m designing a back yard garden, I never stop the path flush with the edges of the house. Doing so not only reinforces the typically boxy shape of a backyard, but it tells visitors that they’ve seen all there is to see. In a small space, it is particularly important to give the impression the garden continues around the next corner. The fact that that intriguing path leads to nowhere more exciting than compost and extra gardening supplies is my little secret. (And now it’s yours, too.)

 

 

 

Have a few tricks up your sleeve

 

You may be familiar with the design strategy of adding a mirror to a wall to create the illusion of a window to another part of the garden. If you’ve never considered this idea because you scornfully think no one will be fooled, I’m here to tell you that EVERYONE is fooled. I purchased a set of porthole-shaped mirrors at Target for $15.00 a few years back, and despite the obvious fact that nothing exists on the other side but a tiny strip of green and the street, almost everyone walks down the path and tries to look through them. As a side note, use caution when adding mirrors to gardens, and avoid placing them in such a way that might confuse birds.

 

Bury your treasure (or at least tuck it away)

What can be disappointing about a small garden is the sensation that in one quick glance, a visitor has already seen everything there is to see. That’s why I like to tuck in a few surprises that require a more thoughtful and leisurely stroll through the garden. Containers, particularly those tucked discretely in the back of a bed where they aren’t immediately on display work well.

But don’t stop there. My three ceramic starfish have been known to pack up and visit spots all around my garden, delighting the patient guests who take the time to admire not just the flowers and foliage, but the unexpected treasures hidden throughout.

For those of who would have preferred a Wordless Wednesday tour of my garden, here's a one minute Animoto video for your viewing pleasure.

 

To see what other Roundtable members have to say on the topic, check out these posts:

Rebecca Sweet : Gossip In The Garden : Los Altos, CA

Pam Penick : Digging : Austin, TX

Mary Gallagher Gray : Black Walnut Dispatch : Washington, D.C.

Jocelyn Chilvers : The Art Garden : Denver, CO

Deborah Silver : Dirt Simple : Detroit, MI

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Christina Salwitz : Personal Garden Coach : Renton, WA

Andrew Keys : Garden Smackdown : Boston, MA

Rochelle Greayer: Studio G: Boston, MA

Book Review: Small-Space Container Gardens

Instead of my usual attempt at a witty opening sentence, for once I’m cutting right to the chase: I absolutely love Small-Space Container Gardens: Transform Your Balcony, Porch, or Patio with Fruits, Flowers, Foliage, and Herbs!

Written by Fern Richardson, author of the hugely popular blog Life on the Balcony, Small-Space Container Gardens covers just about everything you want to know about container gardening. Filled with useful information, but written in a relaxed, chatty style, it’s a great cover-to-cover read, while also working well as a reference guide if you’re looking for specific tips, such as container plants that attract butterflies or how to choose the correct potting soil.

The book is divided into 8 chapters. The first chapters cover the basics of container gardening, going beyond the containers themselves to share design tips on furniture, lighting and flooring, as well as suggestions on coping with environmental conditions such as windy balconies. Fern’s personal experience with balcony gardening strongly informs this section of the book, and although anyone interested in container gardening will find plenty of useful information, cash-strapped apartment dwellers with a crafty streak will undoubtedly feel they’ve hit the mother lode. Two things I particularly liked in these chapters: an easy-to-understand section on combining colors and a clever and affordable idea for adding modular flooring to balcony gardens.

 

Awesome interpretation of the color wheel for gardeners

Later chapters cover different styles of container gardening, including potager gardens (fancy French term for a kitchen garden with a structured design, pronounced puh ta zhay), planting for privacy, succulents and attracting wildlife, a chapter I particularly enjoyed.

 

The muse for this balcony garden is the path of succulents and the shabby chic urn at the Huntington Botanical Gardens.

A monarch butterfly enjoys a meal, courtesy of a thoughtful container gardener

Sprinkled throughout are DIY ideas geared towards saving money and adding a personal touch to a garden. One of my favorites is the homemade birdbath pictured below, which is shallow enough for bees and other insects to use. I’m thinking of trying this one in my own garden, although my obsession with purple suggests I’ll be painting it a different color.

 

 

What I liked:

• The book has a good mix of professionally researched information and personal preferences. I like the fact that Fern recommends not only a category of plants (like calendula for edible flowers) but then tells us her favorite cultivar – in this case ‘Zeolights’, because it starts out bronze-orange then fades to light pink.
• Designs! Several of the chapters feature layouts for small balconies or courtyards. Since this is my profession, I realize I"m a little biased, but I know I’m not the only one who finds it much easier to grasp the design intent when there is a picture to go along with the description.
• Situational plant recommendations that go beyond most publications. For example, instead of a general category of plants that attract wildlife, there are specific lists for birds, butterflies and bees.

 

Unusually for me, I don’t really have quibbles for this review, but I do have a few caveats.

This book focuses more on designing and gardening WITH containers, rather than IN containers. That’s one of the main reasons I like it, but if you are looking for an illustrated roadmap on specific plant combinations, a good companion to Small-Space Container Gardens is Container Gardening: 250 Design Ideas & Step-By-Step Techniques

Athough it includes plants for all USDA zones and addresses issues that gardeners in colder parts of the country face (such as dealing with freezing temperatures and mosquitos), with its emphasis on succulents, flowers and edibles, the book favors warm-weather gardeners and those with the ability to overwinter indoors or who don’t mind relying more on annuals.

Filled with practical advice, design ideas and DIY projects, Small-Space Container Gardens is a must-have resource for space-challenged gardeners.

Meet the Author: Northern California friends, if you'd like to learn more and meet the author in person, Fern will be speaking at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, Saturday, March 24th at 11 a.m.