landscape

So as I mentioned in my previous post (on vegetable container gardening), I just moved to a new home with a completely blank slate in the back for gardening.

And seeing how it’s still winter here in western New York (and probably will continue to be for what feels like about six more months), I’m grabbing some of my 2 ½-year-old daughter’s paper and crayons, and remembering the best gardening (and landscaping) advice I ever got:

Start with raised beds, and be sure to use conifers (cone-bearing plants, mostly evergreens). The raised beds give you good “garden bones” and the conifers provide fantastic foliage and year-round texture, color and shape.

Of course, this advice came from conifer enthusiast, master gardener and former neighbor Jerry Kral, who has turned his Rochester, NY property into a terraced conifer dreamland featured in Better Homes & Gardens (see image at right, from the Genesee Valley Rocks! gardening blog at www.gvnargs.blogspot.com).

Building your raised bed

Before you stick any plants in the ground, Jerry taught me, the idea is to create a frame for your “art.” 

First, determine the shape of your bed (a natural, organic form looks best – try something like a kidney bean). You may want to spraypaint the border on the grass and then run a course of bricks or stone (about $200 a pallet) on top of them. For the lovely terraced look you see (above) in Jerry's garden, you can feel free to go a few courses higher.

Next, plan on filling in that border with dirt (sorry, gardeners – “soil”) about 3 to 4 feet high and 4 to 6 feet wide (landscapers can provide the fill dirt for about $30 a cubic yard). If you plan to use dwarf or miniature conifers, (an especially good idea if you want low-maintenance or easy-care gardening), maybe go a bit smaller. Or, if you're putting in plants that are going to expand a lot as they grow, go a bit larger.

Next, just wheelbarrow the dirt from the delivered pile (usually on a tarp in your driveway) to your raised bed, and just shovel it right onto the grass within that border. No need to kill or dig out the turf below.

Designing your raised bed

Try to start with taller trees for a high leaf canopy. Add bushes and shrubs for a midlevel canopy. Then, fill in the bottom part with groundcovers and lower-growing perennials, bulbs, annuals, ornamental grasses, gnomes, flamingos - whatever it is that floats your boat.

Then, consider putting a tall, dark plant (like juniperus scopulorum 'Skyrocket') in the center or back and two weeping conifers (like Golden Cedar) on each outer edge. Fill in the space between with round- or bun-shaped conifers (like chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Green Globe') and a few tall, skinny ones (I'm a big fan of 'Sky Pencil' holly). Arrange smaller plants at the front, from shortest on the outside to tallest in the center.

Then, add a big rock. Or three. Or five. Odd numbers are better. If you're using three, get one small, one medium and one large. For a more natural effect, try to find stones that are native to your area.

For a high-impact look, try contrasting colors. Blue-green and yellow-variegated conifers go great together. So do dark green varieties with those variegated white.

Also contrast textures — stiff, sharp needles of spruce or pine, for instance, with the cup-shaped, ferny Hinoki cypress or the stringlike chamaecyparis pisifera.

Next, mix it up for a more natural look. In nature, notes Jerry, you won’t find straight lines or a mass of just one kind of shape, color, texture or kind of plant. So mix in some deciduous trees and shrubs as well as herbaceous perennials, annuals, bulbs, ground covers and ornamental grasses.

I’ll get more into planting when spring gets here. But now’s my time for dreaming, and I’m checking out mail-order sites such as Arrowhead Alpines and Greer Gardens and garden blogs such as The Amazing World of Conifers, The Garden Years, A Way to Garden and Daniel Mount Gardens. You can also find images of conifers and cultural information at the American Conifer Society Web site.

Are you a conifer lover? Let me know some varieties and plant compositions that have worked for you! And please feel free to post some pics!

Well, the word is out – turquoise is the Pantone Color Research Institute’s 2010 Color of the Year.

“Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing,” read the Dec. 8, 2009 press release by Pantone, the global authority on color. “It is believed to be a protective talisman, a color of deep compassion and healing, and a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky.”

Well, that’s all warm and fuzzy, I thought - but not much help to us in the garden. There are precious few flowers that are blue – let alone turquoise (my first thought is the Himalayan blue poppy, and – unless you live in the Himalayas – trying to grow it is pretty much a lost cause).

But there are ways to incorporate this inviting, luminous hue into your home and garden. And what better time to start dreaming about how to infuse a little summer into your life than during winter, in front of the fire with a few mailorder gardening catalogs?

My first thought, of course, is containers. I’ve always loved seeing turquoise-blue ceramic pots in the landscape – it’s reminiscent of the swimming pools of summer and the waters of the Caribbean – a touch of vacation without having to pack. I’ve seen a lot of oversized turquoise planters used as water gardens, too. Makes sense, I suppose, since turquoise symbolizes water. But just from an aesthetic standpoint, turquoise just makes the perfect backdrop for floating circular lily pads, frilly-leafed rosettes of water lettuce and spade-shaped taro leaves.

A turquoise pot can also help enhance blue-green foliage (that’s what bonsai gardeners do). Just imagine a dwarf, blue hosta like ‘Blue Cadet’ or a spiky fescue like ‘Elijah Blue’ or even the popular dwarf ‘Blue Star’ juniper in one of these eye-popping planters.

Or, use turquoise planters with other colors to create a certain mood or effect. Jacci Howard Bear, who wrote about the color symbolism of turquoise and how to use it with other colors for About.com, says mixing the color with lavender and pale pinks will lend a feminine air. Bright turquoise and pink, she says, “create a sparkly clean, retro look.” Or, make it art deco by pairing turquoise with white and black. “Turquoise with gray or silver as well as terra cotta and light browns have a Southwestern (U.S.) flavor,” she says. “Turquoise with orange or yellow creates a fresh, sporty look.”