Unity - Part 1 - Themes
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- GloriaM
- Kirk_Johnson
- GloriaM
- Deb_TT
- Linda
- CarolWallace
- Kirk_Johnson
- Cottage_Garden
- Kirk_Johnson
- kimmik
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» GloriaM - Gloria McCoy Kirk--It's a typical suburban house--ranch style
Gloria McCoyKirk--It's a typical suburban house--ranch style, more or less, no junked cars in the front yard! But the junipers have to go! I'm thinking in terms of dapne and saracocca. What I'd really like for the front is something gorgeous that doesn't clash too much with the house--maybe a rugosa rose although they loose their leaves in winter. Help!
-- posted by GloriaM
» Kirk_Johnson - If there are junipers in front, I assume that the front yard is
If there are junipers in front, I assume that the front yard is sunny. If this house is in Coos Bay, have you seen the large Southern Magnolia up near the hospital? I blooms quite well every summer. Southern Magnolias and rhododendrons go very well together, in this climate a mature Southern Magnolia looks like a tree rhododendron. Even the Southern Magnolias in the parking lot of Greer Gardens in Eugene look like this. (Eugene gets much warmer summers than Coos Bay). One of the nice things about the Oregon coast is that most rhododendrons will tolerate full sun, and they will also be happy once the magnolia casts it's shade.Rhododendrons and Southern Magnolias go fine with daphnes and saracoccas. They look like they belong together. This planting would feel unified.
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» Deb_TT - Kirk, I am enjoying your article and discussions. Nice to ha
Kirk,I am enjoying your article and discussions. Nice to have another PNWer here at Gardening on the Suite.
Although I don't totally agree with planting to unify the neighborhood (I am a rebel at heart) because so many neighborhoods are so boring with the sweeps of lawn and the required dots of shrubs. But then I agree with you as in the neighborhood that has wooded lots with native plants and shade loving woodlanders. A home with all the trees taken out and planted with grass and annual flowers can look like a sore thumb in the midst of the rest. Since most of my neighborhood doesn't seem to have a clue about gardening, I just go my own way, because no matter what I do it won't fit in unless I just let it go wild (a lot of summer homes here). I hope I can inspire the neighborhood.
Look forward to many more of your articles. I lived in Coos Bay when I was a wee child and lived in many parts of Oregon until I was a teenager. Lots of memories growing up there!
Debra Teachout-Teashon
Contributing Editor
Pacific Northwest Gardening
Winter Gardening
-- posted by Deb_TT
» Linda - I agree and disagree on staying with the tone of the neighborhoo
I agree and disagree on staying with the tone of the neighborhood in the front. I think it is nice to blend or have some "unity" with the neighborhood at large out front, but not completely. In my area, most have low maintanence shrub foundation plantings with a tree here and there in the lawn at the front. No flowers, except for a hanging basket or a pot of geraniums on the step. Boring. I also have tree and shrub plantings (not only at the foundation, but also in islands in the lawn. I also have cut the lawn back significantly by adding several large flower beds as well. I have recently planted bulbs in the shrub areas, etc. for spring interest. In unity with the neighborhood, I have trees and shrub plantings, but I have gone beyond into the flowers. It flows well with the neighborhood, but adds alot more interest and color that is missing in other yards.Linda Mazar, Kid's Garden
-- posted by Linda
» CarolWallace - Like Debbie, I'm a rebel. In fact I did an <a href="http://www.s
Like Debbie, I'm a rebel. In fact I did an article on this very topic last November.I don't want to plant what everyone else in the neighborhood has planted. Mainly because it is all the same: a mustache of yews fronting the porch with a PJM rhododendron by the front door.Foundation plantings are neither particularly attractive nor historically correct for our house.
Anyway, in our neighborhood our house is the sore thumb, in a way -- the one that is different from all others. It was the first house, over 100 years ago, with a ton of land around it, which was eventually sold off in small, small parcels for a lot of small houses with very little in the way of front yards. Our house sits up above them on a hill with a gigantic, very steeply sloped front yard. I could go with the flow for "unity's" sake, or I could do my own thing with terracing to make the most of the yard and all the land that would go unused if I did what the neighbors do.
Anyway, I think it is rather nice when people use their front yards to show a little personality. In some neighborhoods it leads to a friendly competition with people trying to outdo each other -- leading to a lovely and varied street scene. Carol virtually gardening
-- posted by CarolWallace
» Kirk_Johnson - My background is in art, so when I think of unity, I am thinking
My background is in art, so when I think of unity, I am thinking mainly in terms of color and texture, not plant material. For example, if most of the front yards in your neighborhood have trees with coarse leaves, then it is probably best to plant a tree that either harmonizes with these trees or contrasts with them. Either a coarse textured tree or a fine textured tree would be a good choice, a tree that isn't really coarse or fine textured might not be the best choice. Also, you can use similar plants to your neighbors, but with a different growth pattern or flower. There are rhododendrons that look very similar to P.J.M. in leaf, but they have pale pink or white flowers. Yew is well suited to topiary, if everyone in your neighborhood plants yew, you could train one as a topiary.What I dislike are neighborhoods where most of the front yards have lawns, but someone in the middle of the block decides to have a bark-scape. I am talking about the Pacific Northwest, where lawns are well suited to the environment. If you live in an area where lawns are difficult, then it doesn't matter if all of your neighbors have lawns. You should do what suits the environment.
Carol, foundation plantings are Victorian. Most Victorian homes were built several feet above ground level, so they used good sized shrubs along the foundation. Foundation plants were continued in later periods because they had become traditional.
-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» Cottage_Garden - Hi Kirk and WELCOME! This is belated because I have been on
Hi Kirk and WELCOME!This is belated because I have been on vacation and am only catching up to scadzillions of emails and other stuff that happens both in real and virtual life when one impetuously leaves town for 10 days on an afternoon's notice!
Art and garden design and music and so many other aspects of life are so closely interwoven -- I am really excited about the special perspective you bring to garden design and Gardening here at Suite 101!
Thanks for a great article -- we are all looking forward to more!
Barbara Martin
Eco-Gardens Editor
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
» Kirk_Johnson - Hi Barbara. I rarely use the term "plant material", actually it
Hi Barbara. I rarely use the term "plant material", actually it irritates me when others use it. When thinking about unity, it seems best to not focus on individual plants, but it irritates me when that attitude towards plants is dominant. A plant is a living organism, the term "plant material" doesn't seem to acknowledge that reality. It always sounds like when plants are used as decorations in office buildings. The plants in office buildings are often unhappy, they have to be replaced or at least rotated. In an office building this may be acceptable, but not in a garden.-- posted by Kirk_Johnson
» kimmik - When I signed on, I saw my last official log-on was October; alt
When I signed on, I saw my last official log-on was October; although I occasionallyvisit through Gardens and Graphics. I was glad, actually elated, to see a Garden Design topic had been created.
After almost three years of researching, deliberating, rethinking, hesitating, asking question after question of the editors here and general procrastinating at what I feel is a daunting task; we are finally going to land- scape our property after it's mutilation during the restoration of our 150 year old home.
The house is, if I may say so myself, beautiful and just what I pictured in my mind's eye. I consider myself lucky to say that, but it deserves a beautiful landscape as well.
As it is now, the landscaping, or lack thereof, detracts from the house.
Your article, Kirk, will be of great help to me and easy to follow as I subscribe to your theories. Now, with your articles as a guide and with all the other helpful information I find here at Suite 101, I look forward to digging in.
I will continue to read with interest.
-- posted by kimmik
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