Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
some thoughts about landscape
I am not a gardener. I do think about landscape all the time as it is so integrated with architecture but I don’t “garden”. I haven’t had much success with indoor plants, and I don’t have the time for much of a garden outside. I have been trying since we moved in to our house (almost 8 years ago-wow) to make some sort of landscape that works with the mid-century style (and I use that term loosely -it was built in the mid twentieth century, and has some nice clean lines, but it isn’t a mid-century modern gem, as that term seems to conjure up).
I have all kinds of ideas about the design in terms of volume, scale, color, contrast and flow. My problem has really been (other than lack of funds to hire someone to execute it) the nature of the plants themselves. I am naturally drawn to plants, trees and shrubs that are quite architectural in shape and proportion but these types of plants are usually in warmer and/or drier climates. I visited some friends in Tucson right before we purchased our house and their front “lawn” consisted of gravel and one beautiful mesquite tree. The shape and silhouette of that tree will be forever imprinted on my mind. We also saw many palo verde trees in Tucson. In fact, these seem to be favorites of Rick Joy, a local modernist architect. I think this is the loveliest tree I have ever seen. Those green trunks!
Our yard when we moved in looked like the parking lot of a suburban strip mall. You know those “mall bushes” that are like little balls with tiny tiny leaves and can withstand enormous amounts of pollution? Spirea maybe? That was pretty much it. Slowly we’ve been removing everything one by one. But what to replace it with?
When I design a piece of clothing, I have an idea in mind about the cut, volume, shape and texture of the garment. I can work with the fabric and seams to mold it into shape. In my thinking about landscape design I have been looking for plants that already have a certain texture and shape to create overall volume and design, like the palo verde, but that will work in a mid-western climate. One by one I have been discovering plants that are sparse and airy, have interesting overall shapes, have unique leaves and textures and have colors that will contrast our almost black house, like silvery grey and chartreusey green. Things that won’t work in our climate I plant in pots. (more images of our garden here)
I never even considered shaping the plants themselves. Until this spring. There is one bush that we never removed because it was so large and old the task seemed daunting. On a whim I went at it with the pruning shears. I felt like Edward Scissorhands. I cut away all the dead wood and lots of the volume and all of a sudden it was like I was working with fabric. A shape started to emerge from under the huge ball of dead shrub. I could see the old, knarly branches and the individual shape of the leaves. And I started to like the way it looked. And it started to work with the architecture. I assumed it would die after all that cutting, but it didn’t. And now the leaves are a wonderful chartreusy green and it actually looks healthier than before. Here is a type of gardening I’m actually good at and I could get addicted to.
Subtraction gardening.
I talked to a guy at the local landscape/garden center about my shrub cutting. And he actually encouraged me to do more pruning. He said many plants benefit from aggressive cutting. He cuts his dogwoods back to the ground every spring so that they grow sparsely. Sparse? I like that. So I went home and began cutting some more. Right now I’m running out of material, so if you live in South Minneapolis you might want to keep an eye on your bushes….
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 11:40 am:
How funny about the pruning. I am the same and will prune every year. Especially the fruit trees. But they all love it and come back every year fuller and better. So keep on pruning martha.
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 12:29 pm:
i love the simplicity and quiet quality of your garden. sometimes i’m dreaming about the cold weather plants. we have native california plants in our garden,. they are good and so easily to be taken care of,. they look kind of wild now,. i guess we need to prune them.
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 12:34 pm:
I am a big fan of pruning, too! Every week I’m in my little front garden, cutting everything back and thinning it out. I feel much the same way about plants as I do about hair. And furniture.
I love the color of the green plants against your dark dark house. It makes me want to paint my back garden fence black or gray!
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:13 pm:
oh man martha. i swear you were with me in spirit last night. we went for a walk in our favorite public garden and it has all these lovely native grasses that are tall and angular and have no round strip mall shape. and david and i talked and looked and thought about pulling out our bushes (sounds like yours) and putting tall grasses to come and go as they please.
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:16 pm:
Come on over. My pussy willow is in major need. This weekend we cut at least half our dogwood back. Gotta say that’s what it needed. Do you have any full sun spots? I’m in love with Rattlesnake Master right now. Tallish, native perennial with fabulous spiky leaf structure that you might find in the southwest. We planted it next to some cactus on the south side of the house but now the other prairie plants are starting to infringe on it’s territory. I may need to do some pulling.
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 4:00 pm:
I feel the same way about gardening as I do about cooking: I love gardens and I love food, but I do not enjoy the act of gardening nor the act of cooking. lol….
I liked having pots of herbs in our rentals….but the idea of a “yard” and all that does not appeal to me (yet). Thus, the loft. I agree about Southwest Xeriscaping….it’s beautiful and it makes sense.
*cracking up picturing you as Edward Scissorhands*
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 6:21 pm:
I loved this post!
I have a deep respect for gardeners, and those who underrstand plants and what it requires to grow them, cultivate them, nurture them etc. I acknowledge I don’t have that skill, or desire to know. But I do wish I had more empathy with the growing world - I find working out what to put where, and what will work as a whole hard. In the past I have gone sparse and minimalist to great success. With this house - we have a dark charcoal exterior with black and white trims, and we have mass planted the front garden. A mass of deep luscious blood red cordylines and then one single magnolia tree in pinks and purples in the middle, with a row of gardenias along the edge. It is striking and amazing and so full of colour against the grey. It has structure, containment, clarity and depth - I think it’s the most successful garden we’ve done. The back of the house…….still have no idea what to do, or how to make a vision come to life……..
And I know how you feel about pruning, once I get those pruning scissors/saw and start cutting, you need to do more, and more, and just a little more….
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 8:34 pm:
Martha, you could be talking about my house! We do live in very similar homes. We’ve slowly removed all of the tortured shrubs that were planted exactly 12″ away from the foundation. I’ve also wanted plants that complemented our home’s geometric lines, but as you’ve mentioned, it seems that all the landscapes I’m attracted to are are in California! We’ve incorporated New Zealand flax, grasses, and other specimens that emphasize shape. I’ve really tried to put the focus on color, texture and leaf size/shape which means that I’ve limited flowering specimens. A really lovely tree is the Shishigashira variety of Japanese maple. It has a very upright form with leaves that grow in tufts. It’s very sculptural. Your landscape looks lovely - I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this subject!
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 8:37 pm:
What a great post! I, too, envy those Tucson “gardens”. But none of those plants would stand a chance here in Illinois (I think the gravel might be okay). I’m stealing your idea of looking for plants with that southwestern texture and shape that might survive here.
on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 10:08 pm:
Oh I love this post, M! I’ve been thinking a lot about how we need to transform our landscaping. I love what you have done…subtraction gardening…so good!
on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 8:29 am:
we recently removed every single plant (they were all ugly and struggling) from the front of our house. except for a single holly bush that was so large and mature (and thriving) that i couldn’t stand to take it out - even though i hated it because it was so big and christmas-y looking in the middle of the summer. but we pruned it. significantly. and now it looks like an entirely different species. and i love it now. will have to see if i can take a picture to show you.
on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am:
oh man! i started gardening last year for the first time (of the vegetable variety) and have pretty much figured things out as i’ve gone. as for landscaping/flowers/etc. i have no clue. sometimes i feel bad that i don’t keep things looking as nicely as they could around my house, but then i remind myself that i’m just a renter and our “yard care rent discount’ isn’t enough for me to put too much effort into it. once we get our own house, i suppose that’ll have to change. so, if you need some bushes to prune, feel free to help this south minneapolis girl out! (just kidding, you don’t have to prune my bushes…)
on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am:
I also am working with low water pland, since we have drought like conditions at various times, but we are in the South so humidity is also an issue with several varieties. Great fun with the pruning.
on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 6:11 pm:
I am totally on the same page! This may be our shared love (love? no - obsession) of design, but I feel the same way about plants. One type of plant I’ve always loved is the ornamental grass. Take a look at http://www.ovsla.com for some inspiration. Also, I bought a nice book called Grasses, by Nancy J. Ondra (isbn=1-58017-423-X). I absolutely LOVE the photos and it makes me want to rip everyone’s lawn out and just go crazy.
on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 2:00 am:
OH yes, pruning IS addictive, just you wait and see
on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 1:39 pm:
your garden looks lovely! unfortunately i’m restricted to container gardening, so i have yet to try my hand at pruning. i can see how it would be addictive and so satisfying.
i love sedum, moss, and thistles. most of the spidery plants are eaten by my cats, so half the battle is finding species that aren’t so tasty. i love cold weather plants, and there is no better moment than when the forsythia bloom.
on Sunday, July 27th, 2008 at 9:50 pm:
i covet your grey wall.
on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 8:46 am:
there is so much
to this post-
i need much time
to digest it…
i saw rick joy talk
last year
and i was so impressed
by his sensitivity
to landscape…
there is a respect
about his work
and it’s union
to the landscape
and the native plants.
but of course
one might say
this is easier in
a desert landscape.
i have always been
drawn to cacti
because of their
stong shape
but also probably
because i don’t
have to remember
to water them.
i too
recently discovered
the benefits
of hacking
a plant back..
i like the idea
of subtractive gardening…
must think about
that some more.
thanks for sharing
your thoughts.
xo
on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pm:
i have been thinking about this post so much, martha, as we try to figure out what to do with our mess of a yard here in florida. we are so tempted to just fill it with gravel and pretend that we live in arizona… alas, the swampy climate
we did a lot of very aggressive pruning in late spring, which was kinda scary, wondering if things would grow back… but in this tropical heat and moisture, they’ve come back already! and they do seem healthier. but still the search continues for more interesting plants, that will be easy to take care of, and that will satisfy our need for simplicity + beauty.
xox