Gallery

Patrick’s Mediterranean Rock Garden

Invasive plant nightmare to low-maintenance xeriscape

Patrick’s recently purchased home came with a nearly complete backyard habitat and an equally diverse invasive plant take over. Overwhelmed, he reached out to me to help him get the yard under control and ready to welcome guests for entertaining. We started with the weediest raised bed which had deep rooted weedy comfrey, blackberry, and invasive Italian arum.

Before – Weeds Galore

If you are lucky enough not to know the ways of the three major problem plants mentioned, allow me to educate you on the difficulty managing and removing them. Comfrey, which is used in agricultural applications as it uptakes nutrients effectively and can be used as excellent soil conditioner when composted. However, its deep roots which are great for aerating the soil have the ability to resprout new plants from even a very small segment, making it very difficult to eradicate once it takes hold.

In addition to the comfrey seen as the tall simple leaves toward the back of the bed, was Italian arum, an invasive plant that spread through small bulbs in the soil. Due to the nature of both of these weeds, the route with the best success for removal was to dig out the top 6″ of soil or as deep as the roots of the comfrey reached. Leaving even a small piece of the comfrey root or one small bulb of arum meant a continued problem of them growing back.

After – No More Eyesore!

Inspired by the gorgeous 20′ tall Fringe Tree with it’s cinnamon bark, and the newly installed hardscape above, I wanted to create a garden bed that was not just easy to maintain and saved water, but provided visual relief against the overgrown backyard. Something simple, clean and beautiful.

I added a mix of good quality garden soil and perlite in a 1/4 ratio for maximum drainage, and finished the project with two layers of river rock, and carefully placed a handful of larger rocks to add more visual interest.

Plants included are a mix of sedums & succulents, manzanitas, rock roses, agave and santolina. The foliar palette was a mix of burgundy, sage green, and bright green with flowers in shades of yellow, white, and bright sunset colors.

Hillary’s Garden Makeover

When your client asks for “cottage-core-traditional-hippie”

From weedy Euphorbia and a single raised bed to a prolific edible garden – complete with drip irrigation for hot & dry Portland summers. Hillary’s backyard had 4 zones for planting, one on each side of her lovely patio, and this back area had the least structure and most sun, a perfect spot for her raised beds and trellises.

On the opposite side, the bed against her house, tall and gangly red roses and sprawling junipers. She didn’t particularly like any of the plants in this bed, so we decided together to start fresh! I brought in a mixture of native plants & hardy drought-tolerant beauties with dark purple & white flowers. Taller shrubs in the back, graduating to smaller perennials, and finally smaller ground cover plants to spill out over the rocks in the front.

In her front yard a few plants she loved were kept (small Japanese maple, California poppies & hydrangeas) and I created a colorful sunset palette of drought-tolerant, pollinator attractors to match the poppies which were blooming in the middle of the bed at the time. I kept the front bed mostly native plants with lots of bright colors from ice plants, apricot agastache, pink yarrow, and fuchsias.

Amy’s Blank Slate

Feathery grasses, silvery green foliage, white flowers, and lots of native plants!

Two empty beds & a client with a vision! Amy had a full Pinterest board of dream gardens for me to take inspiration from, and even had a starting plant list with some of her favorites!

We consulted back & forth quite a bit to get the layout just right, and I persuaded her to opt for a small tree in the middle of the bed by her driveway to eventually provide a bit of privacy from the neighbors shared drive. We decided on a small olive to fit her Mediterranean theme.

On the opposite bed by the fence I mirrored the palette & theme with lots of textures with heaths, hebes, grasses & artemisias. I popped in some poppies here in the front, and planted a dwarf ninebark in the center.

On the far end I included Amy’s requested hydrangea, but opted for a panicle instead of her requested oak-leaf due to the proximity to the fence and the sheer size of a mature oak leaf in this tight spot.