Design Archives - Page 10 of 11

Edible Landscapes on the Central Coast

Mar 21, 2020

This article was originally published in Living Lavishly Magazine Volume 10, Spring/Summer 2020.

The Satisfaction of Growing Your Own Food

There are few things more fulfilling than feeding someone. If you can grow the food yourself, it is even more rewarding. I started growing tomatoes and sugar snap peas as a young kid and it pushed me to pursue horticulture, landscape architecture, and landscape construction. For a kid, a bite of a home-grown tomato can be a life changing experience.

Your landscape is a wonderful place to create something beautiful and grow something you can eat at the same time. Some of us grew up with family gardens, and now we want to bring them to our own landscape. Many of us have never grown any food in the garden, but feel it would be a fun thing to do. The great thing about living on the central coast of California is that you can grow so many good things to eat!

When deciding to grow food in your landscape, think about how you will use the garden. How much time can you devote to the gardening a week? What types of fruits and vegetables do you like to eat, and how much of them will you really use? How much do you cook?

If you enjoy spending your weekends working in the yard, love fresh produce and cook a lot, you can really go all out. If you have a busy lifestyle, but enjoy some fresh produce, there is still hope. Just keep it simple.

Tips and Tricks for Everyone:

Put in the work early to make it easier on you later.
- Raised garden beds can make it easier on your back to garden without bending over.
- Think about critters—provide protection from deer, rabbits, squirrels, gophers and birds.
- Install automatic irrigation systems so you don’t have to remember to water.
- Make sure you organize your plants based on similar water requirements.
- Add rich compost to the garden before you start planting.
  Put your garden as close to the kitchen as possible.
- Build a compost bin so you can reuse your green waste and kitchen waste as compost.
Grow the right plants.
- The central coast is full of micro-climates. If you don’t know what grows well in your area, ask your neighbors or local nursery for advice.
- For fruit trees, look at frost tolerance, chill hour requirements, and pollinators.
- Plan the spacing and height of your plants to fit the space.
Do it together.
- If you get your kids or spouse to help, it will be a fun group project so everyone can enjoy the fruits of their labor.
- Having others with a stake in the success will help motivate you to keep up with the work.

Simple Gardening for Beginners

Perennial Herb Garden:
- Grow water-wise perennials such as rosemary, oregano, chives, thyme, and mint.
- You can tie it into an irrigation system for other Mediterranean landscape plants and you don’t need to designate a separate garden space.
- You will never need to buy herbs at the store again, you will always have fresh herbs just outside your kitchen with almost no work.
Fruit Trees:
- On the coast you can have avocado or citrus trees as part of landscape trees for year-round fresh fruit.
- Inland (and on the coast) you can grow apples, peaches, pears, apricots, plums and more to have seasonal harvests.
Small Vegetable Planters:
- Designate an area for some raised planters for a handful of vegetables in a controlled environment.
- Get crafty and you can use things like livestock troughs for an instant planter.
- Plant easy vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, peas or leafy greens.

Advanced Gardening for Enthusiasts

Create a Food Forest:
- Use the fruit trees as your backbone and layer perennial and annual crops below.
- Organize raised garden boxes with in-ground crops to maximize your vertical space.
- Create garden paths and benches to have a place you can get lost in the food forest.
Train your plants:
- You can trellis vining plants or prune trees to create arches to walk through or walls of green to contain the garden.
- Create structures to grow vining crops such as tomatoes, beans, peas, berries, and grapes.
- Train aromatic groundcovers into walkways to step on and enjoy the fragrance.
- Use tall plants like blueberries or corn to create a labyrinth.
Prepare for great meals and seasonal activities:
- Pumpkins for Halloween.
- Apples for pie season.
- Tomatoes for canning sauces.
- Cucumbers or zucchini (yes, zucchini) for pickles into the winter.

Enjoy the Experience

Incorporating edible plants into your landscape is a great experience. You will impress your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers with your bounty of food. Whether you go big or keep it simple, you can improve the quality of life for yourself and others with the celebration of home-grown vittles!

On the Boards: Japanese Zen Garden with California Natives

Feb 13, 2020

Artistic Design

The Millward Residence homeowners have an artistic eye for details. Madrone designers worked very closely with them to ensure the design captured their intentions. The West Atascadero project blends a minimalist Japanese Zen Garden style with California native plants to provide a tranquil setting. A beautiful stone walkway with stone slab bridges provides a pathway to the front entry.

Challenging Installation

The project site is on a steep hillside, which meant limited access for trucks and heavy equipment. Because the project was installed during the winter months, rain and mud added to the challenge of the jobsite. Madrone’s installation crew worked through the site logically, starting with the hardest-to-access areas and heaviest grading, then working our way out. Timing was critical: We finished the grading before the rain came, so we were able to focus on flagstone path work during the wet weather. We used mid-sized trucks and tractors to bring in the materials in small loads, getting as close to the work as possible.

True Work of Art

We made many site adjustments to ensure the project achieved the goals of the owners. Due to the very collaborative design and installation, the finished landscape is a true work of art that the owner can really appreciate at a deeper level.

On the Boards: Goodwin Ranch House

Feb 8, 2020

Historic Farmhouse Restoration

Madrone is collaborating with San Luis Sustainability Group to help restore this historic Goodwin Ranch House through the Carrizo Plain Conservancy.

Remote and Dry Location

Our pro bono design includes decks, a stage, open rustic patios and ADA-compliant ramps to facilitate entertainment and events. Because the site is in a remote and dry location, water resources are limited. Our designers looked at what was surviving on the Carrizo Plain site and utilized those same drought-tolerant native plants, which can be watered for establishment and then survive on their own. In addition, we designed a composting toilet to be used for events, which will further reduce water use.

Community Gathering Place

The restored farmhouse will host educational events. Visitors will enjoy the unique beauty of the Carrizo Plains, the re-established Goodwin Ranch House, and the native landscaping.

The Synergy of Your Landscape: Adding Value to Your Home

Jan 31, 2020

How Landscaping Increases Your Home’s Value

Synergy is when two or more components produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Landscaping can create some of the best synergistic benefits available to a property owner. Not only does it add value to your property immediately, but it also increases that property’s value over time—for decades to come. While your indoor décor changes regularly as styles change and your mechanical systems wear out over time, your trees and other plantings grow larger and more valuable as the years go by.

Well-Designed Landscaping Raises Property Values

Quite simply, well landscaped homes are worth more than homes that are not. That value increase can commonly be from 5% to 15%, depending on the particulars of the property. This is where good landscape design comes into play. The beauty, functionality, maintenance requirements, and environmental sustainability all contribute to the overall impact of the landscape. In a Washington Post article, a “quick Web search resulted in a medley of statistics on the return on investment of landscaping. I found numbers ranging from a 100 percent to 1,000 percent ROI on landscaping.” (April 1, 2015)

When a house is on the market, first impressions are very important, and when a potential buyer first pulls up and sees your home, the design and care of the landscaping are the first indicators of the condition of the home. They call it “Curb Appeal”.

But if the landscape is not well designed, problems can and often do arise in the form of failures, expensive removals and do-overs, as well as lost usefulness, synergy and serenity.

How Gardens Add Value

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” This proverb has never been more literally true. The larger the plants grow, the more valuable they are. Another big part of a well-designed landscape is how it makes people feel. This may sound subjective and abstract, but the sense of “home” and “place” are real and part of what makes for comfort and eases stress.

An article in the SFGate states: “A landscape full of large, mature plants is obviously one that has been carefully tended to over the years, and that sends a signal to buyers. That’s a good indication that they’ve taken care of the inside of the house as well, which is appealing to home buyers.” The Appraisal Institute recently advised homeowners to properly maintain their landscaping, which can significantly affect property values. “If a landscaping change is positive, it can often enhance price and reduce a home’s time on the market,” says Appraisal Institute President Richard L. Borges II, MAI, SRA.

A Few Tips on Creating Financial Synergy in Your Landscape

-Plant Trees! From getting rid of CO2 and creating oxygen to producing fruit, shade and so many other reasons, trees add thousands in value to your home and reduce the time on the market when homes are for sale. Plant the right tree in the right place! Could they be oaks?

-Make sure your landscape is as sustainable as possible. This includes food production. It also includes fire safety.

–Match your landscape to your architecture. This is a key to the above-mentioned “Curb Appeal”.

-Install an automatic irrigation system. It’s important to properly balance the needs of your landscape with water efficiency and conservation. It’s also vital in protecting your investment.

-Keep maintenance needs to a minimum. A key part of good design and the affordability of growing your investment in landscaping, a “low maintenance” landscape is a big selling point to many home buyers and owners.

-Landscape lighting makes it possible to enjoy (and promote) your landscape well after dark.

For all the above reasons, good landscaping represents investing wisely and making the most of your property assets. Good landscaping + time = Synergy!

8 Summer-Proof Plants for the Central Coast Landscape

Aug 12, 2019

It’s that time of year again: Summer! The sun can do a lot of good for your plants in your landscape, but not everything can handle the heatwave blaze. Here are 8 back-bone plants to rely on when the temps are high and the air is dry.

Agave ovatifolia (shown above) is family to the famed Century Plant which is prized for its durability and form. This variety, known as Whale’s Tongue Agave, stays much more compact, and has attractive blue/gray foliage with small teeth along the margins of each succulent leaf. A single, dramatic flower spike blooms at maturity. It is a sun-loving, drought-tolerant succulent that will add sculptural interest to any summer display.

*Ceanothus griseus horizontalis ‘Yankee Point’*

Another California Native and reliable performer is Ceanothus. Known by many as California Lilac, Ceanouthus griseus horizontalis ‘Yankee Point’ is a specific groundcover variety that will tenaciously fill empty space in your landscape. Great for erosion control, this winter bloomer adds year-round interest with its small blue flower clusters. A main attraction for pollinators, this plant will not only tolerate drought and heat, but will help stabilize ecosystems.

Chondropetalum tectorum is a South African native reed grass which not only adds a sleek texture to your landscape but can endure almost any challenge that the Central Coast presents. This plant will take on searing heat, cold down to 20 degrees, and is one of the closest we’ve found to the ‘no maintenance’ dream. This one is bombproof and beautiful.

Kniphofia, also known as Red Hot Poker plant, is a striking option for foreground plantings, containers, and against walls. Its attractive blade-shaped leaves offer a clean texture during winter months, while the spring and summer blooms have a striking ombre color effect. Also native to Mediterranean South Africa, Kniphofia has an exotic look that maintains its beauty even in the blaring summer heat.

Our California native deer grass, Muhlenbergia rigens, is a drought-tolerant champion of the landscape. Attractive seed heads in the Spring give this larger grass an endearing tousled look which works in almost any setting, as a background, accent, or mass. Up to 5’ tall and wide, this grass stands out with its substantial size and will pull through despite the hottest California summer.

Jerusalem Sage, or Phlomis fruticosa, is a unique plant that offers many sought-after characteristics. This plant has the size and form of a sage, but the peach-fuzz foliage is true green in contrast to the silver of our native Sage varieties. Bright yellow flower whorls are non-toxic and stand out in the garden. Jerusalem sage is a sun-loving and solid choice for inland summers in areas such as Atascadero, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo.

Salvia x ‘Allen Chickering’ is another stunning California Native which loves arid climates and sunshine. This member of the Sage family showcases characteristic gray/green leaves and attractive, fragrant flower whorls. A top performer in the landscape, Allen Chickering Sage will attract hummingbirds and butterflies while deterring deer, making it a top choice for the warm season.

Creeping thyme is a dainty groundcover that adds charm to patios, walkways, and borders. Thymus serpyllum ‘Pink Chintz’ exhibits a showy bloom during the Spring and Summer months, with bright pink flowers speckled against the ashy green leaves. This Mediterranean herb has a distinctive aroma and can tolerate light foot traffic in addition to cramped conditions and heat.

Wherever you are in San Luis Obispo County, try out this complete palette for a glitch-proof approach to summer scenery.

Design Styles for the Central Coast

May 1, 2019

by Jules Welch

It’s easy to be overwhelmed when looking at an empty plot of land or a back yard in disrepair. Luckily for homeowners, HOA’s, and commercial property owners, landscape designers see your space as a blank canvas—a unique opportunity to meld function with artistic expression. Design style plays a huge part in every built environment, and often incorporates a colorful mix of the owner’s personality, designer’s aesthetic, and greater climatic and cultural context. Some design styles that are popular for our coastal California area include:

-Contemporary/Minimalist

-English Cottage/Craftsman

-Xeriscape/Native/Low Water

-Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival

There is a lot of overlap when it comes to style, but certain core characteristics define each aesthetic. Read more about these traits to find out what speaks to you:

Contemporary/Minimalist:

Colloquially described as “modern” design, contemporary landscapes are influenced by mid-century modern art and architecture but are defined by their cutting-edge qualities for the present day (which, technically, could be any style). However, when someone refers to a contemporary landscape, they are likely describing a geometric style which features minimalism, clean lines, and grid layouts. Contemporary design is often used in commercial projects such as campuses, plazas, and office buildings; it may also be used to complement custom homes. These landscapes generally favor green foliage over colorful flowers, with intentional spacing and simple hardscapes like concrete or pea gravel.

Gain Inspiration: Andrea Cochran is a renowned Bay Area designer known for her spacious designs with an emphasis on form.

English Cottage/Craftsman:

English Cottage Gardens came into their own during the industrial revolution, when families fled city life for remote holiday cottages in the country. This mix of ideologies brought a unique design sense which mixes the formal with the chaotic. English cottage gardens can be identified by their overgrown, lush look, usually incorporating lawn and border plantings among tightly-grouped flowering perennials.

Gain Inspiration: Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) was known for her craftsman inspired cottage gardens, using color “rooms” to achieve dynamic and natural mass plantings.

Xeriscape/Native/Low Water:

Xeriscape is a style of landscape design which requires minimal irrigation and maintenance, focusing on efficient use of water. Often using native and native-adjacent plants, these water-wise gardens tend to evoke an arid, desert feel. Gravel, cactus, and decomposed granite are the keystone elements of a xeriscape. Designers also incorporate sustainable water-harvesting elements such as planted swales and rain gardens into their xeriscapes. Native California gardens can still look lush, colorful, and attractive, while still retaining their drought-tolerant, low maintenance qualities.

Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival:

Most coastal regions in California have a Mediterranean climate, meaning that numerous plant species from Southern France, Italy, and Spain thrive here! Mediterranean design styles bring lavender, olive trees, and Italian cypress into California’s landscape. It is also the origin of our incredible wine culture. Often using plaza-style patios, pavers, vines, and potted plants, Mediterranean design makes the most of sun/shade, views, and crops. Sometimes used to describe Spanish Colonial Revival style, these gardens often incorporate stucco walls, tile, and cooling water features. Symmetry and striking, sculptural plants with colorful foliage often come into play.

What’s your Design Style?

Design style can be subtle or overt, but it is responsible for the feeling we get in an outdoor environment, whether familiar or obscure, nostalgic or innovative, cozy or vast. Most importantly, though, it’s what makes home feel like home.