Our Favorite Winter-hardy Plants

Our Favorite Winter-hardy Plants

Four Winter-hardy Plants for your California Central Coast Landscape

Each native region has unique and beautiful seasonal cycles, with plants that flourish in the cold of winter as others shrink back. These naturally winter-hardy plants keep the surrounding nature looking full and alive. On top of that, they sustain the local fauna, protect the soil, and assist with the overall health of the local region.

As such, it is important to plan each landscape for a full year’s worth of seasons—with the plants that have adjusted to the climate of the region precisely. Native planting is rewarding, colorful, and much easier than trying to support plants not built to weather your region (or worse, taming an invasive plant that weathers the region a little too well). If your landscape doesn’t already account for all four seasons, there’s always time to add them in.

Here are four of our favorite winter plants for California’s central coast:

Nandina “Fire Power”

Nandina is a vibrant evergreen shrub that provides color year-round. In the warmer months, they sport variegated yellows and greens. As autumn catches on and the weather becomes cooler, they take on their fiery red.

A form of bamboo, they thrive on very little care and require no pruning. Once established, they are drought-tolerant as well. As a dwarf cultivar of the heavenly bamboo, its low shrubbery is excellent for small gardens or ground cover.

It should be noted that this plant is toxic to pets.

Arctostaphylos “Howard McMinn”

Arctostaphylos is a low-maintenance, low water-use manzanita shrub. Adapted to drought conditions in the summer, they hold their evergreen leaves perpendicular to the sun to avoid water-loss. Manzanitas are striking year-round thanks to their gorgeous red bark and those peculiar evergreen leaves. In the winter, they show dainty winter blooms that bring a soft delight to the season.

A fruiting shrub, their dry, apple-like fruits are edible to animals, and they are solely pollinated by native bees, supporting the native fauna. The European honey bee is not adapted to pollinate them. Each flower requires “sonification” for its fine pollen to be released from its bell-like flowers. Luckily, the native bees need them too.

Sempervivum “Hens and Chicks”

Sempervivum is a cold-hardy succulent that comes in a variety of colors and can be planted in rocky places with very little soil. It is deer-resistant and an attractant for bees and butterflies when it puts out its rare flowers—with them, though the “hen” dies after flowering, its “chicks” will continue.

These plants prefer cool nights and cold-dormant seasons, both frost-hardy and adapted to flourish in soils and conditions where most plants would die. They multiply plentifully when planted in a spot they love, and their texture and colored trim bring year-long delight.

Combined with their drought-tolerance, they’re perfect for the California Central Coast (and you’ve probably seen them around!). We love the look it creates when you stick them in cracks and crevices of stone walls or walkways.

Rosmarinus officinalis “Irene”

Trailing Rosemary, like manzanitas, is low-maintenance and low water use. When planted on top of retaining walls and allowed to drape over, they add drama to your garden. Their scent and seasonal flowers give them an added edge over some of the other trailing plant materials.

These plants flower in the winter and spring, lending their soft, pale blue or white blossoms to the landscape. It is a natural insect repellent to mosquitoes and other insectoid pests while being a strong attractant for a variety of pollinators. Because of these two factors, it is considered an ideal companion plant. It supports other flowering plants during the winter and acts as a guard to prevent more vulnerable flora and seedlings from cabbage loopers, carrot flies, snails, and more.

A flourishing, sustainable landscape takes into account diverse, eco-friendly flora that support and play well with each other. With native palettes, you know the landscape will be healthy, thriving, and contributing to the surrounding wildlife. Everything flourishes. In Central Coast California, native plants are sustainable, adapted to low-water conditions that mean less water waste and lower utility costs, and easy to care for. They are built to thrive in their climate conditions.

Combined with sustainable planting and maintenance, such as mulching, building with recycled materials, and more, a seasons-balanced landscape will ask very little from you or its surroundings—and give much, bringing joy year-round.

Plan and make space for winter-hardy plants to reap the endless benefits of your native environment.

Interested in a winter garden landscape design? Contact our landscape designers at [email protected] or (805) 466-6263.

Five Ways to Light Your Landscape

Five Ways to Light Your Landscape

Guidelines for Illuminating Your Outside Living Spaces

When choosing outdoor landscape lighting for any area, first think about how you will use the area. Do you want to see an ambient space out your window? Does it need to be easily walkable at night? Will you be holding al fresco dinner parties? Would you like an open-air dance floor? Do you want a cozy nook for a nightcap around a fire pit?

If you have one activity in mind, you can keep the lighting simple with a single switch for all lights. If you want to use your space for several activities, you may want options. To diversify your landscape lighting, you can arrange it into different switched zones, creating flexibility in how the space feels at night. Here are five different ways to customize the lighting for your outdoor spaces.

Pergola Lights

1. Provide Functional Light

In ancient times, sailors preferred dim light to eat their hardtack in ship galleys to avoid seeing their not-so-enticing food. Nowadays, you will likely want to show off your entire spread, and see your guests. Downlights, or directional spotlights with bright light, can be mounted on pergolas, walls, or trees to provide light directly to a table. For these zones, it is essential to provide more lumens with higher wattage lamps.

Suppose you want to provide illumination for safe walking. In that case, you can use path lights elevated on posts to cast broad light over walking surfaces. It is imperative to provide clear, direct lighting to stairs and precarious edges of patios. If you are building a new space, you can put recessed lights in the flatwork and riser lights in steps to provide illumination right where you need it.

2. Define the Edges

Lighting the edges of your patio or the adjacent landscape can be for function or ambiance. Sometimes it is nice to look out the window and see orderly lighting on the edge of a patio. It will make you feel comfortable by extending your visible perimeter when you hear a spooky sound outside. In addition, you can light objects in the landscape adjacent to the patio, such as boulders, art, tree trunks, or plants. This periphery lighting makes the space feel safe and defined even if you aren’t lighting the patio itself.

Here are three suggestions for using lights to define edges:

  • Place path lights or recessed lights on the edge of the paving.
  • Use broad-beamed wash lights to illuminate boulders and low plants for low detail textures and colors.
  • Position narrow directional beam-up or spotlights to focus on art pieces, tree trunks, or specimen plants.

3. Create an Outdoor Room

It is remarkable how a patio can feel open and exposed in the day but warm and cozy at night with proper lighting. Walls and ceilings at proportionate heights create comfortable spaces. Ancient Greek architecture used the golden ratio of 1:1.61; create a restful and secure-feeling patio space with a width 1.61 times wider than the perceived ceiling height. As a rule of thumb, you can strategically light things to make the area feel a bit wider than it is tall. Use whatever is around – trees, bushes, walls, pergolas, fences – to emphasize this feel. Lighting a few select features will cause your mind to connect the dots and feel the geometry of a room you have created.

Trees are great for this use because you can uplight the trunk to create a wall and feather the light into the canopy to define the ceiling at the right height. Built structures like pergolas are beneficial because they can be customized and provide opportunities to uplight, downlight, or create wall or ceiling light patterns.

4. Create Ambiance

People often say they want low lighting to create an ambiance in their yard. This is not the light for eating your dinner, but it can be stunning in its simplicity. As mentioned before, lighting edges can really create a cozy feel. You can also extend your visible perimeter to more distant features such as trees, plants, art, or even barriers. Use wide angle wash lights to make secluded shrubs and boulders glow. Use directional narrow angle lights to illuminate focal points. For example, a red barked multi trunk tree can be up lit to create a mesmerizing floating warm glow in the distance. You can arrange a line of lights on an isolated or remote hedge or wall to define a wider perimeter of visual space to feel more secure in a brighter lit patio. Moonlights, or hanging pendant lights, can be set high in trees and create a whimsical moonlit forest feel. These are even more stunning if set over a branch to create a shadow pattern on the ground.

Keep in mind that the color of things you light will permeate into the ambient light in a space. You can focus on greens and cool tones to create a calm space. You can focus on reds and warm colors to create a warmer, cozier light. You can also choose warmer or cooler tone lamps/bulbs by using the kelvin rating (A low rating of 2700k is yellow and warm, and a high rating of 4100k is bright white).

And don’t forget the ever-popular bistro lights. These typically low wattage bulbs dangle from strings stretched overhead to provide full area illumination. Bistro lights can be great for a party area because they light the entire zone with semi-dim light. Like a dim bar experience, you may not be able to see your food perfectly, but it is a very nice ambiance for a dance floor or casual hangout. When arranging string lights, consider the density of bulbs for even lighting. Also keep in mind that you would like these strings to look okay during the day, so create intentional patterns and avoid tangled webs. Use built structures, poles, or trees to secure them at a comfortable height.

5. Display Artistic Patterns

These days there are fixtures suitable for creating patterns on the ground, walls, and ceilings. When creating defined designs for a contemporary look, it is essential to map them out with a measuring tape. You are usually working with fans of light over a flat surface. In some cases, you are illuminating things that were already installed in an orderly fashion, like equally spaced trees or wooden posts.

You can use recessed lights in patio flatwork to shoot low fans of light from a central can fixture. Often these have 2, 3, or 4 radiating fans of light that can create a geometric pattern on a ground plane. You can use sconce lights on walls or wall columns to create equally spaced downward or upward fans of light. Some sconces have both up and down light to create an hourglass light pattern. When lighting existing trees or built structures that are already equally spaced, use directional spotlights to create a uniform rhythm. For example, fences usually have equal spaced posts and panels which can be lit by narrow or wide angle up lights, respectively.

Mix it Up

As you can see, these five techniques are not mutually exclusive. Choose what works best for you and your space, and light it up! By using one, two, or several, you can make your outdoor areas come alive at night.

Ready for a landscape lighting design and want to talk to a professional? Contact our landscape designers at [email protected] or (805) 466-6263.

Six Bird-Friendly Natives for San Luis Obispo County

Six Bird-Friendly Natives for San Luis Obispo County

Plants to Help Create a Bird-Friendly Habitat

​We often think of bees and butterflies when we’re landscaping—as well as drought-tolerant and native planting—but what of birds? Native, bird-friendly landscaping brings impactful benefits to more than just a residential landscape, they also support San Luis Obispo County region’s ecosystem and create protection and food.

By visiting California’s Audubon site, you can plug in your email and zip code to receive a long list of plants that are both native and bird friendly. You might also use the California Native Plant Society’s Calscape plant search, where you can put your location and check the boxes on what you’re looking for in order to find just the right plants for you.

Among all the bird-friendly plants in the Central California region, here are six of our favorites:

Eastwood Manzanita

Arctostaphylos glandulosa

We are big fans of manzanita! It also made our list of top plants for the Central Coast winter garden. There are several varieties of manzanita, from shrubs to trees. This species is best planted in sun or part shade, this Manzanita variety is found all along the western coast – from Baja to Oregon. It is drought tolerant, with white to pink flowers and reddish-brown berries. It may attract mockingbirds, jays, vireos, thrushes, and wrens.

Toyon

Heteromeles arbutifolia

No bird-friendly list would be complete without this perennial shrub. Native through the western part of California and the Sierra Foothills, Toyon is well known in the coastal sage scrub plant community. Toyon produces bright red berries and is also known as Christmas Berry and Christmas Holly. It is very attractive to butterflies, birds, and mammals alike. Mockingbirds, robins, and cedar waxwings are particularly drawn to this evergreen.

Cardinal Catchfly

Silene laciniata

A bright, perennial herb that vines through surrounding plants to show off its colors, the Cardinal Catchfly flourishes in partial shade and may attract orioles, waxwings, warblers, and certainly hummingbirds and butterflies. Drought-tolerant and easy to care for, its small splashes of vibrancy are a charming addition to any landscape.

Cream Bush

Holodiscus discolor

Cream bush is a shaggy, deciduous shrub called “ocean spray” for a reason. Bursting with cascading white clusters of flowers from early spring to late summer, its blooms then develop a tan that lasts them through the winter. With a faint, sugary scent and thick growth, cream bush provides cover for birds as well as fruit and nuts, attracting cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, and finches, among others.

Deergrass

Muhlenbergia rigens

The volume and character of deergrass makes it a popular plant for height and charm, with tufted, silver-green to purple foliage that makes it one of the most beautiful bunchgrasses for our region. Its summer seeds attract birds like finches, nuthatches, grosbeaks, and sparrows.

Silver Lupine

Lupinus albifrons

A gorgeous, prominent flowering shrub, Silver Lupine thrives in dry environments and attracts everything from bees to vireos. Silky and evergreen, it flowers in every season save fall. Its nectar is loved by hummingbirds, warblers, mockingbirds, orioles, and others.

Interested in a bird-friendly landscape design? Contact our landscape designers at [email protected] or (805) 466-6263.

6 Steps to Designing Your Own Outdoor Sanctuary

6 Steps to Designing Your Own Outdoor Sanctuary

If you’re like most of us, you spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen, stressed about deadlines, and silently willing the weekend to arrive sooner – whether you’ve returned to the office or not. And for the foreseeable future, we have to seek stress release in isolation when we’d rather be meeting friends for dinner at our favorite restaurant or singing along at a concert with a hundred other fans. Instead, we’re at home finally cleaning out that junk drawer in the kitchen, finding new hobbies to master or DIY projects to conquer – anything to take our minds off the sense of being stuck inside our homes.

Right now, it’s perfectly understandable to be looking forward to going anywhere but home, but there’s no reason we can’t transform the spaces we have into personal sanctuaries. So, when you close your eyes and imagine escaping to a place that brings you peace – where do you go? What about relaxing in your backyard? Let’s explore some of the elements that can help elevate our yards into places where we can escape.

1. Seating

Nothing beats collapsing into a comfy chair and kicking your feet up after a long day. Whether it’s lounge seating or dining arrangement, spaces made for relaxing must have seating.

To make your seating area inviting, first, you must find a focal point. Some yards are open and have an ocean view or vista that they can enjoy. Those viewing areas are a perfect place to set lounge seating. However, if the yard is enclosed and without “borrowed” views, you can easily create a focal point using strategically placed plants and hardscape details. For example, if you want to seat a large group, arrange seating around a fire pit. It brings everyone’s focus inward, and the people you’re with become the center of attention. Another example is setting up lounge furniture that faces a water feature surrounded by potted plants. When space is limited, you can build integrated seating – such as seat walls or bench planters.

    2. Plants

    It might seem obvious, but greenery and live plant materials are vital to creating a calming, outdoor oasis. Looking at plants and flowers, whether indoors or outdoors, is a peaceful activity that distracts the mind from worries. It encourages living in the present moment and engages the senses to ease tension and stress.

    Some plants offer wafting scents or the sound of rustling leaves when the wind blows; others have tactile features such as velvety leaves or textured bark. Plus, plants look great! There are endless combinations to utilize plants that will enhance the desired feel of a space.

    Some of our favorite plants are jasmine and sage – for their pleasant fragrance – and sycamores and London planes – for sound and movement. To add texture, we recommend Artemesia and Pennisetum for their soft feel, and the barks of oaks and manzanitas add a more tactile experience.

    Whether they’re planted in pots or the ground, “greening up” your space is a key to soothing your surroundings.

    3. Lighting

    Once the sun sets, lighting is essential to the functionality and ambiance of a space. When done correctly, lighting can completely change the mood of your space.

    First, lighting should provide safety. Stairs and precarious edges of patios are especially important to provide bright, direct lighting. Second, it should define the boundaries of your space. Illuminating features like boulders or trees at the perimeter of your yard is not only pleasant to look, it also subconsciously instills a sense of security. Third, create the feeling of a warm room by illuminating trees, bushes, pergolas, and fences that will serve as walls. Lighting a few select features will cause your mind to connect the dots and feel the geometry of a room you have created.

    Learn five specific ways to light an outdoor patio

    4. Water Features

    Studies have proven that being near water can make you happier and less stressed. While not everyone can take advantage of living seaside, we can recreate the soothing effect of water by implementing water features in the landscape.

    Core-drilled boulder fountains are one of our favorites since they fit seamlessly into the natural, native aesthetic we often find ourselves designing. Boulder fountains offer a subtle bubbling effect and don’t require the same level of maintenance as a traditional fountain since they are pondless – with their recirculating reservoir sitting below ground.

    If subtlety isn’t what you’re after, there are other ways to make your water feature a more significant part of the landscape. Architecturally-integrated water walls are a unique feature that can enhance the architectural aesthetic of a structure. Standalone ponds can also offer a tranquil oasis without much-added noise, while waterfalls and spouted fountains can provide white noise, which also has a calming effect.

    5. Nooks and Cozy Corners

    When you’re looking for a place to relax, creating intimate nooks or vignettes, especially with seating, is a great way to give yourself a quiet place to hideaway. There is a sense of relief that comes with feeling like you are in a protected little corner of the world, especially when set in a familiar atmosphere like your own backyard.

    These special spaces are perfect for receiving some extra attention. Enhancing these spaces, or creating them from scratch, can be as simple as adding intentional seating in a sheltered corner of the yard, or growing some plants over an arbor and adding a bench below. But, sometimes, these unique places don’t necessarily have to be tucked away in a corner. They can be in the open – like a swing hanging from a tree, or Adirondack chairs amid a tall, grassy meadow. The key is to find the spaces where you feel at ease and add to them in a way that makes them more private and cozy.

    6. Useable Features

    What does your yard need to draw you outside and use it? This question is essential when going through the design process because “destination” features throughout the landscape move people through the space with purpose.

    While making spaces look beautiful is always part of the goal, making them useable is just as important. For example, cooking usually takes place inside, and sometimes feels like a chore. But, placing an outdoor kitchen into your backyard getaway can make cooking for the family feel like it is on vacation. Even if it’s just a grill with a little counter space, outdoor kitchens are convenient and useful enough to be used any day of the week – not only weekends or special occasions.

    Fire features are another useful, popular request. Just as humans are attracted to water, they are also attracted to fire. There are firepit shapes, fuel types, and styles for every space. A small, wood-burning pit is rustic and offers the nostalgia of sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. More modern fire bowls fit a different aesthetic and provide the same warmth and coziness of a flame without the presence of smoke.

    Other worthy features for your backyard oasis might be designated spaces for games such as a bocce court, horseshoe rings, or open lawn; or more stylized areas for reflection such as labyrinths or reflexology paths.

    Whatever you enjoy doing, explore how you can give yourself a space to do it outside!
    On the Boards: Paso Robles Southwestern Residence

    On the Boards: Paso Robles Southwestern Residence

    At Madrone we thrive on bringing a vision to life for clients who fully embrace a style not usually seen in the Central Coast area. For this project, we began with an existing palette that features warm colors and solid, hard materials that are reminiscent of a Southwestern-Baja aesthetic.

    A solid foundation of existing hardscape features, mature trees, deck structures, and a koi pond were a great starting point to designing a new planting plan, hardscape updates, and upgrading the irrigation infrastructure.

    We found a variety of ways to re-use materials already found in and around the home. The same type of flagstone originally used in the backyard is now reflected in the side and front yards, and a new deck platform matches the existing backyard deck. While the plant materials vary from the front yard to the back, a similar set of accent plants are carried throughout. Succulents and silver-toned specimens were used as accents amidst a colorful drought tolerant plant palette. Warm-toned, angular gravel was used in place of traditional wood mulch to bring the essence of the Baja heat. 

    Healthy, existing trees were kept, and new trees of the same type were added in other areas in the yard to offer moments of shaded relief. These small design details bring the new and old together to create a single, cohesive, overall vision.

    Our collaboration with a client who doesn’t shy away from what they like, and is flexible to suggestions, helped us transform this landscape into a true oasis.