(Old information - thank you to all who attended!)
Please stop by, walk through the garden and say hello! We've spruced the garden up for the Hardy Plant Garden Tour, and would love to share. Our garden is open to any and everyone interested, but the larger tour is for plant group members, by prior reservation.
We hope to see you tomorrow!
There comes a time in every good garden when you can stand back and recognize that all of your hard work, planning and, yes, frustration is paying off. Joy and Steve Davey's garden has been a learning process (see our earlier journal article), but now that we've balanced the aesthetic goals with reality and a little time, the results are fantastic. The garden is having its first moment in the limelight in the current issue of Sunset (page 48!), and there is more to come.
Congratulations and thanks to Joy and Steve, who have given us the gifts of patience and inspiration in building and developing their garden. It will only get better from here!
Ted and Nancy Dobson's Asian-inspired garden is getting a lot of attention these days! It is featured in the May/June issue of Fine Gardening, where you can see some of Buell's gorgeous photos and get a few ideas for your own small space from Rebecca's article. Subscribers will receive their issues any day now, and non-subscribers can pick up their copies at Market of Choice, Jerry's and some of the bigger bookstores on or after April 3.
We are delighted for the Dobsons! While we helped them lay the foundation of their garden, they have made it absolutely their own. The garden reflects not just their eye for detail and hard work, but their joyful and peaceful personalities, as well. Congratulations on a job well and beautifully done, Ted and Nancy!
Much more on the Dobson garden here.
Even fall rains can't get Ted and Nancy Dobson's garden down. This tiny, magical space only gets better with age and the careful attention of its inhabitants. Readers familiar with the space through garden tours or the journal may note the beautiful new water feature at right, one of the Dobson's summer projects. Stunning, isn't it? It seems that we're not the only ones who love this intricate and collaborative space, and you may get to see this fabulous garden in print soon (more details to come, of course)!
While photos may be worth a 1,000 words, a visit to this garden speaks volumes. The Dobsons' garden (and several of our other gardens) will be on the tour for the Hardy Plant Study Weekend next June 7-10, 2012. Save the date and stay tuned for more information!
(The Sunset Fresh Dirt Blog is, unfortunately, no more. Apologies for the broken link.)
Have you seen the wonderful post about the coast garden on Sunset's Fresh Dirt? I spent a lovely morning there with Jim McCausland, while he shot the photos you'll see in the article (there must be 2000 more!). The Tersignis' garden has been a delight to develop, and we couldn't be more grateful to have such terrific clients and wonderful backdrop. More photos and notes on that garden can be found in some of our earlier posts, many of which are here (be sure to scroll down). And, of course, there are more photos and notes to come!
The photos below show just one part of a multi-phase project that we think is fast becoming our best garden so far. Our goal for this entry garden was to create a serene, simple design that allows focus on the beautiful trunks of the Oregon White Oaks and the clean, contemporary lines of the house and entryway. From the driveway, visitors pass from a bold, colorful street planting, through hedge of golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) into a quiet, sweeping, sword fern garden, with a few small trees and some Fargesia rufa, a clumping bamboo. Our favorite hardscape feature of the garden may be our drystack stone wall along the driveway (see a slideshow of its construction here). An ipe deck and boardwalk float over the fern garden, past a huge basalt bowl, to the front door. While other areas of the garden feature diverse plantings and bold foliage, this garden focuses on the essentials. Although, this garden is largely a passageway, as opposed to an area to entertain, it seems to have a profound effect on visitors. Rather than rushing through the garden, the simple design encourages people to pause for a moment and enjoy a quiet moment, appreciating the view.
This is another garden that will be included on next June's Study Weekend tour. For more information, stay tuned here or contact the WVHPG.
Our artist client, Joy, wanted a romantic, flowery, soft planting, in cool and pastel shades. Her original planting - largely thuggish ornamental grasses and traditional landscape shrubs - had never been quite what she wanted, and when she called us, she was hoping for something more in keeping with her craftsman house and painterly aesthetic.
We've built the garden in stages, learning the site and its voracious deer as we work our way around. A large Vietnamese urn and basalt pathway in front are two of our rare hardscape additions, as Joy and her husband were happy with the existing patios. As we've moved to different areas of the property, we've adjusted our planting style to accommodate lessons learned and changing preferences. Where spring color was her first priority in the beginning, Joy came to love plantings that provide year-round impact. In addition to our construction work, we develop the garden over monthly visits, through which we've gradually amended our original plantings, creating a garden that looks fabulous in every season, while still reflecting our original aesthetic, and that accommodates the unusual and ever-changing tastes of the local deer.
This garden owes a debt to trial-and-error, and we could not be more grateful for Joy's trust in allowing us to bring the garden to its current successful state. We think we've found an elegant balance point between floral color, year-round impact, and, of course, deer resistance. Our highest compliment is that we often find that many of our monthly chores are complete when we arrive, and Joy, who had never been a gardener before, eager to talk about the latest developments and future opportunities.
Joy's garden is one of four or five of our gardens that will be included in next year's Study Weekend tour, June 1-3. The Study Weekend is a gathering of gardeners that rotates between Vancouver, BC, Seattle, Portland and Eugene, features talks from some of the planet's best plantspeople and designers, and a tour with the areas' best gardens. We'll post more here, as we learn more, but if you'd like to know more soon, please contact the WVHPG.
Buell took some terrific new photos of our garden last night. What do you think? Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Open Garden! We had a lovely day and were delighted to meet so many new friends. If you missed the event, stay tuned to the journal and Facebook for future events.
(Sunset's Fresh Dirt blog is, unfortunately, no more. Apologies for the broken link.)
July is off to a great start! In addition to beautiful weather, we had an Independence Day treat of seeing one of our gardens on Sunset's Fresh Dirt blog. "Perfect Small Patio" by Jim McCausland features Debbie and Gary Ahearn's little courtyard. The patio is an inviting, outdoor extension of their kitchen and dining area. Packing a lot of garden into a small space was our first challenge, and the second was providing a cozy, intimate and private space not far from a well-travelled residential street. The redwood fence balances privacy with a flow of light and air, and the custom metal furniture gives the focus and warmth that make the courtyard a well-used outdoor room.
If the Ahearn's courtyard looks familiar, you may remember it from earlier posts in our journal, like this one about outdoor seating areas.
Questions? Leave a comment, drop us an email at mosaic@mosaic-gardens.com or ask us in person on Saturday!
We brought out the big camera this time. Here are a few of our favorite potential portfolio shots of the Oregon coast garden. What do you think?
We took a few photos of the S. Oregon coast project while working down there this week. It's coming along! Hope to get some portfolio shots soon. Click on the images for a closer look. [gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="title"]
Happy July! It's a busy time of year for Mosaic, but we've managed to add quite a few ideas and photos to the journal since the last newsletter. We discussed everything from our visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden, to selecting containers for planting, to gardening with feathered and furry friends in mind and much more. Be sure to scroll through the journal when you're done here!
Stone is an essential element in much of Mosaic's work. One of our main reasons for being a design/build company is the intricate connection between form and function, and nowhere is this more important than in stonework. This newsletter shares some of the lessons gathered in years of working with stone. Whether you're an aspiring DIY stonemason or looking for the right pro to help build your hardscape, we hope this article will bring some inspiration and direction to your search.
When designing a garden, setting the overall layout of the hardscape is our first priority. Whether we're creating scaled drawings or just hand-waving, we seek to create a unified plan that balances the desired feeling of the garden with the limitations of the site, such as grade, dimensions, and relationship to the house. We try to design an entire space, say a front yard, at once, even if we only intend to build a portion of it immediately, so that we can be sure that the first phase ties into the following phases. We save all materials decisions until everyone is happy with the overall layout of paths, patios, walls and borders.
Once the general design has been set, decisions about which stone to use often fall into place. Aesthetic preferences play a big role, but the stone's desired function comes first. On important pathways, we generally select a very flat stone, with few surface irregularities to catch high heels or make less able visitors uncomfortable. A stone with a regular surface is a good choice for most patios, as well, as it is easier to de-wobble tables and chairs on a flat surface than one with more bumps and dips. Of course, a rougher stone can a beautiful choice for many spaces. In some gardens, we use a rougher stone in secondary paths, and a flatter stone for primary entrances and paths. If your heart is set on a rougher stone look, there may be a way to use it if you're careful in selecting, laying out and setting each stone. In our garden, we wanted to find a single type of stone from the Pacific Northwest that could be used for paths, walls and stairs - a tall order! At the entrance to our garden, we have a very few steps of the slightly rougher basalt that we chose, but we hand picked the best possible stones for each step.
While a stone may look perfect in photos or at the stoneyard, no natural materials just fall into place, and some are a major challenge for a novice stonemason. Regularity of shape and surface, workability and average size vary between varieties of stone, and each characteristic presents its own challenges and opportunities. Average size is a good example. Small stones are easier to move, but they are more difficult to stabilize. Discuss your options with the knowledgeable folks at your stoneyard. Be honest about your skill level, the amount of time you can dedicate to the project and the tools you have or are willing to rent or buy (some stones can only be cut with a big, heavy, gas-powered wet saw - not for the faint of heart!). Don't be offended if they suggest that you consider a man-made product, as those options are quicker, lighter, and all-around easier for the first-timer. That said, we've seen some pretty darn good natural stonework by amateurs who were willing to dedicate the time and attention to detail their stone demanded.
Once you've taken function and ease of construction into consideration, you may still have a few stone options for your project. Color is an obvious consideration, but don't forget to consider other attributes, such as the regularity of the pattern, the general size and texture of the stones, and the materials and colors of surrounding features, such as your house.
"When I start building, I don't set out to make a beautiful wall. My intention is a lasting structure. Throughout the day, I apply my efforts to the basic principles of drystone construction. If I follow them successfully, I'm likely to leave behind a pretty good-looking wall." - Dan Snow
In our opinion, really good stonework has a few recognizable attributes. If your work (or the work of the contractor is considering) shares these characteristics, you're probably on the right track:
Dan Snow, the New England stonemason quoted in the "goals" section above, offers a much better and lengthier source for "how to" information than we can provide in our journal. His book In the Company of Stone is both a gorgeous collection of stonework photos and an invaluable resource. If you have a moment, check out his website and Flickr stream for lots of neat process photos.
We can't recommend Lane Forest Products highly enough. They are a great source and resource for your stone projects, and they offer a great selection of materials for any project. Their stone yard crew is pleasant and professional, even in scorching heat, and we're always happy with the quality of their products.
Last, but, we hope not least, we've put a small sampling of Mosaic's stonework and a slideshow of the construction of a dry stack wall (rerun from this post) below. See if we measure up to our own standards! Click on the images in the gallery for a closer look.
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[slideshow id=3458764513843874476&w=426&h=320]
We are working on a newsletter for you, but in the meantime, we thought we'd post a couple holiday-appropriate shots of our grill. We built the stone and interior fire brick and designed the custom metalwork. Although it would work with commercial, bagged fuel, we think oak and fruit wood make for the best flame and flavor.
When it's not in use, the simple lines and intricate stonework make the grill right at home in our garden.
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We don't have much time to post this week, but we thought we'd post a couple of photos of the coast project. These were taken last spring. It's almost photo season, so there should be lots of new images coming....
We'll be back soon with a newsletter and more!
Have a question? Want more frequent updates? We’d love to hear from you! Read more here and/or write us in the comments or at mosaic@mosaic-gardens.com.
Below is a comment we received a few weeks ago, that we thought would be a fun addition to the Q&A:
I’ve admired your Oregon garden in several magazine spreads and have known about your inspirational design website for a while. But I just found your blog and am working my way through it, enjoying your beautiful garden pictures. I garden in Austin, your former hometown, and would love to see more images of Buell’s Austin garden. Have you posted any other pics of it–or do you plan to?
We've re-posted the photo that inspired this question request above (originally in this post). We lived in Austin before our move to Oregon in 2002. Unfortunately, we only have a couple of good photos of Buell's garden, but they do show what you can do with low, almost no additional, water plantings in a hot climate. Good inspiration for all of us in milder regions, don't you think? Here's another photo of the garden, with a better look at the Goldsworthy-inspired "Beehive" sculpture Buell made from recycled limestone.
For fun, we put together a gallery of some of Buell's work for Gardens, a landscape architecture design-build firm in Austin Texas. Obviously, we have different plant and materials palettes in the Northwest, but the threads of contrast in planting and strong, enticing hardscape carry through to our work in the PNW. Click on thumbnails for larger images.
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Would you like for us to discuss a photo, design concept or plant in greater detail? Please leave a comment or write us at mosaic@mosaic-gardens.com. We very much enjoy hearing from you, and we need your help to make the Q&A a success!
Sometimes, a garden needs one final touch to bring it together. When that final element can be a functional table, bench or chair, all the better.... We have designed custom furniture for a few of our gardens, a feat that inevitably requires more time, effort and head scratching than we could imagine. Those big stone benches require a little sweat equity, as well. Somehow, the results are always enough to make us willing to dive in again.
At first glance, the geometric structure required by the way most of us garden (rows of vegetables in rectangular or rectangular-ish raised beds, surrounded by straight paths) may seem limited, but a little thought and creativity offers a range of solutions and feelings from formal and sculptural to whimsical. We consider the necessary rectangular forms and pathways a jumping off point for design, rather than a limitation. Once we've got the basic form in mind, we consider materials for borders or retaining. Stone, metal, and wood all present a variety options for finishing the structure of a garden.
In our garden, the best space for the veggie garden was in a lower, sunny corner of our property. The straight lines of the paths and circular "roundabout" continue the overall design of the ornamental garden, and the pea gravel paths and surrounding corrugated, galvanized fence emphasize an overall continuity of materials. Rather than continuing to use the rough, straight edged basalt that forms the borders, walls and stairs of our ornamental garden, however, we bordered our raised beds in large, round river rock. The river rock softens the lines of the veggie garden, and playfully frames the herbs, strawberries and other low plants that spill over the borders. The aesthetic center of our veggie garden is the Vietnamese urn water feature at the intersection of our main paths. The urn is visible from the upper garden and punctuates the long axis of our narrow space. The circular space around the urn cuts into the straight lines of our raised beds, at once playing off of and playing with the surrounding, mostly rectangular, geometry.
Our space reflects our desires and priorities (cohesiveness of design and maximizing usable space, among others). The veggie gardens we have created for clients vary with their goals. One client was a busy mother with a strong design sense. She wanted to involve her young boys in growing some food, but she was more interested in having a "sculptural" garden that was easy for her and the boys to work than in maximizing planting space that she would not have time to maintain. We built three long, narrow, rectangular raised beds from dry stack basalt. Their unusual forms look great even in winter, and grow gorgeous peppers and other heat-loving crops in the summer.
Another client wanted a simple, contemporary box for their veggies. The catch was their request for a portable design they could take with them if they moved. We bolted ipe (a sustainably forested tropical hardwood) to rusting metal corners, which extended below the wood and doubled as stakes to hold the box in place.
There are so many more ideas and materials to try, and we love the challenges and rewards in designing vegetable gardens. Just the ideas for retaining (vertical flagstone, rusting metal, how about a mini-gabion wall?) seem endless. Each space and lifestyle offers challenges and inspiration for design well outside the ubiquitous cedar box.
We love growing food. Our veggie garden and orchard take a third or so of our usable garden space, and we dream of having more space to grow all of the things that we can't cram into our little property (brussels sprouts! pumpkins!). That said, our expertise is in landscape design and construction, not in producing food, and what success we have in growing fruits and vegetables is due in large part to research and strategic questioning of farmers and home gardeners many times more experienced and knowledgeable than we are. Below are a few of our favorite resources. We'd love to hear about yours!
These are just a handful of the terrific local and regional resources, including many exceptional home gardeners who are happy to share their experience and advice with the rest of us.
Thanks for keeping up with us! Fall is a wonderful time to be outside, and we hope the next month brings plenty of beautiful weather for gardening and other adventures.
Best,
Rebecca & Buell
Phew! Last week, we completed a gorgeous (if we do say so...) dry stack stone wall. Below are a few photos of the finished project and a slide show of the construction. There's more to be done on the project, but finishing the wall was a major milestone.
[slideshow id=3458764513843874476&w=426&h=320]
We spent three months each of the last two years building a garden on the S. Oregon coast. The plantings are filling in fast, and we were able to get a few good shots before the sun came out yesterday. Below are two of our favorites. We hope to get more photos over the next month or so, so please stay tuned. The view really makes the garden.... Oh - and for those of you who share your garden with deer, this garden has a few hungry does and fawns that come through daily.
Every day brings new leaves, blooms and ideas at this time of year. While starting new designs and watching previous years' installations grow up and out, we thought it would be fun to share some more of our work online. We updated the portfolio and press pages of our website, and we're starting this journal to share photos, upcoming events, and newsletters, like this one.
In our first newsletter, we are proud to introduce one of our favorite small spaces. Of course, you may have already met in Sunset, Fine Gardening, the Register-Guard or Pacific Horticulture! Joy Gregory's garden is a perfect example of how a challenging space can become a terrific garden. Whether you're ready to give us a call or you're a do-it-yourselfer, we hope to offer inspiration for your spring garden plans.
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Joy Gregory chose her North Eugene home with her son in mind. The house was a great fit, and the neighborhood was full of other young families. There was even a big meadow across the street that served as a natural neighborhood playground. The only problem was that Joy missed having a garden. The backyard was big enough for her son and the dogs to play, but did not leave room for much else. It would have to be the front yard, but where to start? As you can see in the photo below, the existing landscape was little more than a bland 900 square foot postage stamp of scrappy lawn with a handful of boring shrubs. With low expectations, Joy called for help.
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Joy was well aware of the limitations of her property, but she hoped we could create a garden that was welcoming to visitors while providing a quiet space for her to relax with her son or a friend. By using ample hardscape, focal points and some creative screening we were able to design the framework for accomplishing her goals. The secrets to enticing people into a garden are wide, welcoming pathways and large focal points. In Joy's garden, a planted Vietnamese urn and six-foot wide sandstone path invite visitors into the space.
Creating a private space in such a small, open yard was a challenge. The only spot that was far enough from the sidewalk and main pathways was right at the property line, just beyond the neighbor's front porch. We installed a 6'x9' rusting metal wall to provide screening without enclosing the garden and let plants to the rest. A sandstone bench is a striking final note to the garden, as well as a quiet place for Joy and her son to enjoy the garden.
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In addition to the practical uses of her garden, Joy wanted fun, boisterous plantings that would engage her son and reflect her
love of color and form. Of course, as a busy young mother, she needed a garden that was low maintenance. She seemed a bit surprised when we said, "no problem." The key to a colorful and low maintenance space is to focus on foliage texture and color rather than flowers. Of course, some flowers happen along the way, but in the photo and list below are six terrific, easy plants that will catch your eye for all or most of the year!
Six Plants with Great Foliage
Foliage is fun, but in our minds, it's the structural and sculptural plants that complete Joy's garden. Big grasses screen the seating area, while round, spiky and Dr. Seussian evergreen plants give the garden form and a little whimsy. Below is a list of five plants that "make" this little garden.
Structural Stars
We hope you enjoyed our first newsletter! We'll use this space to share news, photos and upcoming events as well as longer newsletter articles like this one, so please check in again. If you have questions about the Gregory garden or there's anything you would like for us to discuss in the future (the design of our garden? deer plantings? small space design?), please leave a comment below. Until then, we hope you'll visit the website for inspiration and magazine articles, including two about the Gregory garden.
If you would like to schedule your garden project for this summer or fall, please call (541) 434-6467 to schedule a consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!
Enjoy the spring, Rebecca & Buell