CoolGreenGardens

Helen: Always a pleasure to read your words and find inspiration. Enjoy the seasonal surprises and keep up the enchanting posts. BTW: You looked fetching in the GWA stingy brim....bg

Mainegardener: I've been using the idea of variegated and light colored foliage in shady beds for a long time. It's unfortunate that so many people end up massing dark green foliage in already dim light. It just makes sense to create a foundation of brightness before adding color, since flowers tend to be so ephemeral. Glad you liked the vid. More on the way.

Hey boys and girls! Billy here. I need to express how much I've enjoyed all your comments and insights. I learn from all of you just as some of you are picking up pointers from me. That's what this zany, madcap internet thang is all about.

I especially enjoyed Westerner's borrowed idea of "thriller, filler and spiller" from an older Fine Gardening article. So I went to the nursery the other day with that in mind and picked out plants from my two big front porch pots. I video taped my plant hunt and hope to post a video on my expedition in the near future.

Keep those comments coming, but please heed the yellow sidebar: you need to update your avatar to be in the running.

Billy Geeeeee!!!!!!!

Reggie: It's great to see a gardener who know how to commit to an idea and plant with a bold hand! Love the backlighting.

Your blogging buddy...

Billy Goodnick, aka Cool Green Gardens blog

Michelle: my twitter name isn't plural - just @coolgreengarden. Thanks

Helen: Thanks for the fragrant tour. Lovely to hear your words on these "pages." Hoping to read more again soon. [Bump!]

I know, my interview skills need a bit of sharpening, but nobody asked ME what I planted or killed. Ya wanna know? Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel good, are you?

I planted two big containers flanking my front door. One has silver-leafed plectranthus (Plectranthus argentatus) flanked by a Carex glauca and a chartreuse-leaf Ipomea (stunning, simply STUNNING!). In the other pot is Miscanthus 'Morning Light' (only my totally fave ornamental grass) and a flowing cascade of silver dichondra (Dichondra argentea) that spills from the rim. Actually, two spillers--the other one is blue bacopa (Sutera cordata).

Dead stuff: sadly, it's a Leptospermum scoparium 'Apple Blossom' (Australian tea bush) that I intended to train into my first bonsai in 25 years. Alas, missed a critical watering before I got a chance to start torturing it.

Kate: It was a blast getting to work on this. More video to come, I know.

NancyDB: Hey, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I can only give you generalized info for two reasons: I'm not familiar enough with your area (actually, not AT ALL familiar) and, I don't know a lot about vegetable gardening. As a "full disclosure" read my first ever column here at Fine Gardening. It'll show you that The Emperor in only partially clothed. I'm a landscape architect who's career has focused primarily on design and teaching and I actually don't spend a lot of time digging in the dirt.

That said, the best, though gradual, method of improving any soil is the gradual addition of organic matter (not by rototilling). But breaking up, ripping or turning over the soil (more like plowing than CuisineArt) will help to incorporate the material a bit faster.

You might also start with some raised beds, as that gives you virtually complete control of the rooting medium, though at a bit more expense.

Your best bet is to fine a local garden coach (search for Garden Coach Directory - they have a listing by states) or check with a master gardener or possibly a University extension program.

Hope this gets you started. Y'all come back (I'm originally from the suthin' part of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, hence my accent =0)

As an aside for other readers, many areas have garden coaches who can help you figure out what's what in your garden, especially new owners. There's a great listing by geographic area at the Garden Coaches Directory on line. A quick google search should help you find the site.

Without knowing your climate, it's hard to tell, but my first guess is a form of Cassia (also known by the genus Senna). They reseed here in Santa Barbara in our mild Mediterranean, but are generally permanent shrubs and trees. Hope this helps. Hard to tell without a more clear close-up.

Helen: thanks for the mental tour of the garden. I enjoy your words and you make a good case for living in the moment. I certainly hope the fall weather prevails when we all descend upon Raleigh for the Garden Writers Association symposium at the end of September. I'm holding you personally responsible for delightful weather.

See ya then.

LpAngelRob: Mincing, dicing and tilling the grass will only spread rhizomes and seed, making next spring a nightmare. My suggestion is sheet mulching. There's a lot of info on the web if you do a quick search. It alleviates the need for sprays, increases the health of the soil and is a great way to kill off most grasses. You might also want to pick up a copy of Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies, but Owen Dell. Great info on the topic.

Good luck!

Kinda reminds me of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Makes you wonder what kind of alien life form is going to burst forth from the cocoons. Thanks for the images. It'll probably take a stiff slug of Irish whiskey to help get me to sleep. Send your cell number in case that doesn't work - at least I'll have someone to talk to. (LOL)

Roberta: I love the simplicity of the forms and how distinct each component is. They play nicely together, and the airiness allows room for everything to breath. Thanks for sharing it and have fun in your new schooling adventures.

Jacky: you caught me. I'm ignorant of Olla irrigation. Now I've got some research to do. Any resources you can send my way would be great. You have my direct e-mail from our permaculture class. BTW: thanks for tracking me down and staying in touch. Mucho appreciation.

Plantanista, PomonaB and Mike: Thanks for the ringing endorsement of Techline and the in-line approach to drip tubing. It's always nice to have this kind of tech information validated from folks working right on the front line.

Aloeman: I'm sure there was a lot of debate and hand-wringing, but I'm still not thrilled with giving artificial turf any support. There are many elegant and rich hardscape solutions that would still make for a lovely wedding venue. We can agree to disagree.

Steve: fun post. Love the idea of hard, eternal truths; especially the one about having kids help with the weeding. Yet we still return to our gardens to fight the good fight.

Gotta spam this one out! Twitter and Facebook need your wisdom.

John: You're correct that sometimes the fix is more complex than just a pressure regulator, but the constraints of this forum don't really lend themselves to the complexities of irrigation design 101 (even if I were qualified to teach it, which, admittedly, I am not).

My hope is that raising awareness for the average reader will lead them to take some kind of action. I've mentioned in this series the great water auditing service provided by most water purveyors. That's always the best starting point.

Thanks for keeping my pencil point sharpened and sharing my alarm at seeing all the wasted water that's gone with the wind.

Kathy: One of my next posts will be about "smart controllers" that reset themselves based on real-time weather information. Eventually, that's what everyone will have. It just makes sense. thanks for your thoughts...Billy G

Shirley: The work you've been doing to gather first hand info about Buffalo grass will be a great benefit to all us Left Coast landscape folk. I applaud you for getting your hands into it. When you get some good data, let me know and I'll let all these fine folk at Fine Gardening in on the news.

Thanks for your comments and the great work you're doing on line and on TV. MWAH!

W9 Rose: In response to "Are You Ready to Turn Pro?"

Thanks for your optimistic comment about making lemon chiffon pie when life hands you just plain lemons. I'm in the same boat, being laid off from a 22 year career as landscape architect for Santa Barbara, then within days, having door after door open for me. One of the doors was this wonderful opportunity writing for Fine Gardening.

I try to embrace the philosophy that in life, "pain is inevitable but suffering is optional." It's all a matter of perspective.

I'd love to hear more as you progress in your horticultural education and see where you land. Stay in touch. Who knows, you might be my next superstar profile!

I know the word "whimsical" is a bit overused when describing gardens, but this one fits perfectly. What fun. Thanks for sharing it.

ValleyGardener: My heart goes out to you and your nutsedge problem. It's a demonic, invasive, tenacious garden pest. When I worked for the Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Department it was the bane of our existence and frequently threw in the towel, gave up on ornamental beds, called them "lawns" and started mowing.

I checked with my good buddy, Owen Dell, author of Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies and cohost with me on Garden Wise Guys, a regional TV show we write and perform. Here's Owen's solution. Seems viable but not without compromises and costs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Owen:
OK, the magic bullet is Tyvar 3631 6 oz./sq. yd. Spunbond Geotextile. We purchased it in 2003 from Reed & Graham Geosynthetics, 408 947-4290. It cost $575.00 per 4,500 sq. ft. roll including freight. It has no UV protection, so it needs to be covered with mulch. It lasts about 5 years, after which time the nutsedge should be history.

We also relied on information found at http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7432.html, which goes into all the control methods and lists two other Typar fabrics. (I know, I know. Typar is made from cr*p and manufactured by a really sucky corporation and we are getting into bed with evil here, but hey, the only other alternatives are wicked chemicals (not very effective), a good real estate agent and a move to Milwaukee, or suicide. You get to choose. And although I haven't tried sheet mulching for nutsedge, I doubt it would be effective against this most aggressive of plants.

One other thing. We found that it was important to keep the nutsedge from coming up at the base of the plants, where the stems penetrated the fabric. To achieve that, we placed a Typar shield around all plants. [Note: Owen offered to print out the drawing of how to make the shield, but I let him off the hook - CGG]

Bottom line? It worked. The client was very good about pulling nutsedge whenever it showed up at the base of the plants (the shields helped but of course there was still a gap there and it was inevitable that some nutsedge would find its way through). Otherwise there was no growth of nutsedge through the fabric and it eventually died. Keep in mind that this was a frighteningly vigorous stand of nutsedge in Carpinteria where everything grows twice as big and twice as fast as it does here in SB.

Is this organic? Not if you're opposed to using a geotextile. But I don't have any better ideas, and at least it doesn't rely on herbicides.

I continue to be delighted and amazed at how much I continue to learn from all of your comments. Slowly but surely, people will learn that we need to work with what nature gives us, leave a light footprint on the planet and be resourceful. Thank you all for your thoughtful postings. More to come at this blog regarding our water use.

Kate: I'm pretty sure I did. Wanna generate some traffic at this blog? I bit of jr. high eloquence is always a sure bet.

Kells - thanks for the comment - those Delphiniums are real show stoppers! I wish we could grow them as successfully in Santa Barbara - they work here, but not as robustly.

The other man's grass, delphiniums etc. are always greener (or bluer, as the case may be). Keep in touch.

Love this plant! I think it'll work fine for me in Santa Barbara, CA. I'll have to seek it out and find Novalis. Thanks for the tip. I'm a sucker for spiky plants and blue-gray foliage. Thanks

Michelle - very useful post. Wouldn't it be great if some really talented product designers could collaborate with the really smart engineering types and solve all the problems.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (of course, so is ugly). But in this case, I love the combo of Pelargonium and sweet potato. I think that committing to something bold and emphasizing the dark coloration is wonderful.

Stick to your guns.

Great shot, especially the ghostly presence of the little spider. Looks like you've got a great wealth of horticultural background. Plants/gardens/landscapes allow for so many diverse interests.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment at my CoolGreenGardens blog.

bg

Steve: I whole-heartedly agree that blades of grass (or alternatives like sedge) aren't directly to blame. In terms of sustainable lawn care, if the plant can survive with minimal input of resources (water, fertilizer, fossil fuels) and doesn't produce harmful by-products like air pollution, toxic run-off or pesticide drift, have at it.

However, most people and lawn care services are not able to pull this off. And a lot of people won't accept anything other than a lawn that looks like the picture on a bag of Scott's products.

If a lawn provides an actual functional space for recreation (like your case), then people should certainly have lawns. But they also need to assess whether that lawn (or any other garden feature) is having a negative impact.

There's no such thing as a zero impact garden unless we just walk away and let Darwin have his way. Most people wouldn't do that. My hope is that people at least become aware of the effect of their actions and consciously assess the trade-offs.

Thanks for starting the conversation.

Your fellow blogger (here at Cool Green Gardens): Billy Goodnick

Billy Goodnick here: Looks like a whole bunch of you suffer from this dread condition. I don't want to steal Jerry Lewis' thunder, but perhaps a telethon is in order? I'm sure we can raise a few mil to develop a cure.

Danielle: Time at a dinner table with Amy is indeed a marvelous experience. She's a wickedly wonderful wit and a great boon to the garden communicators world. Glad you got some face time.

Ryan: welcome to Fine Gardening. What a pleasure to read more than 140 characters from you! For you others reading this, Ryan and I have been connecting at Twitter for a while. When his head hits the pillow in Wales, I take over; when I'm down for the count, Ryan rules the world!!! Mwah, ha ha!

But seriously (LOL) I very much enjoyed this post and getting a feel for how gardens vary so much, yet fundamentally fill the same need in so many people. You're fortunate to have that Gulf Stream influence. Same as southern Ireland? I was there on my honeymoon and expect to find a very foreign landscape, but found many of the plants that I know from southern California, of all places. Cordyline growing on the grounds of ancient stone abbeys!

Great job! See you soon. BTW: Don't get too good at this or I'm out of a gig just as I'm getting started with Cool Green Gardens here at FG.

Well of course you're having trouble warming to worms. You haven't gone to the trouble of getting to know them. And you can't really know them until you name them. I suggest you make little "dog tags" for each one, put them around their necks (that's the hard part, since sometimes it's hard to know if you're looking at the "inbound" end or the "outbound" end) and have a little one on one time with each of the little dickens.

In my bin, they all come to the side of the box when I opening it up, wag their little tails and I greet them each by name: Hi Doc, yo yo Dopey, lovely day Sneezy, gee your hair smells terrific Moe, wazzup Larry, mah man Curly, S'happnin; Bambi, glorious day to you Thumper, eh Dubbya, grrrr Cheney, top of the mornin' Ebert, how DEE Siskel, you da man Hannibal...you get the idea.

I'm betting my first FG paycheck it's Kalanchoe blossfeldiana...Did you get to see it with blooms open?

Link: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/69/1869-004-F96CEE3C.jpg

Waddaythink?

Actually, it's not in the daisy family (Compositae) but is a form of ice plant called Lampranthus, probably L. spectabilis from South Africa (Aizoaceae family). They can grow right on the beach, take salt spray and are amazingly drought tolerant. Colors tend to be a bit gaudy, so wear your cool Louis Vuitton shades.

Better stop - spell check is going coo coo.

The area has a very nice ambiance and seems like a great place to spend a summer day. Where is it located? Looks like a palm tree in the corner, so I'm guessing it's not upstate New York!

Billy Goodnick here (aka Garden Wise Guy): Thanks to all you great folks who have commented. I think I'm having a Sally Fields moment: "You like me, you really like me!" There's plenty more where this came from and I'm already thinking about the next post. If there are issues or topics you want me to expound on, come back and leave me a note. I'll see what I can do.

Liz: What zone are you gardening in? I can tell you that the Purple Robe is even frost tender here in our coastal Mediterranean climate, so unless you're in a very protected area, it's a long shot. That doesn't mean you can't create a similar effect with another purple-leaf ground cover and light colored spiky plant that are adapted to your climate.

Bees & Chicks: Thanks for the deleted expletive. Shows great maturity and control.

Kate: I don't think this combo will work up there in Saskatchewan (OMG - Google has a lot of spellings for your fair province. Notice I didn't say "state")

Arcadia/Kate: We'll start the anti-lawnist revolution. You're in charge of finding a red beret that will fit my oversized head.

JeanAnn: Punk rock wig! That's a great image. Maybe my next design will go with a Mohawk effect - rows of Chondropetalum tectorum with all the side growth trimmed away. Gotta try that.

MaineGardener: "Rapacious woodchucks" To coin a phrase from my idol, Dave Barry, "Great name for a band."

RedBloom: Over 50 and you get it...watch out handing me those softball straight lines. I'll hit em out of the ballpark. Good to have you here. Y'all come back, now.

Shirley: So good to see you here; I wallow in your praises. Can I come visit your gardens and write about you. Don't know if I can take an L.A. summer, so we'll wait for fall.

Jayme: we'll see if FG has a tolerance for my Motion Sickness Productions video blogs. Perhaps FG can get Dramamine to sponsor my blog?

DoubleD: it's nice to stretch beyond the 140 Twitter limit. Now I can use multisyllabic words (words like "multisyllabic).

Roberta: I snapped my fingers - you can stop quacking now.

Bookish: you left out the part where I rub my hands together in a sinister manner while uttering "MWAH HA HA"

Mike: "Wealth and fame"? Did you find the password for my off-shore account in the Grand Caymans or do you have my winning numbers for the lottery? I thought I was just "comfortably well off."

Later, skaters...gotta bang on my drum all day.

Can you post a pic zoomed out a little. Seeing the leaves helps a lot.

I so envy those who can grow Hostas. They have no place in southern California. The other horticulturist's hosta is always greener. Great photography.

I especially like the harmony of the gray wood arbor, weathered sculpture and foliage around it. Gray, pink and white - infallible.

I like your bold hand with the daylilies. The left side has enough going on that the strong contrast of Hemerocallis anchors the whole design. One suggestion - a stronger focal point at the fence on the other side of the lawn. Maybe a Japanese maple or Magnolia soulangeana? Just the nosy designer/teacher in me rearing it's head.

I'll have to wear my waterproof pants, but it looks like a great place to sit after the hailing stops and I take my hardhat off. Enjoy it this spring and summer.

I love gates (or any architectural boundary)in a garden. It adds some allure and your hubby did a very skilled job. Kudos!

Ah, what I wouldn't give for a good macro lens. Very nice opportunity snatched from nature. Love the red and yellow combo. Hot, hot, hot!

What a stunningly beautiful shot of the little hummer. And your floral design eye is great. Just makes me want to sit and sip. But I gotta get back to wicked work.

What an amazing flower! Is it a particular cultivar? I haven't seen such dark blue.

Sweet concept, beautifully executed. You and your spousal support unit have a great handle on garden design. Show us more!

I just love this killer combo! Cinnamon with lime-green has such great contrast and impact. I use it at a large scale in some of my designs for clients. Purple/burgundy foliage against light green or bright variegation always draws the eye.

Got more?

I love that you're using sheet mulching techniques to eliminate weeds without introducing toxic sprays. The cardboard decomposes eventually and the bed is left weed free. Good for you! The key is to cover it with at least 4-5 inches of greenwaste and let it cook for a little while.