Monthly Archives: July 2017

Keep It Lit Year Round

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3 design tricks to keep your (native) garden party all year long


September 15, 2017. By Cassy Aoyagi: When compared to the older set (Um. Ms. Rose?) Some of LA’s native starlets seem to be up and on at all hours. Others, not unlike their predecessors, need their beauty sleep. They just have a different schedule.


Native Sleeping Beauties tap out just the party really heats up in August and September. I know what you are thinking, and, no, it’s not rude to say it. We understand, you have a reputation to protect, and you don’t want it to ride on flaky flibbertigibbets.

We would never put you in that position. You see, your party may feel like improv, but we have a script. We know when the Sleeping Beauties will need their rest, and we’ve thought through how to help them get it. We’ve also ensured, by design, that your plot is thicker than first meets the eye.

Here are a few tricks we use to keep audiences enthralled.
 
 

Plot Twists

Just when you thought you knew Salvia Cleveladii and the Buckwheat sisters, we give them a chance to bring something new to the table. These are our girls – we don’t want them type-cast! One of our favorite tricks is to actually write in a moment when they aren’t in full bloom.

Pom-pom blooms of “red” buckwheat can be pale to bright fuchsia pink.

You may miss their party girl side for a moment, but these are the scenes in which they will earn your respect. You’ll notice that when Miss Clevelandii isn’t center stage, her scent lingers and even the birds and bees seem to respond. Miss Sulphur drops her pom-poms on stage? Watch that timing. See how she shows just enough silver foliage to make her partner’s greenery or your hardscape pop?

Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat’s foliage is every bit as captivating as her blooms.

Ensemble Casts

As the star power of your spring and summer favorites dim, you’ll begin to appreciate other members of your all-star ensemble. There are a few we think you should keep an eye on.

We filled a bioswale at Descanso Gardens with fragrant Hummingbird and Cleveland Sages, as well as perky sunshine-yellow Indian Mallow.


 
Indian Mallow is well known, performs consistently in a wide variety of roles, and has a lovely bloom of her own. Sadly, her consistent competence and flexibility can hurt her, as she is often overlooked within her clique (above). All the same, it’s when others are down for the count (below), her beauty and extraordinary skill can most certainly carry a show or two.

Can you imagine these butter-beauty blooms taking a back seat? In spring, yes… but not in fall!


Coyote Mint is overlooked for another reason. When Sulphur Buckwheat is around, Coyote Mint’s similar but comparatively muted purple blooms play a supporting role. By allowing Sulphur and Lilac Verbena fade, we empower Coyote Mint to capture eyes and hearts.

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Beyond its’ captivating name-sake fragrance, Coyote Mint delights with its golf-ball sized blooms.


 

Act Two Banishment

Some stars bring in the gold but they also want it, if you know what we mean. Deer grass, for example, really leaves us no choice but to cut it to the ground every once in awhile.

Golden Deer Grass wands whisper and wave in teh wind.


We could let him bask in all his golden glory for awhile, but banishing him periodically helps the show stay in the green. You know he’ll be back – everyone loves him. And isn’t it kind of fun to watch and wait for just when and how he’ll return?
 

More Information

In 2021, Theodore Payne Foundation revisited its annual garden tour sites each season, showcasing LA’s authentic fall color to complement that of spring.


Fight Fire with Smart Design

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5 Design Strategies That Protect Your Home and LA From Fire

July 5, 2017. By Cassy Aoyagi:  It feels a bit early to have fire on our minds, but sparks are flying in Burbank, Calabasas and Malibu. When it comes to fire in Los Angeles, an ounce of prevention is worth the city’s weight in cure. Here are 5 Design+Build strategies we use to protect you, and Los Angeles, from fire.

January 2025 Notice: This article is designed to provide long-term guidance.
If you are navigating loss, consider waiting to read it.
If you have been asked to evacuate, Get Set and Go!

Diverse Hedge Materials

Choose Diversity

Nature does not create long rows or large areas comprised of just one plant for a reason. Homogeneity creates weakness. For example, uniform hedge rows often succumb to pests and the elements. Once plants are weakened, they are more likely to become fuel for fire.
 
The alternative to unnatural uniformity is to create strength through diversity.In addition to creating an appropriate environment for healthy growth, diversifying your garden’s portfolio of plants creates a lovely aesthetic. You gain variations in texture and color, you may also see more seasonal changes. Learn more about this strategy and my specific foliage recommendations in Privacy Hedges: Mix Three, Not One, Los Angeles Times.

Dwarf Coyote Bush and Yucca Whipplei hold hydration well through drought and high heat.

Design-In Fire Resistant Natives

While no plant is fire proof, many California native plants have evolved to resist fire. Chaparral plants thrive in high heat and drought by producing leathery and needle-like foliage that retains moisture. These same characteristics also make them less susceptible to fire.

Learn about a broad palette of fire resistant natives in our Fire Defensive Natives Pinterest board.  See our favorite firefighters in person in the Fire Defensive Gardens in the Authentic Foothill Gardens at Sierra Madre City Hall. (New fire defensive garden additions! LAFD Station 74, the Sierra Madre Post Office and the Fire Resilient Home)

Mexican Feather Grass
Fountain Grass
Pampas Grass

Avoid Arsonists

A number of plants promoted by big box stores as “drought tolerant” can increase LA’s fire risk and the danger of fire on your property.  Plants like Pampas Grass, Mexican Feather Grass, and Pride of Maderia in particular can cause egregious harms when they migrate from our gardens into our wild spaces. If you like the aesthetics of an arsonist, consider their water wise and well behaved counterparts White Sage, Yucca Whipplei, and Aristada.

Kirk Aoyagi illustrates native planting technique.

Plant Small

I can’t lie. Many feel planting small foliage and waiting for plants to mature is a sacrifice. I feel you. However, the pay off for patience is nothing shy of astounding. This is one area where patience literally pays off.
 
Foliage planted small, young, is more likely to thrive in the long term. Because they grow up in their environment, they develop deeper roots. They can keep their cool in high heat and drought, factors that can turn plants struggling to adapt into fuel for fire.

There are many other benefits. Smaller plants can be shaped slowly for ideal integrity with the design. They also appreciate in value and in their impact on home value as they mature.

Newly Planted
The Clayton Garden

Provide Adequate Space

The desire to have (and produce!) immediate perfection leads many to over-populate gardens with foliage. Gardens are stronger when we, instead, allow them to evolve into their full glory.
 
Providing space between plants protects properties from fire in two key ways. First, there is less opportunity for fire to jump from plant to plant. More strategically, space allows plants to establish themselves without competing with one another. That in turn, means each plant is stronger, healthier – more fire resistant.

More Information

These tips take a strategic view of how effective Design+Build strategies can protect you, your home, and LA from fire. If you have an established garden, see our fire and slide prevention tips and revisit the fuel mitigation guidelines provided by your fire department. To learn more about preventing natural disasters with smart landscaping, check out my interview with Diane Brandon of Naturally Vibrant Living.

Hide Your Crazy!

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5 Aesthetic Qualities of Gardens with Smart Irrigation

By Cassy Aoyagi: Irrigation is the Spanks of the landscaping world. While it underpins many a garden’s ability to stop traffic, we don’t want to see it! There are so many benefits to keeping it all under wraps with a smart irrigation system. Yes, you’ll save water and avoid (accidentally!) sprinkling your neighbors when you take the ugly underground. You’ll also add 5 qualities that may surprise you!

Flying Objects

Traditional overhead sprinklers create an obstacle course for birds, butterflies, bees and other wildlife. Hide the crazy, and the flyest of the fliers will find their way to you.

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Greenery

A sunbathing leaf drenched in water is not unlike a sunbathing human drenched in mineral oil. Sooner or later, the surface area will burn. This is a particular challenge for succulents. Subsurface drip irrigation protects foliage appearance and also provides long term health benefits. Spanks and sunscreen all in one!

Drip irrigation keeps this succulent field happy. The Garden Conservancy Open Days, Pasadena.

Growth

Like us, foliage needs just the right nutrition and guidance to develop our full potential. The right irrigation ensures foliage grows its curves and blooms on schedule. In contrast, overhead sprinklers can spoil a good plant rotten. They need to apply more water to ensure it reaches plant roots. This introduces the potential for overly moist soil and standing water. Both conditions attract pests and introduce the potential for rot.

Smart irrigation is only visible by its (lovely) impacts.

Stillness

We’ve stopped noticing all the movement, all the noise we introduce to our lives, much of it in our gardens. The tick, tick, tick, swoosh of sprinklers wakes many Angelenos. In contrast, subsurface, drip irrigation does its work in silence, leaving you to start your day in peace.

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Magic

We’ve grown so accustomed to the minion-faces and chattering of sprinklers, we don’t notice how much they take from us until they are gone. Where there is stillness, healthy greenery, and wildlife, there is pure magic. Unspeakable delight.

Pitchers Sage