Minimalist House Design - Garden Design

Minimalist house design, minimalist design for the home garden are as follows.





For a minimalist garden are usually located in a narrow area, not all plants and ornaments deserve put there. "One vote, which has a narrow land will look more narrow,"



To create a minimalist garden, there are several characteristics that need attention. Storey buildings generally minimalist style with geometric shapes or boxes. This form is the impression stuck firm and rigid. With the presence of the park is expected to reduce the impression of rigid.



Minimalist garden should feature natural accent with a material that is not too much, especially if the house has a large window. Moreover, according to Arwindrasti, aspects of health and comfort of residents is very important when creating a minimalist garden. You should know, minimalist narrow desperate need of oxygen supply. Well, oxygen demand can be obtained from the photosynthesis of green plants. Therefore, multiply the green plants in the minimalist garden. Oxygen can also be obtained from the element of water. Therefore, the present pool plus a waterfall or fountain, is the right step.



Where should a minimalist garden located? Very flexible. You can put it on the front, rear, corner, side, even in the house. If you love the element of water, you can put a minimalist garden-themed water park in the front of the house.



If the park was in the back of the house, make a simpler design. Avoid forms that resemble the mountain, because it will foster a narrow sense. If you want to bring lawn, you should select a small and delicate leaves like grass howl.



Another case for the minimalist garden are present in the house. Plant the right to park in the house is a family of palm-paleman. Green leafy plants with slightly yellow tinge, Dracena fragrans, is also worthy of your choice.



Actually, many types of plants that inhabit the park suitable minimalist. "Importantly, easily maintained, green, and the price is cheap,". Some of them, namely:

• caladium linium
• Calathea Majestic that has fresh green leaves
• Yang Liyu, which often adorn the pool area.
  
  

For these types of flowering plants, you also have many options. Call it for example, peacock flower, Alamanda, trumpet, jasmine, and yellow. Not only beautiful, yellow flowers are tiny but fragrant scent of your garden can be both. In fact, if planted near the carport, this interest could serve as a barrier or fence. There are still other options? Of course. Plants sri fortune, even Anthurium, fitting also for your minimalist garden.



Not just ornamental plants. Fruit crops could you show the type of park this one. Instead, choose lean stature trees and vertical growth. For example, trees Ceremai, Sugar-apple, and pomegranate. Plants such as glodok towering fir poles or wax can also be an ornamental garden. via: kibagus-homedesign

Oudolf's Stachys Spires (The Battery Gardens-Part 2)

Spires of pink-purple Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' (Alpine betony).
Gardens of Remembrance at The Battery, New York, NY. June 2011

I know it, I grow it. But, exponentially increase the number of plants and the result is jaw-dropping!  Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' inspires as a major player in the mass planting at the Gardens of Remembrance within The Battery in New York City. The design is by Dutch designer Piet Outdolf.

'Hummelo' is not your ordinary stachys. The crinkled green foliage is lush and in my zone 7b garden, it never dies back completely in the winter. Like many perennials, you'll know to divide it when a shallow pit (not quite a donut hole) appears in the middle. Suitable for zones 4-9, I find this perennial likes rich, well-drained soil and mostly sun. When it needs water, the plump mounds look totally deflated. Just add water to the base. A nice size of around 18 inches high (in bloom) and 15 inches wide, makes this a suitable plant for small spaces.  Rabbits and deer have never bothered my 'Hummelo'. It make take a year or two for the perennial to begin producing the lovely purple spires.

Designer Piet Oudolf used an incredibly thick and wide mass planting of 'Hummelo' in his design. I can't begin to estimate the number of plants used in his vignette, but I think it's safe to say more than thirty!

Echinacea (coneflowers) and two colors of monarda (bee balm) are used as companions en masse to add to the breadth and depth of the garden island vignette.  Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low' is added for the grey foliage and lacy, hazy blue flowers. I have experience with this nepeta. Another variety in my garden, Nepeta faassenii 'Six Hills Giant' is a possible substitution. In fact, I have that nepeta grouped with my 'Hummelo', ice plant and monarda 'Blue Stocking'. But, I digress. Let's get back to The Battery Gardens.

Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low' provides lacy blue blooms
that fall onto the coneflowers, backed by stachys 'Hummelo'.

Two colors of monarda (bee balm) rise behind the
shorter stachys 'Hummelo'.

The big picture of the perennial vignette
with Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' at the core.

There are six echinacea (coneflower) varieties used in the Gardens of Remembrance, but select a variety that grows well in your zone to achieve a similar effect. There were no plant markers that I could locate, so I cannot say with certainty which varieties are used in the designs.

The purpurea varieties in the gardens include 'Rubinstern' (a favorite in my garden), 'Leuchstern' and the native purple coneflower. Echinacea pallida (pale coneflower) and echinacea tennesseenis are two North American natives also in use in different locations.

Of the monarda, there are seven varieties listed in The Battery Plant Database. The red one in the photos is most likely monarda didyma, perhaps a 'Jacob Cline' though it is not included in the database. I grow 'Jacob Cline' and it is a stellar performer, growing over 4 feet, but needing more moisture than the wine-red 'Raspberry Wine'.

The pale pink bee balm looks lighter than the varieties listed by the Conservancy. Perhaps it is the 'Marshall's Delight' based upon the color description.

What I like, other than the scale and simplicity of the design, is that the plant choices are easy to maintain and fairly easy to find. Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' may be the most difficult to locate, though here are some online sources (at the time of this story):

Digging Dogs Nursery(California)
High Country Gardens (New Mexico)
Bluestone Perennials(Ohio)
LazySSFarm(Virginia)

Other aspects of the gardens that I find to be positive for home gardeners—the bee balm spreads quickly to fill in large space; the purple coneflowers can be grown from seeds; the stachys and nepeta can be easily divided—making the design achievable on a small budget.

Finally, this design is attractive to humans while attracting beneficial pollinators. That's a lot of positive reasons to create your own design—inspired by Piet Oudolf.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Piet Oudolf's Design at The Battery, New York City (Part 1)

Millions of tourists rush to the ports in New York City to catch a ferry to visit landmarks such as The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. In the dash for the line, they seem unaware of a peaceful park. By the ferry port, by the water, at the tip of Manhattan, there are gardens overlooking the New York harbor. Paths and benches invite visitors to stroll and pause—but the paths and benches are mostly empty, except for a few who either stop to rest or photograph the flowers.

Introduction to The Battery Conservancy Gardens

I'm a fan of the Dutch garden designer, Piet Oudolf. A few years ago I started making a list of his gardens and bookmarked The Battery Conservancy. The gardens did not surprise me as I had studied the plant lists and viewed photographs. However, the gardens did inspire me—the scale of the plantings and the combinations of color and texture.

Tourists in line for the ferry seem unaware of
the gardens. I arrived just in time to be greeted by
a Monarch butterfly on the milkweed (asclepias incarnata).

There are two primary gardens to visit, The Gardens of Remembrance and The Battery Bosque.

Along the harbor walkway, 10,000 square feet are planted as The Gardens of Remembrance as a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Piet Oudolf's phase one plan includes 114 varieties of perennials and native plants. Most of these plants are laid to deep rows along the paved walks and waterfront.

Set back in the shade of 140 London Plane trees, The Battery Bosque, Oudolf's phase two, is planted with 34,000 perennials to create a cool, lush garden. Gravel paths, circles and a spiral fountain invite visitors to linger on one of the many garden benches.

There are too many combinations to show in any detail in one post. Over the next few posts, I'll show you close up photographs of the plantings that I found most inspiring—providing you with plant identification, growing information and other attributes of the perennials. Please follow along on this garden tour.

The Gardens of Remembrance, dedicated to the victims of 9/11.
Piet Oudolf's phase one garden plan.

The Battery Bosque.
Piet Oudolf's phase two garden plan.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

My "Lazy Gardener Garden" in Spring

Gaillardia 'Burgundy' self-sows;
Achillea 'Moonshine' grows rapidly;
Annual Nigella 'Miss Jekyll' self-sows.

Welcome to my "lazy gardener garden" in late spring! In my attempt to minimize how much work that I have to put into all the different gardens, I am relinquishing some of the design control to Mother Nature.

This large section of garden is on the east side of the house where the light has changed as trees have matured over the last five years. Rather than agonize over what to plant in a section where the sunlight and shade ratio is still changing, I'm allowing self-sowing and rapidly growing annuals, biennials and perennials "do their own thing."

I used to call this section the "butterfly garden" but since all of my different gardens attract butterflies, that's not as descriptive as it could be. I've relocated some of my stellar sun-loving perennials, such as coreopsis and agastache, from this section to the front garden.

There is a revolving color scheme of blue, purple, white, yellow, red and orange from spring through fall. All plants are drought tolerant and deer resistant, though there are a few plants, such as rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', that must be sprayed with rabbit repellent.

Salvia 'Caradonna' (self-sows true to parent),
Homestead Purple verbena (spreads rapidly),
and nepeta (easily divided)
in April 2011.

Purple salvia and nepeta give way to yellow, red and blue in late May.

There are several varieties of gaillardia (blanket flower) in this garden. I can no longer say for sure what each one is/will be as they have been cross-pollinated and the resulting seeds can be anything from solid yellow, burgundy, deep orange, or bi-color. That is the risk of letting seeds go rather than propagating by cuttings. The offspring will not necessarily be the same as the parent. The gaillardia 'Burgundy' is holding color fairly well among the offspring, but the solid yellow gaillardia has not. Gaillardia 'Tizzy' (plants) did not return this year, but 'Tokajer' has returned though I've not seen seedlings of that variety.

The prolific, self-sowing gaillardia can result in different colors
and heights due to the cross-pollination of the varieties. 

Blooming in April and May in the "lazy gardener garden":

salvia 'Caradonna' (self-sows true to parent)
allium 'Purple Sensation' (bulbs have multiplied over two years)
nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' (easily divided; minimal self-sowing)
'Homestead Purple' verbena (spreads rapidly by runners)
achillea 'Moonshine' (matures rapidly; divide every 3-4 years)
gaillardia (multiple varieties; some self-sow)
salvia greggii 'Navajo Red' (has produced offspring from seed that are true to parent)
salvia 'Black & Blue' (spreads by runners and easily divided in late spring)
salvia farcinacea 'Victoria Blue' (matures rapidly and am hoping for seedlings next year)

To bloom in summer:

monarda 'Jacob Cline' (spreads rapidly by runners; needs more moisture than the other plants)
ageratum 'Wayside Blue' (self-sows and spreads rapidly by runners)
crocosmia 'Lucifer' (corms grow rapidly and can be easily divided)
achillea 'Terracotta' (matures rapidly; divided every 3 years)
shasta daisies (divides easily; some varieties self-sow)
rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' (self-sows)
laceflower (self-sows)
marigolds (some varieties self-sow)
orange cosmos sulphureus (self-sows)
echinacea 'Sundown' (hasn't performed well for five years)
agastache (some varieties self-sow)
asclepias tuberosa (self-sows)
ascleplias incarnata (self-sows, but takes years to bloom; more moisture)
hypericum 'Sun Pat' is shrub-like (minimal self-sowing)
amsonia hubrichtii (self-sows)
verbena bonariensis (self-sows)
Russian sage (self-sows, but is new to the garden)
bronze fennel (self-sows too much; must deadhead)

Because I allow the plants to self-sow and spread, there is minimal care and maintenance. I let the seed heads stand until the following spring, when I cut them back at one time, divide any mature plants and transplant seedlings. I rarely provide supplemental water unless rainfall is scarce when the transplants and seeds need a good start. Since I allow the self-sowing of seeds, I don't use mulch except around the base of new plants. Mulch on top of the ripened and fallen seeds would prevent germination. In spots where the soil needs boosting, I work in amendments (organic compost) and sow seeds of filler plants such as nigella for spring and marigolds and cosmos for summer.

Less maintenance for the gardener means more time to enjoy the flowers (and work on the other gardens)!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Before and After: Rock on the Cottage Garden Path

This is the year for upgrading the paths and driveway around our garden and home. We recently integrated our driveway, guest parking area and garden into one continuous gravel garden. We like the clean simplicity of the gravel garden as well as the easy maintenance.

The cottage garden path by our front door looked a bit sad when compared to the fresh gravel garden. We decided to dress up the cottage garden and solve a few problems in this area as well.

BEFORE: The beige, Chapel Hill grit needed dressing up.
Metal edging was added in preparation for the new rock.

The path material used for rose section of the cottage garden has been "Chapel Hill grit" from a local quarry. We've been using this beige gravel since 2005. It requires a refresh every year or two and is a good surface for walking. The downside of Chapel Hill grit has to do with weeds. It is the perfect medium for germinating weed seeds and we are tired of digging out spurge!

We decided to copy the medium-sized round river rock that we used to dress up the French Drain (created in 2010) that edges the large deer resistant garden. We have found it easy to walk on the medium-sized rock and it doesn't shift around like smaller pea gravel.

A solid base is always needed underneath decorative gravel. The Chapel Hill grit is a suitable base for the new rock, so we did not have to use screenings (fine gravel, coarser than sand) to level and smooth the path.

Edging was needed as the garden bed is now higher than the original path created during our home construction in 2005. After a few years of building up the soil, it was spilling out and it was difficult to retain moisture. This spot gets direct sun (when it shines) all day long in all four seasons, so keeping the soil and moisture in the bed should help during dry seasons.

Metal edging, at a cost of about $1.00 per foot, was easy to hammer into the soft edges of the garden bed and gravel. I used a pointed hoe to dig out a shallow trench, then my husband hammered the edging into the ground. A rubber mallet works well to drive the metal spikes into the ground. The metal edging is somewhat flexible, so it is easy to bend to follow the shape of the garden bed. I backfilled the garden bed edging with new, organic soil.

After the edging was installed, it was just a matter of hauling the rock in a wheelbarrow from our truck. My husband shoveled the rock into small piles along the path. I used a heavy metal rake—appropriate to rock on—to level out the gravel. After a few rainstorms, the dust will be washed away and the new round river rock will be clean.

There is more to the cottage garden path than shown in the photos. All in, the area required one yard of the rock.This project was started and completed in one afternoon, with two of us working. My husband hauled the rock in our large pickup truck (a Toyota® Tundra). This would be too heavy for one load in a smaller truck. More than one square yard would have required either a dump truck delivery or multiple trips with our truck.

We're happy with the appearance and the stability of the new surface. As the plants are ready for a summer growth spurt, it won't take long for the edge to be softened by billowing foliage and flowers.

AFTER: The medium-sized rounded river rock
packed down into a nice, stable surface.
The plants will soon grow over the new edging on the left.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Before and After: From Driveway to Gravel Garden

Sometimes it takes years of thinking before making a big change.

The area of disappointment was supposed to be a guest parking area separated from our concrete parking pad with an island garden bed. On the other side, there was just a narrow strip of garden due to the installation of a dry stream, necessary after torrential rains washed out all of the original driveway gravel in our first year.

No matter what we planted on either side, the area just never looked inviting because the plants struggled. It's a difficult site for plants. A hot, southwest exposure, but too wet in winter for drought-tolerant plants, led to losses every year. Replant. Repeat. Something else had to be done!

BEFORE: (View from driveway)
Starting in 2005, we tried plantings on either side.
Photo is from 2008 and the third iteration of failed plantings.

In 2010, we began removing plants in preparation for this big project. We weren't sure exactly what we would do. We drafted many ideas on paper and I searched through volumes of garden and landscape books and magazines. We thought about raised beds and a formal parterre, but that would eliminate the parking area. 


Out of our 2010 ideas, we decided to extend the row of hollies (ilex cornuta 'dwarf Burford') along our garage wall to form a hedge along the concrete side of the island bed. When the new hollies reach the size of the existing hollies, we'll have a nice "green fence" to serve as a backdrop.


Throughout our travels to Europe, we realized that in many areas, unable to grow lawns due to lack of rainfall, gravel is used throughout garden areas. Drought-tolerant plants were "mulched" with gravel. There is often no separation between garden/yard, parking areas and entertainment areas. The gravel covers the ground, integrating all the elements. The result is a simplified design.

Gravel is permeable, allowing rain water to reach the soil beneath. With land properly graded, the gravel doesn't wash away during rainstorms. Selecting a locally quarried gravel reduces the cost as well as making the selection "green" since it is not hauled in on trucks from long distances.

Garden inspiration:
Gravel used to integrate garden, path and patio.
Tractors drive on the gravel for tending this garden
at Chateau Val Joanis in France.
April 2011.

Returning from France on April 17, we decided to tackle this project once and for all. I pulled out an English garden magazine that had more photos of gardens mulched with gravel. We hopped in the truck and drove a few miles to our local provider of gravel. We decided to use the same driveway gravel that is standard in our neighborhood so that we wouldn't have to seek approval from our Homeowner's Association. The blue-beige gravel works well next to our sidewalk flagstone and the river rock used in the dry stream and French drain. Our French drain, installed in March 2010, was necessary to prevent erosion of our driveway gravel.

We arranged for screenings, a finely ground gravel, to be delivered (by dump truck). We used the screenings to build up the grade and level the area (with slope for drainage) to prepare for the blue gravel.

BEFORE: (View from front sidewalk)
Gravel parking area after plants
removed from each side.
 Landscape fabric pinned to the ground for patio installation.
April 20, 2011.

For the area to be welcoming, we installed a patio made of pre-formed concrete squares (16 inches square) on top of landscape fabric (to prevent weeds) and the graded screenings.

Opposite the patio, across the "parking area" section, I planted a row of rosemary to make a fragrant, low hedge. Rosemary is often used in xeric settings and can take the sun. The gravel will actually help prevent rotting of the drought-tolerant plant. I dug a trench, mixed in soil, gravel and compost before planting the rosemary in their biodegradable pots.

Once the patio was installed and we had graded the rest of the area with the screenings, we had a dump truck deliver the driveway gravel.

We raked the gravel around the new rosemary and the existing buddleia, hollies (future hedge backdrop), crepe myrtle and large, oakleaf holly.

This project solves a number of problem for us. It reduces maintenance of the area while unifying the garden, driveway and guest parking area. The simplicity of the design cleans up the entrance to our house, making it apparent that guests should enter at the front of the house instead of the side door. Finally, the materials used minimize plant watering while allowing rainwater to soak into the soil below the gravel.

AFTER: Gravel used to integrate parking with garden.
Small patio installed for a welcoming bench and containers of xeric plants.
Space to park a car.
Just waiting for the holly hedge to grow to full size.
April 28, 2011.

AFTER: (View from driveway)
Note the hollies against the garage wall.
The same hollies are planted behind the bench area and
will eventually create a green hedge.
April 28, 2011

With all of this gravel, there needed to be a "welcome" area. We moved an existing bench to the patio and collected our spare containers. We had two matching containers for each side of the bench, so we purchased two more to make a trio of planters on each side of the bench. We used a square stepping stone (on hand) to elevate an existing container to make it higher than the urn container. (I will pick up a round stepping stone on my next trip to a garden store to make the elevation material less noticeable.)

In the largest, elevated container, I planted blue point juniper (juniper chinesis 'Blue Point') because it is drought-tolerant and does well in containers. Since the juniper is suitable for zones 4-9, it can handle our cold winters in zone 7b, without being taken indoors. Someday, the juniper may outgrow the containers, but that will be many years. Juniper is deer resistant unless there is a shortage of winter food. Being evergreen, I don't expect a problem with regrowth if there is any nibbling.

The urn containers were planted with English lavender (lavandula angustifolis). Again, for drought-tolerance and cold-tolerance, this plant is suitable for zones 5-9. Lavender is deer resistant.

Finally, the low "bowl" containers were planted with succulents. I used "hens and chicks" (sempervivum) and sedum as my experience with these for container plantings in 2010 were quite successful, having wintered well and required minimal water and no replanting for 2011.

This project took about 8 hours of time with two of us working. Raking screenings and gravel was tiring, heavy work, but easily a DIY project. We used four yards of screenings and five yards of gravel because it extends onto the driveway. We will use another five yards of gravel to finish dressing the entire driveway.

The patio, made of pre-cast squares, didn't require special skill beyond leveling. We minimized the expense by using existing containers and bench and using local sources for the all materials.

While I would like to paint these containers and bench in colorful colors to hide the bland brown, that idea was vetoed by my husband! I think a deep purple, matching the lavender blooms, would look great on the urns, don't you?

Containers of drought-tolerant plants
include 'Blue Point' Juniper, English lavender
and sempervivum with sedum.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Garden Inspiration: Lilies and Bee Balm in Buffalo

Missing out on the July 2010 Garden Walk Buffalo, I had to tour vicariously through the reports of other garden bloggers. Gardeners, such as Gail at Clay and Limestone were all wowed by a combination of bee balm (monarda) with lilies!

I can do that—because I already grow the plants! All I need to do is a bit of garden tweaking to replicate the inspiration.

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' is a big player in my cottage garden as well as in my outer gardens (aka "the deer resistant gardens"). Also growing inside my cottage garden fence is the perennial 'Starfighter' lily. However, the lily is NOT deer resistant, so I will replicate the Buffalo inspiration inside the cottage garden. All I need to do is transplant the lily from behind my azaleas to pair it up with the monarda.

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'
with echinacea 'Prairie Splendor'
and annual castor bean in the cottage garden.

My favorite color combination is a mix of blooms and foliage colors that work with cool reds (magenta) and burgundy. The oriental lily 'Starfighter' is a natural to fit into this combination. The 'Starfighter' is a sister to the famous 'Stargazer' lily.

The 'Starfighter' is around three feet tall in bloom, so I will transplant it on the far side of the monarda which is the opposite side from the coneflowers. The lily will be between the monarda and salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue'. The monarda and the salvia will keep the roots of the lily shaded—a necessity in this full sun location in my zone 7b.

My 'Starfighter' is now in the fourth year in my garden and is rated for zones 4-9. Oriental lilies are best transplanted in the fall, but I can safely shovel out this growing clump to transplant it in early spring. Since it flowers in July, the plant should have time to catch up and bloom again this year.

You can also plant new lily bulbs—and monarda plants—this spring, so there is plenty of time to recreate this garden inspiration at your home, too!

Oriental lily 'Starfighter' blooms in July in my garden.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Garden Plants: Best Performance in 2010

Best Perennial in a Leading Role
Agastache 'Cotton Candy'

Agastache 'Cotton Candy' never stopped blooming from April until frost. Gotta love it! Healthy and robust, I tried pinching it back, cutting it back and leaving it alone. No matter what I did, this agastache was happy all through the first growing season in my garden. Ignored by deer and rabbits, agastache is loved by bees and butterflies. This variety survived more than 90 days of 90 degree temperatures with little water!

Agastache 'Cotton Candy' from Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc.

Best Perennial in a Supporting Role
Creeping Perennial Heliotrope 'Azure Skies'

Once again, heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies' from the Southern Living® Collection is the best ground-covering perennial that never stops blooming, rewarding you with Six Months of Bloom from One Perennial. The growth habit is low and it quickly covers several feet of ground. Cut it back to keep it from getting leggy, or let it grow, let it grow! 'Azure Skies' thrives in drought and is hated by deer and rabbits.

Heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies'
blooms for six months

Best Makeup
Leucanthemum 'Broadway Lights'

From pale yellow to white blooms on the same plant, the shasta daisy 'Broadway Lights' provides soft lighting along the garden path. Evergreen foliage (in my zone 7b) and ignored by deer and rabbits throughout the bloom season, this is a perennial worth growing. The short stature and straight stems make this perennial a great edger.

The blooms change colors on
Leucanthemum 'Broadway Lights'

Best Costume
Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue'

The hummingbird favorite, salvia 'Black & Blue' is dressed in the perfect blue that works with almost all other color combinations. Plant it with yellow, pink, white, red and even orange—the deep blue blooms are the perfect color companion. Resistant for those with deer (some nibbles) and rabbits, this long-blooming tender perennial is worth planting as an annual if it doesn't winter over for you.

The versatile deep blue of salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue'
works with almost any other bloom color.

Best Visual Effects
Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Blue'

Although nigella (love-in-a-mist) is an annual in most zones, this prolific self-sowing plant will return if you let it go to seed. The unusual blooms are almost out-of-this-world and they bloom for weeks and weeks. Then, the seedpods are decorative until they dry and burst open to sow the seeds. Plant almost anytime the ground isn't frozen in early spring through fall. Deer and rabbit resistant.

Sow nigella from seeds.

Best Foreign Perennial
iris ensata (Japanese iris), iris siberica (Siberian iris), and iris x Hollandica (Dutch iris)

The gorgeous blooms of iris are a "must" for my garden and I use Japanese, Siberian and Dutch for blooms from April through June. The foliage of the Japanese and Siberian iris also provide structure even when the there are no blooms. Deer will nibble the open blooms, so if you have a lot of traffic, cut the irises to use for flower arrangements. These perennials make it through the summer drought and can be divided in fall and transplanted. They are fine through winter wetness and I grow them in a rain garden and dry stream.

Delicate bloom on a tough plant.

Best Script
container garden of succulent plants

The summer of 2010 brought 90 days of temperatures over 90 degrees. I was very glad that I planted several containers based on plants, such as sempervivum, that require very little water. This succulent container looked great throughout the summer and is now over-wintering on my covered front porch where the plants receive morning sun and are protected from north and west winds.

Low-maintenance and water-wise succulent container garden.

Best Sound Effects
Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe'

The best buzz in the garden was around the Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe'. The butterflies and bees were drawn to the beautiful blooms. The deer and rabbits left the perennial alone and the height is a manageable four feet. I will not be without this perennial for the butterfly garden. It is a great companion for ironweed and milkweed.

Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe' created a buzz in the garden!

Best Short Subject
Cranesbill geranium 'Rozanne'

In the third year, she leaped! My perennial geranium 'Rozanne' was quite the performer, blooming at the feet of my roses among salvias and coneflowers. Although I have to protect her from both deer and rabbits, Rozanne has earned a permanent place in my cottage garden. With a bit of trimming to keep her shape, the blooms continued throughout the summer.

Geranium 'Rozanne' is a great edging perennial.

Best Cinematography
A random mix of annuals and perennials

My "meadow madness"  proved to be a rewarding experiment. I have sown annual seeds, again at random—in colors of blue, purple, pink and white to attempt to repeat the scheme for spring 2011. Larkspur, cornflowers, agastache, poppies, verbena and rose campion are the major players for the meadow mix.

My "meadow mix" is a random sowing of
annuals to provide color among perennials that bloom later.

Check out the best performers from previous years in my zone 7b, North Carolina garden:

Best Performance in 2009
Best Performance in 2008

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Residential Garden Design in San Francisco

This is a beautiful garden design and cool. One way to enhance the beauty of the home is to attend a garden in our yard. Houses become barren and gives the impression of calm. Especially when summer comes. For this reason Lutsko Associates made a garden in an urban housing in San Francisco.

The concept of this project is an open architecture for daily life, maximizing the impact and experience of a small space. The breakthrough of this sunlight can park with ease because there is no roof in this park. Another advantage is that we can enjoy the garden from the balcony of the second level instead of the inside of the house. Design pays attention to the sensory experience of materials and planting, which contributed to the richness and beauty of the park.

Description:
This city park in the Pacific Heights district of San Francisco around a single family home. The house was designed in 1990 by noted Bay Area architecture firm EHDD under the guidance of the late Joe Esherick. When viewed from two house sites overlooking the balcony, the park is a graph of the composition of space, materials and planting. From this perspective much of San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island slip into the views of the city spread out below the property. This park is designed to bring a sense of urban city fabric into the site. From inside, the garden intimately experienced as a sequence of outdoor rooms, their space and design features hidden sequence and expressed as a threshold passing each other in composition.

This park is divided into a series of three enclosed garden room, each tightly defined by the architecture and / or planted edge. Various treatments translucent-edge glass, hand troweled plaster, bronze curved walls, and planting-explore the relationship between the viewer and the adjacent off-site conditions. The walls between rooms consisting of Prunus caroliniana hedge cut, fit within the framework of structural steel. Thresholds between rooms create a sense of mystery and discovery as one moves through the park.

Each room is different in shape and quality. The first room, which requires light and privacy, defined by clear glass that transmits light and reveals the subtle shape of the outer edge of the garden. edge is reinforced by a steaming Pelargonium tomentosum and cacaliifolia Salvia to bring the natural flavor and fragrance into the room otherwise constructed. Osmanthus fragrans sculptural form branched multi-wall plaster, clean end to end view this space. The second room is dominated by the most dramatic elements of the park, a large curved wall made of bronze. From the slot in the wall, water cascades into the basin cut into the pavement beneath. Placed against the wall of the adjacent buildings, water features create a sensual edge with space, quiet introspective. In the third hall, visitors got a surprise vista of the city, bay, and the Trans-America building through the open window like a translucent wall panels. reeded panel's glass-covered walls of the Beaux-Arts fence neighbors recognize pastiche of the city, and is a reference to changing the architectural style from time to time. A lemon tree, espaliered plaster wall, in line with the axial views of the garden.

Park employs a large patch of contrast material to make a bold graphic composition: limestone paving of light that shines in the fog of San Francisco is interspersed with bands of wool thyme; dark granite stone engraved with a spiral pale to generate a mosaic. Restrained planting palette, shades of green and Grey with white flowers give priority to form over color. Bold-textured foliage contrasts dramatically with the materiality of space. The combination of material selection and composition of the structure to respond, simpler forms of home distilled. Park became home to a literal extension of everyday life while still associated with adjacent urban forms. [via]

5 Tips to Make at Home Park Minimalist | Garden Design

Making the park is one of our efforts to bring the beauty of our home environment. Especially for home minimalist minimalist garden. Planning a good garden design on the front, side and rear of the house, it turns out we can do for themselves. Of course the question now is how to make the park? I explain some important points in a garden.

1. Determining Theme Parks
Pick a theme park in accordance with your wishes. For example you could choose the theme of Balinese-style gardens, tropical-style gardens, garden-style minimalist, or modern style. But you also have to consider the situation and condition of land that you have.

2. How the selection of plants
Selection of vegetation is a point that must be considered. Make several lists of plants that you like. Buy land in accordance with the requirements for your plants healthy and certainly also become a very important point. I have a formula to calculate the number of plants (based on the spacing of vegetation) are as follows:

So this kind of computation: if you have two square meters of land, and have plants that have a spacing of 30 cm, the number of plants you need is 22 222 (rounded to 22)

3. Garden Layout
Affect the beauty of the plant layout in designing the park. Always note the composition of vegetation such as grass (grass), crop cover (groundcover), shrubs (shrubs and feature plants), water plants (waterplant) and tree (tree). Strata of vegetation that must be considered like this: The tree is placed as a backdrop (the rear area), Perdu and shrubs placed as midground (middle area), and the last plants or groundcovers and grass cover is placed as a foreground (front area)

4. Growing Media Processing
Processing a good planting medium mixing soil with humus and fertilizer (organic or non organic) are very influential for the survival of our plants. A good watering should also be observed mainly in the morning and afternoon. To penyirama if you have more funds, you can buy a sprinkler (automatic water sprinkler), which can gives a chance as we want.

5. Drainage
In the rainy season is an important part of this note. Without drainage the garden or we can flood the park. Why? Because, basically, to regulate the flow of drainage water is diverted to the disposal of unused sewers (termed the gutter). But there are also alternative making this by making drainage holes biopori. Survivors trying to make the park.

You may prefer a minimalist home design?

Minimalist Home Design and Garden Into the Current Trends

Minimalist Home Design and Garden Into the Current Trends

Since a few years ago and minimalist house design minimalist garden into housing trends become a favorite choice of consumers into the house that the new symbol of cosmopolitan society, which is a reflection of the way of life, thought, and urban public works the very practical, lightweight, efficient, and full simplicity.

The house and garden is a community cultural values of nature and life residence. Where home is a place to live, resting, socializing, family, and worship. While the park is a reflection of natural energy, and the source of life. When the house and garden was designed as a harmonious life will give energy to the occupants.

The concept of minimal house and garden aims to increase the value of an entire room for the exterior and interior to reduce the excess of everything in the room. The concept of a minimalist lifestyle shows practical, dynamic, concise, effective, and efficient, which is applied in all aspects of life including house building architecture, interior space and exterior gardens.

Collaboration minimalist house and garden is a combination of communication media between architecture and landscape in the form of contrast, hard-soft, stiff, soft, geometric, dynamic, and between man-made or cultural in nature.

Minimalist house eliminates a lot of saturation with the use of decorative ornaments, knick-knacks accessories. Character and quality of spaces created by the existence of space defined itself, not by the furniture and accessory knick-knacks in it. Space becomes felt relieved as the primary needs of residents, to optimize the circulation of healthy fresh air, and lighting is abundant sunshine.

Typical homes have minimal natural light sources from windows, doors, transparent walls, shade trees, plants and paving composition, will present an appropriate image objects from sunlight reflected off the walls as a natural aesthetic separate elements. While the game system very artistic lights, spotlights good, light plant, to the chandelier with geometric shapes, will liven the evening minimalist home.

Home design minimalist forms are straightforward, plain, simple, uncomplicated, compact, and efficiency-effective space. Blocking mass, materials, lighting, repetition, circulation compact, multifunctional space optimization and sequential. The value does not rely on the beauty of the house ornaments and artificial objects, but more meaningful to an honest form, function, and the inspiration that spaces are created.

Structuring minimalist home and garden requires a harmonious overall look, a combination of hard materials, the physical structure of buildings and exotic plants, exotic colors, as well as supporting elements (such as: lights, pond, benches, sculptures, furniture). Harmony requires minimal materials, shape, color, and texture with the impression conveyed to the warm, intimate, romantic, natural, or futuristic. Games monochromatic colors with themes such as the gradation of one or two primary colors to create unity between the house and the garden.

Structuring minimalist furniture requires an order, where everything is orderly in their respective position. Room in a house filled with furniture that is very efficient and functional course. Selected furniture that is only really needed, not a decorative element, if possible, so the one multifunction net impressed and relieved. Furniture interior and exterior with geometric forms have a goal of maximizing use of space, there is no room left gaps or dead.

Parks play an important role include the beauty and harmony of nature into the building and together with the surrounding natural environment. The presence of water element in the form of geometric and form pools of water calm, waterfalls, or water spray (fog effect) brings stillness and coolness of the space and audience space.

Unity minimalist house and garden they should belong together form the fabric outer space, buildings, and space in a balanced, mutually harmonious way, and not dominate the other. The division of space is very efficient, functional, and clear hierarchy, and reduce the need for space that is not important. Integrating the minimalist house and garden will bring a home environment calm and soothing.