My Client’s Plants, pt. 2

In plant materials, sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

The Hellebores’ stay here is nearly at an end. I have enjoyed having these little beauties here since the day I posted about their arrival just over 3 months ago in November 2010.

Since they arrived, they’ve done nothing but amaze me.  Their quality is outstanding, far superior than what was available locally.  These green friends illustrated beautifully that sometimes it is well worth it to pay more for something that on the surface seems like the same thing.

You see, the same week that I received that box of beauties from Fraser’s Thimble Farms, I got a little green myself and drove over to a well regarded retail nursery in the East Bay.  I paid $20. for a single 1 gallon plant of the exact same cultivar.  My client’s plants cost $39. each, not counting shipping and inspection certificates (so actually, they cost quite a bit more than that).  I potted them on arrival because they had been bare-rooted for the trip, and soon they’ll be installed in their new home’s garden.  In the photo below, that scrappy little guy in the front is mine.

Unfortunately, my plant looks exactly as it did the day I got it, where my client’s plants are considerably nicer.   The ones from Fraser’s are known to be about 4 years old.  In conversations with their staff, I learned that Hellebores need to be a few years old before they are mature enough to bloom, so perhaps this is the problem with my little one….OR perhaps the difference is that mine was grown without personal attention at a commercial grower where the ones from Fraser’s were grown with care by a knowledgeable bunch of people.  Either way, it was well worth the extra money for quality plant materials.

I’m looking forward to seeing if mine grows into a nice specimen now that I’m in charge, and to seeing how well the ones going to my clients’ garden will perform over time under the care of his gardener.  I will be very interested to watch them all, even though I’m sad to see these beauties leave my patio.

Associations

I read Studio G’s blog often, it is a wonderful source of entertainment for me. I recently stumbled across this post, clicking on it because of the title “Religion & Garden Design”.               Read it.

Reading that gave me the nudge I needed to finally mention associations here, they are powerful and invisible aspects of design work that must never be ignored.  The better designers understand that they must get to know their clients so that subtle, personal conflicts of negative associations can be avoided and positive associations used for inspiration.  Consider the meaning in shapes, colors, plants, orientation (East/West), and views.

For example: when I see Beautyberry (the plant image in Studio G’s post) I remember the Dallas Arboretum, visiting my friend Melinda, and working at a wonderful Dallas Landscape Architecture firm with wonderful people.

The smell of Tomatoes reminds me of my childhood in Southern California, as does for Australian Tree Fern, Mother Fern, Amaryllis belladonna, Agapanthus, and Tuberous Begonias (especially the orange ones).

Red and yellow together remind me of Mc Donalds, which I don’t think very highly of….

I’ve seen Topher Delaney speak about her landscape work a couple of times, I also met her once at a lunch.  At the beginning of a project, she asks her clients to tell her about where they lived when they were little.  They have a conversation and get to know each other.  She uses this more personal understanding in her design work and succeeds in bringing more meaning to the work than most.

So – who are you designing for?  ….and how will the design meet their needs, bring meaning, or make it beautiful for the eye of the beholder?

Container Garden Inspiration

I love container gardening! Love it.  I garden both in the ground and in containers at home, I can’t keep from filling pretty much everything with soil and something growing.

I wanted to post this because not every pot looks good with every plant, some look truly wonderful together, and some just awful.   I design for clients very differently than I treat my own container garden.  I choose containers for clients that go with the architecture, the plants, and so forth.

In my own garden, however, the containers can be almost anything – kitty litter buckets with holes drilled in the bottom, nursery liners, and a random assortment of impulse purchases and gifts. 

I think that the most important thing when putting together a container garden is deciding what you are showcasing; the plant or the pot?

Which plant looks good in a particular pot can be surprising.  I have found that it is important to see them together if the purchase is an important one.  If you’re like me, and buy plants and pots on impulse, don’t sweat it.  But, if the container and the plant will be important focal pieces of your design, then it is worth it to take either the pot (or a small sample with the same finish) or the plants that will be used (at least a bouquet of the leaves and a good imagination) around with you when shopping.

Why Client Questionnaires Suck, pt. 2

Modative blog post:  I receive updates on this architecture firm’s blog when they add a new post, and I thought it was interesting when they recently posted about their client questionnaire, so I thought I would share it (please notice that to their credit, they ASK these questions in person).   I like their blog and that they are sharing their processes so openly.

I still think written questionnaires are a bad idea.  I think it is far more important to encourage an open dialog and be responsive to the dynamics of the design process than anything else (some of those answers could change).  Also note that only the last question, number 10, opens the door to ‘getting to know’ the client.  Some clients aren’t very open, others may give too much information, and they don’t always like ideas presented.

My first post on client questionnaires gets more traffic than anything else I’ve written here.  I suspect that there are a lot of aspiring designers out there looking for examples of the best questionnaires.  I did this, too, early in my career.  I’ve even got a few oldies saved on the computer, but I don’t use them.

Unlike designing for a public, institutional, or commercial facility, when designing for people’s homes, the Owners need to work with someone that they can trust above all else.  Someone who will listen and ask questions, then interpret the answers and produce a solution that the client will like (preferably LOVE).

Designing for others isn’t like any other relationship.  The designer needs to get inside the client’s head a little, ask some personal questions (about money, lifestyle, privacy concerns, aesthetic preferences).  Whether you’re designing an interior, structure, or garden, this is an involved and personal process.

All clients need to know that you are a professional, but they also need to feel that you care about them and their project.  They need to believe that you will treat their investment responsibly, keep private information private, and deliver something beyond their dreams.  Developing a relationship that advances the open communication needed is one of the most important skills that a designer can have.

Here’s a story from my experience:  I once worked for a small design/build firm for a short time.  I advanced the design development phase of a large and historically significant home.  The Owners were out of town a lot, so it took a while to schedule a meeting, but the company had been working on the project for a while already.  I read the correspondence and found the company’s client questionnaire.  The only notes I found regarding aesthetics were written by the client on the (mailed) questionnaire.  They noted that they did not like the color orange or Roses.  Okay then – I designed around what would be appropriate for the stately old home, avoiding orange flowers, orange foliage, and Roses.  We finally met, and they brought images with them of things that they liked.  After some discussion, it became clear that the only images they responded to favorably included chartreuse foliage and white flowers.  In fact, they requested that we include shrub roses!!

My Client’s Plants

I am working on the design of a garden in San Francisco and was pleasantly surprised today by the delivery of the Hellebores that were ordered from Canada.  While I was potting them for protection during their wait to be installed at the site, it occurred to me that this shipment of plants represented some thoughts on customer service and the design/construction processes.

Most Landscape Architecture firms would not be able to accept delivery of plants for a client and care for those plants until they could be installed.  They might rely instead on either using only the plants that are seasonally available or contract growing (with someone else) to care for those plants that must be received before the site is ready.  There are issues of liability (what if they die?!), space, and materials for the task.  What results can be either a prohibitively complicated and expensive ordeal, a garden that is skewed to one particular season, or having to ask the client to be patient and wait while plants become available in the future (not always acceptable by some clients). 

Included in this particular project there will be a discrete courtyard featuring a statue.  We are using four different plants; Ficus pumila (Creeping Fig), Ophiopogon nigrescens (Black Mondograss), Helleborous ‘Onyx Odyssea’ (a double black flowering Lenten Rose), and Iris ‘Frosted Velvet’ (a “miniature tall” form Bearded Iris).  The Ficus and Ophiopogon are evergreen and will form the main planting to show off the sculpture, then the Iris will be in bloom in the Spring with leaves from late Winter through Summer, and the Hellebores will be in bloom in Winter with leaves holding on through Spring.  I don’t expect to have both Irises and Hellebores flower at the same time, though it is possible that this could occur depending on weather conditions and temperatures (especially in the Bay Area).  While the Irises prefer more sun and the Hellebores more shade, the site location and orientation make it possible to use both in the same small area.

I presented the palette (above) to the client earlier this month.  Before doing presenting, I learned that the Iris were not going to be shipped until next July, and that our local growers who carried the Hellebores had already sold out for the year.  I explained to the client that we would be ordering the Iris for delivery nine months in the future and that the Hellebores would need to be ordered immediately from Canada before the grower’s shipping season closed.  He accepted the planting concept, so I had the plants ordered with delivery to my home.  I did this for a couple of reasons:

1.  I wanted to inspect the plants before anyone else saw them to make sure there were no problems (and I work from home).  Having them shipped to my home also meant that I could accept delivery at any time (they arrived today – the Saturday after Thanksgiving) regardless of holidays, weekends, and business hours.

2.  The plants would be shipped bare root and would need immediate attention by someone who knew what to do and had the time.

3.  The landscape contractor had not yet been formally retained.

4.  This also made me feel that I was giving my client the best service I could by personally protecting his investment in them and, by extension, his trust in me.

It is my habit to order plants from all over the world.  Because of this, I knew ahead of time that both mail order companies were reputable and that the plants would likely be in great shape.  I was not disappointed!  Fraser’s Thimble Farms worked with me to hold the plants until the payment arrived.  I took their advice to pay for air priority shipping.  The plants also required a Phytosanitary Certificate (they were inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) before coming into the U.S.   The shipment was also opened and inspected by U.S. Customs upon arrival.

Below are some photos from this morning’s potting:

All in all, excellent plants – potted and ready for what comes next.  My own Hellebores have not leafed-out yet, so it will be interesting to see how these behave, but they each have new growth on them (see the middle photo).  They’ve been through a lot, being bare-rooted, inspected twice, then finally re-potted (they’ll be disturbed again soon when they’re planted in their new home).

I have been frustrated in the past with the issues that come up when trying to design a garden around the seasonal availability of the plants I want to use.  I think it is well worth the extra effort to get the exact plants desired rather than giving up and just finding something else that is less of a pain.  I am looking forward to seeing them planted in their new home and will post again….

“Low Maintenance” Gardens?

It seems that everyone is aware that gardens can require some effort to maintain.  Professionals in the landscape design and construction industry understand that the success of any outdoor space depends on thoughtful design, quality installation, and ongoing, intelligent maintenance.   Not one of these three items can deliver the desired result without the other two.  Nearly every client I’ve ever known has brought “low maintenance” up as part of their wish list, often right at the beginning of the first meeting.  Let’s consider:

Thoughtful Design – the design process should take into account the needs and life-cycles of both living plant materials and non-living hardscape materials.  Naturally derived hardscape materials may not be “alive”, but they do change over time.   Metals oxidize, woods weather, and stone materials can do both…

Quality Installation – poor installation can cause good design ideas to fail miserably.  Bad planting practices will kill your plants and trees, poorly installed paving will sink and shift, retaining walls can fail, and irrigation systems can be mal-adjusted in so many ways.

Ongoing, Intelligent Maintenance – taking care of your investment is critical.  There’s no way to design around bad gardening practices or neglect.  Understanding your plant and hardscape materials is half the battle to having a garden that doesn’t require more of your (or your gardener’s) time than is reasonable.   Understanding is the key to this.  For example, I firmly believe that you could grow roses (considered by many to be high maintenance) without much fuss if roses that are suitable for your area have been selected and you understand how to care for them.

So if we keep the focus on maintenance, what are we talking about?

• Pruning, shearing, dead-heading, weeding and mowing.
• Fertilizing, spraying against disease or insects, watering.
• Cleaning (water features, stains on hardscape), sealing (deck wood, stone, etc), repairing broken items, etc.

There are countless books and internet resources on low maintenance gardening.  Not one of them can take the place of using good common sense.  Below are a few quick thoughts:

Containers:

• They must be big enough to support the plants grown in them.
• Smaller containers dry out faster, and don’t have as much room for roots as larger containers.
• Some plants are more tolerant of container culture than others.  Shallow planters are better for some things than deep planters and vice versa.
• Containers need a hole for drainage.
• Dark containers heat up more and can cook the plants’ root system (and dry out fastest).
• Containers (or raised beds) of different materials create different environments for your plants: metal, wood, ceramic, terracotta, and plastic all have unique qualities that should be considered.

Plants:

• Each different kind of plant has different needs.
• Individual plants of the same kind are individuals and may not look exactly the same as the same kind of plant nearby.  Healthy plants are better looking than plants that are struggling.
• Lots of different plants are harder to care for than a simpler plant palette.
• Plants grow.  Trying to keep a naturally large tree small to fit a small space is … less clever than planting a smaller growing tree in the first place.
• Lawns are a lot of work, period.  They don’t have to be so bad, but the appearance that people typically demand of their lawns requires work and chemicals.
• Plants have annual life cycles.  Some go dormant, others look pretty much the same year-round.  For example, Bulbs need their fading foliage to store up energy for the next season, and lavender starts to look ratty after about two years without annual pruning.  Honor your plant’s needs.  Some plants re-seed themselves, others don’t.  How does that fit with your design intent?

Hardscaping:

• Stone is a natural material and is meant to oxidize and weather naturally.  I wholeheartedly disagree with sealants on stone to “keep it looking new”.  My feeling is that this is like applying clear nail polish, and that the true beauty of stone is expressed with age and patina.  Choose surface finishes carefully for the out of doors as smooth stone can be slippery when wet.
• Tiles 1/4″ thick are not meant for paving.  Materials this thin are usually meant for vertical applications or indoors.
• Wood is a natural material that weathers and rots.  My personal preference is not to use sealants on wood decks unless you really enjoy sanding them down and re-sealing them annually.  Containers and other sources of consistent moisture will accelerate the decomposition of the wood on your deck, so be careful.  Different woods degrade in different ways and at different rates.  They also have very different costs associated with them.  The most vulnerable part of lumber is the end cut.  Working with the characteristics of wood can produce wonderful results, but ignoring its natural tendencies is fool-hearty.
• Bricks are a man-made construct from natural materials.  They can age beautifully like a soft stone or be chosen for their resistance to weathering.

Consider that Filoli in Woodside, CA has 12oo volunteers plus a paid staff to maintain it.  I think it is totally worth it for such an impressive estate and extensive gardens.  Oh, and make no mistake – those people know what they’re doing, too.  So what is low enough maintenance for you?  One hour a week?  Three?  Do you need to hire someone, or are you going to do everything yourself, and do you really enjoy doing it, or will the work ruin your enjoyment of your outdoor space?

Truly high maintenance:  bonsai, String Garden, topiary, zonal denial (growing stuff that isn’t really suited to where your garden is), and trying to cram in too many amenities so that the feel of the space suffers.

Please add your thoughts in the comments!

I am honored. Thanks!

My friend and colleague Page Huyette asked me to write a post for her blog as a guest writer. I wrote about editing as part of the design process.  Everyone works differently, I think this post illuminates part of my process really well (it should, I wrote it!).

Here is the link to that post, and below one of the images (because no blog post should be without pictures!).  I took this snapshot one day a few years ago.  I had been working for a while and when I “came up for air”, I thought that all the stuff on my desk (at Scott Lewis Landscape Architecture) looked interesting together.  I’m glad I took the picture, I had no idea it would come in handy some day.

Thanks!