Monday, May 27, 2013

Garden Designers' Roundtable: Celebrating Trees

Perennials may be considered the queens of the landscape, but trees are most certainly the kings.  No other plant does more to moderate our climate and set the scale of our outdoor spaces.

Trees are dynamic, colorful, and textural sculptures that control our views, serve as focal points, and unify our neighborhoods and cities.

When I'm selecting a tree for a landscape design I focus on these three key criteria:
Cultural compatibility — will it thrive in the sites' soil, sunlight, and water availability.

A pinyon pine, Pinus edulis, thrives in a narrow planting area adjacent to a sun and heat drenched parking lot.
This protected courtyard planting pocket at the base of a rain chain is the perfect site for a Japanese maple, Acer palmatum in the foothills of Boulder County.
Size — will it fit the space and job it's intended for.
This Colorado blue spruce, Picea pungens, has plenty of room to grow in a suburban  landscape and makes an effective year-round screen.
This ginnala maple, Acer ginnala, is the perfect size for an intensive pruning regime at Denver Botanic Garden's Japanese Garden.
Aesthetics — does it have decorative aspects that are multi-seasonal.
Showy flowers in spring and colorful, persistent fruit via Crimson Cloud hawthorn, Crataegus laevigata 'Superba'
Edible, mid-summer fruit follows springtime flowers, and showy fall foliage color. Autumn Brilliance serviceberry, Amelanchier x grandiflora

Vibrant fall foliage follows a floriferous springtime display on Cleveland Select pear, Pyrus calleryana.
Bark is beautiful, year-round attribute that can't be beat. Shown here:  sycamore, Platanus acerifolia.
Curious about the best trees for Colorado's Front Range? Read about the experts' selections and how those in my own yard rated, here.

Join my fellow Roundtable designers for more, more, and more celebrations of trees!



Thursday, May 23, 2013

When More is More . . . and Free Garden Tour Tickets!


Garden tour season is upon us, and one of my perennial favorites is the Enchanted Gardens Tour of Northwest Denver, a benefit for The Conflict Center. This tour always presents a wide array of gardens — from simple, zen-like spaces, to urban homestead farms, to lush flower fantasies. The landscapes are mostly created by dedicated homeowners, not professional designers, like me. I find them to be a wealth of inspiration, especially when I come across a true gem, like the lavishly lush and art-filled garden of Holly Fliniau.

I'm a minimalist at heart; too much stuff and clutter makes me feel overstimulated and / or claustrophobic.  But Holly, who gardens her property with her mom, Sandy Fliniau, manages to combine just the right proportion of plants to hardscape to cool stuff to keep me wanting more.

Holly and Sandy have participated in the Enchanted Gardens Tour of Northwest Denver at least twice (and graciously allowed me to take and share these photos). The gardens selected for this year's tour is top secret, but wouldn't you love to discover a wondrous landscape like this one?

The Conflict Center has generously given me a pair of tickets to give away here on the blog — a $30.00 value!  Please leave a comment on this post by midnight on Friday, May 31st, and I'll announce a winner on Saturday, June 1st.

The 2013 Enchanted Gardens Tour of Northwest Denver is Saturday, June 8th, 9am-4pm, Rain or Shine!

PS Holly and Sandy were recently featured in a nice article by Jane Shellenberger in the April issue of Colorado Gardener.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day 5.15.2013

Spring has been incredibly slow to arrive this year.  Only now, in mid-May, are we beginning to see the flowering trees and shrubs that usually entertain us in March and April.  Here is a photo of my front entry garden that I took yesterday.
compact Oregon grape holly, Japanese tree lilac, and 'Cameo' quince
This is the same view that I photographed last year for the APRIL 2012 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Although last year was considered an "early" spring, this year we are a good 4-6 weeks behind "normal". (It's all so confusing!)
Same view, April, 2012
If you're curious, here are links to my Garden Blogger's Bloom day posts in MAY 2012 , MAY 2011 and MAY 2007!

It amuses me that a couple of tulips are blooming now that are complete opposites in character.
One is a small (8" tall) species tulip that forms lovely, perennial clusters in the dry prairie garden. The warm, multi-hued colors are cheerful and engaging in a sophisticated way.
Tulipa 'Little Princess'
A fancy, fringed black tulip — located in a more moist setting —  is a bold and beautiful show-off .
Tulipa 'Vincent Van Gogh'
I'm hoping to have many more blooms to share with you in June!

Head over to Carol's May Dreams Gardens blog to find the master list of today's participating bloggers.