A Call to Colors : Flowers add drama to a garden. But experts say to start with a plan.
Nothing gladdens the heart like flowers: rustling roses and iris standing bloom-to-bloom along a path, around a pool, beside a sunny kitchen door. Freshly cut, they fill a dining room with fragrance. Set in pots, they accent entryways and places to sit. In the landscape, whether scattered among shrubs or bedded out in blazing color blocks, flowers help define garden space, adding texture and life to the green world outside.
Throughout the San Fernando Valley, spring borders already are bursting. But it’s not too late to get a flower garden growing. In fact, according to Michael Wayt, a Tarzana landscape contractor and designer, the cool evenings, sunny days and moist soil of April are ideal for planting.
Still, he and other experts warn that before heading for the nursery, garden-makers should ask themselves a few questions. For example, Wayt says, “How large an area do you plan to plant? Is it in sun or shade? What’s in the background? Do you want to cut the flowers or enjoy them outside? How much time will you spend maintaining them?”
Choosing a certain look for a landscape is another decision best made in advance, adds Ted Howard, a self-described garden artist from West Los Angeles who specializes in showy flower beds for a Valley-based clientele. “It’s important to start with an idea,” says Howard: a picture from a book, a color palette, a particular image from a neighbor’s garden. He cautions, however, that gardens shown in magazines or books might grow in other areas of the country, where conditions--and plant choices--are different from ours. And even in local nurseries the plant selection varies, depending on the time of year.
“Putting flowers together isn’t like building a brick wall,” Howard maintains. “There are many factors. You need to be flexible--and understand what plants are and what they need.”
Sandy Kennedy, a Woodland Hills landscape designer and contractor, advises fledgling green thumbs to take their ideas--and their list of garden conditions--to a small, well-run retail nursery and ask for advice on plant choices, soil amendments and design layout.
In her view, just as critical as buying the right plants for a site is creating a good medium to grow them in. Amending the beds, she says, is “vitally important, especially since our Valley soils run from sandy loam to heavy clay to rock.”
To avoid correcting for the wrong problem, she suggests taking a bag of the garden’s soil to a nursery for assessment. In general, she adds, “a rule of thumb for the mixed-color border is to blend about half of the recommended soil amendment with the existing dirt and dig or rototill the bed to a depth of six to eight inches.” She also endorses the use of a pre-planting organic fertilizer to ensure fast, full growth and vigorous blooming.
Inevitably, when designing a plot around blooms, the question arises whether to focus on perennials, which remain in the garden year-round but are often winter-dormant, or annuals, which flower zestfully, need frequent attention and live only a season or two. Wayt and Kennedy advocate mixing them up, using perennials to structure a layout and annuals for accent color.
“Most of my clients prefer perennials,” reports Kennedy, “which reflects a trend I’ve seen over the past 10 years. But they appreciate the annuals’ extra little punch.”
Like Kennedy, Wayt also blends popular ornamental grasses--which work well in cut-flower arrangements--and even edible greens into his mixed borders. “Vegetables,” he says, “provide texture and color; they’re good filler plants--and you can eat them!”
On the other side of the annual-perennial debate are people who dislike the appearance of a quiet garden and want lush color throughout the year. Most of Howard’s clients tend to fall in this camp, and for them he does twice-yearly “clean-slate” plantings using a potpourri of the season’s annuals. Contrary to the neat marigold and pansy squares one might expect from this approach, Howard’s creations have, in his words, “a wild, English-type look” that’s more common in mixed borders.
One reason, he explains, is that he enjoys working with plants of different heights, pairing knee-high dwarf cosmos, for example, with bushy sages and low-lying petunias. This gives his landscapes a certain layered depth of field.
Wayt, who uses the same approach, describes a simple guideline for success: “Read plant tags to find out how tall things will grow. Then plant taller ones in back, medium in the middle, and small in front.”
Varying leaf textures adds further interest to a garden. So does planting a small tree--say a crape myrtle, weeping birch or evergreen pear--on the periphery of an especially sunny area. In this way, says Kennedy, “you create a bit of welcome shade, though not enough to keep your flowers from blooming.”
Color, of course, is always an important consideration when designing a floral show. While it tends to be a matter of personal preference, experts see a persistent trend toward softer hues--pinks, lavenders, grays, blues and whites--and away from yellows, oranges and reds. Kennedy points out, however, that bright hues work well as accents and can prevent a pastel garden from looking washed out.
With visions of lacy foliage and extravagant color in mind, it’s easy for the novice garden-maker to overlook the question of maintenance, particularly when wandering through the spring displays at a nursery. Make no mistake about it, though, flower beds take a lot of work. They require constant dead-heading (removal of spent blooms to encourage more flowering), periodic trimming and regular fertilizing--a once-a-month job during the warm season. They also need spot hand-watering if thirsty annuals are tucked in among more drought-tolerant perennials.
“The more dramatic the flower garden, the higher the maintenance will be,” Howard concedes. “Still,” he says, “it’s not that great a time commitment unless you let it pile up. Be consistent. Pay attention to the details.”
Kennedy points out that knowing the growth habits of plants and leaving them plenty of room to spread will reduce the need for foliage cut-backs. And she and others agree that starting small--with just a few plants in a limited area--is a good way for gardeners to learn just how much labor they can handle.
“There’s no rule that says flowers have to be in the ground,” Wayt declares. “Barrels, clay pots, wood containers, even wheelbarrows make terrific little gardens--great for beginners.”
Everyone, he concludes, from beginners to experts, can enjoy what he calls “the best part of growing flowers”--cutting a bunch for a friend. “It’s so nice to hand someone a bouquet and say, ‘These are from my garden.’ ”
Matter of Choice
As daunting as it is to face the wealth of glorious flora in the nurseries, a few words from the wise can simplify the picture. First, experts agree, it’s smart to look within be fore you look for plants. Recognizing your time limitations, design ambitions, garden-use patterns and attitude about watering can go a long way toward determining the right plant palette.
Most appealing to weekend gardeners may be relatively bulletproof plants--those that thrive and bloom without too much attention.
For them, landscape contractor Michael Wayt suggests marguerite and Shasta daisies, marigolds, sweet alyssum, gazanias, assorted ice plants and lantana--”an incredible, underrated, drought-tolerant ground cover.” Designer Ted Howard recommends a new perennial petunia, named “Supertunia,” that is reported to be an abundant year-round bloomer. Landscape contractor Sandy Kennedy cites “the whole family of geraniums,” and also favors “tough perennials” such as westringia and statice.
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As to plants that produce good cutting flowers, Kennedy lists roses, coreopsis, yarrow, zinnias, cosmos, asters and lilies. In local gardens, David Austen roses are especially popular now for their profuse, highly scented flowers, she says.
For hobbyists who relish novelty, her favorite new perennials are white Mexican primroses, rosy-pink Santa Barbara daisies and white mandevilla. Among new annuals, she picks seashell-white cosmos and the taller, free-standing St. Thomas stock.
Wayt, who appreciates the look of ornamental grasses mixed with flowers, suggests three kinds that grow well in Southern California: blue fescue, a low, clumping ground cover or edging plant; carex, which can be drought-tolerant, thirsty, sun-loving or shade-tolerant, and miscanthus, a tall, dramatic grass that’s suitable for flower arrangements.
In Wayt’s opinion, no spring plant list is complete without hollyhocks and sweet peas.
“Everyone’s grandmother had them,” he said. “When you see them on the back fence by the vegetable garden, there’s always some great childhood memory in your mind.”
Tools of the Trade
Ask Ted Howard, veteran designer and connoisseur of flower gardens, for a list of indispensable gardening tools and his reply is short and sweet: “Good soil. I don’t care if you use a fork, a spade, a specific food or a reference book. Your best friend is conditioned soil.”
Landscape contractor Michael Wayt shares Howard’s affection for fine dirt--amended with plenty of compost and other organic matter--but he also advocates particular implements for digging it. He likes a long-handled, V-shaped hoe, called a “Warren hoe,” which eases cultivation, weed pulling and earth turning. Also tough on weeds but gentle on the gardener is his favorite “push-pull weeder,” which can be used without bending over. A good steel bow rake is essential for soil preparation, he says, while supple gloves and the right pruning shears come in handy for dead-heading and trimming plants.
On the subject of pruning shears, landscape designer Sandy Kennedy favors a lightweight aluminum model with curved blades for maximum control. For larger branches, she recommends an eight-inch folding saw that fits easily in a back pocket. In her view, a small, pointed shovel--long-handled and lightweight--is another must-have for planting and maintenance, and she adds that, with tools, “you get what you pay for. More expensive is better.”
All three designers agree on one indispensable reference book: Sunset’s “Western Garden Book.” (The 1994 edition is available in paperback for $19.99 in most bookstores and nurseries.)
