Gregg & Ellis Landscape Designs

Fabulous things are popping up in my yard.  About ten of these mushroom/fungi have sprouted in my yard.  They are so cool!  I would plant them if they were available in the nursery.

The mulch they are growing through is chipped blackberry vines I cut down last fall.  The one slightly positive thing I can say about blackberry vines it that there will always be more to chip for mulch.  Ugh.

March 1st I got out in the warm weather and planted my sweetpeas. The ground was easy to turn and I added a sack of worm castings while digging about a foot deep. Sweet peas like lots of organic soil. This year I didn’t soak the seeds over night as I am planting them plenty early.  As it gets closer to April and you haven’t planted yet, soak the seed.  Then, the next thing to remember is to cover the seeded area with a netting. Why, because for two years in a row I saw the little green elbows push above the ground on one day and the next day they were all gone.  No signs of slugs, so I replanted.  The next year I saw the crows early in the morning feasting on my new seedlings.  Yes, I ran out screaming and covered them with netting.  I haven’t had any problems for about five years.  I will be reporting  on them as they grow.

It has been a busy 4 days at the hg show.  Tonight is the big tear down at 6:00.  Clients came by to show photos of their new yards, WOW. Folks are busy. Plants are growing. Spring is coming. Life is good. A number of young couples talked about a landscape design for their first home.  They plan to do a lot of the work themselves and want to know that it will look great when finished.  This is always a fun project for us. So, please stop by 1509 to check in and say hi.

We’ll be in a booth this year with a 4 x 20 garden in an aisle nearby.  We’ve taken a break from the large gardens we used to create

The term native plants has become ridiculous!  Do you want nettles to play in and ivy along the foundation of your house? I hope not. In the February, 2013 issue of Digger Magazine (the Oregon Nursery Association monthly publication) Mike Darcy of ‘In the Garden with Mike Darcy’ had a column on the over use of the term native plants. It no longer has any meaning.

Public agencies want home owners to go native. What does that mean?  It seems to boil down to taking out your lawn.  Many grasses are very native to this area.  Our attention needs to focus on sustainability.  What can good stewards of our small piece of this earth do to better that space while also caring for it in a way that uses a minimum of resources? The biggest issues being water and chemicals. Since the beginning (1995) Carolyn and I have designed with sustainability in mind. Our own gardens are testing grounds for suitable plants and gardening methods. Plants that have the same water needs go together. Strong healthy plants repel insects and disease or they are not used. Lawns require the home owner (usually him) to do his homework on caring for lawns in a sustainable way (i.e water only as needed and fewer less chemicals).  We will continue to educate our clients to be good stewards and recommend salal and oregon grape or the many cultivars that have been developed for drought tolerance and easy maintenance.

Will power, restraint and stern self-talks are keeping my front yard in line so far. Having recently moved into a mid-century modern home, I want the landscape to echo the design of the house.  That means my plant choice and color palate should remain tight, minimal and planned.  The landscape should be sleek look with a Pan-Asian influence.

The lines of a mid-century house are long and low, giving a horizontal sense.  There is no fuss to the trim.  This garden wants that same feeling modern feeling. Japanese gardens work so well with this house style by using shaped Pine trees, minimal shrub choices that stay in tidy clumps and  maybe a little bamboo is added for whimsy.  However, my garden has me, a plant lover, as the owner. The yard and I may have a few compromises as planting continues.

My design is crisp and low maintenance.  Lines are straight and paths are long and narrow.  I have a book on Japanese gardens with two pages of path ideas that I’ve been drooling over for years.  We used 5’ long granite stair treads and  irregular flagstone pieces. The house has a grand view of the Willamette River, so I wanted to bring  that aspect into the yard using river rock in one quadrant.  I figure it’s drought tolerant and requires just a bit of leaf removal from time to time.

A few things came from the old house.  The gate’s a treasure I worked on with a metal artist and couldn’t bear to leave.  It needed a stand, so I’m hoping the tory gate look isn’t too much of a “been there done that” trite look.  A small number of plants snuck over here from the old house.  They all have a common deep maroon color about them, so that’s my starting point for cohesion in plant world. The existing Dogwood’s life was spared because Pablo Bautista, expert pruner, guided it into an acceptable shape.

More plants will come as spring moves in.  The pots will get filled with an orange grass, the dogwood will have Silver Dollar Hebes, Polygalas (look them up, they’re early blooming, evergreen and low). When I see Lavender, Dahlias or orange Echinacea, I’ll tell myself, “Set the plant down.  Walk away from the plant.  Do not look back.”  Will power, restraint and stern self talks—I’ll be happier in the long run.

(This is the house before we bought it.  You can’t see the red lava rocks lining the beds, but you can see the meatball shaped Azaleas.)

Snazz it up and deal with the drainage

Back in 1997 I did a design for this house. At that time we just “shrubbed up” with easy care plants.  Fifteen years later, my client called and said she had dainage problems and needed a yard that would take care of future water issues.   She liked the idea of using rock, having a sitting area and including some of her favorite plants.

Some of those yards with dry stream beds look terrible to me.  But with my design and Woody’s Custom Landscaping doing the installation, I’m delighted with the outcome.

AFTER GREGG AND ELLIS (above)

BEFORE (below)