Happy New Year, readers! You may have noticed a recent lack of posting from me–I do apologize but I have a good reason. In November, I participated in National Blog Post Month (NaBloPoMo), where you post every single day on your blog That was an awesome, challenging experience for me–but when it was done, I was tired and then the holidays hit! So, you know what that means–I went from a Blogging Maniac to a slacker.

photo by Kylee Baumle ourlittleacre.blogspot.com

Then it’s the New Year, and I didn’t do a 2011 retrospective or a list of resolutions. In general, I don’t like looking back, and resolutions (at least for me) are never really kept. So I decided to take a cue from nature and have one goal: Balance. When left to her own devices, Mother Nature will always strive for balance. Things, over time, balance out — droughts, rainfall, fires tend to be cyclical and, even though they can be short-term destructive, they often have long-term benefits.

“The famous balance of nature is the most extraordinary of all cybernetic systems. Left to itself, it is always self-regulated.” Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970)

I design, I write, I plant, I mother and I friend. Somewhere in there, I want to sleep well, live well and enjoy life. Doing any one thing too much–as I tend to do–knocks me off-balance. So this year is the Year of Balance. I promise myself to eat regularly, move regularly, see friends regularly, create regularly and work regularly. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? I know it’s not–it’s about day-to-day decisions that will lead to an overall quality of life that I have longed for, for a long time.

My work, both design and writing, revolves around nature. So I’ll take my cue from her and seek balance in my life–I know some days will be more balanced than others, and I know that this is a life-long lesson, but I’m in it for the long haul.

What about you all? How do you create balance in your lives? Is there something that reminds you daily to spread your focus out a bit? I’d love it if you share your thoughts–gardeners are some of the most generous people around, and I’m hoping that we can all benefit from the experiences of our friends.

And now–I’m done writing for the moment–time to get up, move and grab a bite to eat!

I have big news! I am happy and so excited to announce that Proven Winners, plant brand extraordinaire, has created a group of gardeners/writers to serve as brand ambassadors–and I’m one of them! The Proven Winners Garden Gurus is a group of 8 women who will write monthly about Proven Winners plants and how to use them in your garden, and I can’t wait to get started. I use a lot of Proven Winners plants in my container gardening for both my clients and myself–this company seems to always be on the edge, introducing plants with exciting forms or unusual color combinations (their lines of Supertunias and calibrachoas are yummy).  I’ll be sharing more information with you all as we get fired up–but in the meantime, check out my other Garden Gurus’ blogs!

Amanda Thomsen: Kiss My Aster

Carolyn Binder: Cowlick Cottage Farm

Laura Mathews: Punk Rock Gardens

Genevieve Schmidt: North Coast Gardening

Niki Jabbour: Year Round Veggie Gardener

Dee Nash: Red Dirt Ramblings 

Jean Ann Van Krevelen: Gardener to Farmer

In the last couple of months I’ve been getting into Pinterest, a site where you can organize all of your interests into online “bulletin boards.” I know–I’m a little late to the party! Some of you have been doing this for awhile now. I’ve found it to be useful in gathering ideas for clients (I email them a link to a board), organizing recipes (used my Pinterest iPhone app at the store the other day) and fashion (that one’s just for me–I gather ideas for clothing, accessories, etc.) and projects (I email links to The Hunky Foreman: “How about this fire pit design?”).

As we get into the colder winter months, many of us can’t do a lot of outside gardening. Your ground is frozen under 3 feet of snow, and you literally can’t dig a hole. That’s when I get into indoor projects, like window or tabletop gardens. I’m not really into the standard houseplants, so I try to gather ideas for either unusual plants or unusual ways to display them. Check out my Pinterest board on “Window Gardens“:

Although I live in a place where we can garden year round, I like bringing some of the outdoors in. Also, some of my clients are starting to ask for help with their indoor gardens as well–so my interest in indoor plants and displays has truly been growing over the last year. I started out with tillandsias (air plants)–I killed most of them with kindness, so now I’m starting over.

Now I’m getting into lithops, these oddball tiny plants that look like rocks, hence their nickname of “Living Stones”:

I have several projects planned for this winter–adding some glass shelving, creating an indoor display for my current balcony plants, and hanging some glass orbs in my window. Maybe I’ll try adding herbs inside, too. What kind of indoor gardening do you do? What are your favorite plants? Do you have plant collections? Do you have a new kind of planter you’ve discovered lately? I’d love to hear about it!

]]> http://www.jpetersongardendesign.com/2011/11/indoor-gardens/feed/ 1 http://www.jpetersongardendesign.com/2011/11/fake-grass-good-bad-or-just-plain-ugly/ http://www.jpetersongardendesign.com/2011/11/fake-grass-good-bad-or-just-plain-ugly/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:41:20 +0000 Jenny Peterson http://www.jpetersongardendesign.com/?p=3501

I came across this article about the City of Glendale, CA banning fake grass–city officials want homeowners to rip out their artificial turf and plant the real thing instead, and they’re coming after homeowners who aren’t.

photo by consumerist.com

On one hand, artificial turf cuts down on watering, fertilizing and emissions from lawn mowers, edgers and blowers. On the other hand, fake grass has been reported to contain toxins, is combustible and decreases food and cover for wildlife.

As a designer, I’ve never used it before, although I have been asked about it. In general, I don’t gravitate towards anything fake–turfgrass, laughs or breasts–but I wonder if the pros outweigh the cons. What say ye? Fake turf: a yea or a nay?

It’s time for a little Friday Link Love! Vertical gardening has been explosively popular in the last couple of years–and this is not just a fad that will go away. More and more people have less and less space, so it makes sense to take advantage of every piece of real estate you have, both horizontal and vertical. Check out this gardener’s answer to finding space for her veggie garden after her husband rebuilt the deck:

photo by katedjupe.com

At her blog A Kate Offering, Kate Djupe tells how she and her husband made this cool vertical garden–I think it’s ingenious, don’t you? Lots of plants in a small space, and it looks good, too. Win-win!

We all know that fall is the best time to plant perennials, right? So if you’re an Austin gardener and you’ve suffered through the Summer of Hell ’11 (we should have T-shirts made), you might be reconsidering what plants to put in the ground now. They’ve gotta be tough, drought tolerant, relatively pest-and-disease free, and oh yeah—really, really pretty! Are there such plants in existence? Why, yes, there are! Here are my top 5 go-to flowering perennials for Austin–plant these and you’ll be a happy camper. Er, gardener.

1. Mexican Bush Sage: (Salvia leucantha) Truly one of my favorites! This perennial will start to bloom sometime during the summer, depending upon the weather, and continue to be a show-stopper into the fall. If you give it plenty of sun, regular irrigation and good drainage, it’ll grow up to 3 1/2 feet tall and wide. It’s got a lighter green slender leaf with purple and white long blooms–gorgeous! Cut it back to about 6″ to a foot after the first freeze when you see damage.
2. Mexican Mint Marigold: (Tagetes lucida) Another outstanding native, Mexican mint marigold offers smallish yellow blooms atop 2 feet of green, aromatic foliage. This one will take full sun and average water, but is quite drought tolerant once established.
3. Yellow Bells: (Tecoma stans) Looking for a large flowering shrubby perennial? Look no further! Yellow bells, or esperanza, grows up to 6 feet tall or even taller, if it likes its spot. Full sun, good drainage and regular irrigation are its preferences, but it’s very drought tolerant after you get it going. A profusion of yellow flowers with bushy green foliage makes a perfect large addition to the back of your border.
4. Batface Cuphea: (Cuphea llavea) This plant is too adorable for words–the black and red flowers that look like a little batface with big ears is irresistible to both old and young gardeners! The fact that it’s super tough and takes our sometimes naughty weather in stride is just another notch on its belt. Give it full to part sun and medium water and it’ll grow up to 2 feet tall and wide.
5. Globe Mallow: (Sphaeralcea mnroana) I love plants with slightly unusual color combos, like this one–greyish foliage with bright orange blooms! It seems kind of contemporary to me. When the heat hits Austin, globe mallow will perk up and laugh in its face. Expect this badass plant to grow up to 3′ tall and 2′ wide in full sun and moderate watering.What are your favorite flowering plants for Austin? Ones that take the heat, defy the deer and aren’t too thirsty? I could easily choose another 5–we have so many awesome ones for our area–these are just 5 to get us going! Add yours to the list.

Now, I’m the first one to admit that this compost bin won’t win any beauty pageants, but it’s a compost bin, for heaven’s sakes. Plus, it’s free, so that makes up for it. We’re on a roll at The Hunky Foreman’s house to slowly turn it into an urban farm, and it’s long been in our plans to trade in the open pile for an actual bin. You can do yours in an afternoon, too, and here’s what you need:

One bin–3 wooden pallets

Two bins–5 wooden pallets

Three bins–7 wooden pallets

bailing wire and/or “L” brackets

Get the pallets from your local grocery store or home improvement store–we just asked if there were any we could take. They don’t have to be in perfect shape, but avoid ones that are really broken or messed up.

Take two pallets and stand them upright in an “L” shape:

We fastened them together at the top, middle and bottom where the pallets join, using heavy duty wire. You can also use “L” brackets for more stability. I told The Hunky Foreman, “We can use ‘L’ brackets for more stability.” He laughed and said, “These pallets don’t deserve ‘L’ brackets.” Guess we didn’t pick the best pallets.

Add a third pallet, fastening together at the corner as you did previously, to make one completed bin:

If you want one bin, you’re done. If you want two conjoined bins, add a 4th bin to the back:

And then a 5th pallet to close in the side:

We started running out of daylight, so we stopped here, but we’re planning to add two more pallets to complete our three bin system. If you’re handy, you can do it all by yourself. For example, I took pics while The Hunky Foreman did all the work. I’m a smart girl.

As you can see, some of our pallets have seen better days. That one on the end had two broken boards, but we turned that side to the outside and it should be fine. Another bit of advice–maybe I don’t need to say it, but do construct your bin(s) in their final resting place. You don’t really want to get the whole family out there to move this 5 feet over, do you? The Hunky Foreman thought ahead, otherwise I would’ve had to put down my Nikon and break a sweat.

Have you made your own bin, or do you use one of the prefab ones? Would you add a door or cover on this? One of our friends asked if the open piles would attract rodents. All the reading I’ve done indicates that if you have rodents in your yard, they’ll find the compost bin, but an open bin shouldn’t attract new ones to the area. Don’t put in anything like meat or rotten eggs into the pile (known materials that lure rats in droves) and when you add your kitchen scraps, add brown material on top so that your scraps end up more towards the middle of the pile.

I’d love to know what other kinds of DIY bins you all have come up with!

Ever see this on your trees? Funky growth from the lower trunk or the base? Those are suckers, and you want to get ‘em out of there. I could end this post there–after all, that’s what you need to know!–but I want to tell you what’s going on and why you should remove this growth. Here’s the skinny:

1. Suckers develop typically when the tree is stressed in some way–drought, overwatering, poor drainage, diseases or pests–and to counter the threat, your tree wants to put out new growth.
2. The problem is that suckers zap the tree’s energy away from the healthy upper growth. You obviously don’t want this.
3. Suckers often look different than the upper growth on the tree. This is because your tree was likely grafted from two varieties–the desirable variety is grafted onto the less desirable variety, and the sucker growth is typically from the less desirable variety.
4. Keep your trees healthy to avoid sucker growth, but if you see suckers growing, remove them promptly with your hand pruners.

Austin–as well as the rest of Texas–has been cursed with abominable weather this past year. We had an unusually cold winter, skipped spring entirely and then endured a Summer from Hell–80+ days of over 100-degree weather and no real rain since April. This has really taken a toll on our Austin landscapes, and our mature shade trees will likely continue to take a beating if we don’t get more rain. If you’re in the market to replace or add a shade tree or two to your landscape, here are some of the best ones to consider for our area. I rated these “best” because of their toughness, attractiveness and rate of growth. (Note: when looking for a quality tree, bypass the fast growers and opt for medium-to-slower growth rate instead. Fast growers usually produce weak wood–not safe or long-lived.)

1. Monterey Oak: (Quercus polymorpha) Also known as Mexican white oak, it’s not a glamour girl kind of tree but it offers a medium growth to 30-40′ tall with a spread of up to 40′–just a solid, good quality shade tree for your landscape. It’s got medium dark green leaves that will shed a bit in the spring as new leaves come out. Give it deeper soil and lots of sun–you’ll be happy with this one.
   

   photo by dandbtreecompany.com

2. Bur Oak: (Quercus macrocarpa) This is a huge tree in every way–grows up to 70+ feet, large leaves and ginormous acorns. Give this one plenty of room and lots of sun! Although it prefers deep soils, it’s adapted to our Austin-brand of soil (which means “not necessarily good”)–and it’s drought tolerant, deer-resistant and attracts butterflies and other wildlife. Score!
   

   photo by windbreaktrees.com

3. Lacebark Elm: (Ulmus parvifolia) Although not native to Texas, the lacebark elm has a lot of fans in this area. It grows up to 40+ feet at a relatively fast rate, is disease-resistant and has beautiful peeling bark. The leaves will turn a lovely chartreuse color in the fall before falling off for the winter. It’ll take a bit of shade and has average water needs–although I suspect it’s fairly drought tolerant once it’s established. Important for all of Texas right now!
   

   photo by everclearelm.com

4. Cedar Elm: Ulmus crassifolia) If you’re looking for a shade tree that offers up some fall interest, this could be the tree for you. Cedar elm grows from 30-50′ and has gorgeous buttery yellow leaves in the fall before they shed in the winter. It’ll take a bit of shade, is very drought tolerant, and doesn’t complain about our shallow rocky soils. Many of my friends consider this one of their favorites.
   

   photo by ci.austin.tx.us

5. Texas Ash: (Fraxinus texensis) This is the only Ash that’s appropriate for Texas, so please for the love of God, don’t confuse it with the awful Arizona ash! This ash grows from 30-50′ tall, needs sun and good drainage and will shed its leaves in the winter. It’s relatively long-lived and provides food and cover for wildlife. Great choice for Austin homeowners!
   

   photo by wildflower.org

There are many more native/adapted shade trees that are recommended for Austin–check out the City of Austin’s Grow Green guide for additional information and suggestions for native and adapted trees, shrubs and perennials. We live in a relatively harsh growing environment–do yourselves and your landscapes a favor by only using plants that do well here!

It’s amazing to me that I’ve never really gotten into planting bulbs before. I’ve done bearded iris, which I love, but that’s about it. And every spring I see these gorgeous pics in garden magazines that show groups of daffodils, tulips and other spring-flowering bulbs exploding in pots. This year, I’m doing it.

Now, I’m just getting out of the Summer from Hell, so I’m not yet ready for next spring’s warmth, but if you want spring-flowering bulbs, now’s the time to plant. I picked up 6 daffodil bulbs at The Great Outdoors:

I’ve got this planter on my balcony filled with old soil and dead vines. Time for a makeover, don’t you agree?

After cleaning the planter out, I put the bulbs pointy side up in the soil. Plant bulbs about 3x as deep as the bulb is wide–my bulbs are about 1 1/2″ in diameter, so I nestled them down about 5″ into the soil.

I covered them with soil and watered in–it’s that easy!

It’s not a lot to look at now, but I’m hoping next spring, I’ll be treated to this:

photo by gardenersworld.com

Do you plant bulbs in pots? This may just be a new fall tradition for me! I have no idea why I’ve never done this before, but the horticultural gods were calling to me this year, and who am I to say no to them?