An outdoor bathroom...?

Today's garden is one that I'm just not too certain how I feel about. It is the Inovo/Ecosmart Garden featured in the Auckland Flower show by landscape designer Caroline Wesseling.

There are a lot of things I like about it, mainly the clean meditative aesthetic. I love the fire features (These are by Ecosmart and if you haven't been to their website you are missing out!) It is by far the most creative garden show entry I have come across recently. I think the use of metal grating as the walkways is very interesting, and permeable. And, I like the contrast between the riotous plant material and the minimalist shapes of the hardscape.

And then of course it makes me wonder- would I want a bathroom outdoors? As someone who does quite a lot of camping, I have to say I might have enough of that in my life already. But that bathtub does look awfully comfortable...

Modern xeriscape garden design

I have noticed a funny trend amongst my clients: people have basic shapes that they are very attracted to, even when it comes to plants. The top winner? Definitely the circle.

Plants with an almost mathematical geometry look amazing in masses or rows, and have a very contemporary aesthetic. I think these barrel cacti (Echincactus grusonii) are a perfect example. They are also stunning as an individual statement alone or in a pot.

Here are a few more circles worth looking at:

Don't forget to update the garage door

One of my recent obsessions is what to do to update the Ranch Style house. There are so many communities in San Diego (like Claremont, College area, La Mesa.... to name a few) that were built as mass developments of single story ranch style houses in the late 60's. The very most common shape, the "L", has to be the hardest hardest house to remodel and have it look attractive when you are done. Plop a second story on it? It just looks like a boxy fortress. Make it into a "u" shape and add a guest bedroom? Now your front door is at the end of a long cavernous tunnel. So as I drive around these parts of town, I'm going to try to snap images of remodels to Ranch houses that actually worked, and see if we can find some unifying principals to think about when you are contemplating a remodel of your own.

Today's tip: Don't forget the garage door! We are so used to ignoring garages because they jut out at us unattractively, so we just block them out mentally. Or at least we try to. So you'll see plenty of house that have undergone a full remodel and still have their cheap looking white painted aluminum garage door. I'll try to find better pictures to show how a new garage door can make a huge difference, but here was the house that set me thinking on the issue, so this is the one you get for today.

The house itself is a little less modest than it appears because it drops off of a slope, so the back could be 2-3 stories, but the front is quite modest. They added cedar shingle, refinished or replaced the garage door, and added the new roofline over the front entry. Overall, I think it probably helped the look of the front of the house quite a lot.

A few other things that I have noticed that can make a big difference:

1) Anything you can do to add dimension to the architecture will help. Try adding canvas awnings to the windows, like this one from my favorite canvas company, Moran Canvas:

2) Other ways to add dimension to the architecture: Add a heavy overhead arbor to the front entry. It can feel like a new roofline.

3) Add a gabled roof over the entry and create a small entry patio there with some planter pots or even rocking chairs. Or, take this idea further and make it into a front entry courtyard.

4) Push the style to the next level and play up the Mid-Centry Modern side. It is very very in right now. We can blame Mad Men for that.

5) Redo the stucco and make it a Santa Barbara smooth finish. This will look substantially more modern, really. You'll be amazed.

6) Add trim to the windows. They cheaped-out back then on the windows a lot.

7) Try a paint scheme that has three colors: one for the body of the house, one for the trim and facia, and another one for the windows and doors. Look around your neighborhood and find a house with a three color scheme and see how it adds a depth that you can't get with two colors.

Okay, enough of that rant for today. I promise to find more good pictures of a ranch house remodel done right and post them for your viewing pleasure.

Is this a moden fireplace or a traditional fireplace?

This is a fireplace by Landscape Architect Christy Ten Eyck in her own home garden. I love it! I think she hits a wonderful note (well, maybe more like a chord) by combining the typically modern rusted steel with the typically traditional Texas limestone. The result is something that I find very comfortably "now".

I came across the fireplace on garden designer Pam Penick's wonderful blog, Digging.  Make sure to drop in on her blog and see what's new!

Modern trellis

 

I love this modern trellis system! It is made using a system by Jakob Stainless Steel. Clean and straightforward and so much better suited to modern architecture than standard wood trellis panels. In fact, their cable and turnbuckle systems come with so many options, I think you could make them work just about anywhere. As a side note, I love the piece of hardware that is holding the posts off the ground (always a good idea to keep the posts from rotting, but how much sexier is this than your typical Simpson post base?)

Fall color in San Diego (Oh... its winter?)

  

Its the middle of winter in San Diego right now... and the best fall color I have ever seen here. Something about the weather this winter (early cold, lots of rain at just the right time) prompted all of the trees that change color to put on their best show. The Liquidambars were bright red flames, the Mulberrys were gorgeous lemon yellow, the Crape Myrtles were a rich rust and even the Chinese Elms (which I would never never list as a fall color tree) had a lovely yellow cast to them.  All of the photos included are ones I took around town... really!

So a quick list of great fall color to include in your garden if you live in Southern California:

- Liquidambar (Palo Alto is very popular but there are a lot of these to chose from, primarily red and burgundy)
- Pistacia chinensis, Chinese Pistache, bold red
- Ginkgo biloba, light lemon yellow
- Crape Myrtle, rust red

   - Mulberry, lemon yellow
   - Chinese Tallow Tree, red orange and yellow all at once
   - Fruiting peach, orange red
   - Japanese Maple (or Silver Maple if you live inland), bold red
   - Boston Ivy (vine) bright red

Sage featured in Union Tribune

 A Sage project was featured this Sunday in a special section in the Union Tribune (our main newspaper in San Diego) titled Distinguished Digs, by Lou Shook. I have worked with a few magazines before, but this was my first newspaper article. I was surprised by how different the process was. In the magazines, they may photograph a project and not print the story for two or even three years (especially in the national publications). One person photographs the project, another person acts as art director and yet another person writes the copy.

So to me, the process of working with Lou to put this together just flew past, about two weeks from him picking my brain for an article idea to the actual printing. The other thing that surprised me, but shouldn't have, is that the newspapers don't send you the story ahead of time to fact check. The magazines do this religiously to avoid lawsuits but the paper enjoys a level of freedom of the press that makes it unnecessary and way too time consuming. It makes working with the papers much more intimidating, since you don't really know what they'll print.

I'd say the magazines are more of a marathon and the newspapers are more of a sprint.