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| Photo credit: Izumi Tanaka Photography |
The
owner, a landscaper (Rose in Bloom) uses this garden
as a testing ground to see what plants work in what areas as well as to
push the envelope somewhat by planting unusual species and seeing how they
grow…and how sustainable they are. Inspiration came from a desire to bring some
unusual gems to client’s gardens, giving their gardens that extra pizzazz.
One “client” that has certainly
benefited is the owner’s own family. There is movement in the garden
everywhere. With four water features and fruiting vegetation year round, birds
and other wildlife come and go constantly.
The pondless waterfall is a favorite.
On spring and summer Sundays, the owners sit on a swing with their coffee and
watch the water all morning. The waterfall draws people in. Many guests say it
is so relaxing that they‘ve never sat still for as long as they do in this
backyard.
The owners love the mixture of
succulents and Mediterranean flowering plants. There are some very unusual
plants. They wait all year for rare bulbs to display their once yearly blooms.
One favorite, Draculuncus Vulgaris (a
black lily), only lasts a week, smells like rotten meat, but is so beautiful
that all is forgiven. Most
of the year, the spider lily looks like an agapanthus but, when it blooms every
August, hundreds of white flowers—with tendrils make them look like elegant
spiders—cover it.
Trees include Japanese persimmon,
orange and loquat. Alpine strawberries grow in pots; their tiny, tiny fruit is
heavenly—the owners pick and eat them by the bowlful! Tomatoes, herbs, lettuce,
blueberries and other vegetables grow in a small vegetable garden.
The carefully chosen plants thrive
with deep but infrequent irrigation. The garden is watered once weekly in
winter and twice weekly during the hot summer. Running the traditional
sprinklers for two rounds of 5 minutes each—for a total 10 minutes—eliminates
runoff and insures that the water goes deeper to the roots.
