Designing Landscapes or Creating Gardens? (Part Two)

For many projects, we stay involved in the management of garden maintenance for years – adapting, adding detail, and growing the garden. We do not see landscapes as static. We are intentional about guiding change in the garden. My fellow principal Richard, as a horticulturist, is not limited by the same rules that constrain landscape architects. It has been refreshing to explore our different approaches. He learned plants, garden history, and the art of cultivating gardens. He has the horticultural self-confidence to select species that will thrive and to take calculated risks and introduce the unusual. Deep knowledge of plants means he can confidently create remarkable color and texture combinations.

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Sandy FischerComment
Designing Landscapes or Creating Gardens? (Part One)

My livelihood has been working as a landscape architect; primarily on public and institutional projects. I have planned and designed diverse projects at a variety of scales, in multiple geographies, and in consultancies spanning from a small private practice to public service and as a principal in a global consultancy.  My work has been local and global.

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Sandy FischerComment
Another Perfect Plant: Chinese Lady Slipper Orchid

Not for the inexperienced gardener, Cypripedium tibeticum is a gorgeous, if finicky, orchid. Native to the mountain regions of China, Tibet, and perhaps India, it is fairly widespread, but affected by orchid hunters, habitat loss through deforestation, and hikers, who trample over their delicate roots. Live species collection is a growing concern, but this orchid (and others) can be propagated synthetically in agar, lessening the need for wild collection and potential species depletion in the wild.

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Paul CadyComment
Another Perfect Plant: Apricot Sprite Agastache

Originally bred by the venerable English seed company, Thompson & Morgan, Apricot Sprite Agastache is a dwarf hybrid between Agastache coccinea and Agastache aurantiaca. Growing up to 24" high, this Agastache will mix well with other perennials and shrubs and will bloom profusely throughout the end of the summer and into the fall.

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Paul CadyComment
Another Perfect Plant: Wire Netting Bush

The New Zealand native, Corokia cotoneaster, is a contorted shrub with a stunning architectural form. Corokia is at its best when used in containers or against a light-colored background so the interesting form and black branches are highlighted. Without a strong background, it can get lost in a complicated planting arrangement. 

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Paul CadyComment
Another Perfect Plant: Japanese Primrose

Japanese primroses are an easy, showy addition to any shade, wet space in your garden. Primula japonica is part of the larger section of the Primula genus called the "candelabra types." These "candelabra type" primroses are so-called because their beautiful blooms are held about 12-18" above the foliage. Native to Japan, the flowers come in a narrow range of hues from white to red. Some notable cultivates include "Miller's Crimson" and "Postford White."

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Paul CadyComment
Change

Change is inevitable. We can accept it or resist it. Our acceptance or resistance to change mostly depends on our personalities and the situation. While all things good are easy to embrace, with bad news, denial and anger can take over until reality settles in. Then there is the mundanity of daily life; so much pattern, repetition, and habit leave us set in our ways and in our comfort zone. 

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Another Perfect Plant: Martagon Lily

Martagon lilies are a collection of species and hybrids that are well-suited for planting in a cottage-style part-shade or dappled shade garden. Introduced in 1921, this particular hyrbid is a lovely pale yellow and magenta, but other hybrids can be found in shades of pink, magenta, orange, and white. The flower stalks top out somewhere around four-feet and in early summer are covered by many sweet smelling flowers.

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Paul CadyComment
Another Perfect Plant: Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame'

Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame' is a relatively new arrival to the horticultural trade, first becoming available around 2012. Bred by Charles Valin at Thompson & Morgan, this award-winning plant is a hybrid between Digitalis purpurea and Isoplexis canariensis. A gorgeous cross, it is unfortunately only semi-hardy in the Seattle area. This should not stop you, however, from using it in containers or mixed into perennial borers as an annual.

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Paul CadyComment
Vertical Granite Cobble Curb

One of our favorite details is the "East Coast" granite curb detail. This design detail is commonly seen in Europe. The style bled over to the Northeastern United States and is a detail showcased in many private residences throughout this area. The materials and style enhance the aesthetic form of traditional architecture projects.

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Derek ReevesComment
My Garden

Experimentation is key to figuring out what works. At two years old, my own garden is an endless game of musical chairs. It is located in Montlake, near the Washington Park Arboretum and the University of Washington, with a 1922 craftsman house sitting four feet above the street. The sloping front garden is a small meadow laboratory, with a mix of plants that is predominantly perennial alliums, cone flowers, sedges and grasses.  

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Richard Hartlage Comments
Making Hard Choices in the Garden

I think there are two kinds of gardeners. The gardener that will sacrifice the garden to the plants, and the gardener that will sacrifice the plants to the garden. Gardening for me is the discipline knowing, growing, and trying to use plants in a creative way. Making hard decisions about which plants to add to the garden and which plants to remove takes great discipline and courage.

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Richard HartlageComment
Another Perfect Plant: Golden Tears Vine

This perennial twining vine is quite lovely woven into shrubs and up small trees. It attaches itself by tendrils and can reach heights of up to 10′-0″ to 12′-0″. Golden Tears come up in the spring and does not begin to bloom until late June or early July, and continues to bloom with its pale yellow bleeding heart-like flowers through October. 

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Richard Hartlage Comment
Another Perfect Plant: Hawkshead Fuchsia

Hawkshead Fuchsia is a beautiful white flowering shrub form of Fuchsia. In the Pacific Northwest, it is deciduous and is treated like a perennial. The flowers are pendent bell-shaped with a tubular calyx, four spreading sepals and four petals. The broad sepals are tinged with green. The foliage is deep green. 

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Richard HartlageComment
Another Perfect Plant: Daphne bholua

his Daphne originates from the Himalayas of Nepal and spans across to Southern China. Daphne bholua is a rather tall growing Daphne, reaching heights from 6′-0″ to 12′-0″ and fairly narrow in width, from 3′-0″ to 5′-0″. The long, narrow leaves are evergreen in warmer climates, but are deciduous in much colder climates. Blooming in the winter months, the dark pink flower buds open with light pink four-lobed flowers that are heavily scented.

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Richard HartlageComment
Another Perfect Plant: California Fuchsia

California Fuchsia, as the name implies, is a native of Northern California. It comes from the Mattole River in Humboldt County and was selected by Ray Collett and Brett Hall. The trumpet scarlet flowers begin to bloom in August and flowers through September. The silvery-white foliage grows in a dense mound or mat not exceeding more than a foot high and two feet wide. A sun lover, it is considered drought tolerant once established. 

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Richard HartlageComment
Another Perfect Plant: Brass Buttons

If you are looking for a dependable ground cover that will form a low mat, look no further than Leptinella squalida ‘Platt’s Black,’ or, as it’s more commonly known, Brass Buttons. This rhizomatous plant grows no taller than a couple of inches, and will keep spreading until the end of time. We recommend that you plant this in an area with barriers, such as an edged pathway or joint fillers for patios. 

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Richard HartlageComment