The Seed is the horticultural magazine of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. It is published twice a year for the members of the Arboretum. This issue was written by Karma Larsen. Copyright 2001. For a full version of this publication with visuals, photographs, charts, landscape designs, etc. call 402-472-2971.
The Seed, Spring 2001
The Small Garden-The Acreage
Gardens, perhaps more than anywhere else,
are a place for freedom, for creativity. Are there any two identical?
In a city block with small lots there might
be six yards, one after the other, identical in size, similar in soil
makeup, receiving similar amounts of sunshine. Yet for all the similarities,
each gardener leaves their mark. The primary goal with most small gardens
is to avoid the constraints, to avoid any feeling of restriction or confinement
and to enlarge, if not the space, at least the perception of space.
Vertical Space
One way many gardeners accomplish this
is by making better use of "vertical space." Trees, shrubs and
vines and physical elements like sculpture, fences, porches, arbors and
trellises can all be used to extend the ground plane so that the eye never
stops but simply moves from the ground level upward. Containers and groupings
of container plants function in the same way. Groundcovers can help soften
and extend the abrupt edges that would otherwise mark the limits of the
ground level and constrict the sense of space.
Planning gradual and varied changes of height-groundcover to flowerbed
to small shrub to shade tree-keeps the eye, and likewise the sense of
space, fluid and moving. Besides that, it mimics the inherent layering
that occurs anywhere trees are found in the natural landscape.
Varying the heights and types of plants
is good in several other ways. Diversity means the yard is less susceptible
to plant-specific diseases and insects. It attracts a larger range of
wildlife and birds. Ornamental interest is increased and extended and
the visual diversity gives an impression of depth.
With proper placement, trees and shrubs can help obscure the view into
the garden, making the space appear larger than it is because it can't
be viewed in its entirety. If the entire yard is visible, there's no need
to look or move further into it. An obscured view makes you want to explore
the space and see what's around the next corner. The goal in a small garden
is to attract attention into the garden and not beyond it.
Though it might seem best not to divide
a limited space into smaller areas, the effect can be just the opposite,
multiplying rather than dividing the space. Even a long narrow garden
can be divided into two or three distinct areas with different usages.
The use of curved rather than straight pathways
and plantings can make separate areas of the yard appear farther apart
than they actually are. Jens Jensen was well-known for his use of native
plants in the landscapes he designed for city parks and other public spaces.
He operated on the basis of his belief that "What the city man needs
is an expression of freedom in everything he comes in contact with to
counter balance the city's straight jacket, squared at all angles."
Careful attention to scale is important
in any addition to a small garden. Not only the size of trees and plants,
but even the scale of hardscape elements like pathways and furniture affect
the visual space of the area.
Constraints
In small city lots, air circulation may
be severely restricted by buildings and fences. The damp, stale conditions
that result provide a perfect environment for plant diseases. Using a
border of plants of varied heights rather than a solid fence means air
can circulate more freely and not create the hot, humid spots that might
otherwise occur, particularly in a narrow lot.
Besides the spatial constraints in a small
garden, there can also be limited sunlight if the garden is bound on either
side by buildings or fences. And oftentimes the sunlight that does come
through is hot and intense for a small portion of the day and nonexistent
for the remainder.
Though a small garden requires less maintenance
than a large one, weeds, bare spots and other problems are far more noticeable
at close range.
At Finke Gardens & Nursery, owner Luann
Finke is well aware of the difficulties of planting in small spaces. So
much so, in fact, that she has put together some handouts with suggestions
for these difficult areas. Her suggestions of good plants for hot, dry,
narrow strips include:
♦Little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium (and other grasses)
♦Cranesbilll, Geranium
♦Primrose, Oenothera
♦Asters
♦Dianthus
For narrow strips that are dry and shady
she recommends:
♦Coral bells, Heuchera
♦Hosta
♦Foam flower, Tiarella
♦Sedges, Carex
♦Barrenwort, Epimedium
A Confined Urban Garden
In the Lincoln Foundation Gardens,
a small, confined public garden in the middle of downtown Lincoln, the
designers used a number of tricks of "forced perspective" to
make the garden appear larger than it is. A water fountain in the back
of the garden is made to appear larger by having the steps leading toward
it gradually decrease in size, as well as increase in darkness, while
the side walls jut in progressively further and further as they near the
fountain. The changes are not obvious unless you're aware they've been
employed, yet the space seems much larger and less confined than it is.
Though few gardeners might go to such extremes,
the use of color can achieve some of the same effects. Place plants with
hot colors that visually come forward, reds and oranges, in the front
of the yard and use cool colors that recede-whites and blues and grays-toward
the rear.
Another thing the landscape architects did
within the walled environment of Lincoln Foundation Gardens was to soften
the concrete walls with vines and plantings and to "borrow"
the overhead canopy of neighboring areas by having their plantings visually
extend into them. In narrow city lots, neighboring views and greenery
can often be borrowed in the same way.
The water that runs through Lincoln Foundation
Gardens is an essential part of the design. The argument for using some
kind of water interest in a small garden is fairly simple according to
a writer in Fine Gardening, "Any element that enhances our senses
has the effect of expanding and prolonging our garden experience. Water
gardens are ideal for this…. What other elements offer so much in
so little space?"
Landscape architects Wolfgang Oehme and
James van Sweden say a pond "actually creates space-ambiguous space,
because it gives no sense of its own scale. In this way, water can fool
the eye, set off plantings and rocks, and seem to enlarge the garden."
By carefully thinking through and using the space available, they say,
even the smallest garden can provide the qualities of completeness and
distinction that make it "a world apart… the feeling everyone
desires at the heart of the garden."
In a Nutshell
♦Use vertical space, with plants that draw the eye upward.
♦Borrow desirable neighboring views by melding boundaries.
♦Obscure the view within the garden, either with plantings or screenings,
so the entire yard isn't visible at once, and you look into the garden
rather than through it.
♦Consider focal points and plan/plant accordingly.
♦Divide the space into specific areas with varied uses.
♦Intermingle a variety of plants of different heights to increase
air circulation, provide diversity and increase interest.
♦Use container plantings for most effective use of space and for
harsh or difficult spots.
♦Regardless of the size, consider how you would like to use the
space and plan accordingly.
♦Keep plantings and hardscape to scale.
♦Water gardens can add "ambiguous space" and interest
in a small area.
♦Any appeal to the senses adds interest and appeal. Fragrance is
particularly effective in small gardens.
♦Use dwarf forms of desired plants when available.
♦Play with perspective through color selection, making gradual changes
in size and scale, etc.
The Acreage
If the constraints of a small city lot
are obvious, is the grass greener on an acreage?
In the literal sense no, since green turf
is, for many acreage owners, both an impossible reality and their lowest
priority. The goal for many acreage-owners is to keep the landscape as
natural as possible, to intrude as little as possible on the existing
landscape. A tightly clipped lawn is simply not part of the picture.
Maintenance is another consideration since turf requires more care than
almost any other landscaping. According to Steve Rodie, Horticulture professor
at UNO, the most common mistake he has heard from acreage owners was that
"they planted too much high-maintenance turf."
Though the majority of homes in the country
have an area of mowed turf, many homeowners choose lower maintenance buffalograss
or fescue, and keep mowed areas to a minimum.
Habitat
Acreage owners Gary and Allison Petersen
had been living in a townhome where the yard was cared for by a crew every
Thursday. They had no desire to replicate in any way their city landscape.
Other things were far more important to them. Like many others who have
chosen to live in the country, providing wildlife habitat was an important
consideration. An existing pond provided desirable habitat for a variety
of animal life, and existing plants provided cover for pheasants, quail,
etc.
The Petersens tried to limit human impact
on their five acres to one area, and tried to keep the views wide open,
particularly in areas where their grandchildren play so they can supervise
them from the house. For now, grasses planted around the pond keep it
out of view from the children, and less of a temptation. As the grandchildren
grow and safety is less of an issue, they plan to mow several paths down
to the water's edge.
Providing fall and winter interest was extremely
important to this retired couple who spends time every summer in Colorado.
Low maintenance to make up for their absences was another high priority.
Their buffalograss lawn requires a minimum
of mowing, watering and fertilizing. But Allison says it was difficult
in the beginning and they had trouble getting good advice. "Everybody
knows how to care for a bluegrass lawn. We found it a lot more difficult
to get information about getting buffalograss started and managing weeds,
for example."
Moving from a shady, city lot to a windy,
hot and sunny site meant learning a different plant vocabulary. But they're
pleased with the native (and native-looking) plants they've put in.
Though they increased the size of the property
from that of a small townhome to five acres, maintenance has been manageable.
Prairie grasses are mowed once a year, the buffalograss somewhat more
often, and the perennials they've planted, things like Russian sage and
rugosa roses, require little attention.
Impact
For Steve and Kathy Blum, the biggest
shock was the wind. They had been warned about it but still found themselves
unprepared. One of the first things they did was to plant a windbreak
on the north. Kathy warns that, as important as the view is to many acreage
owners, "you certainly want to be protected."
The buffalograss they planted will eventually minimize maintenance but,
like the Petersens, they found that it has required quite some effort
to get it established and keep weeds out. Still, Blum says, neighbors
who planted bluegrass and fescue mow almost every night of the week.
Design is very different in a country landscape,
Blum has found. If you want plantings to have any impact at all, Blum
says, you have to do massive plantings, "15 penstemon rather than
two or three."
For almost all of their plantings, labor
for the initial planting is much greater than in an urban environment.
Their vegetable garden had to be surrounded by chicken wire dug into the
ground to discourage rabbits, trees need guards for the first several
years, buffalograss is slow to get established, and for many perennials,
soil needs to be amended before planting. Because the soil surrounding
their home is so poor, they put in raised beds for flowers and vegetables.
That too, will make planting much easier eventually, but required a lot
of labor in the beginning.
An Ongoing Process
Like many other acreage owners, the
first thing Carlton and Judy Paine planted on their three acres was a
row of pines on the north lot line. Their fescue lawn covers about a half
acre and takes 4-5 hours to mow. But Judy grew up on a farm and enjoys
being outside. She mows it all by hand with a self-propelled lawn mower
and thinks of it as good exercise.
Both of the Paines are plants people who
started by putting in "things we liked… without giving a lot
of thought to design" in the initial stages. In recent years they
have been working with a landscape architect who has helped them tie different
areas together, creating islands of trees and shrubs and putting in perennials
where trees provide some shade and shelter. Judy is pleased that the trees
they planted, particularly the crabapples, are large enough that she can
put in some shade plants.
The Paines give much more thought to views
now than they did in the beginning when they were just trying to provide
windbreaks and anchor plantings around the house. Judy enjoys the view
from the kitchen window, a perennial garden to the south that is in full
view and the view of the pasture where they keep horses.
Though their interest in plants gave them
a good background in plant selection, their landscape tended to look like
a plant collection, Judy said, "with one of each plant I love."
They have since added more variety in heights in their plantings, and
have learned the value of repetition in large spaces.
The plants they've put in have been primarily
drought tolerant and very hardy so they don't require much water after
the first year or so of growth. Rabbits have been a problem so they've
learned that tree guards are a necessity in the early years.
Like the Blums, they were surprised at how
poor their soil was for gardening. They don't amend the soil where they
plant trees, but they've found it almost a necessity for perennials, even
the hardier ones.
It's no surprise that acreage owners speak
of their landscape as "an ongoing process." The Paines have
been in the country since 1985 and though Judy recognized early on that
"we couldn't do it all at once… we thought we'd get it done
at some point, that it would be a static thing." Now in their sixteenth
year, plans for other garden areas, new plantings are still ahead of them.
In a Nutshell
♦Think about views early on in planning.
♦Consider scale. Larger plant material and larger masses of smaller
plants for effect.
♦Use windbreaks for shelter from wind, cold, heat, unwanted views
and as wildlife habitat. They also create beneficial microclimates.
♦Keep southwest exposure open to provide cooling, summer breezes.
♦Plant deciduous trees to the south for winter exposure.
♦Plan for useful purposes. Rodie says "we tend to look at landscape
as a picture rather than as a place to be." What he recommends is
"make landscape space into a place" that provides for functional
comfort and activities as well as aesthetic beauty.
♦Since entrance areas are not always obvious in a country setting,
you may want to highlight building entries and important paths, focussing
attention on places you want people to go or look.
♦Understand drainage patterns before you begin planting.
♦Group plants according to maintenance needs such as watering, etc.
♦Plan for activities, recreation, tool storage, vegetable garden.
Consider family interests, ages, activities.
♦According to forestry research, it is better not to amend soil
for tree-planting, though it may be a necessity for perennial beds.
♦Layer the landscape for interest, wind movement and plant and wildlife
diversity.
♦Consider edible landscape plants.
♦Ornamental and prairie grasses are low-maintenance and provide
year-round interest but can be a fire hazard if planted too close to buildings.
♦Think about tradeoffs. Fast growth usually means short life. Trees
planted closely for immediate protection won't fill in at their base and
will suffer in the long-term. But if you plant spruce seedlings, they
may not reach maturity in your lifetime.
♦Give serious thought to how much turf is necessary or desired since
it requires more maintenance than any other planting element.
♦To attract wildlife, plant thickets of wild plum, chokecherry,
elderberry, etc.
♦Plan for multi-season beauty by considering bark, seedheads, wind
movement through grasses, etc.
♦Protect young trees from wildlife damage by caging them.
Recommended Reading:
The Acreage Owner's Guide, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension
EC 97-2506-C.
NEBRASKAland Magazine Wildlife Habitat Improvement Guide, Nebraska Game
and Parks Commission.
University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension Publications:
Backyard Wildlife: Success Tips (G1332)
Buffalograss: Natural Grass for Turf (G1297)
Conserve Water in the Landscape (G1061)
Landscape Sustainability (G1405)
Ornamental Grasses (G1310)
Planting for Habitat (G671)
Watering Nebraska Landscapes (G1400)
Windbreak Design (G1304)
Woody Plants: Selection and Care (G1349)