AP Photo/Dean Fosdick

Gardening-Salty Soils

This May 24, 2012 photo shows a Rosa rugosa (beach rose) flourishing in sandy, salt spray-laden soil on Whidbey Island near Coupeville, Washington.

Posted: Monday, December 10, 2012 12:15 am
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Updated: 11:58 pm, Sun Dec 9, 2012.

Salt can leave a bad taste in lawns and gardens

Associated Press |

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Salt in the soil can be deadly for lawns, trees and gardens, robbing plants of their ability to absorb water. Salt-tolerant varieties are available, however, and ground laden with soluble toxins can be flushed clean to depths below the root zone.

Regular soil testing is the best way to determine salt levels, said Richard Koenig, associate dean and director of Washington State University Extension.

“The problem is common in the Desert Southwest (with irrigation buildups), along roads cleared with de-icers and near oceans, where you get wind-blown sea spray,” he said.

Salinization frequently appears as white-crusted soil on the ground’s surface or stunted vegetation, particularly in low-lying areas.

“Another characteristic symptom is brown and brittle plants,” Koenig said. “People often refer to (soil) salinity as ‘chemical drought’.”

Anyone who has tried to sprinkle salt from a wet shaker knows how readily salt stores water, said Leonard Perry, an extension professor with the University of Vermont.

“Rock salt exhibits the same property in the soil, and absorbs much of the water that normally would be available to roots,” Perry said. “That’s especially a problem in the spring, when plants are coming out of dormancy and their roots are the most active. Salt competes with plants for that water.”

Saline soils cannot be reclaimed with chemical amendments, conditioners or fertilizers, according to horticulturists with Colorado State University Extension.

But there are methods for reducing or eliminating salinization in the root zone. These include:

— Detoxifying the soil by flushing. “If you have a way to wash the soil using excess water that is not high in salt, then you can leach them down deeper into the soil,” Koenig said.

— Improving drainage. Mulching to prevent evaporation and retain water in the soil also helps. Hose salt spray and pollutants off plants and lawns after heavy storms.

— Using raised beds filled with fresh soil that provides some control over salinity, pH and compaction. “That elevates your soil and lets you leach it out of the beds,” Koenig said.

— Adding windbreaks — snow fences, hedges and trees — deflects sea spray.

— Removing and replacing soil covered with road salts. “But unless you can replace the cause of the problem, like moving plant sites farther from roadways, the problem will persist,” Koenig said.

— Growing plants that tolerate soil salinity. “Some plants simply grow better than others in salt,” Perry said. “If salt concentrations are heavy, going from perennials to annuals might help.”

Plants that are particularly salt-sensitive include carrots, onions, strawberries, beans, cabbage and most tree fruits. Salt-tolerant plants include asparagus, Rosa rugosa (beach roses), sumac, prickly pear cactus, columbines and daylilies. Beets, squash, zucchini, chrysanthemums and many evergreens are moderately tolerant, meaning they can survive brief storm surges but should be screened from persistent salt spray.

“Lawns usually aren’t as much of an issue, but you will see some browning and damage near roads,” Perry said. “That’s where barriers help.”

Look to native plants as salt-tolerant indicators when doing any seaside or roadside landscaping.

___

Online:

For more about managing saline soils, see this Colorado State University Extension fact sheet:

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/crops/00503.html

© 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Farmers in some areas of Oman have already begun to benefit from Kala Compost, one of Haya Water’s premier products. Kala Compost is an environmentally friendly product which is now becoming increasingly popular and used for agriculture, landscaping and for individual gardens. This eco-friendly recycled compost is a by-product of the water reuse treatment process and is now being actively marketed and used by an increasing number of farmers looking for a cost effective and environmentally friendly compost product.

To further enhance their commitment towards the farming segment, Haya Water recently signed an agreement with the College of Agricultural Marine Sciences at Oman’s leading educational hub – the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). This accord was authorized by Haya Water’s CEO Eng. Hussain AbdulHussain and Prof. Kacimov A.R – Dean, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, SQU.
CEO of Haya Water, Eng. Hussain AbdulHussain commented on the association, “The association with the College of Agricultural Marine Sciences is a very proud moment for Haya Water. In our endeavour to make Muscat a better place to live in, we have been able to positively impact the agricultural community.”

He also added, “The fact that Haya Water can also now offer highly cost effective treated effluent for farmers to irrigate their crops further deepens the partnership between Haya Water and the agricultural community – ensuring they receive cost effective and environmentally friendly solutions.”

Under the purview of this association, the college will assist Haya Water in conducting Kala Trial Field Experiments. Trials will be conducted to determine will be about the optimal usage of fertilizers, controlling use of treated waste, analysis of heavy metals, micro-flora, salinity in soil and plants under improved irrigation schemes and techniques which will ensure a well-researched use of Kala Compost in the Sultanate.

As a product Kala Compost was introduced to the market only in December 2010, but is already proving a great success for farmers, landscaping contractors and home gardeners who are able to benefit from a product that boosts soil fertility, helps protect against soil erosion and creates more green areas in Oman.

Sulyem Al Hikmani, GM Commercial Division explained:”We have been delighted with the response of the farming community to using our product and this has seen excellent growth throughout the Sultanate. This initiative by Haya Water also shows their dedication towards developing Kala by carrying out intensive research programs”.

Haya Water has developed its Kala Composting plant, that is located at Al Multaqa in Amerat, to enable the efficient re-use of sewage biosolids, and green waste enable their conversion to compost that can be used for agriculture, landscaping and for individual gardens. The positive environmental impact of the project was recognised in 2011 when the company was awarded the prestigious OER “Green Footprint” award for its Kala Composting Plant.

As a result today 100 per cent of all waste biosolids generated by the company’s water reuse treatment plants are now treated and converted to compost – instead of being dumped into a landfill site as had been the practice in the past.

The capacity of the plant to deal with a wide range of other waste also means that some companies are now sending their waste to Kala Composting Plant instead of dumping it into landfill sites – something that can contribute to creating greenhouse gases – especially methane.

Haya Water’s vision is to enable Muscat to become one of the top cities in the world by building and operating a world class Water Reuse system that connects at least 80% of the residential properties by the year 2018 and brings enormous environmental benefits to the Muscat Governorate area.

Starting this weekend, Singapore will shine, thanks to a canopy of artificial trees that tower hundreds of feet above the hot and humid city.

The man-made mechanical forest, five years in the making, consists of 18 supertrees that act as vertical gardens, generating solar power, acting as air venting ducts for nearby conservatories, and collecting rainwater. To generate electricity, 11 of the trees are fitted with solar photovoltaic systems that provide lighting and assist with water flow in the conservatories below. These trees serve several purposes: they act as a vertical tropical garden, as the engine room for the environmental systems of the conservatory, and as rainwater receptacles. They will also be lit up at night, and some will connect by walkways to provide an aerial view of the garden.

The Supertrees, which vary in height between 80 and 160 feet, are made of four parts: reinforcement concrete core, trunk, planting panels of the living skin, and canopy. Just like non-mechanized forests, the large canopies operate as temperature moderators, absorbing and dispersing heat, as well as providing shelter to visitors walking below. This suite of technologies can help to achieve at least 30% savings in energy consumption, compared to conventional methods of cooling, according to the project’s website. Special sky bridges connect a few of the trees, for those brave enough to walk above Earth at the height of the top of skyscrapers.

The colossal solar-powered supertrees are found in the Bay South garden, which officially opens to the public on June 29. The 250-acre landscaping project is part of an initiative from Singapore’s National Parks Board called Gardens by the Bay. The idea is to create a sustainable garden in the city, generating a better environment for humans with a creative fusion of technology and nature.

The artificial trees are just a tiny part of a larger botanical oasis with lakes and plants, where concerts and events can be held. Surrounding these cultural green spaces in the rest of the 103-acre Bay South park are sprawling areas complete with lakes and bridges.

Stuck on what to get the gardener on your holiday gift-giving list? Here are a few suggestions, some of which came from local gardeners.

• Native bee habitats

Master gardener and crafter Pam Aronow offers two types of habitats to attract native buzzing pollinators.

She reuses wood pieces, burns designs on them and adds recycled hardware for decorations. Holes in the wood provide tubes for bee nurseries.

For certain ground-nesting bees, she paints clay pots, which are placed upside down on the ground. Wire, bedding and other parts inside the pot create a safe place for these bees to build nests.

“These are good to have because we need our pollinators,” she says.

Buy: $30, $50 and $75 for wood habitats; $30 for bumblebee pots. Order from Aronow, 743-6080.

• Local dirt

The Fairfax Companies goes full circle on recycling. Its organic compost and mulch are made from the company’s local landscaping jobs. The decorative wood chips come from area mesquite, eucalyptus and palo verde debris. They and other products are sold under the Tank’s Green Stuff label. If you don’t like the idea of a bag of dirt under the tree, consider a gift certificate.

Buy: Compost in 2-cubic-foot bags ($8) at selected Ace Hardware stores. Wood chips in 2-cubic-foot bags ($6) at Mesquite Valley Growers. Bulk and bag sales available at Tank’s Green Stuff locations, 5300 W. Ina Road and 7301 E. Speedway. Information: tanksgreenstuff.biz

• Tucson Planting Guide

Flagstaff resident Julie Lancaster packs an astounding amount of information on a double-sided laminated page. She consulted with Tucson-area gardening experts to provide planting and gardening calendars, companion-planting tips, soil preparation instructions, transplanting advice and more.

Buy: Harlow Gardens ($10), Rillito Nursery Garden Center ($10) and Tohono Chul Park ($9).

• The Gardener’s Hollow Leg

Strap the 5- or 1-gallon recycled polyester sack around your waist and take care of gardening jobs without having to go back and pick up debris. It’s a hands-free way to carry around your litter bag.

“It is what I wished I had 15 years ago to do my clipping, deadheading, etc.,” says Marylee Pangman, who teaches container gardening classes.

Buy: Mesquite Valley Growers and online stores. Suggested retail price: $30, $25. Information: thegardenershollowleg.com

• Desert Snow Bush

Also known as pearl bluebush (Maireana sedifolia), this Australian native adds an exotic color to the desert yard.

“It will be the only plant in your landscape that is almost pure white,” says William Harlow, owner of Harlow Gardens.

The slow-growing, evergreen shrub has plump, pearly leaves. It’s heat-loving, drought-tolerant and cold-hardy. It does well in the desert’s alkaline soil.

Right now they’re pruned to look like Christmas trees.

Buy: We found them at Civano Nursery ($19), McConnell Nursery Landscaping ($25), Harlow Gardens ($30) and Mesquite Valley Growers ($30).

Contact local freelance writer Elena Acoba at acoba@dakotacom.net

SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden Gate Bridge. Fisherman’s Wharf. Alcatraz. Chinatown. To the long list of this California city’s remarkable attractions, add a new one — a living tropical rainforest entirely contained within a four-story glass dome.

Rainforests of the World is the centerpiece of the newly redesigned California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It is a spectacular permanent exhibit, one that provides a home for more than 1,600 live animals and thousands of individual plants in a hemisphere measuring 90 feet in diameter.

This exhibit — and, indeed, the entire new $488-million Academy of Sciences building — was designed by famed architect Renzo Piano, whose smaller prototype dome, and the only other one of its kind in the world, stands in his native Italy.

The Academy building notably features a dramatic, 2-acre living roof covered with native California plants and wildflowers. Beneath its seven manmade hills, the recreated museum has restored every element housed in the original 1915 structure that was torn down in 2004 to make way for the new building. Its Kimball Natural History Museum, Steinhart Aquarium and Morrison Planetarium, as well as renowned research and education programs, persist in 21st-century form.

But the unqualified highlight is Rainforests. Temperature- and humidity-controlled to emulate tropical climates of Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica and the Amazon jungle, it is home to 250 free-flying birds and butterflies, nearly 100 reptiles and amphibians, and hundreds of flowering plants, including 30 species of orchids and other bromeliads.

An elevator raises visitors to the top of the dome, from where a spiraling ramp leads them downward through the various levels of rainforest canopy. And at the foot of the dome, an acrylic tunnel passes through a 100,000-gallon “Flooded Forest” tank inhabited by tropical freshwater fish — and exits into the aquarium.

Exploring

The California Academy of Sciences faces upon the Music Concourse at the heart of historic Golden Gate Park, directly opposite the similarly spectacular new de Young Museum of fine art. A full day’s visit could easily be split between these two museums.

But Golden Gate Park is so much more.

One of the largest urban parks in the world — at 1,017 acres, it is greater in size than New York’s Central Park — Golden Gate Park stretches 3 miles due east from Ocean Beach, on the Pacific Ocean, to San Francisco’s fabled Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. It’s only one-half mile wide, but its curving drives connect at 20 different spots along the park perimeter with the grid of streets of the Richmond district, to the north, and the Sunset district, to the south.

The museums are in the eastern section of the park, less than a mile from the Haight. So, too, are such other leading attractions as the Conservatory of Flowers, the Japanese Tea Garden and the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.

West of circular Stow Lake, which dominates the heart of Golden Gate Park, broad woodland-fringed meadows extend past seven smaller lakes. In all directions are facilities for a wide range of sports and recreational pursuits — tennis, golf, soccer, horseback riding, polo, archery, horseshoes, lawn bowling, handball, football, softball, fly casting, rowing and remote-controlled model boats (in Spreckels Lake), as well as the more obvious running, walking, bicycling and in-line skating. There’s even a bison paddock where the shaggy bovines graze.

Several roads are closed to vehicular traffic on Sundays year-round and Saturdays in summer, so visitors should be prepared to explore by foot at these times, or board a free shuttle that operates weekends every 15 to 20 minutes.

These shuttles are not cable cars — but, then, Golden Gate Park was already 2 years old by the time Andrew Hallidie invented the cable car in 1872.

To look at the park today, one might never guess that when its boundaries were established in 1870, it was a swath of wind-swept sand dunes. Indeed, it didn’t appear to have much future as parkland. But its visionary first superintendent, William Hammond Hall, set to work stabilizing the dunes into hills and valleys by anchoring the shifting sand with vegetation.

Hall’s successor, a young Scottish estate gardener named John McLaren, took over as superintendent in 1890 with a Park Commission mandate to make the park “one of the beauty spots of the world.” Over the next 53 years, McLaren experimented extensively with sand-holding grasses and plants from all over the world, built up the soil with clay and manure, and transformed Golden Gate Park into one of the nation’s loveliest urban parks.

McLaren’s first test was the world’s fair of 1895, conceived by San Francisco Chronicle publisher Michael H. de Young as a means of jolting the city into economic recovery following a nationwide depression in 1893. Elaborate exhibits such as the new Japanese Tea Garden and the pre-existing Conservatory of Flowers helped draw 2.5 million people into the park, where they visited pavilions representing 20 nations. Also erected at this time was the Fine Arts Building, which subsequently stood as the M.H. de Young Museum of Fine Arts for more than 100 years.

Directing an army of gardeners with the skill of a symphony conductor, McLaren carried the park into the Second World War years. The most trying period, perhaps, came in the days and weeks following the devastating 1906 earthquake, when scores of suddenly homeless refugees set up temporary shelters in the park. Perhaps McLaren’s spirit was still looking over the park during 1967’s “Summer of Love,” when thousands of hippies camped in the park and gathered for concerts and other events at Speedway Meadow.

De Young Museum

The original de Young museum might still be a part of Golden Gate Park, had it not been badly damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. At that time, it housed not only the de Young collection — mainly American fine and decorative arts from the pre-Columbian era to the present — but also, in an adjoining wing, the city’s renowned Asian Art Museum.

Both institutions closed here in the fall of 2001. The Asian Art Museum reopened a year later in a new building at the San Francisco Civic Center.

The de Young moved its collection into storage, demolished the original building and began work on a new one, which finally welcomed the public again in 2005.

Herzog de Meuron, a Swiss architecture firm whose designs include London’s Tate Gallery of Modern Art, was hired to design the new museum. Constructed of recycled redwood, eucalyptus and copper, it stands three stories tall and is crowned by an observation tower 144 feet above the surrounding acreage, offering panoramic Bay Area views at no charge.

And although the new de Young occupies 2 fewer acres of parkland than its predecessor, its multi-story construction gives it twice the gallery space. That’s great news for lovers of American art.

I began my recent visit on the main gallery level, winding first through several rooms of Mesoamerican, Mayan and Native American art, including ceremonial and funerary objects. Then I wound down a hallway into additional galleries of 20th and 21st-century American art, with special emphasis on such famed California artists as Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn and Jay De Feo, as well as New York-based painters Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Robert Rauschenberg.

One floor above, the galleries that feature pre-20th-century American art are especially strong in portrait and landscape paintings, as well as trompe l’oeil still lifes. Painters like Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran and Frederic Remington are prominent. I also discovered a fine exhibit of early American decorative arts, including furniture, silver, glass and porcelain.

The international collection emphasizes sub-Saharan African arts and Oceanic pieces, especially New Guinean masks and tribal totems. There’s also a section on world textiles, including what is claimed as the finest collection of high-quality Anatolian kilims (flat-woven pile-less tapestries) outside of Turkey.

Through mid-February, a special exhibit recalls the life and work of legendary dancer-choreographer Rudolf Nureyev, and it is a moving tribute. On display are more than 80 costumes from Nureyev’s personal collection, along with video footage of some of his most grandiose productions in New York and around the world.

Gardens and beyond

One of the park’s most beloved attractions is the 5-acre Japanese Tea Garden, immediately west of the de Young and practically over the fence from the art museum’s sculpture garden.

More than 100 years old, the garden has wedded traditional Japanese landscaping and architecture to create an atmosphere of serenity and tranquility. Points of special interest include a bronze Buddha dating from 1790, a pagoda, a Zen rock garden, a hillside of bonsai trees with a miniature waterfall, and an open-air Japanese tea shop offering cookies and green tea.

Opposite the Japanese garden is a secondary entrance to the Strybing Arboretum, home to the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society. With more than 7,000 plants from all over the world spreading over 55 acres of rolling terrain, this outstanding collection puts primary emphasis on regions of Mediterranean climate, such as South Africa, Australia, Chile — and California.

Other attractions here include the Garden of Fragrances, where plants are labeled in Braille; a hillside garden of succulents; the New World Cloud Forest, where special mist-emitters supplement the San Francisco fog; and a Redwood Trail planted in 1898 with coast redwoods.

Probably the park’s best-known repository of plant life is the Conservatory of Flowers. Erected in 1879, the oldest surviving wood-and-glass greenhouse in the United States was shipped in prefabricated parts from Dublin, Ireland, to be installed on a San Jose estate, but by the time it arrived, its purchaser had died. A group of San Francisco businessmen then bought it for the new Golden Gate Park.

The ornate Victorian greenhouse appears as a white bubble amid a sea of flowering formal gardens, with two wings flanking an octagonal central rotunda. It holds 1,750 species of rare tropical flowers and plants, representing the flora of more than 50 countries. Within the five galleries are exhibits of medicinal and economically important rainforest plants.

Just outside the Conservatory are gardens of dahlias (the official flower of San Francisco), fuchsias, roses and rhododendrons. Nearby is a Shakespeare Garden, presenting plants mentioned in the Bard’s plays, and the National AIDS Memorial Garden.

The southeast corner of Golden Gate Park, across Sharon Meadows from the Conservatory, is where San Francisco opened the country’s first public playground in 1887. Like so many other features of the park, it too has been renovated, to the tune of $3.8 million. The new Koret Children’s Quarter reopened in 2007 with its famous 1914 Herschell-Spillman carousel remaining as its centerpiece.

West of the Botanical Garden, a footbridge leads over moat-like Stow Lake, which doubles as a paddleboat playground and an irrigation reservoir. At its heart is 428-foot Strawberry Hill, the park’s highest point but one too wooded to allow views.

In the northwest corner of the park, the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, a small but beautiful formal garden that blooms in early spring, provides a setting for the Dutch windmill, which pumped water for irrigation during the early years of the park. The windmill was restored for decorative purposes in 1981.

Golden Gate Park’s western boundary is delineated by Ocean Beach, now administered by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Though few brave the chill waters without wetsuits, Ocean Beach is a haven for joggers, beachcombers and pensive strollers.

Academy of Sciences

I love all of Golden Gate Park, but my favorite spot remains the California Academy of Sciences.

Founded in 1853, the oldest scientific institution in the West has been housed in the park since 1915. It has three distinct divisions — the Kimball Natural History Museum, one of the 10 largest in the world, with access to more than 20 million specimens; the Steinhart Aquarium, oldest in the U.S. (1923) and home to an estimated 38,000 marine animals of 900 species; and Morrison Planetarium, which takes visitors from our solar system into the far reaches of space.

Rainforests of the World and the Morrison Planetarium dominate the main floor of the Academy like two giant orbs on opposite sides of a central plaza. I suggest heading first to the left from the main entrance, where you can reserve a seat for a planetarium show before heading into an exhibit called “Islands of Evolution.”

This exhibit focuses on the unusual creatures of Madagascar and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. Adjacent is an area where short films are presented on new scientific discoveries. The flow of visitor traffic then takes you through the African Hall, the only section of the original Academy of Sciences to be recreated in the new building with 21 natural-history dioramas, as well as a live colony of African penguins.

Next, cross to the other side of the plaza, where indoor and outdoor cafes flank an extensive exhibit on earthquakes. Seismic preparedness is a catchword throughout California; these displays explain the causes of earthquakes and advise what to do when one occurs.

Then it’s time to take the elevator into the Rainforest dome — three stories of heat and humidity, with a ramp spiraling down to the Steinhart Aquarium. Here you may meet Claude, an albino alligator who shares his home with snapping turtles. You’ll see the world’s deepest display of living corals in a recreated Philippine reef. You’ll explore the diversity of San Francisco’s own offshore waters. You’ll see a “discovery tidepool,” where children may touch sea life under the watchful eye of docents. You may see a giant octopus, a chambered nautilus, an electric eel and a school of ferocious piranhas.

Then you’ll head back for the show at the Morrison Planetarium, the largest all-digital planetarium in the world. Its changing programs assure a great finish to a full day — or two — in Golden Gate Park.

Dead and decaying plants are not supposed to be attractive but in the winter garden they can find a new lease of life, writes John Manley

WE MAY be entering the coldest, darkest part of the year but you can take some heart from the fact that in less than two weeks the winter solstice will have passed and the days will again be getting longer.

It will be some time, however, before the garden is reborn, before the sap rises, the buds swell and spring bulbs bloom.

Without doubt most gardens are in their prime from the spring through to early autumn but that shouldn’t automatically cast the winter garden as the ugly sister. I’ll concede at the outset that even the best gardens struggle to look good on a damp, dark December’s day but sprinkle them with frost and light with bright winter sunshine et voila – you have the makings of a great atmospheric Christmas card.

The structure of a garden is important for maximising its winter appeal.

Adventurous landscaping, with plenty of curves, a smattering of evergreens and some dazzling dogwood are the obligatory boxes to be ticked in any winter wonderland.

However, it is also important to acknowledge the part played by dead stuff.

I’m not being morbid but merely highlighting the role that can be played by plants who’ve shaken off this mortal coil completely or herbaceous perennials whose life has retreated below the ground.

The tradition with many gardeners would have been to clean up borders and cut down rotting material, keeping everything neat and tidy.

But not only is this the wrong approach as far as wildlife is concerned, many plants gain a second life when dead – paradoxically – with shape and structure becoming their appealing characteristics instead of foliage and flowers.

It is close to the antithesis of an archetypal summer garden scene but crunching your way along frosty paths on a bright crisp winter’s morning past the lingering seedheads and brittle ornamental grasses is as good as beholding any hot bed in July.

As landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith recently told The Guardian: “Every garden should include some plants that die beautifully.”

I find the best performers are prairie-type perennials, umbellifers and grasses (and/or sedges).

Rudbeckia, echinacea and echinops are among my favourite late summer perennials but in their decomposing form, when the colour has long disappeared from their flowers, they continue to put on a great show.

Eryngiums, or sea hollies, are another plant which, when left alone to die gracefully, extend their appeal well into winter. Other noteworthy perennials are alliums – or ornamental onions – and candelabra primulas.

I imagine the plant collector who brought Giant Hogweed to Europe immediately recognised its potential as a winter wow factor as it has an imposing structure that lasts to Christmas and beyond.

Of course, you want to avoid this invasive alien in the garden, as its cultivation is against the law but other plants with umbellifer-style flowers such as fennel or Angelica archangelica will achieve a similar effect.

Ornamental grasses, including sedges such as carex, rank among the best winter plants even when bereft of life.

They are flexible enough to withstand a battering from storms but when the frosts come they stand upright with their seedheads glistening in the sun.

Panicum virgatum ‘Prairie Fire’ or Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ are both enduring varieties, as is Stipa tenuissima ‘Pony Tails’.

Regarded as a weed by less liberal gardeners, teasel is a fantastic architectural plant that holds its form in winter and also provides bird food.

However, perhaps my favourite decaying plant is the globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus).

An edible grown by many as an ornamental, it packs all the impact of Giant Hogweed though without the threat of sap burns.

The artichoke’s flowers sit six feet up, atop strong hollow stalks.

As the days grow shorter, the globes from which it derives its name slowly transform from green to a beautiful golden brown.

Beth Turlington/Wichita County Master Gardeners
With the Lee Valley garden template, even the art challenged can create a workable map of their gardens.

Over the course of these weekly columns, we’ve talked about trees and shrubs, the right plants to choose, proper planting and watering and even yard art. This week I thought looking at pathways through your landscape would be a nice idea.

Walks and pathways can be short and simple or long and winding creations depending upon the size of your yard and wallet. First things first, though.

Are you going to do the work or are you going to hire a professional? Either way, do some research first. I like having a book in my hand, and two that I really like are “Sunset Books Landscaping with Stone” and “Creative Homeowner’s Walk, Walls and Patios.” Both have excellent photos and drawings along with well-written, easy-to-understand instructions from start to finish. There’s also You Tube (www.youtube.com), where you can watch videos of people doing step-by-step construction. You do have to watch out for the videos that don’t apply to the real world that will come up. You can Google or Bing garden path construction and go through those lists. If you’re going to hire the job out, look into the contractor you pick as well. Talk to people they’ve done work for so you don’t end up with an expensive mess.

Take a stroll through your landscape and decide where you’d like your path to be, from start to finish. Consider what you’d like it to be made from. You can have a low-mowed defined grass path or a solid-edged path filled with pea grave. There are preformed pavers of various shapes and sizes or you can go with natural stone. Once you get that sorted out, draw it out on paper. Coming from a woman who can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, that may seem like a lot to ask for. But there are tools to help even the most artistically challenged like me. I ordered a really cool design template from Lee Valley Tools (www.leevalley.com) that makes it so easy to draw in trees, shrubs, fences and such. Graph paper is your other best friend when drawing out your landscape and there are books to help as well.

Another idea is garden design software, which can be rather pricey, although some will offer a free trial for a certain number of days. On the Better Homes and Gardens website, I found a design tool that is helpful and honestly its fun to play with. You can choose different house types or yard layouts and add fences, flower pots and arbors. Put in grass, add paths and pick the materials. It also has a plant selector from trees down to groundcovers. The only problem with it is that it’s “one size fits all” with plants that won’t grow or survive here and there are some invasive. You can save your designs; print them out or erase and start over. It won’t fill all your needs, but like I said, it’s fun to mess with.

At some point, it’s actually going to get cold out and you’ll be stuck in the house. That’s the perfect time to lay out your corner of heaven on paper and decide where you’d like to place some new things. I have this vision in my head of the flagstone path I want out here and I’ve started to draw it out. Unfortunately I didn’t win that big Power Ball jackpot, so it may stay stuck in my head for a while …

Bruss Landscaping in Wheaton, IL announces it was selected as one of the 12 finalists in the 2013 Landscaper of the Year program operated by New Holland Construction and Total Landscape Care magazine. The annual program recognizes the best and brightest from among thousands of professionals across the country who work in the landscaping industry. Bruss Landscaping and the other program finalists will be featured in Total Landscape Care magazine throughout 2013.

Sponsored by New Holland Construction and produced by Total Landscape Care, the Landscaper of the Year program honors landscapers who exemplify the highest standards of their profession, including business acumen, quality and aesthetic excellence of their project work, marketing and equipment management expertise, attention to safety, and community involvement.

Bruss Landscaping was selected for outstanding landscaping design and construction projects that encompass excellent examples of plantings, lighting and water features, as well as specialized gardens and landscape maintenance.

The company is a third-generation, family-owned business now in its 60th year of operation. With an experienced team of landscape architects, designers and installers, the company is one of the area’s most trusted and sought-after firms, creating award-winning outdoor living spaces. To read an article about the company’s history and to see early photos, go to the website.

“The Landscaper of the Year program illustrates New Holland Construction’s commitment to hard-working landscape contractors,” said Curtis Goettel, brand marketing manager, New Holland Construction. “We congratulate Bruss Landscaping and the other program finalists for their extremely unique projects.”

The 12 finalists and their guests joined representatives from New Holland Construction and Total Landscape Care for an all-expenses-paid cruise to the Bahamas, Nov. 9-11. All 12 finalists will also receive a free, one-year lease on a New Holland 200 Series skid steer loader, along with a toolbox set valued at more than $2,500.

As 2012 comes to a close, Eric Bruss, President of Bruss Landscaping, looks back on a momentous year for the company. Earlier in the year it was announced that the company had won Unilock’s Award of Excellence for the Best Ecological Paving Installation for 2011, with their work to be featured in Unilock’s product catalog. That was followed by the company’s achievement of reaching its 60th year in business this past August, celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton Chamber of Commerce. “To be one of the finalists for Landscaper of the Year is the exclamation point on a great year for us”, remarks Eric Bruss. “We’re pretty excited to be getting a brand new skid steer”, he adds.

Bruss Landscaping, Inc. specializes in residential landscape architecture and construction, serving homeowners in DuPage and eastern Kane counties of Illinois. Bruss Landscaping is a member of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, the Glen Ellyn and Wheaton Chambers of Commerce, and the Better Business Bureau. Owner Eric Bruss is a frequent contributor in newspaper columns offering advice on all matters related to gardening and landscaping. For more information contact Eric Bruss at 630-665-1600, or
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Francisca Alonso enlarged the foyer of her McLean home, put in a porch and enhanced the curb appeal, all by adding just a 60-square-foot bump out.

The once traditional colonial now has a craftsman-style facade and a grander entrance. “Now we have a covered porch to enjoy, a larger foyer, and great views of the front yard and landscaping,” said Alonso, co-owner of AV Architects and Builders. “Everyone loves it.”

Alonso said she, like many of her clients, had family and guests who avoided the front door and entered the house from the side or garage entrance. She wanted the front entrance to become a focal point and “not just a hole in the wall.”

Restricted by a front setback requirement that allowed only a 9-foot expansion and second-floor windows, Alonso sought to update the exterior without having it clash with the home’s colonial style.

“You don’t want the new portion to stick out like it just landed there from Mars,” she said. “We chose the materials with that objective in mind.”

Although the porch’s metal roof differs from the architectural shingles of the rest of the home, the colors match. The stone on the porch is similar in shape, size and color to the existing brick. The finish on the new front door matches the stain on the existing windows.

Also, the stone of the porch flooring ties in with the stone used on the walkway to the driveway. “The pattern used is the Versailles Pattern, and that is what we have in the kitchen and breakfast room in the house,” Alonso said. “The indoor and outdoor tiles flow nicely.”

Alonso brought in landscape designer David Marciniak, owner of Revolutionary Gardens, to integrate the new exterior with the front yard.

“We wanted the landscape to feel scattered and unorganized, however, orchestrated,” Alonso said. “I remember telling Dave that I wanted a garden to seem random and organized at the same time. He understood perfectly what I meant, and that is what he designed.”

To create that feeling of thoughtful randomness, Marciniak designed a walkway in a “hop-scotch” pattern with Tennessee Flagstone that is not a curve and not a straight line.

“It’s very important to consider the landscape design at the same time as an exterior renovation,” Marciniak said. “While I didn’t see a need to recommend changes to Francisca’s design, the fact that I was brought in before they broke ground meant I could have pointed out opportunities to make the house and the landscape work better together.”

A couple of Japanese Maples and a Hinoki cypress tree highlight the front yard garden, with a layered planting scheme that allows the perennials and azaleas to really stand out.

“As you walk from the driveway to the porch, you really experience the colors and shapes of the front walk,” Marciniak said. “The flow of the lines of the plantings, and the end result is that you really want to spend time on the beautiful front porch.”

Imagine a plush landscape that never taps into city water. Imagine one maintained by alternative fuel and energy. Or one that only uses local plants and materials. The winners of The Lawn Landscape 2012 Environmental Business Awards are committed to eco- friendly practices that provide long-term sustainability for their projects and clients.

The winners – The Fockele Garden Co., Sebert Landscaping Co. and WinterCreek Restoration – were chosen not only for their dedication to these principles but their ability to develop successful companies based on these practices. Read on for how each company’s environmentally-focused landscaping choices have caught attention and led to business growth.

The Fockele Garden Co.
Gainesville, Ga.

Five years ago a client asked The Fockele Garden Co. to install a rainwater harvesting system. It was the first request of its kind for the Georgia company.

Now, 75 percent of The Fockele Garden Co.’s projects include sustainable elements that conserve water, build attractive environments and eliminate waste. The successful approach has been highlighted with regional and national awards.

“If you slow down and look around at what our communities look like now, it’s obvious that we’ve done a lot of damage and it’s obvious there are things that need to be fixed,” says company founder Mark Fockele.

“We have too much pavement, way too much stormwater runoff; we have hot, dry, unshaded parking lots that go on forever. These are just not pleasant environments. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been inclined to do this. Another reason is we have encountered clients occasionally who have pushed us into tackling more projects of this kind and getting involved in more sustainable gardening techniques.”

One of those clients was an urban Atlanta homeowner whose backyard flooded every time it rained. The project’s goal was to collect the stormwater, create an attractive landscape and reduce the runoff problem for properties downstream.

“We captured a large portion of the water that was entering our property from uphill and used it to keep our water features full,” Fockele says. “We created dry stream beds in the property that slowed the water down and promoted infiltration into a gravel ditch. Then we collected some of the water in cisterns so that we could use the water later.”

The Fockele Garden Co. places a large emphasis on rainwater harvesting and stormwater management techniques to decrease erosion and supply irrigation.

For example, the company’s Smartville project provides a local elementary school a sustainable garden and teaching tool. A rainwater harvesting system was installed to collect water used two or three times a summer to perk up plants. The school hasn’t tapped the city water for irrigation in three years.

The same garden also uses on-site compost to build soil health. All of the organic waste – sticks, limbs, tree trunks – is composted to eliminate adding to the landfill. Also, many of its components were designed to teach students about nature.

“The garden has a lot of bold colors and bold textures and weird goofy plants that kids really like,” Fockele says. “We think that we’re giving these kids an atmosphere that is likely to help them develop an appreciation for nature and love of the outdoors.”

Among The Fockele Garden Co.’s portfolio are a large number of gardens that balance plush landscapes with hardscapes. Fockele takes a sustainable approach but one that allows the company to design, install and maintain its projects so there’s a level of continuity.

“That problem becomes many times more important when you’re trying to develop a landscape that uses sustainable features, because sustainable features as a rule are things that you can’t accomplish in a month or two or in a year or two,” Fockele says. “These are practices that require years and decades to bring to fruition.

“Fockele says he sees continual opportunity in this portion of the landscaping industry and he’ll continue to embrace it.

“First, I find it a lot more interesting and rewarding to do this type of work,” Fockele says. “Second, it helps attract attention and build our business. A lot of customers are recognizing the benefit and importance of this approach.”

Sebert Landscaping Co.
Bartlett, Ill.

Sebert Landscaping Co. launched a quest to minimize its yearly fuel consumption. It started swapping gasoline mowers for propane and switched to battery-powered equipment. A decrease in carbon emissions was evident, but a conversation quickly started about how to use the equipment even more efficiently.

That’s when Sebert Fleet Manager Ralph Meyer tossed out the thought of solar panels.

“When we started looking at battery-powered equipment as an alternative, it sparked an idea here on our end that what if we recharged the batteries on the equipment by utilizing solar panels that were fixed to the top of the trailer to recharge the equipment versus having to come back in the evening, plug the trailer in and recharge the batteries on the trailer,” says Jeff Sebert, CEO.

Tinkering quickly began. Now, a solar film placed on top of the trailer and connected to an inverter converts the sun’s energy and charges batteries for Sebert’s chainsaws, trimmers and other equipment.

The rigged trailer worked just as planned. However, it came at a hefty price. The inverter cost $5,000. “If we can eliminate that piece, we’re making this very practical from a cost side to utilize within the field,” Sebert says. In collaboration with STIHL, the company has experimented with how to take the solar charge right to the batteries. Sebert would like to have another model ready for the spring so more data can be collected. “We took the trailer out into the field, we took data not only from the solar aspect of it but from the propane aspect, as well, to determine what the cost savings are on doing something such as this,” he says. “It works quite well. Now, it’s more how do we trim the costs – how do we slim this down for mass form so that at the end of the day it truly is worthy of our cost.”

As Sebert searches for the pay-off on solar, the savings on propane is already evident. In the last 18 months, half of the fleet has been converted to propane with the remaining half on a planned cycle. The propane mowers cost about $1,000 more, so the savings is seen in the cost of the fuel. Sebert pays about $1.80 a gallon for propane versus about $3.80 a gallon for gas. Propane burns faster, so about a third to a half of additional fuel is needed to compete with gasoline. But still, there’s a clear savings.

“It’s so much better for our environment and it’s safer for our guys to be working with,” says Sebert, who uses a local vendor and may install a fuel station onsite. “Gasoline is so much more volatile, and you don’t have the waste as well.”

Sebert’s dedication to environmentally-friendly ideas extends well beyond the field. Its headquarters is in the process of obtaining LEED Gold certification. The building dons solar panels, a green roof, landscaping with native and indigenous plants and water features that collect rain for onsite and customer irrigation.

“Everything we’re attempting to do is looked at it from a strategy of minimizing the cost, producing a product that is sensitive to the environment and giving our customers the best product at the end of the day,” Sebert says.

WinterCreek Restoration
Bend, Ore.

After Rick Martinson received a call that a local health insurance company wanted a completely native, ecologically functional green roof built, he immediately started research.

He couldn’t find a single green roof based on the idea. He accepted the challenge. WinterCreek Restoration, where Martinson is president, has taken an ecological approach to landscaping for a decade. The company’s niche is using native plants to blend landscapes with natural surroundings. The goal of the green roof was to replicate the environment on the ground in a 15,000-square-foot section one story in the air.

WinterCreek and insurer ODS Cos. are located in Bend, Ore., one of the state’s more centrally located cities and home to a high desert climate that receives about 11 inches of rain a year. All of the materials came from within a 400 mile radius in order design and build a truly native green roof.

To start, WinterCreek had to engineer native substrate that would maintain as much moisture as possible. Martinson, who is finishing his Ph.D. in ecology-based horticulture at Oregon State University, worked with professors to develop the perfect blend.

“The substrate was constructed of local pumice kitty-litter size and a blended compost that included mushroom compost, composted hemlock bark, locally produced compost from recycling centers, peat moss, etc.,” he says. “We retained the fines in the blend to help with water retention and soil structure. The compost provided organic structure, minimal nutrients and, most importantly, fungal and bacterial communities critical for the ecological functioning of the installation.”

The final result was a blend of 50 percent organic matter and 50 percent pumice. The substrate, which varied from 8 to 28 inches in depth, an additional 3 inches of pumice (from a local source, of course) and more than 42 different native species rounded out the growing portion of the roof.

The species included Mountain mahogany, Manzanita, Sickle-keeled lupine, Linear leaf fleabane, Naked buckwheat and Idaho fescue. “All of the plant material was propagated at our nursery from seed or cuttings collected within three counties in central Oregon,” Martinson says.

The idea was to create a space that offered environmental benefits, was aesthetically pleasing for employees to enjoy, controlled stormwater runoff and provided an ecological habitat for birds, pollinators and other organisms. To ensure that is maintained, WinterCreek studies the colonization rate of mycorrhizal fungi on the roof and how effective and efficient it is in artificial environments.

“These fungi form symbiotic relationships between plant roots, soil particles, bed rock and other plants,” Martinson says. “They are essential for the ecological functioning of native plant communities. Ninety-eight percent of the plants in the world are dependent on these associations and reestablishing these organisms in created landscapes reduces the need for water and fertilizers, increases vigor of plants and results in physiological change in how plants function, especially under stress.”