RE: Low maintenance gardens for the serious gardener

The Mediterranean Garden Society does offer a seed exchange service to its members.  No year-end sale to the public though.

 

Cheers,

Bracey

NorCal Branch CoChair

MGS 

 

From: medit-plants-request@ucdavis.edu [mailto:medit-plants-request@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Joseph Seals
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 1:19 PM
To: Ben Armentrout-Wiswall; medit plants forum
Subject: Re: Low maintenance gardens for the serious gardener

 

Ben, et al:

 

I suppose my cryptic ramblings weren't quite clear as to a black and white "yes or no, can you do a low-maintenance plantsman's/artist's garden".

 

My bottom line answer is definitely yes.

 

My premise was that you can't do it with high-maintenance plants.

 

I'm sure it doesn't take hybrid tea roses, tropical hibiscus and a tree desperate for pruning to make a garden.  If this is what you "love and need", then this is your "oasis" (an oasis of maintenance, to be sure).  Just keep it on the small scale.

 

But we are fortunate that we have tens of thousands of plants on our palette.  Most of them are low maintenance.  And most of them don't "languish when the irrigation system is shut off".

 

I'd throw out a long list of what I've found to be low-maintenance plants (including easy roses) but as I said in my last email, what's low-maintenance for me may not be low-maintenance for someone in Spain, in Australia or even in the Simi Valley.  It's up to the gardener to define his or her space and to match a plant to that space.  One's local nursery may have a good "rounded selection" but they may not provide enough of a selection to match a number of defined spaces that belong to a plantsman or artist or both.  A plantsman or artist -- and ESPECIALLY someone who is both -- must search the mailorder plant catalogs, the seed catalogs, the botanical garden plant sales, the big retailer 2 hours up the road, the plant specialist just around the corner (but off one's radar) or some on-line plant/seed exchange (does the MGS offer a once-a-year clearinghouse list?).

 

Joe

 

 

 

Joseph Seals

Horticultural Consultant

Arroyo Grande, California

Cell: 805-823-5696

 

From: Ben Armentrout-Wiswall <benjamin.r.aw@gmail.com>
To: medit plants forum <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2011 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: Low maintenance gardens for the serious gardener

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

With varying degrees of subtlety or frankness, everyone seems to agree that 

No, you can't have a low maintenance garden that really is a garden.

 

I could see planting a very low maintenance landscape that wouldn't offend my sensibilities.  

In southern California, that might be a grove of Peruvian Peppers or Live Oaks in a groundcover of their own fallen leaves, with maybe an occasional Agave for accent.  Such a landscape would require no irrigation, almost no weeding, and very little pruning. 

And I could live with it; but I just don't think I could call it a garden.

 

So I concur with everyone else, a low maintenance garden is really not much of a garden.

Best, Ben Armentrout-Wiswall

Simi Valley, CA

 

 

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 8:13 PM, david feix <d*@yahoo.com> wrote:

The idea of a garden needing no maintenance and still reflecting variety and plant collector tendencies is incompatible in my view.  I do find myself designing these days around using slower growing trees and plants that can be groomed twice a year rather than monthly.  I find fast growing acacias and brugmansias to be some of the most time consuming plants, and appreciate things like bulbs, cycads, palms, succulents and bromeliads more and more over the years, and sometimes regret having my design clients thoroughly trained to prefer their trees "laced" on a regular basis.


On Sun Jul 31st, 2011 6:11 PM PDT Paul Reid wrote:

>Short answer: NO.
>
>And, as Joe has said, what's the fun in that?
>
>Karrie Reid
>
>
>
>From: m*@ucdavis.edu
>[mailto:m*@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of Ben
>Armentrout-Wiswall
>Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 10:58 PM
>To: medit plants forum
>Subject: Low maintenance gardens for the serious gardener
>
>
>
>Hi All,
>
>I spent most of today catching up on some garden maintenance at our home in
>Simi Valley, California.  Our garden is large for a California suburb, about
>15000 square feet (one-third of an acre, or 1400 square meters).  It was a
>pleasant day, though I moved quickly, as for me free time is scarce.  The
>scents of rosemary and sage, roses and mints are refreshing to work in, and
>I had a good day of it.
>
>
>
>But I found myself asking as I deadheaded a long border of Iceberg Roses,
>Sea Statice, and Euphorbia wulfenii, maybe I'd prefer plants that didn't
>need to be deadheaded, that didn't languish if a sprinkler nozzle got
>clogged, that didn't really need much done to them.
>
>
>
>I enjoy gardening, but as a Mr. Mom to three small children, I have little
>time to garden, especially a garden patterned on the work I'd formerly done
>as a landscape designer and contractor.
>
>
>
>The trouble is, my niche as a landscaper was working for rich (by my lights,
>very, very rich) clients.  Like most garden professionals, I had a landscape
>crew working for me, or my clients would have their own gardeners to
>maintain whatever horticultural creation was envisioned.  In these
>circumstances no-one cares about reducing garden maintenance.
>
>
>
>As a homeowner and stay-at-home parent who no longer had a crew of laborers,
>I quickly realized how much work it was to maintain a property.
>
>I figured out that if I were to maintain my property in the same style as my
>former clients (on a per area basis), I would need to spend an entire day
>per week, with a laborer, to fuss over the garden.  I'd also need a few
>hundred dollars a month not for projects, but just to freshen the perennial
>borders or to try a new waterlily in the pond.
>
>
>Given that I don't have that much time, let alone a laborer or a few hundred
>a month to spend on sundries, the garden really looks quite nice.
>
>
>
>But it is work.
>
>My question is, are there any serious garden professionals who have
>considered low maintenance gardens?  When I think of low maintenance
>gardens, I think of homeowners who really are not interested in plants or
>gardens, and only want their property to look presentable, and not have to
>spend time or money achieving that goal.
>
>
>
>The result is usually boring, and no serious gardener would give such a
>garden more than a passing glance (and probably a sneer).
>
>
>
>Is it possible to have a plantsman's garden, or an artist's garden, that
>doesn't need much more than a weekly sweeping and the occasional removal of
>a crossing limb?  Is it possible to have a low maintenance garden that still
>looks like a garden?
>
>
>
>Just wondering,
>
>-Ben Armentrout-Wiswall
>
>Simi Valley, inland southern California
>
>--
>
>
>
>I have a new email address, please update your records:
>
>
>
>benjamin.r.aw@gmail.com
>
>
>




--

 

I have a new email address, please update your records:

 

 

 

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