Leaf Summer 2012 Issue
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SUMMER DIVERSIONS leaf SUMMER 2012 new plants beach style antipasti & gin
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Leaf Magazine celebrates summer design outside
Transcript of Leaf Summer 2012 Issue
summer diversions
leafS u m m e r 2 0 1 2
new plants beach style antipasti &
gin
AVAILABLE FROM:
HAND FORGED GARDEN TOOLS FROM HOLLAND - SINCE 1913
Garden Tool Co.WWW.GARDENTOOLCOMPANY.COM | FORT COLLINS, CO - USA
4 LEAF MAGAZINE summer 2012
lettersFrom the Editors
We ex-pect
from child-hood onward that summer will be a time of less work
and more play. As soon as school is out, our lives switch to endless days of play and outdoor explora-tion. As adults, the reality of short vacations from work would cur-tail that viewpoint if it weren’t for the longer days with weather that always beckons us outside.
Rain or shine, summer is the season for life beyond our doors spent at a leisurely pace. With this first summer issue of Leaf we have tried to define our feelings about summer—what makes it special, what makes us long for it when it’s gone, and why we should al-ways slow down and make time to enjoy it.
SuSan Cohan
roChelle greayer
on the Cover Photograph by Sarah DiCicco; Styling by Styled Creative
T hird time is a charm. At least that
is what they say—ex-cept in this case, the first and the second were no strikeouts. Two issues down, and Leaf has over 200,000 unique readers. In addition to over-whelming support from you, our readers, we are lucky to have been buoyed by extraordi-nary writers, photographers, and profession-als in the design industry.
This issue we welcome author Debra Prinz-ing with a fantastic story about Margie Grace (APLD designer of the year), New York Times best-selling author, Frances Mayes, Don My-ers, a past president of the American Rose Society, up-and-coming authors Roanne Rob-bins and Andrew Keys, and widely published writers and style-setters like April Hardwick, Geneve Hoffman, and Christine Best.
Yes, third time is lucky. We are profoundly grateful for your support over the last year, and hope you enjoy this issue as well as all of the sit-back-and-relax opportunities that summer offers.
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shopOutdOOr Fabric GrOws up
A fter years of few alternatives beyond awning stripes, faux tropical prints, and boring solid
colors, fabric companies are stepping it up outside. Fashionable options are now available in complex colors and bold, graphic patterns. Velvety surfaces and nubby and open weave textures are also part of today’s outdoor fabric story. All of these options are made with fibers that are UV stabilized and ready for patio,
pergola, or porch.
Mixing prints and patterns for pillows, up-holstery, and curtains can add layers of visual interest to an outdoor space beyond the garden
beds. Whether an outdoor living space is traditional, eclectic, or sleek and modern, there are now fabrics in a wide range of choices to complement any style. SC
Throw pillows can liven up the
most neutral space. These
prints and out-door velvets are from Perennials.
Bright colors and pat-terns from Schumacher and Sina Pearson
Photograph by Jan MacLatchi Patio design by Michael Tavano for the 2012 Elle Decor Modern Concept House
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Upholstered cush-ions for benches, chairs, and chaises are the traditional ways to use outdoor fabrics. Choose from the many ready- or custom-made options.
Open weave neutrals can be used alone or layered with other prints for more privacy. The two layers here from the Kravat Soliel Collection create priva-cy and surface interest on the small patio.
Traditional garden center shade cloth layered on top of the pergola is an out-of-the-box option. The normally utilitarian fabric—meant for tough treatment—looks light and airy here.
Photograph by Jan MacLatchi Patio design by Michael Tavano for the 2012 Elle Decor Modern Concept House
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style
“My favorite hand cream is by LUSH, and it’s called Handy Gurugu. It is the thickest, richest, best-smelling hand cream I have ever slathered on! Posi-tively decadent—but sometimes after a hard day with your hands in the soil, you need to treat yourself to a truly splurge-worthy handcream.” Ivette Soler thegerminatrix.com
“My go-to moisturizer for all of my dry skin needs, no matter how
painful, is Lavender Rose Mois-turizer by Earthly Paradise.”
Gayla traIl yougrowgirl.com
Hand Therapy
“I like Crabtree & Evelyn’s rose wa-ter hand stuff. It’s
thick and smells like someone’s grandma.
Not my grandma, though. Mine smells
like Chanel No. 5.” amanda thomSen
kissmyaster.co
Six more of our favorites. More
by aprIl hardwIck
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foundBarry Underwood’s Light scULptUre photography Artist Barry Underwood constructs light sculptures in the landscape and then photographs them, creating a form of ephemer-al land art that is both mysterious and subversive. See more images and read the Leaf interview. More
We are putting reading in your hands, giving you choices about what you want to read in-depth and what you want to flip through. This leaner, yet no less informative, issue of Leaf is full of inspira-tion and ideas for design outside, but we think it is more in keeping with our fast-paced and over-saturated digital lives. Click More -> to read the full article. If there is no link, the article appears in full.
11
BUBees and top-Bars: styLish and sUstainaBLe hives Bubees are contemporary and sustainably built beehives made in California by Steve Steere. More
andrew Keys picKs 2012’s hot new pLantsIf there’s one plant whose day is long overdue, it’s baptisia, and the dazzling 'Cherries Jubilee' is a yellow-red-brown blooming standout. More
haitian oiL drUm artRecycled oil drums are turned into art for export in Haiti. These inexpensive, handmade, folk art creations are perfect for hang-ing outside. In a country with few resources, these sculptural pieces are a testament to making more by making do. More
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flavorGin-tanicalsGin, the classic garden liquor, can be flavored and nuanced with a huge range of garden ingredients.
1. Cinnamon Bark from Cinnamomum verum tree2. anise Fruit from Illicium verum tree3. Grapefruit peel Fruit of Citrus x paradise tree 4. saffron Stigma from the flower of Crocus sativus 5. Coriander seed Seed of Coriandrum sativum 6. Cilantro Leaves of Coriandrum sativum7. Juniper Berries Female seed cone of Juniperus communis8. nutmeG The pit of the fruit of the Myristica fragrans tree9. frankinCense Gum Distilled sap from the Boswellia sacra tree10. savory Dried leaves of Satureja hortensis11. Grains of
paradise Seeds of the Aframomum melegueta plant12. Cassia Bark Bark from Cassia tree13. liCoriCe root Root of the Glycyrrhiza glabra plant 14. almonds Drupe, or the seed of an undeveloped fruit of the Prunus dulcis tree15. lime peel From the fruit of the Citrus aurantifolia tree16. orris root Roots of Iris germanica, Iris florentina, or Iris pallida17. CuBeBs The tailed fruit of the Piper cubeba plant 18. lemon peel Fruit of the Citrus limon tree19) oranGe peel Fruit of the Citrus x sinensis tree
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flavor
A s we ease into the summer season—a time when we want to sit back and en-joy our outdoor spaces more than we
want to work in them—we asked some of our favorite small-batch distillers across the county to share a few of their favorite gin cocktails. RG
Photography by Rochelle GreayerStyling by Roanne Robbins
More-> Gin Recipes
Bee’s Knees2 oz gin¾ oz organic honey syrup½- ¾ oz fresh-squeezed, organic lemon juice Honey SyrupCombine honey and water 1:1. Heat until honey is melted. Cool. Refrigerate up to one month.
Combine all ingredients with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Optional: Rim glass with lemon and sugar.
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flavorAntipAstoAct One in an Authentic Italian Dinner
by FrAnces MAyesPhotography by Steven Rothfeld
A n Italian dinner presents a four-part drama: Act One is the antipasti, followed by the
primo, the secondo, and—finally—dolce. No one course predominates; each has its moment of glory before the curtain falls and reopens for the next act. Of the four courses, the antipasto is where the cook dazzles guests with an array of tastes, shapes, colors, and textures.
Antipasto, which simply means “be-fore pasta,” never translates to “hors d’oeuvres.” Hors d’oeuvres—nuts, olives, cheese biscuits, maybe a crab dip and crackers—are what I usually serve at my American parties. But here in Tus-cany, the antipasto celebrates the open-ing of the long cena, where guests arrive with an extra friend, everyone changes chairs a time or two during the eve-ning, all are flattered and admired, and someone might sing or quote a Montale poem, or even propose marriage. These dinners—served during the warmer seasons—are always held outside under a grape pergola, or at a table positioned
to see the Milky Way as a white scarf unfurls above.
What do I serve as we are seated? A big platter of salume, prosciutto, and melon (required fare), along with three or four types of crostini. Tuscans love their crostini neri, the chicken liver
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spread that’s ubiquitous at every dinner. I love vegetable crostini—cannellini bean and sage, peas and mascarpone, roasted garlic and walnuts, and a simple chopped tomato and basil. I compose a platter of these around cupped leaves of red radicchio filled with farro salad, and
Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, has a new cookbook written with her husband, Edward.
Summer Vegetable Crostini
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flavorslices of red pepper tart.
Born and bred in southern United States, I find that no word in the English language compares to fried. We in the south have been served fried wisteria and fried Sambucus (elder bush) flow-ers. And the Tuscans are as mad for fry-ing as are we southerners.
In Tuscany, we make a light beer bat-ter. As guests are handed their glasses of prosecco, we pass fried artichokes and—praise the gods—fried zucchini flowers. We fry the male flowers—those that will not become zucchini but blaze just as brilliantly in the garden. Don’t wash the delicate zucchini flowers. Just pull them gently from the plant, leaving the sta-mens inside. If you like, you can insert a sliver of cheese or a spoon of mashed potatoes and some basil into the flower. But they are simply divine as they are.
Here’s the simple batter: Mix a cup of flour with a cup of beer and some salt. Dip the artichokes or flowers into the batter, then fry them in about two cups of peanut or sunflower oil. Out of habit, I use peanut oil. You always read that you can’t fry in olive oil. Tell it to the Tuscans! When we fry in our own great oil—as Tuscans often do—there’s a particular lightness and crispness that I love.
When the flowers are crisp, sprinkle with coarse salt. Serve them hot and keep them coming! Guests will eat a
prodigious amount. You may think that dinner should
end then. No! The pasta or risotto are the next act, followed by a spit-roasted guinea hen, or a savory veal shank and some stuffed peppers, slow-roasted onions, or green beans with orange and olives. Some cheeses appear, and a grap-polo of grapes and a few plums to dip in a bowl of cool water.
Surely that’s it. But then comes the fig tart. Guests may have been at the table for five hours by now, so appetites have cranked up again (perhaps not for a second piece of tart, but surely for a little glass of grappa or limoncello).
At the end of these summer eve-nings, we push back from the table at one or two in the morning. Even the fireflies have gone to sleep. As I clear the plates and the thousand glasses, I’m thinking of my garden. I’ll be check-ing on the tomatoes in the morning for the moment the flowers begin to form little green knobs. Already the strawber-ries, lettuces, and onions proclaim their virtues. Cut the arugula before it bolts, I remind myself. What a pleasure, the strong sun pouring onto the eggplant, potatoes, raspberries, and garlic. I al-most can feel the warmth on my shoul-ders—a pleasure as strong as bringing that bounty to the table, and celebrating with friends under the stars.
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Fried Zucchini Blossoms
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mood
As a surfer, I spend a fair amount of time sitting on my board surrounded
by a fluid ocean. As a garden de-signer, I take in the surrounding landscape, dreaming of creating surf gardens. An ideal surf garden is a harmonious, ordered, and yet natural series of transitions from lush green, to white, to deep blue. Vegetation is minimal, with grass, grass hedges, and Rosa rugosa roses dominating the landscape. The land space is fixed, but below, the tide lines the garden fluidly—building and eroding with the current.
All materials are unrefined and minimal. White dry-laid crushed clam and oyster shells line the patio. Irregular, cut jetty rocks transport you from the grass into the water, where clas-sic long boards stand casually displayed
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surf gardenDesigning with the Sea in Mind by christine best
and ready to ride.All garden accents have sinuous and
organic lines with naturally occurring tonal colors, including driftwood pull-up
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stools, clamshell planters, sea glass hurri-canes, oxidized bronze planters, and bio-morphic hanging lanterns. Makeshift ta-bles and chairs are lightweight for portage
anywhere on the beach or below the tide lines. The ebbing water lifts your gaze up and down the beach and natural landscape beyond.
A deck at The Surf Lodge in Montauk, New York
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mood
Inspiration to create a Surf Garden
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26 LEAF MAGAZINE summer 201224 LEAF MAGAZINE summer 2012
plantBotanical Name Hydrangea quercifolia
Cultivar ‘Snowflake’
Common Name Oakleaf hydrangea
Plant Family Hydrangeaceae
Native Habitat/Origin Southeastern United States
Seasonal Interest Long-blooming double-white flowers in summer. Rich fall foliage color, exfoliating cinnamon-colored bark in winter.
Height and Width 6-8’ tall and wide
Soil and Moisture Moist, fertile, well-drained soil rich in organic matter.
Aspect Full to partial shade
Maintenance Basically a carefree shrub. Prune if necessary immediately after bloom.
Problems and Diseases Not reliably hardy in colder zones without winter protection. Deer will browse. Plant parts are poisonous. Blooms may droop after rain from additional weight.
Hardiness USDA Zones 5-9
Notes Flowers excellent for cutting and drying. Other good cultivars include ‘Alice’, ‘Snow Queen’ (larger), and ‘Pee Wee’ (smaller).
Design Uses Mass as a hedge or use as a specimen. Excellent shrub for naturalized plantings in woodland gardens.
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snowflake’
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root
Seven miles west of Paris, at the Château de Malmaison, Empress Josephine Bonaparte, first wife of
Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte, created one of the greatest rose gardens ever known. From 1799 to 1814, Josephine collected avidly; her garden would have more than 200 different varieties, more roses than any other for almost 100 years af-ter its demise. Under her patronage and inspired by her garden, French hybrid-izers, including Josephine’s head horti-culturist, grew new rose varieties of their own. By 1830, some 2,500 different types were available to Parisian rose lovers, all inspired by Josephine’s love and passion for rose varieties, many of which still live today.
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An EmprEss And HEr rosEs
by don myErs
Co
urt
esy
of
Sta
r R
ose
s
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Rosa ‘Pink Traviata’ has the look and feel of
Josephine’s roses
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The empress created something unprecedented for her time; a garden devoted to one type of plant. Her am-bitious goal was to have one of every rose in the world. To that end, she was the patron of many scientific expedi-tions as well as a frequent buyer of roses in England and beyond. The war with the British didn’t stop Josephine; the French Navy confiscated plants and seeds from ships at sea for her and special passports were issued to those delivering her roses from across the
English Channel.Many of the everblooming roses
we know today were due to the efforts made by the hybridizers at Malmaison. Josephine collected, via London’s Lee and Kennedy Vineyard Nursery, several Chinese roses which became rootstock for others. Those plants, ‘Slater’s Crim-son China’, ‘Parson’s Pink’, and ‘Humes Blush Tea’, became known as stud roses, the parents of today’s everbloomers.
A serious gardener, Josephine also sought to record her garden and com-
Malmaison as it exists as a French museum today; Rosa ‘Lunar Mist’
The empress created something unprecedented for her time; a garden devoted to one type of plant.
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missioned the botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté to illustrate every spec-imen she collected as well as the era’s leading botanists to write the accompa-nying descriptions. He created 177 illustrations which became the book, Les Roses, published after Josephine’s death in 1814.
Following her death, Josephine’s gar-den was sadly neglected, eventually sold to the French government, and now serves as a national museum, where efforts are made to recreate the once
beloved garden. Since no record other than Redouté’s illustrations survive, the remaining 100 or so roses in her collection have been based on theory, demonstrating the importance of docu-menting and preserving rose heritages.
Just as the passion behind the mod-ern rose inspires emotion and symbolic meaning, Josephine’s legacy and love for her old garden roses serves as an inspiration for growers and hybridizers to continue embracing the rose and its rich history.
The empress created something unprecedented for her time; a garden devoted to one type of plant.
Co
urt
esy
of
Sta
r R
ose
s
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flowerSummer DiarieS Fresh Bouquets are a Visual Backdrop to the Season
by roanne robbinS
Summer is a feeling. It’s a bucket of memories—eating fresh, ripe, warm berries off
the vine, chasing fireflies at dusk, running with grass-stained feet through fields of lupines.
Summer is fragrance— the scent of Rosa rugosa as you drive away from the beach, salt-dusted and sun-kissed.
Summer is farms that ramble to the ocean, informal dinners on pic-nic tables, and mason jars of flowers just picked from the garden.
Flowers are the visual backdrop to my summers. Though my tastes change from year to year, my expe-rience with flowers is the same. Dust off all the old bottles, clean out ev-ery vase available, and have as many flowers around as I possible can.
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Find Beauty in your Landscape: picking and preparing your own arrange-mentsSummer arrangements should include both blossoms and foliage. If it’s growing, it’s fair game. Herbs, veggies, perennials, seasonal annuals, and snippets from shrubs make fan-tastic arrangements. Don’t be a snob; even common weeds such as clover look great in a cluster of antique bottles displayed on a windowsill. Grow hosta for lining glass vessels, plant extra mint and fennel, and pair them with unripe blueberries and roses. Coleus and Abutilons make fabu-lous fillers.
Prepare your flowers for arranging. Proper conditioning makes a difference and will en-sure flowers and foliage last a long time. Have a bucket with you so you can place your stems in water immediately after picking. Pick in the morning or late after-noon, when plants have more water in their stems. Use warm wa-ter; it enters the stem more rapidly. Flowers and foliage should be left in water for at least 3 hours—and preferably overnight—before ar-ranging them.
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fun
26 LEAF MAGAZINE summer 2012
On a Stringfun There is no better metaphor for slip-
ping into summer than kite flying. The flurry of spring—the earth wakes up, planting, racing, kids, school, and then it all just suddenly stops when the wind abruptly catches the kite. It is airborne, floating away high into the sky. And you can just relax and hold the string.
Photography by Geneve Hoffman
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When was the last time you flew a kite?
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pick
A Sunflower Beach Cruiser—so garden-y! Who wouldn’t want to ride this to the sand dunes!
Color-blocking and a graphic street vibe gives this cruiser big style on and off road.
Beach cruisersDon’t you just want one? These days, beach cruis-ers, city bikes, and single-speed fixed-gear bikes are popular means of summer transportation. Here are two of our favorites.
Be safe and stylish in this fun polka dot helmet.
The classic bike basket goes bold and bright! Update one with some paint or add a new one.
773.852.4173 | Made In Chicago, IL | [email protected] | www.zacharyadesign.com
The natural look of cementat a fraction of the weight
26 LEAF MAGAZINE summer 2012Pleasures
26LEAF MAGAZINE design outsidePleasures S low i n g d ow n t o S avo r S u m m e r o u t S i d e
Bouquet
b y s u s a n c o h a n
Fresh flowers from the garden, farmers’ market, or a local farm are one of the greatest summer pleasures. Photographer David Perry has teamed up with author Debra Prinzing to explore the slow flower movement in the book The 50 Mile Bouquet. Photography by David Perry
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Party
It’s time to be outside. We linger in the longer, warmer days far into the evening. We slow down, recharge, bask in the sun, or nap in the shade. We share our time with friends and families in our gardens, on the water, or in the mountains. Sum-mer activities don’t seem to change much from what we did as chil-dren. We swim, we play, we amuse ourselves—we slow down enough to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.
Inexpensive vintage finds turn a classic picnic table into an el-egant place to dine. Experiment with fabrics, china, and candlesticks found on a summer outing to an antiques or flea market. Some great markets to visit: Brimfield (Massachusetts), Brooklyn Flea (New York), the Rose Bowl Flea Market (California), Ship-shewana Auction and Flea Market (Indiana) and Daytona Flea and Farmer’s Market (Florida) Photography by Sarah DiCiccoStyled by Styled Creative
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We enjoy our gardens and the fruits of our hard spring labor. We sit on the front porch and just, for a few mo-ments, allow the world to spin slower, to take stock of our lives, and to be in the moment.Design by Marion McNew Photography by Susan Cohan
26LEAF MAGAZINE design outsideSlow Down
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Play The seemingly endless days allow us to slow down and escape our busy lives. Spend time outside playing summer games or taking a dip in the local swimming hole.Photography Courtesy Wintergreen Resort (above); Photography by Dominique Bader (opposite)
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mood
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UnwindThere may be no greater summer pleasure than to while away an afternoon in the shade with a good book and a cool drink. A favorite napping place? A ham-mock stretched between two trees. More
Design by P. Allen Smith Photography by Susan Cohan (left); Juniper Cooler, Photography by Tim Halberg (right)
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Vivid, Lush Designer Margie
grace infuses color anD texture into
a private santa BarBara lanDscape
(and low-water)
26 LEAF MAGAZINE summer 2012
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Some gardens look so familiar that you can instantly spot the design-er’s hand in them, time and again. So it’s a rare treat to view a land-scape created by someone who has allowed her clients’ own style to shine.
Helping homeowners channel their inner gardenmaker isn’t always easy, admits Margie Grace, co-principal with Dawn Close of Santa Barbara-based Grace Design Associates. “Usually they can’t figure out what they want, because if they could, they wouldn’t be calling me,” she says. “But I always love it when my clients get what they really wanted.”
For one couple who contact-ed Grace Associates after losing most of their landscape (but not their Spanish-style stucco resi-dence, garage or guest house,) to Santa Barbara’s headline-grabbing 2008 Tea Fire, the garden of their dreams needed to satisfy both the practical and aesthetic. More than just replacing plants consumed by flames, the renovations had to provide a sense of serenity and security for the family who lived here.
Located in the foothills above Santa Barbara, the two-acre site slopes downward to a steelhead trout creek at the bottom of a ravine. The cultivated land-scape occupies one-half-acre, including areas just above and below the residence.
by D e b r a P r i n z i n g
PhotograPhy by holly lePere/grace Design associates
HeLping Homeowners cHanneL tHeir inner gardenmaker isn’t aLways easy
A hillside of drought-tolerant perennials provides beauty for the owners and nectar for pollina-tors (opposite). The “spool”—part spa, part pool—a refresh-ing water source (above).
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An oversized ce-dar hot tub was added as a place to soak on sum-mer days, and it doubles as an emergency water source.
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Grace listened for clues as the husband and wife dis-cussed the “what ifs.” In response, she created several distinct places where both social and solitary moments would suit the way they live. Grace also conjured color-ful displays to satisfy the woman of the home’s wishes: “She was hungry for green and a saturated palette,” the designer recalls. “It works here because the light is real-ly bright and flower colors don’t wash out.” Vibrant, un-thirsty plants explode in what Grace calls “floriferous pockets” such as along a sunny slope below a private terrace, where hot pink Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria sp.), amethyst-hued salvias (including a cultivar called ‘Mystic Spires Blue’), yellow blanket flowers (Gaillar-dia sp.) and orange lion’s tails (Leonotis leonurus) now thrive. The homeowner can easily step outside and pick a bouquet, no matter the time of year.
Lavish displays of burgundy, chartreuse, silver-blue
Paths run across a slope planted with
low-water, low-maintenance flora
(above). Grace chose “un-thirsty”
perennials that provide her clients
with color and flowers for cutting
(opposite).
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and dark green succulents (planted in gravel) provide texture and interest close to the home’s entry and in containers placed along patios and pathways. New stone walls and terracing define the outdoor ar-eas, including an intimate patio off of the master bed-room, a sitting area adjacent to new vegetable planters, a spacious entertaining patio, and a meadow planted with native species. Winding paths connect many of these spaces, satisfying both Grace’s and her client’s desire that the landscape provide interesting jour-neys where nature and wildlife can be observed. “We needed areas that were also suited to people,” Grace explains. For example, she varied the widths of the walkways to add interest and “places to pause.” In addition to expanded outdoor living space, reno-vations addressed slope stability issues, improved circulation, and greatly reduced water use and maintenance. “We wanted the garden to blend with the surrounding wilder-ness, and also to protect the property from fire in the future,” Grace explains.
Budget was clearly a concern, since insurance only covered a fraction of the required renovations. Grace saved and recycled what she could (existing concrete, gravel, and stone) and added plant donations from her own garden and those reclaimed from other job sites, such as easy-to-transplant succulents and agaves. Thankfully, many fire-charred mature trees, including California sycamores and coast live oaks, eventually leafed out again. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia), as well as other na-tive shrubs and a few alder trees, have also re-sprouted in the wilder areas of the property.
Designer and clients alike knew they needed to
we wanted tHe garden to bLend into tHe surrounding wiLderness
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To work within a modest budget, Grace populated the landscape with donated plants such as agaves, and used, recycled, and sal-vaged stone.
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moodCalifornia natives and drought-toler-ant Mediterranean plants breathe new life into a rugged landscape. A pleasing palette of colorful succu-lents (opposite).
57LEAF MAGAZINE design outside
create a safer, fire-resistant landscape plan. They used native sandstone, gravel, and decomposed granite and flagstone, creating “breaks” between plantings to re-duce the risk of fuel connectivity in the case of a future fire. Mulch holds in moisture and reduces water use in planting beds.
Rather than replacing a pre-fab Jacuzzi destroyed by the fire, Grace and her clients re-imagined the soothing role of water. “Visually, we needed to see water,” Grace ac-knowledges. “It gets hot here in the summer. But we didn’t need a massive pool. My client said she just wanted to push off one edge and glide to the other end in one breaststroke.”
The solution? A circular body of water that feels like a swimming hole but is actually an oversized cedar hot tub, tucked into a sloping grade below the home. Grace calls it a “spool”—part spa, part pool.
There’s a lighthearted feeling to this landscape, one of hope and happiness, in spite of its tragic past. To Grace, the design is a success because the garden own-er’s personality is apparent. “There is authentic self-expression here,” Grace says. “And that’s not from me; it’s the homeowner.”
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DESIGNERS AND MANUFACTURERS OF LIVING WALLS
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Andrew Keys is a Boston-based writer and designer. He produces Garden Confidential, a column and podcast for Fine Gardening. His book, Why Grow That When You Can Grow This? will be published by Timber Press in November 2012.
April Hardwick is a Manhattan-based freelance writer and editor who has written about home and product design for Traditional Home, Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Bazaar, Better Homes & Gardens, Real Simple, and Luxe.
Christine Best has spent many years in product de-velopment, buying, and management for Martha Stewart Living, Blooming-dale’s, Barnes and Noble Home, Nook accessories, and OpenSky. Outside of work, she pur-sues her passion in product, interior, and garden design.
contributors
Don Myers is a rosarian who grows more than 500 roses, and recently hybridized a mini-flora rose in honor of his wife that won the Princess (third best in the show) at the Virginia Penin-sula Rose Show. He serves as a trustee of the American Rose Society.
Geneve Hoffman documents people during some of the happiest moments of their lives.She believes life is a work of art, and jumps through hoops to preserve those moments for her clients. She in-vites folks to swing by her Maine studio.
Frances Mayes with her husband Ed, wrote The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Her four memoirs are Under the Tuscan Sun, Bella Tuscany, A Year in the World, and Every Day in Tuscany. She lives in Cortona, Italy and Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Roanne Robbins is a garden and floral designer, mother of a precocious tod-dler, amateur baker, and moss collector. She loves racking up highway miles look-ing for new plants, but always has time to pick branches and flowers along the way. She is the co-author of Continuous Container Gardens.
Debra Prinzing is a Seattle—and Los Angeles—based outdoor living expert who writes and lectures on gardens and home design. She is the author of The 50 Mile Bouquet and award-winning Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways.
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