Erin Benzakein is doubly talented, one of the flower world’s new crop of floral artists who plant and grow the seasonal ingredients that compose their lovely, hand-crafted arrangements and bouquets.

Her acreage maybe small, but this farmer-florist has a big vision for offering a healthy, beautiful and local alternative to imported, conventionally-grown flowers. “We do not use harsh chemicals and all of our flowers are grown with the utmost care and love,” she says.

It all started with sweet peas, which gave Erin, a young mother in 2003, the dream of producing flowers professionally. With a few packets of seeds, she planted two rows, “creating a fragrant, sweet pea tunnel,” she recalls. “I wanted to walk through it, just for the experience. Pretty soon, I was completely and utterly obsessed. I ripped out all the vegetables and replaced them with flowers.”

At the time, Erin was working as a part-time landscaper. She observed how estate gardeners cut flowers and other botanical elements for arrangements. “I not realized you could go into your yard and cut flowers — those bouquets looked like Dutch paintings with perennials, berries, vines and floppy roses.”

Erin took floral arranging courses and studied with some of the top studio designers around, but more than anything, she credits nature as her inspiration and her instructor. “I specialize in heirloom, fragrant and romantic flowers, and I design by the seasons,” she explains. “I love the natural approach.”

Putting down roots

As a city-raised child Erin loved to dig in the dirt. As a young adult, Erin imagined living a country life that combined flower farming, floral design and raising her children with husband Chris. With a $1,000 loan from her mother and a run-down Euro van, she launched floret in 2007. Through word of mouth and the power of social media, her modest venture has flourished into a thriving cottage industry. “It’s a jumpin’ little business,” Erin says with obvious pride.

Today, Erin, Chris and their children, Elora (13) and Jasper (10), live and work on two floriferous acres. Their certified organic land is populated with thousands of flowers, 25 Bantam chickens, a half-dozen ducks and all sorts of salamanders, snakes and tadpoles living in the children’s aquarium tanks.

Flowering trees, rare shrubs, vines, bulbs, perennials, annuals (including those sweet peas) and even unusual berries and vegetables like fava beans, pea pods, alpine strawberries and cherry tomatoes, comprise Erin’s unique arrangements. Each bouquet reflects the bounty from her fields — a moment in time that connects its recipient with nature and the seasons.

This now-experienced flower farmer says her sustainable philosophy was developed through years of experimentation and good advice from fellow growers around the country. Erin’s methods include efficient use of land and greenhouse space, detailed succession planting schedules, crop rotation and daily harvesting — all of which maximize every square inch of land.

“In the spring, I till in my cover crops, add a nice dose of compost, a dressing of organic fertilizer and plant my crops,” she explains. “After a crop is done blooming, I pull it out, add another dose of compost, fertilize and replant with another crop. This enables me to grow up to three times the amount of flowers on my land in a single growing season.”

If the climate and growing conditions are ideal, Erin is able to harvest for nearly eight months of the year, beginning with early flowering bulbs and anemones in the spring and continuing through late fall when frost hits the last dahlia crops. The “off season” is devoted to planning, marketing, writing and teaching, she says.

From field to vase, hands and lapels

Carried down the aisle by joyous brides or worn on the lapels of handsome grooms, floret’s wedding flowers are breathtakingly beautiful. Erin designed for 17 weddings last summer and she expects that number to grow this year. Local natural food markets, including Whole Foods stores in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, sell cheery sunflower and perennial bunches by the hundreds, while a steady stream of Seattle fans subscribe to weekly fresh bouquets, similar to food CSA subscribers.

For those who don’t live close by, Erin shares both her blooms and the “farm life” through her blog, a personal journal of thoughts and images that has captured the imaginations of would-be flower farmers and designers around the globe.

It’s easy to romanticize the image of a flower farmer, but Erin speaks honestly about the grueling hours, especially during the peak summer season. “Chris comes home from work as a VW mechanic and helps me make bouquets; then he gets up early two or three days a week to make deliveries to Seattle, which is 65 miles away,” she says. Erin is up at dawn, harvesting flowers Monday, Wednesday and Friday; making bouquets on Tuesday and Thursday. Weekend weddings add another design day to the schedule.

Jasper and Elora are involved in every aspect of tending, harvesting and preparing bouquets, although they also operate “The Little Red Hen House,” a thriving fresh egg business (the eggs are delivered to Erin’s fresh bouquet customers in Seattle). “We get a lot of family time,” Erin points out.

The allure of flowers is not lost on this hardworking floral artist, though. “At first, I just loved my flowers and I would give them away. People were so moved and it surprised me. Yes, I love gardening. And yes, I adore my flowers, but the fact that they are so powerful – that’s why I love what I do so much.”

floret-by-the numbers

• 2 acres
• 10 hoop houses/green houses
• 260 varieties of annuals and herbs grown from seed
• 30 varieties of ornamental shrubs form a hedgerow, planted for their blooms and as wildlife habitat
• 150 garden rose shrubs
• 40 varieties of perennials
• 45 varieties of sweet peas
• 3,000 dahlia plants (about 250 varieties)

About floret

Where: Mount Vernon, Washington (about 65 miles north of Seattle)

What: 2 acres, certified organic

Zone: USDA Zone 8a

More details: www.floretflowers.com

 

While other homeowners might be discouraged by a yard with poor drainage and a steep, 10-foot bank, Rudell and Jay Hegnes were undaunted by such challenges. Located in Gig Harbor, Wash., near Tacoma, their one-third-acre site’s pluses included a quiet neighborhood and sunny exposure. As for the hillside, Rudell says: “We knew it could be an asset, a place to display our trees.”

Since moving there in 2004, the Hegneses have treated their slope as a “stage” for cherished specimens. They have thoughtfully arranged shrubs and trees, both evergreen and deciduous, to showcase diverse needle and leaf textures — from blue spruces and silvery-green pines to golden Japanese cryptomerias. Deciduous Japanese maples produce leaves ranging from lime to burgundy, while barberries provide wine-red accents to this anything-but-green plant palette.

“Our garden has a mixture of dark green, blue, yellow and red foliage,” Rudell explains. “To us, if you mix — and repeat — forms and textures, it gives the garden a yummy feeling. And we wanted a garden that was as much about how it feels as how it looks.” She credits Jay’s passion for photography for inspiring some of their most successful plant groupings, because, “when you observe your garden in a photograph, you can suddenly see what needs to be added.”

A small section of lawn serves as a grassy walking path at the base of the hillside, connecting numerous perennial borders and providing play space for two pups: Bailey, a Cairn Terrier, and Rose, a miniature Schnauzer.

To correct the drainage problems, Jay and Rudell elevated the planting beds with stone edging. Crushed gravel, French drains, berms and a dry creek bed (over which passes a sweet footbridge) also help to draw excess moisture away from the garden.

This exquisite landscape has evolved along with its owners’ gardening style. Each season brings new changes, as Jay and Rudell observe how plants respond to weather patterns, temperatures and cultural conditions. For example, they’ve removed turf to enlarge planting spaces, designing perennial beds and borders to complement the house, patio and fencing.

“We wanted these areas to be wide enough for layering all our favorite colors and textures,” Rudell says. “And it has been fun finding each plant that fits in just the right spot.”

At the heart of the garden stands a 20-by-30 foot aggregate patio that is as spacious as any interior room could be. To enhance its proportions, the couple added two L-shaped corner arbors, constructed by Jay and Rudell’s brother using 4-by-4 inch, rough-cut cedar. “We wanted this space to feel enclosed,” Rudell explains.

The twin arbors frame views out to the garden and create a vertical backdrop for the surrounding perennial beds. On the patio itself, large containers of trees and shrubs are clustered at the base of the beefy posts, while the arbor’s overhead beams support six lavish hanging baskets. “Most people don’t have enough space on their patio, but these dimensions allow us to layer lots of pots,” Rudell says.

When they are seated here, sharing morning coffee or hosting a dinner for friends on a warm summer’s evening, Jay and Rudell enjoy the garden’s many vistas and vignettes. “I get a lot of joy from looking at our plants,” Rudell confides. While this is admittedly not a low-maintenance garden, its plant-obsessed owner chooses perennials for their easy-care features.

“I like plants that I don’t have to stake, that bloom for a long time, and that will reliably return each year,” she says. Some of the tender succulents and tropical plants of this Zone 8b landscape thrive during the summer months because they have spent the winter protected inside an attractive 6-by-6 foot greenhouse.

Adding to the garden’s sensory experience are several water features – fountains and bowls that are both ornamental and attractive to bird life. “We love the sound of water when we’re outside,” Jay explains.

For this husband-and-wife team of 37 years, it’s hard to imagine moving away from the garden that reflects their personal lifestyle, not to mention including plant collections and artwork. “This is our seventh house,” Rudell explains. “We love working on our gardens, one section at a time. At each area means something special to us.” 

In 1909, when the original owners of a Craftsman bungalow in San Diego’s Mission Hills neighborhood moved in, they probably didn’t grill chicken on the barbecue or gather under an umbrella to have cocktails and enjoy views of the distant canyon.

But the activities of today’s families inevitably spill outdoors, especially in a region known for its beneficent year-round climate. Kelle and Robert Wright, who have lived in the historic home since 1993 (and have been restoring it ever since), wanted to capture as much bonus space from the outdoors as possible. While working with builder Fritz Madlé of FTM Construction to enlarge the interior living space, it made sense to extend outward. They replaced a small redwood balcony with a new, 500-square-foot deck that wraps around two sides of the house and connects with the garden below.

Because the backyard slopes away from the house, the new deck is level with the upper canopy of a mature Jacaranda mimosifolia tree. Keeping the specimen was a must-have design issue, Kelle says. “We really built the deck around the tree,” she says. The months of May and June, when the Jacaranda explodes in lavish, lavender-blue flowers, are her favorite times to entertain. “When people come through our house and enter the deck, they always refer to it as a tree house because of all the vegetation in the back.”

Thanks to smart design decisions, the deck addition is an important connecting element that links the residence with the rest of the landscape.

A “baby deck,” as Kelle calls it, serves as a landing pad that contains the outdoor grill and leads to a broad staircase that descend to a lower brick patio.

Many of the project’s finishing touches were borrowed directly from the home’s turn-of-the-century architecture, including the white accent trim and other detailed woodwork. Eight upright posts line the deck’s perimeter, supporting corbels and a long pergola, as well as beautiful Craftsman-inspired lighting. Two pendant lights hang from each post, illuminating the deck and the garden after dusk. “When the lights are on at night we don’t need any extra garden lighting,” Kelle says. “The same fixtures are also mounted to the exterior of the house.”

The Wrights and their contractor knew that a sustainable hardwood like Malaysian Ipé was a suitable decking choice. While it may have been easier to use a composite wood product for modern comfort, “we wanted the deck to reflect the character of this historic home,” Kelle explains. The Wrights treat the wood deck two or three times a year to maintain its rich, warm hue.

Dramatic, oversized containers planted with succulents and seasonal annuals are displayed on wheeled stands, protecting the deck from dripping water and allowing Kelle to move the large pots when there’s a party.

A patterned area rug and comfortable teak and all-weather wicker furniture complement the wood and give the deck a cozy, family-friendly feeling. “We sit out here all the time,” she says. “If we hadn’t done this remodel, we probably would have moved to a larger home.”

Wood or Composite?

Considerations for your deck

The Wright family completed their home renovation and deck addition in the early 2000s, when admittedly, the selection of composite decking material was limited. “There were not so many choices then and we knew that Ipé was a renewable resource,” Fritz Madlé explains. “Now there are many colors and styles to choose from.” Madlé recommends using natural hardwood when adding a deck to a historic home, in order to reflect its architectural heritage.

Here are some of the pros and cons of today’s decking choices:

Cost: Expect to pay about twice as much for cedar and redwood decking ($2 to $3 per square foot uninstalled) than you will for pressure-treated lumber ($1.20-$2 per square foot uninstalled). Wood-and-plastic composite decking varies in cost ($1.75-$4.75 per square foot uninstalled).

Durability: Cedar, cypress and redwood are classic decking choices that are also naturally rot-resistant. Pressure-treated lumber such as pine or fir has been chemically treated to make it rot-resistant. With proper care, pressure treated wood may last up to 30 years; redwood and cedar decking should last 20 to 30 years; and composite wood or plastic decking will have a manufacturer’s warrantee ranging from 10 years or more. Exotic hardwood like Ipé is highly durable, but still the most expensive option.

Installation: Exotic hardwoods are not for the DIY builder and you should consult with a licensed contractor to do the installation. Special tools and skills are needed to work with composite decking and may also require professional installation.

Maintenance: Untreated wood decking weathers to brown, then gray, over time. Expect to treat your wood deck with regular applications of a clear sealer every year; older decks may require a tinted stain to bring back their luster. Synthetic composite, plastic and vinyl decking is designed to look like wood and requires little maintenance other than an occasional power washing.

Environmental issues: Synthetic wood does not require stains or paint, but it is plastic-based. Pressure-treated lumber manufactured after 2004 does not contain arsenic and considered non-hazardous. Natural wood requires ongoing application of sealers or stains. Some natural wood is sustainably harvested.

For more details, follow these links:

• Wood versus Composite
• Choosing the Right Decking    

Start with one ordinary backyard, a concrete patio, a patch of lawn and a swing set. Include one mom and one dad, both with busy medical careers, plus three active kids. Add one rambunctious dog named Mackie and an undemanding cat named Ginger.

For Gigi Kroll McConnaughey, an OB-GYN physician in private practice, and Doug McConnaughey, an internist, this equation didn’t add up. Three years ago, the couple realized that their Newport Beach, Calif., property wasn’t reaching its potential.

“We’d been toying with a big garden project, but the idea of tackling it was overwhelming for two working parents,” Gigi says of their average-sized suburban lot.

Gigi and Doug had admired a friend’s high-functioning backyard and learned that it was designed and built by Newport Beach-based Chris Fenmore of Garden Studio Design. “We loved what we saw,” Gigi says.

Soon thereafter, she bid on a landscape design from Chris Fenmore at a school auction (and won). In 2011, the McConnaughey family — adults, kids and pets included — gained their dream backyard. The design utilizes every inch of the sun-loving, suburban property in USDA Zone 10b.

Chris Fenmore’s space-planning approach, similar to that of an interior designer, divided the outdoor areas into function-specific rooms with clean architectural lines and simple planting schemes. The existing covered patio was too small and was weakened by dry rot, so it was rebuilt and enlarged to accommodate an al fresco dining area and a compact outdoor kitchen, plus a lounging-TV zone in front of a gas fireplace.

The new structure integrates nicely with the McConnaugheys’ Cape Cod-style residence, complete with a cottage-inspired, board-and-batten ceiling, four recessed electric heaters, recessed lighting, speakers and a fan. It is substantial enough to accommodate the master bedroom’s second-level balcony overhead, Gigi and Doug’s private spot that overlooks the new landscape.

There’s a comfy, great-room vibe to the space, which Gigi attributes to the many thoughtful design details, such as flagstone flooring with cobblestone accents, “that makes it feel like an area rug,” she says. Bench seating on both sides of the fireplace is topped with taupe, pale blue and sand-patterned cushions and pillows, a textile palette repeated on furniture throughout the garden.

Water is the centerpiece of two main gathering spaces. First, the pool is aligned with the property’s perimeter wall, which encloses a generous patio for chaises and an umbrella-covered table. Second, an in-ground spa is defined by an L-shaped bench and a casual grouping of furniture. Constructed surfaces around the pool and spa are knit together with soft vegetation, including Dymondia margaretae used as a lush groundcover and a tapestry of succulents and creeping plants at the base of the benches. 

While their residence and garden are tucked into a development with other homes close by, the McConnaughey family enjoys quite a bit of privacy, thanks to screening from the neighbors’ mature trees.

There’s another bonus: a community park and ball field that backs onto their property. To maximize her clients’ use of all this green space, the designer added a secret path and steps (located behind the spa), which lead to an access gate. The kids love to climb the steps and enter the park, Gigi says. “It gives them space to roam and play catch with the dog. It’s the coolest bonus yard.”

” . . . I know when I look back on this time, I’ll say that having this garden was the best thing we ever did.”

 

But more often than not, Gigi, Doug, James (12), Jenna (10) and Kyle (7) gather in their own backyard for “Five Time.” That’s what the family calls their ritual of hanging out together at the end of the day. “We spend quality time as a result of this yard,” says mom. “As a family, we love to eat outside and hop in the pool or Jacuzzi afterwards. It’s where the best conversations take place. And I know when I look back on this time, I’ll say that having this garden was the best thing we ever did.”

Low Water and Lush: The mostly green plant palette relies on drought-tolerant varieties that add lots of luxe to the landscape. Plantings include alternating clusters of dead nettle (Lamium maculatum) and baby’s tears (Soleirolia soleirolii); a stunning stand of yellow kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos sp.); glossy purple-green carpet bugle (Ajuga reptans); and dinner-plate-sized Aeonium.

 At Midnight Blossom, a plant shop and floral studio in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, owners Amoreena and Matthew Herbage celebrate the season with traditional wreaths, swags and centerpieces. Their designs include a few surprising twists, such as pewter-colored pods, silvery houseplant leaves and tillandsias that look like snowflakes.

“We appreciate what the world has to offer – from amazing stones to beautiful succulents,” Amoreena explains. “We bring a fun, childlike discovery to our designs — the process is as important as the ingredients.”

Midnight Blossom began as a wedding floral design business; in 2010, the couple opened their retail store combining Amoreena’s love for plants and Matt’s custom woodworking shop.

Their tiny emporium attracts young urban customers who may never have gardened before, “but they love the artsy botanicals, preserved bugs and beetles, and unusual rocks we have,” says Matt, who builds display cases, shadowboxes and other custom pieces for Midnight Blossom.

 

The interior feels like an old-fashioned curiosity shop. Customers are welcome to explore and create terrariums and miniature tabletop designs at the “Garden Bar.” That’s where you’ll find glass jars, sand, pebbles, succulents and other ingredients to build one-of-a-kind miniature garden.

When they’re not at the shop, Matt and Amoreena are outdoors, gathering uncommon elements for Midnight Blossom’s shelves.

“We’ve managed to find beaches where harvesting is allowed,” he says. “So we’ve foraged for things like dried sea kelp, driftwood, agates and moss.”

Their forays into nature — always with the proper permits – have yielded creations like driftwood chandeliers, sculptural plant stands and tablescapes inspired by beach or forest.

Designing with nature as her guide, Amoreena says, “I am inspired by what I like, whether it’s a geode or a flower.” 

 

Decorate with a silver palette: 

Simple and elegant, this wreath is ideal for either the tabletop or door. The design combines only two main elements: a circle of pliable curly willow tips that are wired to a wreath base and a ring of tillandsias, gently wired in place. “Eventually, the tillandsias will need to be misted, but this design will look great for at least a month,” Amoreena says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top this!

“These package toppers are like little gardens by themselves,” she explains. “Usually something here in the store will catchy my eye, especially if it shimmers.” She gathers leaves from house plants, tiny seed heads and even herbs into a mini-bouquet. Tied with raffia or twine, they add a touch of nature to a wrapped gift.

 

 

 

 

 

Place settings

“Centerpieces don’t always have to include flowers,” Amoreena says. “I love using dried elements like pods and other items gathered from the garden.” There’s an organic beauty to the way she combines leaves, stems, branches and seed heads, showcasing the distinct shape and texture of each. Arrange a series of small vases along the center of a dining table or use individual vases at each place setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shimmery showstopper

Fill a larger vase with dramatic silvery elements, such as branches of the silver tree (Leucadendron argenteum), which grows well in Southern California and is sold as a cut floral ingredient. Eucalyptus and silvery twigs finish the stunning arrangement — an unexpected interpretation for the holiday season.

 

 

 

 

 

Swagger for the Porch

Softly draped, a swag of seeded eucalyptus makes a modern-looking accent for your front door. Amoreena simply gathered together several lengths with twine. Before hanging the swag on a hook, she wired a single large tillandsia (such as Tillandsia xerographica) as its striking focal point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HERE IS MY ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE ARTICLE

 

The drama queens of late summer, dahlias have an eye-popping palette, amazing forms and architectural stature. They’re a striking alternative to the season’s more common flowers like mums or asters. Although it’s too late to plant tubers at this time of year, you can still find potted dahlias at garden centers – ready to plant immediately. Your dahlias will continue to bloom until the first frost, as late as Thanksgiving in some regions of the country.

“Dahlias come in so many colors, they flower profusely for months, are relatively easy to care for and are stunning – both in the garden and in arrangements,” says Kelly Sullivan of Botanique, a Seattle-based floral and landscape designer who specializes in cutting gardens.

Dahlias have a long history in the American backyard, having migrated here in the early 1800s, by way of the Aztecs, Spain and the rest of Europe. According to Scott Kunst of Old House Gardens, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based mail order and Internet source for heirloom bulbs, the parentage of today’s hybrid varieties can be traced to three original wild dahlias, including Dahlia atropurpurea, which dates to 1789 and features a dark maroon flower, single petals and lacy foliage. Other popular old-timers include ‘Jersey’s Beauty’ (1923); ‘Sellwood Glory’ (1951); ‘Andries’ Orange’ (1936); ‘Clair de Lune’ (1946) and ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ (1927), a dark-foliage variety.

“The past is a great place to find fabulous dahlias,” Kunst says. “The ones that have survived the test of time are typically strong, adaptable growers.”

Hardy in frost-free regions, the dahlia is a member of the daisy family (Asteraceae). Dahlia tubers, those sweet potato-looking clumps with an “eye” at one end, are actually modified stems that store nutrients and water underground while producing stunning blooms on tall, leafy stems. Flowers are formed by many petal-like ‘ray florets’ arranged around a center of ‘disk florets.’

Dahlia breeding has resulted in varieties with diverse petal shapes and sizes, ranging from miniature ball to frilly cactus to blooms the size of dinner plates. The American Dahlia Society (ADS) has organized modern-day dahlias into 19 flower forms, with added categories for color and size. Descriptions often borrow from other familiar flower shapes: water lily, peony, anemone and orchid.

According to Kevin Larkin, ADS president and owner of Corralitos Dahlias near Santa Cruz, California, there are many modern introductions that home gardeners should try growing. He singles out cultivars that have won recent awards of merit from the society, including ‘Eden Talos’, a bronze, semi-cactus form; ‘Leslie Renee’, a purple-lavender miniature-formal-decorative form; ‘Buster P’, a showy orange flower measuring up to 8-inches; and the U-2 micro series of miniature dahlias from legendary breeder Bill McClaren.

Dahlias prefer full or slightly filtered sunlight (ideally eight hours daily); they will grow lanky and produce fewer blooms in deep shade. Grow them en-masse for impact or integrate them with other sun-loving perennials to create a pleasing composition in beds and borders. They pair beautifully with other large-sized bloomers, plants that peak from late summer through fall, including sunflowers, zinnias, lilies, cosmos, helenium, rudbeckia, purple coneflower and ornamental grasses. The large-headed and taller varieties may require staking, especially in areas that receive summer rainfall (experts recommend staking plants 3-feet-tall or higher). Low-growing varieties (12- to 24-inches)  are good choices for borders and containers because they do not require staking.

“If you are looking for drama in the garden, giant dahlia blooms will certainly deliver, but if you are looking for lots of dahlias to cut for bouquets, I suggest you select from the smaller blooming varieties,” Larkin says. He prefers dahlias in the pom, ball and informal or formal decorative categories, all of which are long-lasting in arrangements.

Dahlias are easy to grow, especially if you know a few basics. Tubers are sold through mail-order outlets or retail nurseries and are typically planted in late spring or early summer, about the same time you plant tomatoes. They can be started indoors in one-gallon nursery pots (about 4-6 weeks before the last frost), then transplanted. Dahlias can also be planted from rooted cuttings, which generally bloom earlier than tuber-grown varieties and produce a new tuber for the following season.

Plant dahlias in light, fertile, well-drained soil. For gardens with heavy or clay-like soil, add organic compost or grow dahlias in raised beds. Amend soil prior to planting. Space tubers 18 to 24 inches apart in holes one foot deep and wide. Some experts say you do not need to fertilize dahlias until plants are one month old (after all, there’s a lot of energy stored in that tuber to jump-start initial growth); others recommend using a balanced fertilizer when planting. The overall health of your soil may determine which practice you adopt.

Rest the tuber horizontally with its eye, if visible, pointing up. If you are planting from a container, place the root cluster with the stem facing up – about 6 inches below ground level. More dahlias suffer from over-watering and over-feeding than anything else. If your soil is wet, do not water until the first shoots emerge. If your soil is dry, water once; then wait until growth appears. Feed dahlias with a water-soluble, low-nitrogen fertilizer until one month prior to the first frost. Products with excessive nitrogen will produce weak stems and small blooms (Dr. Earth carries a number of organic fertilizers suitable for blooming and flowering plants, www.drearth.com).

To improve flower production, try this tip from Hans Langeveld, co-founder of Longfield Gardens in Lakewood, N.J., a mail order bulb company: “Pinch the first flower bud on the center shoot. That will stimulate your plant to grow a lot more flowers.” The technique can also keep your plant from getting leggy or floppy.

Dahlias are cut-and-come-again perennials. As you harvest them for arrangements, they continue to produce more blooms, says Diane Szukovathy, a Mt. Vernon, Washington-based cut flower farmer. “I love to mix and match a number of different dahlia styles rather than combine them with similar ‘focal flowers.'” If you don’t wish to cut your dahlias for bouquets, you will need to remove (“dead-head”) spent flowers to encourage repeat blooms.

Slug damage may be your biggest pest concern, but only when the first tender shoots emerge. The best line of offense is hand removal and keeping the area around the base of your dahlia clean and tidy. “By May or June, your plants are large enough to outpace the slugs,” Szukovathy advises. She dismisses the myth that dahlias should be planted near edibles to keep slugs away. “The best pest-control approach for a home gardener is to add diversity of plants to encourage a

balance of beneficial insects to keep your garden healthy.”

Old House Gardens has shipped heirloom dahlia tubers to customers in all 50 states. You may not think that’s possible, since dahlia plants are winter hardy to Zones 9-11 (minimum temperatures of 25 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit). But many people are treating dahlias as annuals, planting new ones each year, say Kunst and fellow dahlia experts. If you want to save your tubers to replant next spring, try the tips outlined in the sidebar.

With their pleasing floral spectrum of intense hues and beautiful forms, it’s easy to see why America’s dahlia obsession has flourished over the years. Whether you add a shrub variety to a patio container or integrate your mixed border with larger dahlia varieties, this beloved flower is guaranteed to satisfy late-summer cravings for vivid, long-lasting blooms. 

Overwintering your dahlias

If you live in a region subject to freezing temperatures, you will need to take special care of dahlia tubers during the cold months. As fall arrives and dahlias begin dormancy, follow these steps from Swan Island Dahlias in Canby, Oregon (www.dahlias.com).

• It is safe to dig tubers about 2 weeks after a killing frost or by mid-November at latest
• First cut the stalk off, with about 6 inches of stem remaining
• Gently lift tubers with a spade or pitchfork so as not to break the neck of the tuber
• Rinse dirt from the roots and allow to air dry, protected from the elements, for about 24 hours
• Divide clumps of tubers into individual pieces using a sharp, clean knife. Make sure each piece has at least one “eye,” found near the stem or neck. If eyes are difficult to see, divide the clump in half or quarters
• Use a storage medium such as slightly-dampened peat moss, sand or sawdust/shavings.
• Tubers should be stored in crates or cardboard boxes lined with 10-12 sheets of newspaper.
• Place packing medium in the bottom of container; layer tubers, alternating with more medium until the container is full. Do not use sealed plastic bags or sealed containers.
• Store in a cool, dry area (40-50 degrees). If your storage area is too warm, the tubers will wrinkle or shrivel. If it is too cold, the tubers will freeze or rot. Check tubers once a month and adjust accordingly.

In the spring, you can replant the tubers after the last frost. Share or trade extras with other gardeners. For more details, visit the American Dahlia Society at www.dahlia.org.

 

You’d think that a lot of containers could clutter up a place, but that’s not the case in Susann and Gale Schwiesow’s Pacific Northwest garden, where no fewer than 175 pots of mostly gold and green foliage plants, including clipped boxwood balls, connects four distinct outdoor rooms and draw the eye through the landscape.

Susann, partner in Schwiesow Drilias, a residential landscape firm in Bellingham, Wash., uses mostly terra cotta pottery and many shades of green foliage to give her garden a common design language.

The relationship between one area of the garden and each adjacent outdoor space relies on Susann’s artistry and use of color, especially evident in her selection of apricot and coral flowers and foliage plants to echo the clay pots.

Terra cotta containers populate the home’s front steps, line the patio’s edge and are grouped informally on several terraces. Widely varied, the pots are planted with dwarf evergreens, succulents, tropicals and other lush, heat-loving varieties.

“I like repetition,” Susann says. “It carries your eye around the garden. Each space has a focal point, which leads you from one garden room to the next.” 

Container style

The intimate look and feel of Susann’s patio relies on the successful way she places her many pots. Follow her design tips to create your own potted landscape:

• Select a pottery color, finish or glaze and use it consistently. It’s okay to mix styles and sizes, but stick to a single palette. Susann uses high-quality terra cotta, which means the clay endure winter frosts.
• Create groupings of pots for impact. Susann starts with a symmetrical layout, then she adds accent pots on one side to lessen the design’s formality.
• Vary the height of pots in a group. Elevate short pots on a stack of concrete pavers or an upturned saucer.
• Create an informal edge to a patio by arranging similar pots in a straight or staggered row. Susann uses medium and large-sized terra cotta pots, planted with common boxwood balls, to give a sense of enclosure to her back terrace. 

Connecting spaces

Each of Susann and Gale’s garden rooms is a special destination where they gather to observe the garden and enjoy a little R&R. Susann uses several easy techniques to tie one to the next.

• Choose a theme color and an accent color, then repeat throughout the garden. For example, the foliage plants are mostly dark green, but Susann uses trees, shrubs and perennials with chartreuse-foliage as accents.
• Give each space a focal point to lead you from one room to the next. The focal point is an eye-catching moment of drama, such as a singular pot, a specimen plant or a furniture grouping.
• Define transitions. “Show where the garden room lets you in and lets you out,” Susann says. For example, she places pots to emphasize pathways, steps and transition points.

In 1999, Cheryl Bode and Robin Colman discovered the house and garden they soon came to call Casa dos Mujeres (House of Two Women).

Prompted by the desire for more space as they combined their individual households, the two were drawn to Altadena, a village in unincorporated Los Angeles County wedged between Pasadena and the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

“Cheryl went there on a lark with our real estate agent,” Robin recalls. “This house was in terrible shape, but part of it really captivated her.”

Later, when Cheryl returned with Robin in tow, she jumped up and down with joy when Robin pronounced: “I could live here.”

Motivated to  save the aging 1925 Spanish Colonial Revival-style home and tame its landscape, Robin and Cheryl spent more than a decade on restorations. They reclaimed the property’s gracious character, so it is reminiscent of its origins . In doing so, they, too, have become rooted in the community. “It feels like you’re taking a step out of the hustle and bustle of city life,” says Robin.

The 4,000-square-foot, stucco-and-red-tile-roofed residence required extensive interior and exterior renovations. While much of the land once attached to the house had been subdivided and sold over time, three-quarters of an acre remained.

Cheryl and Robin didn’t consider themselves gardeners, but they knew the overgrown and debris-strewn yard needed to be cleaned up and redesigned. They turned to Pasadena-based garden designer Thomas Batcheller Cox for help.

“We had no idea what we were taking on,” says Robin. “We love it now, but we didn’t come in with our eyes wide open.” 

Cox’s expertise has had a profound effect on the couple, who have relied on his design direction for more than a decade, Cheryl says. “We could not have done any of this garden without him. We continue to work with him today, which means this property is evolving into a mature garden.”
Renovated in phases over many years, the once unruly property  is now a series of nine garden rooms – from the front garden where  ginkgos flank the front door to the shade garden where clusters of more than twenty Daphne odora shrubs perfume the air. According to Cox, the landscape is defined by distinct, room-like features. “The floor, of course, is the lawn, terrace or patio, the path or walkway. The adjacent areas where plants grow form the shape of each particular room.”

Overhanging trees evoke the idea of a ceiling, while tall plants form “walls” that frame the sky view above, he explains, adding:

“I love spaces that are softly enclosed so you can only barely see them.”

Focusing so much energy on her garden  turned Cheryl, who retired from a career in health care administration, into a plant-lover and collector. “I came to learn that I had a passion for gardening,” Cheryl says. ” I ask: Is it rare? Is it unusual? I want that special geranium or uncommon blue ginger — varieties I’ve never seen growing in a private garden.”

In consultation with Cox, Cheryl scours small specialty nurseries for just the right flowering azalea or rose cultivar. She is equally comfortable rattling off botanical names like a horticulturist or tending tomatoes, strawberries, and beans in the sunny kitchen garden.

The restored residence has a deep, covered veranda that overlooks a strolling lawn, several outdoor dining areas and a formal pond. The new garden needed to be worthy of the home’s grand scale.  “We wanted it to look as if everything belonged here and was built by craftspeople from the 1920s,” Cheryl explains.

The spirit of that ethos begins in the walled rose garden, established along the home’s east perimeter in an area once covered in asphalt. A gate built from turned spindles (echoing the home’s original window trim) provides entry. Sand-colored Santa Rosa gravel crunches underfoot as you walk along the path, sidestep a small bubbling fountain at its center, and inhale the perfume of 32 rose shrubs (“I only grow roses that have fragrance,” Cheryl says.)

Upright stone ledges form the risers in a gravel path and staircase that descends from one level of the garden to the next. “The path goes down two little steps to an arch, which leads to the first terrace and connects with the upper lawn,” Cheryl explains. “Then it continues down five more steps to the lower garden.” From this main walkway, several narrower, undulating paths follow the topography of the land, leading to nearly-hidden seating areas. “You have to explore each and every aspect of this garden,” Cheryl says. “It’s not like you can stand in one place and have a panoramic view.”

Rather than considering the property’s gentle slope as a design challenge, the owners, designer and their contractor Tim Foster of Chaparral Landscaping all felt it was a strength. “We didn’t change the  topography of the land when we created this garden,” Cheryl points out. “So that laid a foundation for Tom and Tim to enhance and build upon.”

Before it turns at the southeast corner of the property, the path loops around an octagonal bed, an important focal point where Cheryl and Tom have established a medallion-like tapestry of succulents, planted bands of bearded irises and added the unusual Strelitzia junacea, a type of bird of paradise. “That’s now our sunniest corner,” she says.  

The journey continues to an oval strolling lawn, often used as a dance floor for summer soirees. Enclosed by bold-leafed rice- paper plants (Tetrapanax papyrifer), graceful swaths of Mexican weeping bamboo and other subtropical specimens, the enclosure “feels like a garden cathedral – now that’s the real meaning of a ‘room’,” Cox points out. “Containment makes it feel much larger.”

Though this side of the landscape borders a well-traveled street, it is quiet and feels private, thanks to a “living fence” of evergreen pyracantha shrubs, their espaliered branches supported by cables strung between metal fence posts.

Cheryl and Robin preserved as many old trees as possible, including several deodar cedars and sycamores. They nursed a vintage orchard back to health, although it took five years of

proper irrigation and feeding for many of the citrus trees to resume fruit production. Trees in the southern-facing area, enjoyed from the kitchen window, include a Meyer lemon, Satsuma and navel oranges, low-chill plum, apricot and apple trees, as well as two persimmon trees.

A diverse plant palette now enhances the gently sloping property: Princess and King palms, Camellia sasanqua shrubs, an African cabbage tree (Cussonia paniculata) and a pair of Sansevieria cylindrica “Skyline” in pots.

“It does look like a jungle,” Cheryl laughs, looking out across the upper lawn (she once overheard a garden tour docent describe the garden as “controlled chaos.”). But it’s an almost-tamed one that provides fragrance, fruit and flowers to those who enter — and look up to view the sky.

Vibrant stands of tropical Heliconias come into view, their leaves creating a green hedge. Cheryl and Robin never tire of observing this scene. “First, I see the Texas redbud, then the princess palm and then giant bird-of-paradise. Even when we’re sitting still, there’s exploration, Cheryl explains.”  

This botanical collection thrives in what Cheryl describes as Altadena’s unique microclimate. “Our summers are very hot; our winters are cold. The topography is such that we’re often encased in clouds in the winter.” Temperate-climate plants that won’t grow in nearby Pasadena seem to perform better in the foothills, she contends.

Beyond the oval lawn, stepping stones lead towards the deep shade of an old California sycamore, mature Pittosporum undulatum, Magnolia denudata  trees. Here, a restored pond is landscaped with ferns, hellebores, mondo grass and a trio of golden ginkgos (Gingko biloba), which Tom suggested adding to commemorate Cheryl’s late mother. The colors of spring appear: overhead in the blood-red foliage of several Japanese maples (including Acer palmatum ‘Red Blood’ and several dwarf, cut-leaf varieties that survive in dry Southern California only with some shade) and at one’s feet, in the salmon-pink flowering azaleas that line the path. Dappled sunlight animates the scene and it’s hard to imagine anyplace more peaceful.

“I don’t even really want to take vacations anymore, because it’s so beautiful here,” says Robin, a vice president at eBay Inc., who for the past five years has commuted from Southern California to Silicon Valley each week. “I come back on the weekends and I love just being home.”

Because the women feel they are stewards and caretakers of this special place, they frequently share it with friends and host benefit dinners for favorite charities. “We’ve been given the opportunity to return this ‘Grand Dame’ to how it was in 1925,” Cheryl adds. “It’s amazing to see what one garden can do. We want other people to enjoy it.”

 

Spring is here and many homeowners equate March’s arrival with a long list of chores. But those to-dos don’t have to be a drag. Backyard improvement projects can yield satisfying results now and through the year.

“You can think about your garden as purely a place to grow plants or a place to entertain,” says Lauren Hall-Behrens, designer and principal of Portland-based Lilyvilla Gardens. “But it can also be something that transforms you at the end of your day, giving something back to you – a connection with nature.”

It’s possible to move practically any activity in your lifestyle to an exterior setting. In a 2012 residential-trends survey by the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (ASLA), nearly 92 percent of respondents rated outdoor areas for kitchen and entertaining as “somewhat to very popular.” The study also found that grills, fire pits, lighting, seating/dining areas and weatherized outdoor furniture continue to be top landscape amenities for the residential backyard. Yet people apparently also want to spend less time taking care of such spaces, with nearly all respondents in the ASLA study giving “low-maintenance landscapes” a popularity rating.

If you’re going to invest extracurricular energy into a gardening project, it had better promise a payoff. You also want to relax in your garden, not work overtime to help pay for it. These two issues—time and money—are at the heart of the garden tips recommended here. Read on to see what the experts suggest:

1. Appraise your garden’s assets and limitations.

Observe your environment – at different times of the year and times of the day – so you’re tuned into what that space is like throughout each season, says Billy Goodnick, a Santa Barbara-based landscape architect and author of the new book Yards: Turn Any Outdoor Space into the Garden of Your Dreams (St. Lynn’s Press, 2013). Goodnick says that homeowners should draw a quick sketch of their outdoor environments. The exercise will likely reveal the plusses and minuses of their properties.

“Make a list of all your wants and desires—from room for the kids to play to a summer napping spot,” Goodnick advises. “I tell my clients to figure out their ‘needs’ and make the most of out of the space they have. Gardens are for living in, so prioritize based on the pleasure you’ll deriive from and the frequency you’ll use each feature.”

Atlanta-based landscape architect Mary Palmer Dargan, author of Timeless Landscape Design (GibbsSmith, 2007) and Lifelong Landscape Design (GibbsSmith, 2012), offers ideas about how homeowners should view their properties when making landscaping decisions. She advises dividing the garden into four important parts, each with its own unique role. There’s the entry to the property, including where people park and how they walk to the front door (which Dargan calls the “approach/arrival”); there is the structure of the home, itself, (the hub); the places where homeowners go to enjoy their family and friends outside (perimeter spaces); and the places further from the home where one might grow a vegetable patch, store gardening equipment or play (linkages/destinations).

“When these four areas are in harmony with one another, the property purrs like a well-oiled piece of machinery,” Dargan maintains.

2. Explore local resources for inspiration:

To develop ideas for those four areas of the garden, homeowners should look around their own community for inspiration. That file folder stuffed with magazine tear sheets is certainly a source of design ideas, but there’s nothing like a three-dimensional landscape to give you a sense of a tree’s grandeur.

“Everyone should visit public gardens,” says Stacie Crooks of Seattle-based Crooks Garden Design and a trustee of The Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island.

“I’m confident that when I suggest a visit to Bloedel, my clients will have a personal experience that inspires them visually or emotionally – and it will help them want to create a similar feeling in their own garden.”

Snap photographs of attractive plant groupings or gorgeous framed views. Take a guided tour with a docent. And while most of us probably won’t replicate a majestic strolling lawn or a bosk of shade trees, we can certainly borrow ideas to bring home.

“The reasons we feel comfortable in a garden space – whether it’s large or small — are the same fundamentals of every good garden,” Crooks says.

3. Hire a pro for the big jobs:

Gardeners tackling big jobs may want to commission a designer to first create a master plan and then hire a contractor to handle details such as installing outdoor lighting or pouring a concrete patio.

Homeowners can save the less physically demanding or technically difficult aspects for themselves, such as the actual planting. Also, start with the front yard and enjoy it for a few years before tackling the backyard. In other words, pace yourself.

The amount you will spend varies widely, from hiring a relatively unskilled day laborer to haul away debris for $10-per-hour to a professional designer or landscape architect whose fees can range from $75-per-hour to much more, depending on where you live. Ask friends and neighbors for referrals’; solicit quotes from multiple companies; and check references. Most states have a nursery-and-landscaping trade association that can also provide suggestions, such as whether it’s better to negotiate an hourly fee or a per-project rate. Just remember that you get what you pay for: Cheapest is rarely the best option, especially when it comes to investing in your home and landscape.  “It’s all about knowing your strengths and abilities,” says Anthony Tesselaar, cofounder and president of international plant marketer Anthony Tesselaar International. “You may only need a pro to shift that tree that looked good when you first planted it; but now it’s too big or overgrown.”

The International Society of Arboriculture (www.isa-arbor.com) maintains a searchable database of tree-care professionals who can tackle such a project. Hall-Behrens, of Lilyvilla Gardens, believes that working with a designer who understands a gardener’s personal style can help them get much closer to their ideal garden.

“I’m interested in helping clients get as much out of their garden as possible and that often starts with helping them know what they want,” she says.

Sharing the practical aspects of your lifestyle can greatly help a designer, Hall-Behrens says. “If you know you always entertain 30 people at a time, or that you definitely want a place to barbecue or lounge, it will make the whole process so much easier and affordable.”

4. Plant Trees

Spring is a great time to plant trees because so many wonderful specimens are in bloom, says Nancy Buley, communications director for J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., wholesale tree growers based in Boring, Ore., outside Portland.

“Obviously, you should plant trees for their beauty, but they also have great environmental value,” she says.

However, homeowners need to do their homework to choose the right tree for their properties’ sites and scales. Many communities have resources to help, be it a city arborist or a utility district. Public gardens and universities also evaluate best trees in regions around the country.

For example, in the maritime Northwest, the Great Plant Picks program (www.greatplantpicks.com) lists the best residential trees, while California property owners can view Cal Poly’s SelecTree recommendations (www.selectree.calpoly.edu). Midwest gardeners will find great backyard trees at Missouri Botanic Garden’s Plants of Merit program (www.missouribotanicalgarden.org), while the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal Plants highlight best area trees at www.goldmedalplants.org.

If making a beautiful addition to one’s landscape isn’t enough reason to invest in trees, Buley points to a recent U.S. Forest Service study of Portland neighborhoods, which determined that street trees growing in the right-of-way in front of homes added an average of $8,870 to the sales price and reduced the time a home was on the market by 1.7 days.

“Aesthetically, trees are the ‘bones’ of the landscape – they set the tone for the overall look of the garden,” Buley says. “Therefore, it is important to choose wisely, and where space is limited, choose one that will serve multiple purposes.”

5. Barter, borrow or trade

Gardeners on a budget should try embracing some old-fashioned practices and join the new barter economy. Like homesteaders and pioneers before us, today’s enterprising homeowners are finding and creating non-cash solutions for home and garden projects.

According to Steve Couche, founder of the Southeast Portland Tool Library (www.septl.org), this movement is based on equal parts need and creativity.

In 2010, as part of a neighborhood sustainability coalition, Couche and fellow volunteers started a tool-lending center, now one of 40 such programs around the country. The idea is that a gardener may only need a tool for a specific, one-time project. So rather than purchase it, borrow it. “It’s similar to joining a book library,” he explains.

Some tool libraries have been in operation for decades, while others are just getting started. Programs vary, such as one operated through the public library system in Berkeley, California, to others begun by neighborhood groups.

To address growing interest, founders of the West Seattle Tool Library designed a “Starter Kit” that addresses everything from liability issues to planning a budget. It is available for free at http://sharestarter.org/tools/.

At the Southeast Portland Tool Library,  More than 2,000 cardholders are able to check out 1,200 tools, mostly donated—from axes to wrenches to more expensive tools.  “Young people just starting out want to borrow tools, but retired people do, too,” Couche says. “One of our board members remodeled his house entirely with tools from the library.”

The spirit of the tool library is also similar to garden-sharing cooperatives in which people with extra square-footage allow those who need a plot to grow vegetables, flowers or even  host beehives in exchange for a percentage of what they produce.

Ballard Bee Company (www.ballardbeecompany.com), an urban pollination service in Seattle, is one such venture. Founder Corky Luster or a member of his crew set up hives in the residential backyards of neighborhood hosts, as well as in spaces like restaurant gardens or hotel rooftops; the company has also set up apiaries in Dunn Gardens, a beautiful, historic public garden in Seattle.

Property owners pay a small fee and in return receive a “personal pollination station” in their garden and a regular supply of the hive’s honey. As bees forage for pollen in urban backyards, they create a lightly floral, golden, and, of course, delicious product. Plus, it’s safe, explains Luster. “Honeybees are really gentle. When you have a hive, you can experience watching the bees, benefit from the pollination and enjoy some of the honey.”

6. Eat what you grow

Whether it’s because of concerns about the economy, food security, or simply a desire to grow and cook with fresh ingredients, the kitchen garden continues to be an important feature of American backyards.

Gardening with vegetables remains a top consumer priority, according to a recent survey conducted by the Garden Writers Association (www.gardenwriters.org). The study found that over the past three years, the number of households engaged in vegetable and fruit-growing has remained fairly constant at nearly 54 percent of those with a yard or garden.

To begin this project, “forget about seeds,” suggests Willi Galloway, Portland-based author of Grow, Cook, Eat (Sasquatch Books, 2012) and host of www.digginfood.com, a gardening-cooking blog. “Buy veggie starts (rooted seedlings available in 4-inch pots at most garden centers) because they’re already growing and ready to plant.”

Galloway recommends that novice food gardeners should begin growing plants they already like to eat. “Grow a cherry tomato with some lettuce. Or plant some peas with arugula,” she says. “Herbs are great because you can work them into any existing sunny flower border in your yard or grow them in containers.”

Vegetable gardening is a great family activity, Galloway adds. “Kids like anything they can pull up out of the ground, like carrots and beets. And digging up potatoes is like finding buried treasure.7.

7. Make the garden kid-friendly

When my sons were young, I grew lots of berries, greens, vegetables and fruit for the simple reason that I wanted them to know that food came from the earth—not from a shrink-wrapped tray at the supermarket.

By the time my children reached elementary school, we discovered the power of school gardens – “living classrooms” that engage youngsters in fascinating experiences like worm composting, seed sprouting and eating what you grow. There are many resources available to teachers and parents, including the National Gardening Association’s Kids Gardening program (http://www.kidsgardening.org/), which lists lessons and activities, as well as a guide for starting a youth garden. It’s easy to begin small, with just a few flower pots of carrot and radish seeds, and “grow” from there.

Helping children engage positively with the natural world is one objective of the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden (www.seattlechildrensplaygarden.com), a nonprofit program for children of all abilities. Executive director Liz Bullard and landscape designer Wendy Welch say the PlayGarden is an important teaching tool for children with diverse physical and developmental skills. More than one thousand children participate annually in the PlayGarden’s preschool, field trips, afterschool programs and popular summer camps, where play is an equalizer for all children ages 4 to 12.

No one says “don’t pick that” here, says Welch, the program’s lead designer and owner of Wendy Welch Garden Design. “Everything we plant is provocative for kids in some way – from the scent to the texture, to the taste. There are endless amounts of flowers to pick and berries that kids can eat to their heart’s content,” she says. “But then again, this is a public park – and the plants have to stand up to teenage boys playing basketball. So we’ve chosen varieties that are super tough like Joe Pye weed, rudbeckia and solidaster. These are workhorse plants that are hard to kill, but they are also colorful and good for pollinators.”

These lessons of a public park can be adapted to any home garden where children may congregate. “In a garden, kids change their relationship with nature, with their siblings, with other children,” Welch says. “It’s really about creating a welcoming place to play. It doesn’t take any money to build a mud puddle, after all.”

8. Plant for birds, bees and beneficial insects

Bird watching is popular nationwide, with the annual economic impact of bird enthusiasts valued at $32 billion a year, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The agency reported that in 2011, 22.5 million people 16 years old and older took trips away from home to feed, observe, or photograph wildlife.

But these same enthusiasts also enjoy wildlife in their own backyards. Bringing birds into your garden “is probably the easiest connection you can make with wild nature,” says Jim Carpenter CEO of Indianapolis-based Wild Birds Unlimited, a backyard bird feeding specialty chain. “When we provide good habitat, feeding stations, water and a place for birds to raise their young, they reward us with song, beauty, wildness – they bring what may already be a beautiful garden to life.”

9. Recycle, repurpose, re-use

Giving new life to someone else’s throwaways is the idea behind Building Resources (www.buildingresources.org), a 19-year-old construction and landscaping materials center in San Francisco. What began as a way to limit landfill waste has grown into a model emulated all around the country and a way for gardeners to save money and be environmentally sensitive.

Program manager Matthew Levesque says enthusiasm for recycled building materials began to increase five years ago. “People who never before expressed interest in re-use are now interested.” And it’s not just for the do-it-yourself crowd. Patrons include artists, designers, educators and anyone interested in sustainable practices.

“Yes, our growth is economically driven,” Levesque maintains. “That’s because during leaner times, people get more creative. There’s also a growing sense of environmental awareness as people realize there is good material here to be reused.”

10. Make it yourself

Related to the growing “hand-made” movement, make-it-yourself projects can stretch a home and garden decorating budget, allow homeowners to put a personal stamp on their environments.

Picking up a tool and learning a new skill—from floral design to furniture-making—satisfies those who desire unique over the mass-produced, says Dan Benarcik, a horticulturist at Chanticleer, a nonprofit estate garden outside Philadelphia. Benarcik began teaching students seven years ago how to build garden chairs based on The Red Blue Chair, designed in 1917 by Gerrit Rietveld, a Dutch carpenter and artist.  Benarcik was surprised when his first students were mother-and-daughter teams.

Women continue to sign up for Benarcik’s furniture-making classes, often given by botanical gardens and horticultural societies. Benarcik thinks the success of his workshops is due in part to the “I want to do it myself” mindset.

“I’m amazed at the momentum,” he says of the do-it-yourself movement. “Most of my students arrive saying, ‘I’ve never built anything else before,’ but I’ve had 100-percent success rate.”

11.  Tailor your garden to fit your lifestyle. “Think of your outdoor spaces as adding more rooms to your house,” say landscape architect Goodnick. “The patio is another dining room; the quiet refuge under a tree is your den; the fire pit is your family room.” Even if you make one change in your landscape this spring, you’ll find yourself drawn to the great outdoors more frequently as the season unfolds.

Debra Prinzing is a Seattle-based garden and design writer and outdoor living expert. Learn more at www.debraprinzing.com.