Noted: Make Your Garden Come Alive With a Sense of Movement via Houzz

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Douglas E. Welch

Make Your Garden Come Alive With a Sense of Movement via Houzz

Asian Landscape by Capay Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers Facciuto Landscape Design & Construction

An exceptional garden employs bold and subtle concepts such as rhythm, formal and asymmetrical balance, texture, shape and color to give it a personality. It speaks to its visitors on many levels, both conscious and subconscious. A bubbling fountain may give it a voice and movement. On another level movement may be implied and perceived while the garden in fact remains still. Mastering the illusion of implied movement is guaranteed to set your garden apart from those of your neighbors. Here’s how to start.

“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

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Noted: Before & After: A California Yard Made Easy via Studio G

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Douglas E. Welch

Before & After: A California Yard Made Easy via Studio G

Hey everyone! I hope all your landscapes are thriving with color and curiosity during this first week of summer! It’s been a beautiful June here in Wisconsin– lots of rain, but nothing a good rain jacket won’t take care of. The flowers are loving it and it’s been nice to just let the garden do its thing. Anyway, let’s get onto the featured post! You may remember seeing Jerry Gilanti’s work on the blog from time to time in the past. This week’s Before & After features a makeover out of Los Angeles, California. Jerry sent a few photos along with a quick write up about the project, stating that the homeowners had slightly different desires for the space. The wife wanted a clean and minimal look, but the husband wanted to keep his prized roses and vegetable gardens…2 very different ideas if you ask me! Click ahead to see what Jerry came up with!

“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

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Flowering Now: Giant Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) – June 26, 2014

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Douglas E. Welch

Giant Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai)

I almost thought this was a banana tree flowering in my neighborhood on my walk the other day, but a quick Google search showed me that this is a Giant Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai). The leaves look similar to banana, but the flowers are quite different. The flowers are similar to a Bird of Paradise, a common landscape plant here in Southern California, but the plant and flowers are much larger — really more of tree than a shrub.

Photo: Douglas E. Welch, A Gardener’s Notebook

Giant Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai)

“Strelitzia nicolai, commonly known as the Giant White Bird of Paradise or Wild Banana are banana-like plants with erect woody stems reaching a height of 6 m (20 ft) and the clumps formed can spread as far as 3.5 m (11 ft).

The 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) long leaves are grey-green and arranged like a fan at the top of the stems, similar to Ravenala madagascariensis. The inflorescence is composed of a dark blue bract, white sepals and a bluish-purple “tongue”. The entire flower can be as much as 18 cm (7.1 in) high by 45 cm (18 in) long and is typically held just above the point where the leaf fan emerges from the stem. Flowers are followed by triangular seed capsules.^[2]^[3]

Strelitzia Nicolai is among the rare plants which have been verified to contain the Bilirubin pigment, which is usually found in animals.^[4] — Wikipedia.org