EMBRACING THE CALIFORNIA TOPOGRAPHY
~ by michael douglas brennan ~
It is encouraging to know that people today are expecting much more from their home landscapes than they did in the past. Standard home landscapes of yesteryear were dominated by big thirsty lawns and plantings, but these days, people are moving toward more thoughtful designs that extend their living and entertaining into the outdoors.
With our temperate climate in southern California, it only makes sense to embrace outdoor living as a way of life. As landscapes move away from thirsty plant materials, they are also trending towards the inclusion of edibles as an integral part of the design. Providing food in your landscaping is a great added benefit that only requires a little extra effort depending on what you choose to grow. In terms of maintaining those plants, there are some innovative ways that technology can be adapted into the landscape as well. The use of a smart, weather-based controller is the standard, with lots of options for integrating whole home automation technology from there.
Water-wise Design: The focus on low water use design has been at the forefront of the landscape industry, particularly with the extreme drought conditions over recent years. In some areas, there are even turf buyback programs that incentivize homeowners to convert their lawns to a drought-friendly landscape. Where those programs don’t exist or are not practical, there are still plenty of reasons to ditch your lawn or to reduce it to a reasonable size. The most obvious reason is to save on water and maintenance costs, but doing so also opens up opportunities to re-imagine your yard with more practical uses and entertainment in mind.
Last year, a client of Carson/Douglas wanted to remove about 8000 square feet of turf and convert that to a drought-friendly landscape. Because it was such a large space and they do a lot of entertaining, we designed a bocce court with seating areas and a custom fabricated fire pit as a focal point. The remainder of the area was planted with native and well-adapted plants with a serene, meandering pathway through the landscape. Instead of a lawn that needed to be mowed weekly, their new landscape only needs tending on a monthly basis, using a fraction of the water.
Outdoor Living: Whether you have a large backyard or a modest apartment patio, there should be design elements that draw you into the outdoors. Cozy seating areas are a great place to start and a fire pit is a wonderful way to extend outdoor enjoyment into the evening hours. If you have a larger yard or patio the design options abound. An outdoor dining space is a lovely way to entertain and can be accompanied by an outdoor kitchen with any number of appliances and conveniences. Remember also, that the more space dedicated to such outdoor rooms results in less area that needs watering.
Edible Plants: The outdoor dining experience can further be enhanced by serving food and ingredients harvested from edibles in your landscape. Some people might be hesitant to grow fruits, herbs and vegetables because of the additional care that they demand. For those folks, I would suggest starting small by experimenting with plants that are more forgiving. Pineapple Guava is a great example of a shrub that can be planted by a novice, they make for a great hedge, too if you need some privacy. Pomegranates and figs are very easy to grow in ground or in a container, they don’t use much water and are quite handsome plants. Rosemary and Oregano are two herbs that are incredibly easy to grow and also don’t demand much water.
Seasonal vegetable gardens demand quite a bit of attention but if they are set up correctly they can be quite successful and rewarding. We have designed many vegetable gardens complete with raised vegetable boxes and some with utility sinks, potting benches and seating areas. A well-planned vegetable garden will be fenced in to keep critters out and will have gopher wire lining the bottom of the beds. Vegetable gardens for inland areas should feature cold frames if you want to extend the growing season year-round.
Outdoor Technology: It cannot be understated that whole home automation programs are the way of the future. These are more and more common in new homes and with home renovations. Many facets of the home landscape can be integrated remotely and include your irrigation controller, outdoor lighting, audio, fire pits and pool or spa equipment. Perhaps the most important piece of technology in your landscape is the irrigation controller because it governs how much water is used. Weather-based controllers are a must as they will adjust automatically based on real time weather data and deliver exactly the right amount of water to your plants. Technology is available for your landscape, it is just a matter of how much you want to have automated.
With the right planning and design your landscape can provide incredible enjoyment and draw you into the outdoors every day. Embracing a lighter footprint, choosing water-wise plants and experimentation with your own home-grown food, not only benefits the environment, it will help feed your soul.
Michael Douglas Brennan is Principal Landscape Architect for Carson Douglas Landscape Architecture and is the ASLA President Elect San Diego Chapter.
For more information about Carson Douglas, to see their portfolio of work, check out their Instagram feed at cdladesign, or go to cd-la.com.
