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How Much Water Does Your Garden Need?

Did you know that every plant in your garden is 90 to 98 percent water? As Janet Macunovich of Fine Gardening explains, “All the nutrients plants need to grow, color, flower, multiply, and defend their tissues against pests are produced by the solar-powered chemical reactions that take place in the watery soup within the cells.”

how to determine how much water your plants need
Source: J. Peterson Garden Design via Houzz

But providing plants with just the right amount of water is actually tricker than simply making sure they get an inch of water a week. As Dennis Patton of Kansas State University reminds us, “Learning when and how much to water is one of the most difficult gardening practices.”

The first step to effective and efficient watering is to conduct a capacity test to learn exactly how much water your soil holds. A simple water-holding capacity test will reveal the best times to water without having to wait until plants wilt.

To conduct the test, use a watering hose to soak a spot (around 12 inches in diameter) for about two minutes. Next, stick a trowel into this spot so it is about 3 or 4 inches underground and pull towards you to create a small hole where you can feel the soil with your hand. Do this every day until the soil is no longer cool and damp to determine how many days you can go without water in a rainless period. With this new information, you can now establish a watering schedule.

Once you have your watering regime in place, it’s time to make sure you are applying water as efficiently as you can to achieve a water-smart landscape. As Kathy LaLiberte of Gardeners.com reminds us, watering will not help the plants unless it reaches the root ball. Whether you are using sprinklers, drip hoses, a water-sensed labeled irrigation system or something else, make sure no water is being wasted on driveways or walkways and that it’s being applied slowly so it is able to soak deeply and thoroughly into soil.

Sign up to receive Mary Palmer Dargan’s free worksheets and videos for more valuable tips and ideas on a variety of landscaping topics. Or, contact Dargan Landscape Architects to discuss a master plan or tune-up for your property. Our goal is to help you create an oasis you’ll enjoy for years to come through sustainable landscape design that will Heal the Earth, One Garden at a Time!

Design Leaders Encourage Collaboration for Creation of Healthier Communities

Designing gardens that offer benefits to a homeowner’s overall health and well-being is an integral part of our work here at Dargan Landscape Architects. We attend events all across the country to participate in lectures on how homeowners can achieve landscapes that offer these health benefits. Because so much of our mission revolves around creating healthy spaces for individuals, we were especially thrilled to see leaders from major design organizations issuing a call for design professionals to focus on creating healthier communities at the recent 2013 ALSA Annual Meeting.

healthy landscape design
Design by Dargan Landscape Architects

Mickey Jacob, president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); Tom Tavella, FASLA, president of the ASLA; and Bill Anderson, president of the American Planning Association (APA), all shared their feelings on how “working from the understanding that design can encourage active lifestyles and contribute to community health and quality of life” can help build healthier, more sustainable communities. The trio related this to climbing obesity rates and increasing health care costs. Tavella shared that design professionals can help reverse this trend by keeping design principles such as walkability and spaces that promote physical activity in mind.

Anderson further noted that the relationship between these professions of planning and landscape architecture originally came from better public health needs. With that in mind, he shared, it only makes sense that design professionals should come together once again to transform towns and cities across America “in order to make them healthier.”

garden design for health and longevity
Design by Dargan Landscape Architects

We’re encouraged to see the leaders of these major design associations, once again, emphasizing the importance of working toward making our communities healthier places to live!

If you’re interested in making your own home and garden a healthier place to live, contact us! Dargan Landscape Architects can help you create a master plan or tune-up that focuses on transforming your garden into an oasis of health and longevity. Give us a call at 404-231-3889 for more information, and be sure to sign up at www.landscapeyourlife.com to receive worksheets and videos containing tips that will help you make your garden a place that enhances your health!

Secret Gardens: Creating Your Private Oasis

Have you ever wanted to escape to a place where nothing and no one can disturb you? A secret garden may be just what you need. Not only will it give you the opportunity to retreat to a private space outside of your home, but it will allow you to surround yourself in the beauty and tranquility of nature.

Total immersion in a hidden garden can help you forget your worries and reconnect with nature to rejuvenate your mind, body and soul. Call it the ultimate therapy session.

No matter what your style and how you plan to use your secret garden – whether for reading, meditating or private contemplating – it will need to be designed in a way that makes it partially hidden from the rest of your property. This can be done by creating a garden within a garden using tall shrubs and trees.

secret garden design ideas
Source: Philip Nimmo Design via Houzz

When selecting the spot for your hidden garden, choose somewhere somewhat tucked away and quiet. A neglected side yard, for example, can provide the perfect enclosed area for serene secret garden. However, for some homeowners, the entire landscape can become their own private retreat where only a select few are invited to visit.

Atlanta landscape architects
Source: Dear Garden Associates, Inc. via Houzz

We love Karen Chapman‘s idea of adding to the experience of entering the secret garden by building a little suspense and mystery with a winding path that twists and turns until it suddenly opens up to a small clearing. Envision a meandering stone path, for instance, that leads to a charming gate or arbor entryway where you are then greeted by gorgeous colors and textures and a charming flagstone patio with a lush live carpet.

Atlanta landscape design
Source: Bloom Landscape Design and Fine Gardening Service via Houzz

Amidst vibrant plantings and cascading containers, your secret garden can feature an elegant fountain, a stately statue or other piece of art as the focal point and centerpiece. A bench, a pair of lounge chairs or a bistro set with a small table and chairs can be used for creating a sitting area within your secret garden.

Cashiers Landscape Architects
Source: Exteriorscapes llc via Houzz

Are you enchanted by the idea of having your own secret garden? Dargan Landscape Architects in Atlanta can help you achieve the secret garden you thought only existed in movies and dreams. Contact us at 404.231.3889 to set up your design consultation. We can work with you virtually or in person and look forward to helping you create a space where you can Let Nature Speak!

For more information on creating a timeless landscape design or a secret garden, check out Mary Palmer’s book, Timeless Landscape Design.

How Healthy is Your Soil?

We’ve all heard the phrase “you are what you eat.” We need well-balanced, nutritious meals to feel and function best, and similarly, plants need healthy food to flourish, too. Healthy soil is essential for helping plants grow and thrive.

But how do you know if your garden’s soil is healthy? Checking the health of your soil can start with simple observation. The color of soil can say a lot about its condition. The more organic compound there is, the darker and healthier the soil will be. Soil texture should not be too thin and porous nor should it be sticky and dense. In other words, you don’t want sand, but you don’t want modeling clay either.

Earthworms and soil insects, as well as how difficult it is to dig in soil, are a few easily observable signs that soil may be too compact resulting in roots that grow horizontally instead of downwards. Specific symptoms of unhealthy plants can also point to soil deficiencies.

Checking the exact nutrient levels and acidity of soil will require a basic, inexpensive soil test kit. Another option is to send a sample to a soil laboratory, like the one at Colorado State University. The results, even if rudimentary, will reveal what amendments should be made to the soil.

Another factor that is essential to soil health is drainage. Even if there isn’t visible standing water, if soil is saturated, root systems will likely remain weak. Digging a one-foot hole,  filling it with water and measuring the depth at different time intervals is one strategy for testing soil drainage.

As Jared R. McKinley puts it, “Feeding the plants is only part of the production. For true sustainability and maximum flavor and nutrition, the gardener’s aim should be building a healthy soil ecosystem in which plants play a symbiotic role.”

Healthy soil is a must in order for gardens to thrive and be beautiful! Project by Dargan Landscape Architects
Healthy soil is a must in order for gardens to thrive and be beautiful!
Mountain Residence by Dargan Landscape Architects

Soil should not only be tested for the benefit of landscapes but for your own health, as well. Exposure to soil chemicals and contaminants can happen through direct contact with the skin, inhalation, ground water consumption and direct digestion.

For additional help achieving thriving plants and gorgeous landscapes, sign up to receive free worksheets, training videos and other valuable resources by registering with our Landscape Your Life website. Let us help you Heal the Earth, One Garden at a Time!

Landscape Design Inspiration – Hidcote Manor & Garden

We encourage homeowners to look at different gardens around the world to draw inspiration for their own landscapes. There are so many gorgeous spaces that offer unique selections of plants, flowers and textures that appeal to the senses. One that we are very fond of is Hidcote Manor & Garden, a National Trust Garden located in Cotswolds, not too far from Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

A garden at Hidcote as seen in Timeless Landscape Design

Hidcote is a product of the very talented American horticulturist Major Lawrence Johnston. He created this masterpiece throughout the first half of the twentieth century around his Tudor-style home. From 1907 to 1914, Johnston concentrated on developing the gardens closest to his home. His most significant works during that period include the Maple, Fuchsia and White Gardens, along with the Bathing Pool. These spaces were designed formally by intention.

Pool, Hidcote Manor gardens by G E Jeal
Source: © Copyright G E Jeal and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Over the next six years, Johnston began creating garden rooms, featuring designs heavily influenced by classic French and Italian styles. He also designed a space called “Mrs. Winthrop’s Garden,” featuring a Mediterranean theme. During this time, Johnston also created the plans for numerous pavilions and the Stilt Garden, which form part of a corridor along the west end of the house.

Mrs Winthrop's Garden by David Stowell
Source: © Copyright David Stowell and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

In the decades that followed, Johnston continued to expand the gardens, adding the Long Walk and the Pillar Garden, before finally presenting the National Trust with Hidcote in 1948. Now, visitors come to Hidcote by the thousands each year to marvel in Johnston’s works, which are “always full of surprises.”

Hidcote Manor garden by Jerry Evans
Source: © Copyright Jerry Evans and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

What inspires us most from Hidcote is its utilization of permanent color all year long, as well as how this garden is set up to create vistas and inward views beyond the enclosed garden rooms. As stated in our book, Timeless Landscape Design, Hidcote’s “level of horticulture is unsurpassed, with borders in theme colors, hidden rooms, the use of form, repetition, and focalization.” In just a few words, Hidcote is simply breathtaking.

Are the elements of Hidcote or another garden inspiring your thoughts for your own garden oasis? Contact Dargan Landscape Architects, and let us know what you’d like to see in your landscape. Either in person or virtually, we can take what you find inspiring and create a master plan or a tune-up for your own personal retreat.