Dargan Landscape Architects

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Join Mary Palmer Dargan on January 15 at Bellingrath Gardens

We’re pleased to share that Mary Palmer will be lecturing at Bellingrath Home and Gardens on January 15, 2014. We invite you to join us for this “Super Wednesday” program – a part of Bellingrath Gardens and Home’s Winter Wednesdays series – to learn how to get your garden ready for spring!

Atlanta landscape architects
Mary Palmer will be lecturing at the beautiful Bellingrath Gardens and Home on January 15.
Source: Facebook.com/bellingrath

During the lecture, Mary Palmer will share easy problem-solving and landscape design tips that will help you solve your most pesky landscape and garden issues during both morning and afternoon sessions. Participants are encouraged to bring along a picture or drawing of their landscape issues, so Mary Palmer can provide suggestions and advice.

Lunch will be included with the cost of the event, in addition to these informative sessions. Mary Palmer will also be selling and autographing copies of “Lifelong Landscape Design: Environments for Health and Longevity.”

We look forward to a great session on January 15, and we hope you’ll be able to join us from 10:30 to 2 pm. Invite a friend to come along and learn with you, and be sure to stick around and explore all the gorgeous gardens among Bellingrath’s 65-acres of blooms. Reservations are required for this event, so call 251-973-2217 extension 110 to save your spot. The reservation fee is $10 for Bellingrath members and $20 for non-members.

For more information on Dargan Landscape Architects’ events and appearances, or if you’re interested in learning more about our services, please visit our website. We’d love to meet with you – virtually or in person – to discuss your landscape’s needs and how we can help you create a master plan or tune-up to transform your space into an energized, nourishing and stress-free living space.

Also, don’t forget about our first holiday sale, happening now through December 18! Check out our special offerings that make perfect gifts for the gardener on your list.

The Landscape Your Life Winter Sale is Here!

We’re pleased to announce the very first Landscape Your Life holiday sale, the “Holiday Gardeners Need Love in the Winter, too!” sale. Starting today and continuing for the next week, we invite you to participate in this special sale.

We’ve been listening to our community of landscape design enthusiasts and have created this sale to help address the questions and topics you want answered. We also want to help make holiday shopping a breeze for those tough nuts to crack on your shopping list! Santa’s Helper (aka Mary Palmer) has packed the garden shopping cart with goodies for you to look through, so your garden and landscape design dreams don’t mold and mildew this winter!

Our first featured package is the Holiday Book Bundle. This bundle features three classic landscape design books – Timeless Landscape Design, Lifelong Landscape Design, and The Early English Kitchen Garden. Each book is filled with great information and inspiration, including Mary Palmer’s secret tips for garden-designing homeowners and landscape designers, as well as tons of gorgeous photos. In addition to garden enthusiasts, this makes a great gift for those who enjoy armchair reading. To make this bundle even sweeter, each book is autographed by Mary Palmer and beautifully wrapped!

Dargan Landscape Architects winter sale
Holiday Book Bundle

Our second special package features SPROUT in PLACE: PlaceMakers™ Virtual Blueprint System. Through the very same system Mary Palmer uses to transform hundreds of ordinary landscapes into slivers of paradise, you’ll learn that it’s possible to achieve a beautiful and functional property. This is the perfect gift for anyone looking to maximize their investment and improve their property, as well as landscape designers interested in putting themselves “over the top as an expert in your field.”

landscape your life winter holiday sale
SPROUT in PLACE: PlaceMakers™ Virtual Blueprint System

Head over to our website today for more information on our first holiday sale. Holiday gardeners need love in the winter too, and this is the perfect way to show them some love this holiday season!

Happy holidays from Dargan Landscape Architects!

The Evergreen Cometh

With the holiday season upon us, evergreens are everywhere. I recently asked my Facebook friends to share with me their favorite evergreens for winter interest – short, round, tall, thin, slightly weepy, or perhaps one with slightly colored foliage. I’m curious to hear from my blog readers too. Which evergreen is your favorite?

plant_live_trees_chattooga_gardensRecently, I sauntered over to our friendly neighborhood, family-run garden center, Chattooga Gardens. While marvelling at the show-stopping, holiday boxwood wreaths created by Jodie Zahner, I saw Mr. Jeff Z sorting out a delivery of gorgeous, fresh, mint- condition evergreen trees.

Ahhh, my mouth watered watching them slide down the big box truck pulled by a chain attached to a bobcat. Out popped blue ones, green ones, grey ones and yellow ones.

With visions of sugar plums dancing in my head (shaped like conifers, of course), I immediately thought about the designs I could create with these beautiful trees.

Dovecote, our home in the mountains, needs an infusion of winter glamour! Does yours? If so, a carefully selected group of evergreens are the perfect choice.

Evergreens can be grand, soaring focal points (like deodora cedars), accents to your home composition (Nellie R. Stevens holly is a great anchor) or grouped (boxwoods come to mind) as a node. These bullet-proof, southern mainstays populate the region. But, these evergreens pale in comparison to what is available in zone 5… ahhhhh.

From the Korean Silverlock Spruce (pictured below) to Nordman Spruce, and Pyramidal Silver Fir to Blue Spruce, the list goes on and on! Austrian Pine, Weeping Norway Spruce, White Fir, Alaskan Blue Cedar, Boxwoods, Oriental Golden Spruce, Colorado fastigiata Spruce, Horstmann’s Silbe, Oriental Green Knight and Blue Korean Silveray, just to name a few! Each one offers its own unique beauty, color and texture to its environment.

I take photos of tags, since I really don’t know all these beautiful plants. (My cell phone is my notebook these days!)

This holiday season, I encourage you to treat yourself to a burst of glamour and invest in evergreens with runway style… and support your local, family-run nursery in the process.

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I know everyone is already busy with various aspects of the holiday season, so I want to help you out and save some of your precious time with my December ezine. Let’s continue to warm up your holiday season with evergreen gifts. Register your email address with us to receive my ezine right in your inbox!

And now, I wanted to share news from Mrs. Santa…

Be on the lookout Tuesday for the invitation to my “Green Thumbs Don’t Mold in the Winter” winter sale.  

Just 2 indispensable things… watch for the announcement next week!

Thank you for being my community of garden designing friends.

It’s heartwarming and an honor to be in your circle.

Happy Holidays from the Dargans!

A Stunning Landscape Transformation

Many of our projects here at Dargan Landscape Architects involve creating a master plan of on-going facets that work to transform a homeowner’s property into an oasis they’ll enjoy for many years to come. In other cases, a tune-up may be all that’s needed in order to breathe new life into a tired, dull landscape. Regardless, it’s always exciting to keep track of the progress of a project and take note of the stunning transformations that take place within each landscape!

Today, we want to give you a peek into our portfolio with a look at some before and after shots of one of our projects. Enjoy this peek of one truly amazing transformation!

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For clients whose property featured gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains, we designed a landscape that nicely framed its surroundings, while providing plenty of space for the homeowners to enjoy all year long. Grading work was required to level the area where the in-ground fire pit was installed.

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Once completed, this part of the landscape became a great spot for enjoying a camp fire with family and friends on a chilly day.

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The intersection of meandering pathways begins to take shape…

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… The end result is a gorgeous walkway with lots of greenery and a bird bath taking center stage, accented with a few pops of color.

Here are a few more photos of the final results of this project.

dixon vista after copy

dixon path view to mnts copy

dixon big view after copy

dixon after bb copy

Are you ready to transform your property with a new landscape? Contact Dargan Landscape Architects, so we can schedule a time to speak with you about the ideas you have in mind for your space. Either virtually or in person, we can help design the landscape you’ve always dreamed of. Let us help you begin your landscape’s stunning transformation.

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!