Baby, it’s cold outside! Now is the time for snuggling up, hunkering down and staying in. The garden may be a little drab to look at with deciduous trees going bare and flowers and grasses fading into muted tones. It‘s a good time to put a little warmth and brightness back into the landscape.

One way to do that is with plants whose foliage is aflame with gold, yellow, orange and red. Here are a few eye-catching plants to add pop to a dreary corner. For an accent, or even a hedge alternative, there are several bright selections of mirror bush, Coprosma to choose from. In this case, their cultivar name often says it all. ‘Inferno’, ‘Pina Colada’, and ‘Tequila Sunrise’ give you an idea of what their creators were seeing in the variegated foliage they sport. All are medium-sized shrubs, about four feet by three feet and require only moderate water and partial shade, or as the garden guide calls it “cool sun”. There is also a low, spreading version called ‘Evening Glow’ that can act as a groundcover.

The ever-popular flax plants also have some dazzling variegations: ‘Cream Delight’ is striped with creamy yellow, ‘Jester’ has a bright pinkish-range mid-rib and green leaf margins, ‘Sunset’ sports shades of apricot, pink and green, and ‘Yellow ‘Wave’ has a sunny yellow center stripe.

For really low water use areas there are a number of succulents that will provide that sunset glow. One is a selection of euphorbia (Euphorbia tirucalli) called ‘Sticks on Fire”. As you can imagine, it is flaming yellow and orange. Keep it as a container specimen or put it in the background where it could grow into a sizeable shrub (remember that its sap is irritating!). Most everybody knows the jellybean plant, Sedum rubrotinctum, which can eventually provide unbroken cover in the planting bed or add interest at the edge of a mixed container garden. Just as colorful is Crassula capitella ‘Campfire’ whose pointed little leaves look like flames racing across the ground.

One last group to consider for winter color includes those shrubs that produce red or orange fruits at the end of the season. Most will hold the berries for months (if the birds don’t get them all first). Cotoneaster horizontalis ‘Perpusillus’ grows only one or two feet high, but spreads to seven feet wide and is covered with bright red berries. Larger shrubs in the firethorn genus of Pyracantha include P. koidzumii ‘Victory’ and P. coccinea ‘Kasan’. Both may be left in a natural fountain shape, but take well to espaliering on fences or against walls. And lastly, don’t forget our native Christmas berry, Toyon heteromeles for handsome dark green foliage festooned with cheery red fruits.

Image licenses: Christmas Berry, Sticks on Fire

Holiday time is approaching, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t time to get a little gardening in between the shopping and entertaining. Since the sun is shining less brightly, the soil has started to cool. Lower light and shorter days mean less productivity for plants.

Here are some ideas for winter gardening:

1. Plant for the Coming Cool Season

Winter vegetables include everything in the cabbage family: broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens, and everyone’s new favorite—kale. Any of these can be grown as row crops for the kitchen, but consider putting a few in a half barrel or other container for both their edible and ornamental uses. Colorful rainbow chard is another great choice.

2. Consider Color

Cool season flowers like bachelor’s button, stock, sweet alyssum, calendula, foxglove, Iceland poppies, and pansies all thrive as winter approaches. Pick a color palette of similar or contrasting tones and group different types together in the container of your choice. Only one or two colorful pots will lend a festive air to your patio or deck. If you tuck in a few dormant bulbs, they will take over as the annuals wane. Narcissus and all its forms, gladiolus, lilies, tuberose, Mexican shell flower, and rain lily all fit the bill.

3. Compost in the Cold

Compost all the trimmings from your garden. Even in the cool months, bacteria and fungi will be doing their magic to produce beautiful planting amendments for spring. Use one of the patented composting bins, build your own, or just layer the materials in a corner of the garden. If you are ambitious, turn the pile once or twice (a good way to monitor the moisture level) or simply leave as is.

Mulch and water your favorite trees and shrubs. Much editing is going on because of the drought, but these are ways to nurse these larger shrubs along.

4. Gifts for the Wildlife

Don’t forget the birds and beasts, too. A shallow bowl of water will give them a welcome drink and a cleansing splash. Place the bowl in a quiet place where visitors have a view of the surroundings and potential threats. Keep filled and flushed with clean water as needed.

The owners of this classic Mediterranean home in Glendale, California contacted Sally Farnum of SE Farnum Associates in Altadena for a new front yard design requiring minimal maintenance and low water use. Her design included a Gladding McBean Oil Jar fountain conversion in Caribbean, as well as two Gladding McBean planters flanking the front entrance.

The neighborhood in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, was lined with houses showing off well-manicured lawns and lush plantings. But like most streets, it had ”that one house.” You know the house. Dried and dying lawn, gopher holes dotting the landscape, and essentially an eyesore to a neighborhood that otherwise boasts its curb appeal.  Before their neighbors stopped talking to them, my clients contacted me to revamp the landscape in front of their home. These were busy clients who just work, work, work, leaving very little time for yard work. They were leaving the digging and turning of the soil to the gophers and the trimming to the deer. They even spent a few hours a week unsuccessfully trying to combat rodents with traps, flooding, and varmint bombs.

Change did not come easily to these clients, but they knew they needed to do something. They requested a garden design that would require minimal maintenance and low water but still incorporate beautiful plantings, as well as being deer and gopher proof. I discussed the beauty of replacing their lawn with a composition of decomposed granite, new and colorful water-wise plantings, hardscape using saltillo concrete tiles and a new fountain.

Initially the clients’ three colors of choice were beige, dark beige, and white, but I was able to convince them that a lively color palette can be beautiful, energizing, and attractive not only to them, but to desirable visitors like butterflies, bees, and birds. The plantings include colorful sages, ceanothus, lantana, and achillea that not only drink little but the deer and pesky gophers don’t find them to their culinary liking.  It’s been almost a year and they haven’t lost any plants to the wildlife, what a success!

The colors of the Malibu tiles that we used in the hardscape were definitely an influence on my desire to use a Gladding, McBean oil jar for a fountain. I was thrilled that my clients selected the Caribbean blue over a more subtle color and love the fountain conversion done by Eye of the Day. The clients are so happy with their colorful garden that they recently asked me to help select the palette for the re-painting of their house and of course the selections are very close to the color of the Gladding McBean fountain.

Succulents are all the rage and for several good reasons: many have a unique make-up that puts them ahead of the game in extreme heat. Succulents are composed of spongy tissue capable of storing water in dry times. And they maintain their good looks without a lot of maintenance.

Some of my favorite succulents are in the plant family known as the houseleek family. Many form rosettes of leaves, giving them a floral quality, but without the need for deadheading and other pruning. The other great part about this family is that there are a variety of shapes and forms to choose from. Their main requirement is a bright sunny spot, though some will even take a spell of shade if they have to.

The stone crops are all in the genus Sedum and most are low-growing perennials. Sedum acre is grayish with leaves that form small, whorled rosettes. Two other diminutive species are S. brevifolium and S. dasyphyllum.

“Live Forever” is just an English translation of the botanical Latin Sempervivum. All form densely star-like rosettes composed of many pointed leaves. Two commonly available species are S. tectorum and its many varieties and S. arachnoideum, called the cobweb houseleek because of the white filaments that cross from leaf tip to leaf tip.

Another group of ground-hugging plants are in the genus Echeveria and many are commonly called hens and chicks. Their leaves come in simple or densely whorled bunches that look like fleshy roses and the colors and forms are mind-boggling. From pale whitish green through bluish, to purple, bronze, red, and even yellowish tones, collectors can go wild accumulating them all. Then, there are the leaf shapes and textures; edges may be smooth to wavy to elaborately crimped and top surfaces may be cupped and smooth or bowed and covered with warty bumps (or both!).

Last are the many forms of Aeonium. From flattened dinner plate sized A. tabuliforme to the more tree-like forms such as the nearly black A. ‘Zwartkop’ and colorfully variegated A.‘Sunburst’, there are many selections for bold color and form.

Tough, sculptural, colorful—what more could you ask for in a plant family?

Author Brené Brown stated in her now famous Ted Talk, “The opposite of scarcity is not abundance, it is enough.” As we deal with the drought in our gardens, let’s not respond by grabbing more water from others or becoming despondent about losing lawns that are largely unsustainable in our climate.

Use your creativity and discover how container gardening can enliven your landscape while using little water. Let go of those garden images where plants luxuriate in 95% humidity and weekly rainfall. Let’s get started.

Destination Inspiration

Why do we love love love Italy, Mexico, Spain, or Morocco? Courtyards and shade. It’s not the turf. Most of our residences have outdoor living spaces that are too small or too close to the house to be truly enjoyed. If you are considering what to do with your thirsty landscape, think about expanding or adding terraces or courtyards adjacent to your home. Add new gathering areas in other parts of the garden. Even in a very small garden, you can create a new space at the back or side of the property and discover a new view into your landscape.

Planters: The Versatile Garden Feature

These new spaces can be paved with a variety of materials such as gravel, recycled concrete, stone or pavers. A grouping of planters can serve a variety of functions. Need some shade? Find a large pot, 42” diameter plus and add a drought tolerant small tree such as a fruitless olive. Add smaller pots with succulents or color and you have quickly filled your new garden space with pattern and detail, two aesthetic qualities that enliven our living spaces.

Planters can be adapted or reinforce the visual quality of any type of garden. If you have young children, add lots of color and tuck in a few edibles to share at the table. If you are looking for a place to escape the pace of work and family, discover the cool palette of succulents. Be brave, take a risk. Planter gardening is a great way to play with plants without breaking your budget.

So let go of some of the old ideas and embrace the challenge to live with ‘enough.’ Take a fresh look at that existing landscape and find joy in a new direction for your garden.

To view more of Puck Erickson’s work, please visit Arcadia Studio.

Stylish and Sustainable Garden Design

Living and designing in California, the ongoing and severe drought we’re experiencing is on everyone’s minds. And as such, drought-tolerant gardens are rapidly replacing outdated water-thirsty landscapes. While everyone is on board with the concept of a drought-tolerant garden I inevitably hear the same hesitation from clients – they don’t want their low-water garden to look like their neighbor’s new garden down the street. They want to make sure their new garden still reflects their personality and individual style.

This is a valid concern as it seems many drought-tolerant gardens seem to focus on the same twenty plants over and over again, with the end result being one of uninspired predictability. Luckily, there are a few simple ways to avoid this common trap.

For my clients who want a more traditional East Coast feeling in their garden, color is key. It’s important that I include low-water plants that contain a higher proportion of greens, maroons, blues and purples to mix along with the more common gray tones. The effect will be the same – a reduction in water use – but the garden will appear cool and lush.

For my clients who prefer a Mediterranean feel in their gardens, I tend to use a larger amount of warm colors, such as oranges, golds and reds mixed in with the greens and grays. The result is a garden that appears to glow in our perpetually sunny days.

But just because I’m reducing the use of water in these gardens doesn’t mean I’m eliminating it all together. On the contrary, it’s important to include a source of water in the garden as the sight and sound of it not only reinforces that we’re not living in the Sahara Desert but it also provides a much-needed source of water for wildlife during these thirsty times.

And depending on the style chosen, the fountain is one more way to help further define the character of the garden. For my East Coast inspired gardens, a traditional, stately three-tiered fountain is right at home, nestled among the Corsican hellebore, lavender and native penstemon.

And for my Mediterranean-inspired gardens, a simple antique olive jar blends seamlessly into the surrounding garden filled with succulents, salvias and grasses.