Mozaic Landscape Design

Eco-Friendly and Safe Pools

MLadmin — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:42:47 +0000

Children splashing in the pool seems like clean summer fun. We often don’t want to think about the pumps, filtration systems, and heaters that use energy, not to mention the environment cost of monthly driving for the pool maintenance person. And while swimming in contaminated waters is certainly not healthy, many are rethinking the safety of chlorine and it’s disinfection byproducts to the environment and our health. Concerns over the health effects of chlorine is rising as new studies link repeated exposure to: asthma, allergies, bladder and rectal cancer, skin and eye irritations, and possibly coronary heart disease and hormone disruption.
So what can we do to make our swimming pools and spas more eco-friendly and safe? While you may be familiar with solar heating systems, did you know how the heating system is installed can affect energy use. Newer Smart pumps can save energy, and varied pool purification systems (with their accompanying pros and cons) reduce pool chlorine levels,
Jorge Cuenca of Lifetime Pools suggests a multi-level approach in installing new or updated equipment in a remodel. For a new pool within a landscape project we designed in Menlo Park, the owner traveled frequently and wanted to minimize chlorine levels while reducing the required maintenance. Here, Cuenca designed a combination salt system (an Intellichlor controller) with an Ozonator. The Intellichlor is computer-based that reads the level of bacteria and from salt, injects just the right amount of sanitizer needed for the water, while the Ozonator, works in tandem and helps clear cloudy water. The use of two-pronged approach, minimizes toxins and need for chlorine, requiring only a small fraction of that used in traditional pools. And, if the homeowner can refill salt twice a year, and keep the skimmer/sweep clean, there’s no need for a monthly pool service. The added cost of the salt and ozonator system generally pays for itself in 1-1/2 years in reduced maintenance costs. Old pumps can be updated with newer Smart Pumps programmed to run in different modes (using 1/2 horsepower at times, vs. 3 horsepower) much less energy. For our Menlo Park pool, Cuenca designed a in-floor heating system, sending heated water to the bottom of the pool so the pool heats up faster. This newer equipment requires a larger pad, so skillfully working it into your over landscape design is important. Cuenca is seeing more demand for eco-friendly pools, definitely a trend in the”wave” of the future!

Designing music for the landscape

MLadmin — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:41:44 +0000

Perhaps due to early days of playing in a Balinese gamelan, I’ve always longed to bring a great musical experience to the outdoors, something beyond plastic rock speakers, and blasting out the neighbors with your favorite song over and over.

Quite unexpectedly, on the Secret Gardens of the East Bay Tour, I found what I sought and was quite moved. Even with purple mulch and a lovely inspired garden designed by Lucia Howard , what truly captured my attention was a new outdoor auditory experience– designed sound for the landscape. At this garden, the sound of Gregorian chants wafted through the landscape diverting attention away from the traffic of the busy corner. The music was mixed differently from the CD I owned, and while lovely, it was not just the music that inspired, but rather the experience. I found myself spinning in circles at an attempt to find (or follow?) the seemingly heavenly source, as the sound emanated from all around, like a scent in the garden.

Hugh Livingston, of Livingston Sound is the master creator and artist behind this new technology and emphasizes “it’s not a sound system.” Rather he creates the whole sound experience, from tempo and location, to the music itself all through a computer program that literally responds to the landscape! How you ask? Well, an iCam positioned to look up a tree can monitor branches moving with the wind and respond with a change in the sound to a multitude of hidden speakers. Counting sensors at a garden gate send information to the computer to increase volume, tempo and other changes corresponding to the number of guests at a party. His artistry works in conjunction with the landscape designer so that the design, themes are well translated and united, and speakers well hidden. It’s all quite fascinating, moving, and something you just have to experience to fully understand. Thankfully Mr. Livingston is presenting a rare chance to experience his work “Scenes from a Lingering Garden” at a rooftop garden in Oakland on July 27, 2010. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

CA Native Mow-Free sod lawn

MLadmin — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:41:17 +0000

Native CA sod, "Native Mow-Free"

What are new plants I’m excited about now? Well, they may not be sexy. But there is a revolution brewing over the water we waste on our lawns. So when I saw the some of the newest CA native grass sods, at the sod growing fields out in the delta, I wanted to share the news. Farmer, grower, owner Ed Zuckerman, along with the great knowledgeable staff at Delta Bluegrass, hosted a tour recently to a group of designers, architects to view these innovative sods. Born out of years of research and trials, and prompted by John Anderson of Hedgerow Farms and David Gilpin of Pacific Coast Seed, they’ve developed three main blends for urban landscapes. I have to say, I was impressed! Lush green lawns that need only 50- 30% of the water required for traditional lawn– yes 30%! In fact the test fields demonstrated they tend to do better with less water. The Native Mow Free is a favorite, as an all-around good choice to replace traditional sod. A blend of three fescues (rubra, idahoensis, and occidentalis) it grows to about 12-16″ high unmowed for a natural meadow look, or can be mowed every two weeks for a traditional lawn. And it has good shade tolerance. Another good thing about these native sods (besides using less water, fertilizer, maintenance pollution, and costs!) is their versatility. You can let them grow longer, and add flowering daylilies or bulbs for a meadow look or cut them to 3″ for a manicured carpet. They will stay green as long as irrigated, but if water mandates are cramping your style, you can even stop watering them in the summer– they will go dormant yellow, yes, but will green up again when watered.
CA native sods– a great guilt-free solution for our addiction to lawn.

How native plants can set you free

MLadmin — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:40:59 +0000

I have to admit to a bit of trepidation when a client says “I’d like to include natives in the garden”. Don’t get me wrong, I love native plants (I love all plants, truthfully). But I worry, will they be happy in a tended garden? These days of economic environmental, and world stability challenges give me enough consternation, so I don’t like to worry about my plant’s survival. As you may know, many CA natives, well-adapted to our dry summer Mediterranean climate, really don’t do well with summer watering or rich amended soils. They become vulnerable to fungi and bacteria and die off when fussed over with well-intentions.
After a couple years, I revisited some plantings on an open hillside property. As expected, those that got too much irrigation, yellowed and died off, while a Fremontodendron californica ‘San Gabriel’ and Ceanothus ‘Kurt Zadnick’, out of range of the spray rotors and on on a slope with good drainage, burst forth with wonderful vitality and vibrant spring blossoms and foliage. Truly a beautiful sight to see! And it dawned on me, these plants filled my spirit with the strength of their independence beyond human tending. I had crossed a threshold as a designer, and contributed to a larger environment- vs. the artificial one of constant human hovering. Just give them what they like and leave them alone. They adapted wholly to the natural fluctuations of the environment and thrived. Now I like to plant natives, as I feel, maybe I too, could be set free.

The secret to creating extraordinary gardens

MLadmin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:01:59 +0000

Do you ever wonder what separates the average “nice” landscape from an extraordinary garden that just fits?
Some say its focal points, scale or plant textures, and while important, I’ve seen many gardens technically “correct” that never achieve that je ne sais quoi of something special, that just “clicks”. Of course, I’m not speaking of those beautiful old gardens which have organically emerged from the labor of a true gardener’s inspiration. These have the luxury of having developed over years of tuning into a site and planting, moving and refining original concepts to create true wonder. Rather, I’m speaking of the newly created home gardens that seek to look and feel less contrived, with more character, as if they “belong” and just work. So let me share what I believe to be the path to creating these special gardens. The truth is, to create an garden beyond the mundane, you need at minimum three things:

1. A designer and design (seems obvious but you’d be surprised how many people believe they can skip this step).

2. A great design based in a true collaboration of the designer, site, and client inspirations, and

3. Skillful coordination, unifying the talents of craftsmen and women, artists, contractors, and more, to manifest the dream to reality.

These form the basis of all great designs. So maybe these aren’t really secrets, rather laws to creating an excellent garden. And yes you still need your all your elements of classical design training: focal points, balance, scale, and textural contrasts, etc. All designers I know agree that design is not a quick process –extraordinary gardens require hours of thought, inspiration, and collaboration of the many, many elements, materials, plants, and people that comprise the garden. But there is one more aspect of a garden design that is needed to make a garden truly special. And often rushing a project overlooks this. So this is the real secret to garden design … knowing what to leave out. Like packing for a trip where you pull all your clothes and tolietries together and then reduce by half–a knowledgeable and experienced designer fits all elements together, analyzes the site carefully, and knows what to remove in the end to make it work. A designer has the skills to guide you through the vast array of distractions (pretty flowers of the disparate type, a beautiful sculpture of the wrong shape, the fountain that doesn’t belong, etc.) that easily derail attempts of the best gardeners. Yes, we too, as designers, can be overwhelmed at the possibilities, so we sympathize with the temptations. But I know, the more gardens I create, the more I look back and with hindsight see just those occasional elements I could have done without.