For lovers of cozy, outdoor spaces, the only thing better than a garden is a garden within a garden.
Creating these multiuse landscapes is the latest passion of Table2Garden partners Cheryl Dimson and Milli Low. A single garden might have a space for meditation, another for entertaining or family time, and a third for growing fruits and vegetables.
“What we’re most excited about is helping people understand how to create destinations in their gardens and find new ways to use space,” Dimson said.
The pair, whose individual experience includes stints with Porsche Design and Apple Computer, found a way to unite aesthetics with a passion for growing things. Their projects feature drought-tolerant, native plants and sustainable materials – and, the pair agree, a devotion to the beauty only found in nature.
Similarly, landscape designer Dustin Gimbel of Second Nature Garden Design is taking this type of approach to some of his projects. He advocates breaking the garden into “rooms” or “conversational areas.” It’s all about turning outdoor areas into welcoming, usable living spaces.
Gimbel uses his own Long Beach garden, which was featured recently in Sunset Magazine, as his “little lab.” There, within the outdoor rooms created by privacy screens, creative fencing and hand-cast stepping stones, he experiments with various plant combinations.
Go vertical
Another concept Dimson and Low are zealous about is greening up even the smallest spaces. “Spaces that are small can still have a personal outdoor feeling about them,” Dimson said, “If people think up, versus out.” Vertical garden walls, hanging pots, wall fountains, even ponds in a 2-foot-space are possible if people think about the space differently. “People are realizing the benefit of having green, living spaces around them,” Low said. “We don’t want people thinking they have to move to plastic plants to have a beautiful green space on their deck or patio.”
Make it personal
A recent project took Dimson and Low, who are based in Orange County, to Huntington Harbor, where they reimagined a deck area. They replaced big round pots with vertical planters to open up the space. The client’s family had owned the City Market in Los Angeles and saved the floorboards from one of the buildings. The pair used the reclaimed wood to build walls and planters, incorporating family history into their design.
Gimbel, whose garage has recently become his ceramics studio, is in the process of creating a garden for an art professor that incorporates ceramic sculptures and bespoke pottery. He throws pots, including plant containers, which he now uses in his landscape designs.
Focus on fire
All three designers agree that first on the list of what homeowners usually want to add to their gardens are firepits, fire bowls or fire tables. Gimbel uses them as visual draws in his designs. “A nice firepit with furniture around it draws people out to the garden, he said. “A firepit and landscape lighting gives you even more use of the space.”
The front yard
Not all of the areas Dimson and Low reimagine are behind the house. They are anxious to help homeowners realize there are options for the front yard beyond grass and gravel. More customers, Dimson said, “are getting comfortable with using the front yard as a social, community area.” They now are open to having a sitting area in the front of their homes, as well as fruit trees and even raised beds.
New natives
While homeowners are always asking for low-water, low-maintenance options, the recent summer heat wave has Gimbel exploring what he thinks will be a growing trend: plants that are heat tolerant. “This summer was so crazy I think we need to start looking to Australian natives, because they’re heat tolerant, as well as Arizona and Texas natives.” The unrelenting heat and nights that didn’t dip below 70 degrees created “fungus and bacteria heaven,” he said, causing normally resilient plants to weaken and develop root rot. So now, he’s exploring natives from hotter climes as options for SoCal gardens.
Dimson and Low echo that concern. Along with the California natives, natives from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are becoming popular, they said. Several area nurseries are growing them, so they don’t need to be imported. Look for Cordylines, Grevillea, Flaxes and Hebes to make a stronger statement in area gardens as landscape designers such as Dimson, Low and Gimbel, ever mindful of drought and climate issues, effort to keep SoCal gardens beautiful and healthy all year long.
Getting started
Even if you can’t redo your outdoor space from scratch, you can upgrade your garden area. Dimson and Low offer these suggestions:
Start with good soil: Consider a mix with good drainage and water retention. Purchase it from someplace that specializes in soil, not from a builders’ supply.
Include irrigation: Check out the new battery-operated valves that put water where you need it.
Create elevation: Add dirt, driftwood, boulders to the landscape to keep it from being flat.
Bring in colorful containers: Don’t spread them around, group them. This approach to “potscaping” makes more visual impact and is easier to irrigate. A small number of plants can look lush, adding a pop of color to the space.
Add mulch: It helps retain water in the soil and makes the garden look fresh. Explore bark, cocoa mulch, rubberized options. Aguinaga Green has created a fire-retardant mulch.
