Staghorn ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum) are air plants, called epiphytes, and have evolved to grow without soil on tree trunks and branches in mild, tropical and semitropical climates. They can thrive in home gardens in similar conditions, mounted to a board with a few handfuls of damped sphagnum moss. Hang one inside or out to liven up a blank wall in a spot with bright, indirect light.
Add air plants to a wall-mounted metal trellis for a clever, quick way to spruce up a blank wall. Air plants need no soil to grow (keeping walls clean) and thrive in areas with bright, indirect light. Every week or so, depending on your climate and air moisture, remove the plants from the trellis and soak them in a bucket of water.
These playful poufs would undoubtably be a conversation-starter at any backyard party. Since faux turf is manufactured for outdoor use, it can stand up to exposure to the elements far better than most outdoor fabrics. Pick up a roll from your local home improvement store and cover outdoor cushions or ottomans for an unexpected accent.
Ground covers growing between pavers soften the hardscape and act as a transition from paved areas to the surrounding garden. While this is a great look, it can be difficult to maintain with living grass since pavers get in the way of the path of the mower. Artificial turf gives the same look without the need for mowing.
Using steppingstones, rather than a smooth paving material, can be a useful way of slowing your journey through a garden. Ground covers grown between flagstones (like the woolly thyme pictured here) can also engage the senses with a tangy herbal smell if crushed. The velvety lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) planted on either side of the path seen here tempt one to bend down and touch the leaves.
We often think about how we would like to use a space, but more rarely about when we’d like to use it. Designing for the time of day when you most use a garden — whether it’s for daytime entertaining or evening relaxing, or a little of both — will help ensure that you set up the garden to meet your needs. For evening gardens, this includes adding lighting and sources of heat if necessary.
Stock tanks are as at home on a roof in downtown Los Angeles as they are in country settings. The Farmscape team planted the tanks in the 200-square-foot space with edibles including herbs, greens, beets, broccolini, carrots, cauliflower and tomatoes. The 2-foot depth is recommended so that you can get sufficient soil depth for mixed vegetables. Farmscape drills the tank bottom with half-inch drainage holes spaced about 6 inches apart. Then a 3-inch layer of drainage rock goes in the tank, followed by woven landscape fabric and a blend of potting soil and compost. Drip irrigation is installed through the existing drainage hole or a custom-drilled one. The tanks do warm up in the direct sun, but without a noticeably marked difference in irrigation needs or overall productivity between them and redwood raised beds. Depending on climate and soil conditions, metals like the zinc used in the galvanizing process eventually can leach into the soil. However, zinc is an essential micronutrient, doesn’t travel easily through soil and isn’t readily taken up by plant roots. Researchers quoted in a Rodale’s Organic Life article think there is little chance of ingesting too much zinc from edible...
This remodel of a 1980s ranch reclaims a side yard as a shaded multipurpose space with a refined industrial aesthetic. Galvanized-metal troughs keep aggressive horsetail reed in check as it greens and partially screens a fence that was resurfaced with a corrugated-metal facade. Hooks attached to the top of the fence’s black-stained wood frame are ready to exhibit the homeowner’s artwork.
These stock tanks are called into action to contain sometimes-too-vigorous upright bamboo, which is being used to conceal a neighboring apartment building. Keep in mind that container-grown bamboo tends to reach only half to three-quarters of its maximum height. When planting it in a trough, use an old carpet or other lining to act as a barrier and an insulator for the roots.
Round-end stock tanks are typically 3 to 10 feet long and 2 or 3 feet wide, and round tanks usually have diameters of 3 to 10 feet. Tanks for cattle and horses are 2 feet high, while those for sheep are just 1 foot. Raising the stock tanks on frames with legs, as shown here, can improve drainage and makes it easier to tend to the tanks without straining your back.
Waterlilies floating in a round stock tank draw attention from both the house and the garden in this landscape. Oxygenating plants help keep the water clear and provide food and hiding places for the fish inside. They’re available at many pond supply stores. Layered, thick plantings soften the strong geometry of the circle within a circle.
Since stock tanks are designed to hold water, they lend themselves to being used as water features in the landscape. Here, cinder blocks at the bottom of the tank support potted plants like dwarf papyrus, water canna and taro, while water hyacinth and water lettuce float on top. The tank gets its two-tone style from a band of coppery paint.
Hardscape elements that are more fluid than the traditional rectangular patio can also create a subtle sense of spaciousness. A kidney-shaped patio with a table for dining on one side and a lounge chair for relaxing on the other establishes two garden destinations in the same area. Adding a fountain or specimen plant in the patio’s curve creates a shared focal point that ties both spaces together.
Walls or dense, sheared hedges are a time-honored method for adding structure to a design, but in small backyards, this strategy can inadvertently chop up a garden into a series of cramped, disconnected spaces. Instead, rely on “see-through” plants to create gentle boundaries that add structure without overwhelming the yard. Tall and airy plants form a permeable border that subtly separates one area from the next, as the gaps between their branches or leaves allow glimpses of the garden beyond.
Add a sightline appreciation spot. The start or end of a sightline — depending on your garden layout — can be a perfect spot for placing a bench or pair of chairs to pause and take in the view. For sightlines that open to expansive views, place seating at the start of the sightline where you can look out over the vista. For sightlines that rely on narrowed spaces like a garden walkway bordered by hedges or a tree allée, a bench placed at the end acts as both an invitation and as a focal point for the sightline.
Try a tree allée. If you have the space for it, planting a line of trees on either side of a garden walkway in a classical allée can instantly define a sightline. While longer lines of trees make more dramatic allées, you can make use of this classical planting scheme to direct a view in a smaller garden.
Create a pinch point to home in on a sightline. This idea works for gardens of nearly any size and isn’t dependent on having a stunning vista. By narrowing the view, you can more clearly direct a viewer’s gaze just where you want it and emphasize a focal point. Place a pair of midsize structural evergreen plants — like clipped boxwoods, pittosporum or privet — on either side of a sightline. You can do the same with walls, hedges or fences. In this Mediterranean-style garden, two mature boxwoods framing the path help define the sightline to the cafe table set on the terrace.
Add linear features. Straight lines going away from you tend to draw you forward in the landscape. You can take advantage of this quality to visually stretch a space by aligning linear features along a sightline. Looking down this water rill to the spillover water fountain, for example, one’s eye is drawn down and across the garden, giving the illusion that the space is larger than it is.
To create sightlines that emphasize these views, define pathways, beds and open areas of the garden to direct a viewer’s gaze. Cut back overgrown plants to expose expansive views, and establish sightlines within the garden by placing focal points to direct one’s gaze. In this Santa Barbara garden, for example, the most dramatic view is of the hillside, and the sightline is kept clear by keeping plantings small, save for an olive tree accent. The pathway acts as a second sightline, with a pair of blue adirondack chairs placed as a focal point.
Once outside, look in every direction. Take stock of views beyond your garden and where your eye is naturally drawn to in the landscape. What counts as a “view” doesn’t need to be a sweeping vista, but rather can be as simple as a mature tree canopy from an adjacent lot, an area of open sky between trees or a particular area of your garden that your eye is often drawn to.
Emphasizing a sightline from inside the house to outside works for small gardens and apartments as well and can help these spaces feel larger. For tight city terraces or windows that open to the walls of adjacent buildings, it’s even more important to match the line of sight closely with what you view from a particular window or doorway. Play with levels of potted plants and the scale of the plants and pots to create focal points where your eye falls.
Start inside the house. Take note of which rooms you spend the most time in, and pay attention to how the garden looks from those vantage points. Place a focal point centered on where your eye falls looking out the window and keep the area between the window and the focal point a clear view. A focal point can be anything from a shapely shrub, specimen tree or potted container to a garden element like a bench or urn set into a bed.
Sightlines in landscape design are clear paths that help direct your eye to a focal point, out to an attractive view or from the inside of the house to the garden. When used intentionally as part of a garden’s design, sightlines can help open views, make gardens of any size feel more expansive and connect the inside of homes to the landscape. If you’re laying plans for a new garden, or looking for ways to update your existing design, here’s how to incorporate more sightlines into the design.
Training a tree into an espalier against a wall adds a formal touch to a garden or courtyard and saves valuable planting space. You can purchase a tree already staked as an espalier or train one yourself, if the tree is between three and five years old and still has finger-width-sized lateral branches. If you’re planning to train the espalier yourself, plant the tree against a wall and add trellising to support the espalier structure. Then, choose the primary lateral branches (often in matched pairs for a symmetrical form) and gently pull them down into straight, horizontal lines, fastening them to the trellising. Remove other lateral branches and cut the top part of the trunk where it meets the top of the trellis to encourage lateral growth.
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