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How to Select a Nice Wall for Your Garden Room

Read almost any landscape design novel and you’ll discover the term “garden space.” That is because performers take a look at the garden as an extension of the house — as a stage for dwelling. And just like in a house, walls are among the key elements.

From a style point of view, I define “wall” as any vertical construction, more or less, stretching a few feet above the ground. It is possible to build walls, expand them split the difference by attaching a vine into a trellis. With so many available options and applications for walls, it’s easy to become caught up with the “What does it look like?” Excitement and eliminate sight of concerns.

Kathleen Shaeffer Design, Exterior Spaces

Consider look. Most folks would agree that putting a wooden split-rail fence around the White House would miss the mark. The casual, rustic design of a split-rail fence doesn’t have anything to do with the traditional European, Palladian design of the White House’s architecture. By the same token, you can cross adobe block off your list of materials around a Tudor cottage. There ought to be a logical conversation between the walls and also the kind of the house, the setting and the other garden features.

And since I will discuss further on walls that function a purely artistic function still should match with the rest of the garden, irrespective of how diverse your lawn might be.

Contemplate deracticality. On the opposite side of the coin, it’s important to match the materials, size, place, durability and long-term sustainability of their walls, hedges or fences for their intended usage. Safety requires impregnability the way masonry or a tall iron fence can (we’ll steer away from barbed wire and gun turrets). Privacy means making smart decisions regarding density and height, and that means that you can avoid prying eyes. Retaining walls need a certain level of mass and decent footings to withstand the forces of gravity.

Howard Design Studio

Secure your boundaries. The most obvious place you’ll find a garden fence or wall is along the property lines. In tract house subdivisions, expedience and price often result in much more than a straightforward wood fence. The programmer’s needs are met by this approach but contributes little speaking.

By comparison, this timeless, beautifully crafted brick wall not only defines a peaceful courtyard, but also is tall and solidly built, assuring security. Another benefit of masonry walls is their rigidity and density, blocking and representing unwanted noise.

Not that there is anything wrong with simple wood construction, particularly for garden owners seeking a casual feel. Something as straightforward as setting the planks transforms the mundane into the sudden, while still keeping an eye on the checkbook. Add a bit of pleasure and practicality using a chalkboard for those children (or for grown-ups in touch with their inner doodler).

Designscapes Colorado Inc..

Since walls can be a dominant element in a garden and are present year round, why don’t you enlist their help on your color palette? Almost any surface can be painted or stained, but infusing stucco with essential color makes lasting upkeep a nonissue. This warm-hued Southwestern-style wall plays into the floral color scheme of gold Moonshine yarrow (Achillea sp), while the gate echoes the trendy tints of catmint (Nepeta sp) and pincushion (Scabiosa sp).

Debora carl landscape layout

Creating a modern feel comes easily when you substitute semi metal panels for timber. The rhythmically undulating surface complements delicately vertical plants, like thrashing reed (Thamnochortus insignis, zones 9 to 11), a South African native right at home in this easy, stylish corner of their lawn.

Tip: Building and zoning codes may contain limitations about how high walls and fences can be in the setback areas of your premises. Check with local officials before setting the elevation and place of your walls.

A Pleno Sol

Create solitude. If you have already obtained a serviceable, though less-than-lovely, timber (or, dare I say it, chain-link) fence as well as the price of replacing it is too high, you are able to camouflage it with greenery. Living foliage has a vitality that’s not possible to achieve with built walls. Insert the bonus of flowers, fragrance and also the occasional hummingbird darting about, and it’s apparent why so many designers choose the horticultural option.

That said, there are downsides to take into account. Plants don’t live forever; occasionally they don’t even endure for a couple of months. The long-term achievement of crops supplying year-round security and privacy is dependent upon your gardening skills in addition to the absence of pests or diseases that could wipe out a mature hedge in a season or two. Another thing to ponder: Once a concrete block wall is finished, it’s unlikely you’ll spend your precious weekends shearing back new growth to keep it from swallowing up your patio. You can’t say that about a privet hedge.

More thoughts for stylish backyard solitude

Cultivate calm. A gentle breeze on a hot day is a welcome thing, but strong winds can turn reading the Sunday comics at the patio table to some Three Stooges comedy pattern. It helps to understand the dynamics of airflow before you erect a windbreak, whether assembled or planted.

When wind strikes a solid vertical surface, it compresses and spills over the wall, resulting in turbulence. This implies that except for a short distance instantly contrary to the lee side of a weapon, your efforts might not be very powerful. An improved strategy, if space permits, is slowly lifting the wind by creating a build-up of elements. On the windward side of your garden, plant knee-high crops to start lifting the wind, backed by shoulder-high, subsequently head-high plants and finally, a taller fence or wall, if necessary. This will create a laminar flow and achieve a larger quiet zone for you to enjoy on your own garden.

When there isn’t adequate space, a angled board across the top of the fence, behaving as an aerodynamic foil, can raise the windbreak’s effectiveness. Another strategy is to filter, rather than block, the wind by planting vines or shrubs that allow some air to pass through them.

Banyon Tree Design Studio

Divide your distance. Whether your garden is large or small, breaking it into smaller distances — each having its own boundaries and character — creates the illusion of more space. The solution is often as straightforward as erecting a partition that insinuates a separate space and functions as a gateway. From the garden here, an open section of timber slats does double duty as a backdrop for a controlling focal point.

Bruce Clodfelter and Associates

Envision this sitting area in the midst of an open yard. “Cozy” is not an adjective that springs to mind. But enclose it in a easy vine trellis and a rich bed of greenery, and it will take in an intimate character conducive to hours of conversation and relaxation.

Tip: If your goal is to create privacy for your own dining patio or reading room — or some other space where you’ll be seated — a 5-foot-tall hedge or wall is all it takes to make you vanish. Any taller and also the space could feel claustrophobic. And keeping the top within easy reach makes trimming less of an ordeal.

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

On the lookout for a bit of theatricality on your garden? By day this garden room features a crisp, architectural character. But in the hands of Jeffrey Gordon Smith, with a flair for advanced color usage, nightfall transforms this patio into a magical atmosphere. Sandblasted glass diffuses backlighting, recalling a dusky sunset’s magical.

Amp up the wow Element. There are instances when the wall is the star player, adorned with bold colours, crafted of advanced materials or functioning as a gallery for works of art.

The heat is on when a sensuous red bougainvillea spills over a fiery orange wall, creating the focal point in this modern tropical landscape. (Good thing there is water nearby to cool things off.)

Exteriorscapes llc

Provided that we’re considering walls as art, why don’t you stop from the paint shop and have some fun? This diverse, giddy wood fence illustrates how recycled boards take on new life when you unleash your imagination and untether your own paintbrush. See if there are present materials in your garden you are able to put back into service with a sprinkling of imagination.

Colors Of Green Landscape Architecture

Turn your property’s border in an art gallery by exploring the marvels of gardening. There are scores of organizations offering home made wall planters composed of plastic honeycombs filled with potting mix, hydroponic systems with built-in numbing apparatus or fabric pouches. Or design your own. Exotic options include succulents, exotic orchids and bromeliads, grasses, mosses and leafy greens and greens.

Tip: Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Massive Spaces, by Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet, is packed with Fantastic ideas for enhancing garden walls.

Sally Stoik Landscape Architect

Halt a hillside. Sloping properties come with the challenge of reclaiming enough usable flat space to make outdoor living functional. Since retaining walls tend to be highly visible, and often massive, be careful to pick materials that harmonize with the other built elements.

Natural fieldstone or river rock walls are a logical complement to some patio fashioned from irregular flagstone slabs. Taller retaining walls that need construction permits and an engineer’s stamp are often built of concrete block, although not the sexiest substance to border your dining room, but their pragmatic look can be glammed up with a veneer of stone, tile or brick, or by coating it with colored or textured stucco or plaster.

Pat Brodie Landscape Design

Maintaining wall areas are fantastic places in which to strut your planting prowess. Plants that might otherwise go unnoticed at ankle level are raised where they can be seen, caressed and sniffed. Have your wall play hide and seek by growing spillers like rosemary, campanula, carpeting roses or stonecrop at the front of a bed.

However, slopes could be tough places for crops to grow on; they often lack an adequate thickness of topsoil for deep root development. Amend your soil after seeking advice from local garden pros. Provide decent drainage behind the wall using porous gravel wrapped in filter fabric, and with weep holes to permit excess water to drain from the root canal. And research native plants that have adapted to similar conditions in their evolution.

Next: How to Select the Ideal Floor for Your Backyard Room

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Color Makes Its Mark on Modern House Exteriors

Contemporary architecture and its architects have been seen as being fearful of color. An individual can trace the dearth of color to the famous 1932 International Style exhibition and book from the Museum of Modern Art; buildings with whitewashed walls were preferred over the others, along with the black and white photographs meant that any color that did exist wasn’t expressed.

Le Corbusier’s oft-quoted stating that “architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light,” was likewise translated to mean that white forms and airplanes were best suited to the sun’s light and shadows. Richard Meier is 1 architect obviously affected by Le Corbusier’s purist stage (white buildings such as Villa Savoye), and he said in his acceptance speech for its 1984 Pritzker Prize which “the whiteness of white isn’t just white; it’s practically always changed by light and that which is shifting.”

But the white structures are only 1 strand of contemporary architecture; even Villa Savoye has green outside walls on the ground floor. Architects like Luis Barragán along with the Eameses went so far as to saturate their own buildings color to impact the occupants’ moods. Another strand of contemporary architecture — in which white light is divided into its rainbow of colors — has found influence these decades later, as cladding materials (metals, fiber cement, resins) are providing architects a huge array of colors to choose from beyond the natural colors of brick, stone and other materials. This ideabook takes a trip through the ROYGBIV rainbow, watching how color might enliven the exteriors of modern homes. An identical ideabook on contemporary interiors will follow.

A.GRUPPO Architects – Dallas

If one color stands out the most amongst grass and trees, it’s red. This three-bedroom addition to a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Texas is covered in cement board panels from Ferrari red.

Urban Improvement Company

The preceding home stands out from the landscape; this one does something similar on its block from St. Louis, through variations in crimson.

Princeton Architectural Press

Color helps give a contemporary house its own identity among other contemporary homes, such as these green-built homes in Syracuse, New York.

Cablik Enterprises

The orange outside of the overlook outside Atlanta is just another illustration of standing out among the trees. With its balance of indoor (left) and outside (right) space, the orange overlook frames the green trees all around.

Kevin Daly Architects

Los Angeles is definitely 1 locale that is more receptive to color than many. Stucco gives a blank canvas for applying color, as this sculptural orange home reveals.

Intexure Architects

Shade doesn’t have to cover each surface. This home in Houston is different shades of gray, upon which an orange band was inserted over the garage; the little area creates a large impact.

Prentiss Balance Wickline Architects

Selective color, and its connection to a background color, has a large influence in this Seattle home. Window frames, spandrel panels and doors have been painted orange against gray stucco.

MGS Architecture

Color can be used to create identity within one building, like this two-family building in Los Angeles with one unit in light crimson and one in orange. Be aware that the corrugated metal is oriented vertically on the left and vertically on the right for additional distinction.

GMK Architecture Inc

The earthy tones of this wood and stone in this home in Wisconsin are heightened from the dark yellow walls on both sides of the entrance.

Mohler + Ghillino Architects

This renovated house in Seattle has layers of stone, yellow plywood panels and beige siding. The plywood extends inside to give the house some heat.

OKB Architecture

We started this ideabook with reddish and, unsurprisingly, with green the result differs. This addition appears to rise from the ground (not set itself apart from it), moving from dark green in the base to light green over.

Bushman Dreyfus Architects

This “abstracted farmhouse” outside Washington, D.C., gains a number of its abstraction in the stucco outside and its pastel green color. The home manages to stand out in the landscape with no tactic of comparison.

Robert Nebolon Architects

And what might be more appropriate for the color of a houseboat than blue?

FLOCK ARCHITECTURE

Color can be used to heighten the feeling of thickness, as darker colors recede. As an instance in point, the green front enriches the push of the house in San Diego toward the sidewalk, while the purple recedes.

Castanes Architects PS

But why pay for a couple of colors? As Charles and Ray Eames, Luis Barragán, Gerrit Rietveld and others have revealed, selective use of color can do a lot. This ocean escape in the Pacific Northwest features splashes of yellow, blue and red against a mostly gray exterior. The gray makes the other colors appear much more powerful, turning the escape into a three-dimensional abstract painting.

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Get a Soft Spot for Sea-Glass Green

While Pantone wholeheartedly called Emerald 2013’s overall Color of this calendar year, I propose crowning sea-glass green like Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue HC-144 and Sherwin-Williams’ Sea Salt 6204 — since 2013’s best interior paint color. This popular hue is a soft and airy shade that unites the azure of the skies, the green of the sea as well as also the opalescence of a pearl.

Appropriate in all sorts of rooms with any style of architecture, sea-glass green particularly shines in light-filled spaces. Moldings and bright ceilings also contrast along with it. Consider giving your walls a facelift of the color with a few out there!

Kits Construction

Seaside-inspired colours can work wonderfully in children’ quarters.

Liz Levin Interiors

Crown molding painted in Benjamin Moore’s White Dove OC17 and Arts and Crafts–style window trim contrast beautifully with Palladian Blue walls.

Echelon Custom Homes

I’m particularly fond of using misty hues like Sherwin-Williams’ Sea Salt in baths, in which their watery undertones are particularly befitting.

Dona Rosene Interiors

Osborne & Little’s Langdale cloth comes with a assortment of seaside colours and looks excellent as the cornice cloth alongside light oceanic walls.

David Sharff Architect, P.C.

Light bounces round the walls (from Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue) and also on the cabinets (from White Dove) in this bright kitchen, thanks to the many windows, for example, half-circle window over the sink.

Stewart Thomas Design-Build

This kitchen’s custom white Shaker cabinetry and Carrara marble backsplash brings out the opalescence of the wall color.

Dona Rosene Interiors

A bright white built-in buffet pops from these sea-blue walls.

Plantation building corp

Light turquoise walls are especially appropriate paired with architectural gems like a transom window, five-panel pocket doors and Arts and Crafts interior trim.

Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc..

Colors much like sea glass, like Benjamin Moore’s Woodlawn Blue HC-147, also especially thrive in light-filled spaces.

Inform us : What hue makes your vote as 2013’s most striking wall color?

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13 Inspiring Tips for Backyard Sheds

As we hit the peak of the summer gardening season, you may be craving a better space for the tools and pots compared to that cluttered corner in the garage. Or perhaps you are at that point where your current shed is a mess that looks beyond hope. Whether you are sketching out strategies or dreading cleaning up, I’ve lots of beautiful examples which show off some fantastic ideas to help you get going. Here are enviable garden sheds where I would be delighted to destroy a manicure.

CHEATHAM FLETCHER SCOTT ARCHITECTS

CHEATHAM FLETCHER SCOTT ARCHITECTS

1. Make your potting shed a garden folly. This magnificent potting shed in Augusta, Georgia, adds elegance to the house with its formal fashion, weathered brick and custom windows. Its siting at the edge of the oval garden past the quatrefoil fountain recalls the way European landscapes have follies throughout.

Custom closets, a gravel floor and a workstation that includes a sink make it a dreamy escape for a gardener.

Historical Concepts

Historical Concepts

2. Choose rustic materials which are not too precious. This gorgeous carriage home is new but was created to look like a barn that might have served the Lowcountry house in a different age. It serves many purposes, including holding automobiles, but my favorite is the gorgeous potting shed.

Bin pulls, wood countertops and a brick flooring give it charming antique style. It not only has room for preparing plants for the garden, but also includes a spout so the owners can prepare floral structures.

Theresa Fine

3. Add furniture that is comfortable . Over at Shy Rabbit Farm in New Hampshire, the new potting shed serves not only as a spot for tending to the herb garden, but also as a relaxing escape for those homeowners.

Theresa Fine

A comfy chair gives a cozy spot for reading novels and gardening magazines.

See the rest of this home

4. To get a new shed, select materials that work together with your own landscape. In Langhorne Lodge in New York, a charming stone potting shed plays the property’s beautiful stone walls. The adjacent Adirondack-style chicken coop suits the woodsy land to a T.

Princeton Design Collaborative

Princeton Design Collaborative

5. Allow it to be contemporary. In this New Jersey backyard, a contemporary shed crafted of cedar siding, metal and copper plumbing pieces coordinates together with the adjacent modern arbor.

Explore the rest of this landscape

Groundswell Design Group

6. Create connections between the shed and the home. In Princeton, New Jersey, the landscape architects at Groundswell Design Group were tasked with producing a landscape which connected the historical main house to the 1800s potting shed. They crafted an arbor from vintage streetlamp articles, made a bluestone terrace and added feminine Amish-crafted doors to provide the potting shed the presence it deserved.

See the rest of this landscape

Groundswell Design Group, LLC

Giambastiani Design

7. Organize ladders, tools and other things. On this estate in the Berkshires, antique ladders, carts and tools add to the ambience. Neat shelves full of terra-cotta pots lend an organized appearance.

Giambastiani Design

Mark Hickman Homes

8. Space from the home or garage. The doorway on the right gives simple access to a garden shed here. The interior has an innovative organizing system.

Mark Hickman Homes

9. Give yourself a tool silhouette guide. The tools on the right are easy to fit in their proper spots together with the clever matching silhouettes.

Mark Hickman Homes

How smart is that?

Avant Garden

10. Try out a kit shed. Within this artist’s garden, mini trellises, a sculpture and a door with a window add character to a simple kit.

The shed is perched between a dog run and an arbor in this garden.

Check more out prefab sheds

Avant Garden

Conservatory Craftsmen

11. Make it a greenhouse too. This gorgeous conservatory works hard like a greenhouse, potting shed and refuge with a backyard view.

Conservatory Craftsmen

Conservatory Craftsmen

The greenhouse is decorated similar to an outdoor room, combined with interior decoration, such as the chandelier.

12. Consider cargotecture. Can you think this transport container was transformed into a charming outbuilding? While the clever homeowners use it like a hay barn, it may easily be made into a potting shed.

Learn more about this amazing transformation

Norris Architecture

13. Look to rural buildings for wall inspiration. Reclaimed timber, bare walls, beadboard and board and batten siding are all wall treatments that lend the ideal appearance to potting sheds.

This was among the very popular outbuilding photographs on in 2012, therefore it has to have just about everything right. The pragmatic sinks, barn lights, farm worktable and mirrored wood-clad walls ooze charm.

Next: More great ideas for outdoor living | Inspiring backyard retreats

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Studio Tour: Spaciousness Serves an East Coast Artist

A drastically different layout from the present house, this daring stuccoed addition hosts an expansive artist’s studio. Jessica Stockholder and Patrick Chamberlain, both performers, wanted to build a massive studio in which Stockholder could work. Architect Joseph Bergin worked with the couple to design a thoughtful 1,000-square-foot studio in which Stockholder can create her one of a kind sculptures.

Though the inclusion appears quite distinct from the present house, Stockholder and Chamberlain knew what they wanted from the get-go. “After perhaps two minutes into our first meeting, they said, ‘We want stucco cubes,'” says Bergin.

Who creates here: Jessica Stockholder
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Size: 1,600 square feet, including garage

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

Bergin and his team demolished an present garage connected to the house to make space for the studio. The studio has an additional 600-square-foot section for cars.

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

This connecting space between the studio and the house was a key part of the improvement’s design and functions as a mudroom. It blends the two buildings’ styles, combining traditional architecture with the stucco exterior of all the studio.

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

Stockholder frequently creates her work in relation to wall and space, so she needs a lot of blank wall area. The walls inside her studio range from 12 to 16 feet high.

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

Bergin installed clerestory windows over a number of walls to let in light without taking up valuable wall space.

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

“I really like to sit in the middle of the studio, beneath the mosaic ceiling and with sight lines to all the artwork,” says Bergin. “There’s a brightness and a solemnness in that area that resonates with me after I have left, almost like a religious space.”

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

An extra window on the back of the studio overlooks the garden.

Before Photo

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

The inside space between the home and the studio takes up 250 square feet and includes dining room space.

Joseph Bergin Architect PC

Can you work at home? We’d really like to see your creative studio, workshop or office. See how to share it here.

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Texas Gardener's November Checklist

November only may be one of the most ideal months of this year — Indian summer is officially gone, and today are marked by a crisp coolness that’s a welcome relief in heat October temperatures. Use this time to find some significant garden chores done before the really cold weather strikes — and then remind yourself that the work you do now in the garden will repay next spring using a lush, healthful landscape.

J. Peterson Garden Design

Plant trees and shrubs. All shrubs and trees should be planted in the autumn for best growth next year, as autumn planting makes it possible for these bigger plants several months to build deep, healthy roots. They will be drought resistant and have more vigorous expansion.

Try planting some spring-flowering shrubs and trees, such as azaleas, abelias, redbuds and Mexican plums — they are some of the very first to herald the arrival of spring after a long winter.

The Todd Group

Care for your lawn. Overseed your lawn with perennial rye to get a green winter lawn. In our area it is not really perennial and will perish after the weather warms up at the spring.

Winterize your lawn by spraying on it weekly using a seaweed solution, and if you fertilize, make certain to use a lawn fertilizer that’s high in calcium for healthy root development. Start looking for nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratios such as 8-6-12, 8-12-16 or 10-5-14 in a winter fertilizer bundle.

The best way to give your turf a fall tune-up

Susana Merenfeld p Weisleder

Prune dead limbs from trees and shrubs. Complete this job before the leaves fall off and remove only those limbs that are clearly dead. Don’t prune off any living or healthy limbs at this moment. Always make certain you know which sort of shrubs and trees you’ve got and what their particular care is, however it is a good general guideline to get rid of dead growth before winter storms pick up.

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

Mulch around plants. Very similar to how Mother Nature provides a blanket with fallen leaves, mulch “blankets” your landscape plants and shields them from winter cold. Ensure you’ve got a good 2- to 3-inch layer of wood mulch, but avoid heaping mulch upward on the plant bases, which may quickly rot the crops. I like to “feather” mulch until the bottom stem or trunk of a plant to get the very best coverage.

Niki Jabbour

Add row covers to protect against freezes. Although our area of Texas experiences quite mild winters, we are all aware that’s subject to change. It is not uncommon to have freezing temperatures and occasional ice and snow cubes, so be ready to safeguard your winter vegetables with row covers.

Many nurseries and garden centers have frost blankets that you could drape over arched PVC pipes to pay your beds; be sure to remove the covers if the dangerous weather has now passed.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Plant vegetables and herbs. Continue your autumn and winter vegetable and herb garden with transplants of mustard, winter greens, spinach, peas, cilantro, dill, fennel, parsley, chives and oregano.

Some seeds may be sown as well — try mustard, radish and lettuce in the very first part of the month. Always consult the local planting graphs for the optimal times to plant in your town.

Westover Landscape Design, Inc..

Plant annual flowers and decorative plants. Spruce up your container plantings and perennial beds using some bright-colored annuals. Great cold-tolerant options include decorative cabbages and kale, pansies, violas, alyssums, snapdragons, cyclamens and stocks.

If your area is anticipating a hard freeze, water these plants nicely beforehand to protect them. A plant that’s hydrated has a far greater chance against the elements than one that’s fighting.

Jennifer Jamgochian / Multiflora

Plant perennials. Get those perennials in the ground this month with transplants of lantanas, salvias, ornamental grasses, yellow bells, coneflowers, rudbeckias and columbines.

Perennials planted at the time of year is going to have much bigger growth and increased blossoms than those planted in the spring. Remember to mulch around your freshly planted infants to keep them secure over the winter.

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Kitchen of the Week: A Galley Kitchen in Wine Country

A San Francisco family craving a country getaway found a house in neighboring Sonoma that sounded great — except for the kitchen. Kathryn Clark and her household had pictured a weekend home where they can garden, grow their own food and cook amazing food for friends and loved ones. Although this house had the garden and was amazing, the 1980s narrow galley kitchen lacked the space and style they had been hoping for.

Without altering the footprint, architect Amy Alper reorganized this kitchen design, using smart spatial planning, lots of natural light and a mixture of top- and low-budget products.

Amy A. Alper, Architect

The narrow space made installing upper cabinetry nearly impossible. Limited open shelving keeps the space open and enables most items to be kept in closets or the local pantry. Alper focused the redesign on brand new appliance placement, making certain there was lots of space between the primary kitchen work area and the entry to the rest of the house.

Countertop: honed black granite; faucet: Domsjo, Ikea; faucet: Blanco; drawer pulls: Aubrey, Restoration Hardware

Amy A. Alper, Architect

The careful placement of appliances also made space for additional prep space on both sides of the range. Using Ikea cabinetry and very affordable flooring allowed all the funds to move toward the Blue Star range.

Cabinetry: Adel, Ikea; fridge: Jenn Air

Amy A. Alper, Architect

Close to the range, easy painted shelves held up with iron mounts visually tie into the honed granite countertops. A magnetic knife rack saves drawer space and keeps the best knives directly at hand.

Amy A. Alper, Architect

Using stainless steel shelving the owners had helped keep costs down. A brand new beadboard ceiling combines well with the tongue and groove walls.

Dishwasher (integrated into cabinetry): Miele

Architect, Amy A. Alper

Alper went with 24-inch-wide drawers across the kitchen, including additional storage via floor-to-ceiling cabinetry beside the fridge. Large-format porcelain floor tiles created installation faster and labor less expensive.

Flooring: Bedrosians; wall mounted hooks: Marston, Restoration Hardware; light: Schoolhouse Electric; red clock: Etsy

Photography: Kathryn Clark

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Southeast Gardener's October Checklist

Fall for me brings the beginning of the new gardening season, and October is fall’s most festive month. Shorter days and cooler temperatures mean earning crops for a changing season. I am not sure what excites me more: the foliage colour change or the further light from fewer leaves on the trees.

Gardening with Confidence®

Plant annuals. Kale, cabbages, mustards, pansies, snapdragons and violas are annuals which are colorful, long lasting and inexpensive; I’ve often wondered why they are so underused.

Purchase pansies and violas once the selection is best, as soon as September, but wait till late October to plant them. Early October can be too hot to plant, but do not wait till then to purchase, or the selection will probably be too scarce. Nurse the plants in a holding area if you need to to make certain you get your top choice.

Gardening with Confidence®

Transplant trees and shrubs. Are you waiting to rearrange a few trees and shrubs? Now, with all the heating temperatures, is a good time to start the procedure.

It’s ideal to root prune this month and transplant 30 days (or more) later. This allows woody ornamentals a chance to recover before being transported to their new site. Root pruning sparks small feeder roots near the back. These brand new roots will probably be dug as part of their transplant, permitting the tree or tree to adapt.
Water the soil well the day before root pruning. Prune out in the back a 10- to 12-inch-diameter root ball for every inch of trunk diameter. Consequently, a 2-inch-diameter back will probably be root pruned about two feet in the trunk.Using a flat spade, start cutting a trench about 24 inches deep. If you crash into big roots, cut loppers.Continue cutting a circular trench around the tree trunk and water completely.

Gardening with Confidence®

Split peonies. In case your herbaceous peony has gotten too large for its existing location, or if you just need to move or share it, it may be split after the first frost.

Period Homes, Inc..

Prepare your houseplants for winter. Many of us like to give our indoor houseplants a summer vacation outside, but the summertime is about to end. It’s time to bring those plants back inside.

Throughout the summer you may have found that your crops grew a lot, and errant branches are in need of a little pruning. Herbaceous plants may just be pinched back, but use clippers on woody stems. Be sure to remove any stalks or leaves that are dead or diseased.

Repot plants whose roots are growing out of the drainage holes or are in the soil’s surface. Select a container that’s only 1 size larger than the older one; otherwise leading growth may be retarded while the roots try to fill up the excess space.

Clean the leaves of dust and dirt which gathered during the summertime. This covering may interfere with a plant’s capacity to turn light into food. A gentle spray from the garden hose and a mild wipe with a sponge are often adequate.

A light application of insecticidal soap is a smart precaution prior to bringing back your plants inside, even if you haven’t seen signs of pests. Spider mites and other pests thrive in a dry, heated house and will multiply rapidly, if current.

As soon as they’re inside, find your plants where they will receive as much natural light as possible. When you water them so thoroughly but less frequently in winter than you did in the summertime.

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Plant cool-season vegetables. The cooler fall temperatures bring cool-season plants. It’s time to plant or seed spinach and collards. Also, lettuce and pineapple will once more thrive in your backyard.

Consider trying some new types this season, or vary your normal choices. Why not add some red-leaf lettuce? Loose-leaf red lettuce packs a high nutrient value, including being an fantastic supply of beta-carotene.

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Water well before winter. In case October and November are dry, give perennials a deep final soaking so that they go dormant in great states. They’ll be less subject to being killed in winter with a beverage till they sleep.

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Compost those leaves. Use a mower equipped with a mulching blade to chop fallen leaves on the pot. These leaves make a excellent addition to garden beds or the compost heap.

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Prepare beds. It’s also a great time to prepare garden beds for next year.
Mark brand new beds (or even the beds you want to extend) with marking paint or a hose. Cut a border, turning this dirt to the new bed, and cover 8 to 10 layers of newspaper. Cover with about 4 inches of leaves that are chopped or composted leaf mulch.Now sit back and let nature take her course. Your bed will be ready for planting in the spring.

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Enjoy wildlife. Don’t be so quick to tidy up. The remains of this summer and autumn garden give refuge, food and cover for wildlife, while also adding winter interest to garden beds.

Pictured here is a praying mantis egg case I found one year whilst cutting back my backyard. It was at this point I learned to slow down my autumn pruning before the spring, once the leaves were removed off and overwintering wildlife was easier to see.

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Watch out for canna leaf roller. Cannas are great accent plants and attract hummingbirds to the garden. Plus, most canna cultivars are hardy from the Southeast and may overwinter in the floor. If you found your canna foliage riddled with holes, you probably have leaf roller. Canna leaf rollers are major pests in the Southeast, inducing the beautiful foliage to become unsightly.

After the first frost, cut the leaves to the floor and eliminate it in the backyard. Control overwintering pests are helped by taking away the foliage. Don’t mulch, since the pest may overwinter.

More guides to Southeast gardening | Locate your U.S. garden checklist

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Provide Your Turf

Your yard probably has just taken a beating this summer — family gatherings, bring with the dog, and kids’ games and toys have probably been working jointly with drought and heat to earn your grass gasp to get a breather. If your yard is in need of a little TLC, you’re in luck — fall is the ideal time to revitalize it so that the next season’s grass is the greenest and healthiest it can be.

Wagner Hodgson

1. Know your bud. There are cool-season and warm-season grasses, and many varieties in each category.
Cool-season grasses (Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, perennial ryegrass) are far better suited for cooler climates, are most productive in spring and fall, occasionally require more irrigation and are generally mowed higher than warm-season grasses due to their erect growth habit. Warm-season grasses (Bermuda, St. Augustine, big bluestem) grow best in warmer climates, are typically more drought tolerant and are often mowed at lower heights.Be sure to check with the local lawn experts for certain recommendations for turf grass in your town.

Fairfield House & Garden Co

2. Fertilize. In the fall, fertilize your yard with an NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) ratio of 3-1-2 or 4-1-2. The ratio doesn’t have to be exact, but do attempt to obtain a product with comparable quantities. Strategy to use approximately 1 pound of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet of yard and always stick to the package instructions. Applying too much fertilizer will not help your bud and, in actuality, may damage .

J. Peterson Garden Design

3. Dethatch. Thatch is the buildup of dead roots and stems which develop between the soil and the green grass blades.

If you have just a little buildup, you can use a hard rake or a dethatching rake to remove the dead grass, but if you have over 1/2 inch you will have to core aerate from the fall or the spring.

Core aeration utilizes rentable gear to remove plugs of soil, raising the soil’s ability to get water, fertilizer and air. If your buildup is thicker than 2/3 inch, you will have to not just core aerate but add 1/8 to 1/4 inch of organic matter like compost or peat. Water in well.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

4. Control weeds. September and October are the best months to control perennial broadleaf weeds like clover and dandelions. These weeds are busy taking in sun and nourishment to get them during the winter months, so that means they are open to receiving weed killers too.

If you have just a couple of weeds, then pull them out , but more numerous weeds may require extra tactics or chemicals — either organic or nonorganic. Much like fertilizers, always stick to the package instructions when applying any chemical to your yard to prevent damaging it and the surrounding crops. Do not worry about any bare spots made by marijuana removal; your healthful bud will take over those areas very quickly.

J. Peterson Garden Design

5. Sow grass seeds. If you have large bare spots left by marijuana removal or simply need to set up a new or extended part of your yard, mid-August to mid-September is the best time to sow grass seeds. Always check with your county extension office or trustworthy local nursery about the best times to sow seeds in your town, however.

Before you sow, make certain that you have ready the soil properly to find the best outcomes. Till the soil at least 6 inches deep, add 1/2 to 1 inch or so of mulch or peat, rake the soil smooth and sow the seeds. Water in well and keep the soil consistently moist until after the new growth emerges, approximately 6 weeks.

More: Are You Ready to Lose the Lawn?

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Rocky Mountain Gardener's September Checklist

Ahhhh, September! The worst of all summer’s extreme heat is gone, the glare of sunlight has softened and it’s delightful to be active at the garden once more. Rainy days and cool nights are ideal for getting new plants based. The soil is warm and achievable, allowing for good root growth and development before winter, and warmer air temperatures lessen the amount of transpiration — and jolt — ordinary during the heat of the summer.

More ideas for gardening at the Rockies

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Exotic trees, shrubs and perennials. If you have been itching to add some colour or construction to your landscape, then now’s a great time to search for plants. Nurseries will be pushing earnings with special promotions and discounts so that they can clear out their inventory before winter, and also you, the customer, win.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Plant for winter shade. Broadleaf evergreens ought to be a priority for your fall planting schedule. These plants attract much-needed colour and texture to the winter landscape but can suffer from our area’s low humidity, extreme sunlight and drying winds.

September planting enables roots to grow, particularly important for evergreens during the winter, since the roots’ ability to absorb water helps counter the plant’s moisture reduction via its leaves that are persistent. Generally, broadleaf evergreens look their very best when planted in a secure location with filtered shade or morning sun and afternoon shade.

The many drought-tolerant alternatives for this area include Oregon grape holly (Mahonia spp), manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp) and yucca (Yucca spp) — all hardy to about 7,500 feet in altitude. Selections of those plants are native to a lot of locations throughout the Rockies.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Firethorn (Pyracantha spp) requires only a bit more water, as do boxwood (Buxus spp) and most of the evergreen Euonymus species. All these plants are best at elevations of 6,000 feet or below.

Program of an antidesiccant to the foliage from late November will help foliage hold its color better during the winter. Mulching and winter watering are all crucial to keep plants hydrated.

Pendleton Design Management

Plant for permanence. Trees are a big investment of time and money but are often vital to making the architectural aspects of a landscape: supplying privacy or shade, modifying end or noise, framing a view, etc..

Fall planting can make buying a tree easier on your budget, and it’s less stressful on the plant, too. Confer with a nursery or a landscape specialist to select a healthy tree that will adapt well to the growing conditions indigenous to your website.

For instance, what’s your hardiness zone or microclimate? Soil type? Water budget? Available distance? Trying to modify your surroundings to match the needs of a plant is rarely successful in the long term, therefore it’s ideal to be an educated gardener-buyer.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Transplant perennials. A fantastic guideline to keep in mind is that perennials that flower in the spring and summer ought to be moved in the fall, and those that flower in summer and fall ought to be moved from the spring. The concept is to allow the plants “settle in” to their new location (get some root expansion) before the push to flower occurs.

Although this is not a hard and fast rule, peonies (Paeonia spp) in particular needs to be moved in the fall. When transplanting peonies it’s important to blog them in full sun and provide them with a deep, loamy, well-draining soil. Put the main buds (or “eyes”) 1 to 1 1/2 inches) below the soil level. Peonies that are planted too deeply will not flower.

Other great candidates for moving now include poppies (Papaver spp), phlox (Phlox ssp) and daylilies (Hemerocallis spp). Mulch should be utilised to safeguard fall transplants by maintaining soil temperatures above freezing longer into the fall (permitting better root growth).

Jocelyn H. Chilvers

Purchase spring-flowering bulbs. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and much more are available for purchase now. Shop your regional independent garden center for large, premium bulbs. Although they might be more expensive, larger bulbs are usually greater — they pack larger flower buds and much more nutrients for growing power.

Purchase early while the choice is greatest, but wait to plant your bulbs until October, when the ground is cooler yet still warm enough for the bulbs to root out and hydrate. (Bulbs implanted in too warm soil may abort their flower buds) Meanwhile, save your bulbs in a cool, dark place, like a basement cupboard. As soon as they’re implanted, keep bulbs moist during the winter, watering monthly whenever needed.

Leslie Ebert

Fix your irrigation clock. Lawns require less water as summer winds down. Though soil conditions, sun exposure and turf types must be taken into consideration, your lawn will require only about half as much water in September as it did in July.

Gardener’s Supply Company

GardenQuilt Cover – $12.95

Be prepared for frost. September brings the first freeze — or snow! — to many Rocky Mountain gardens, and nobody wants to observe a great crop of basil or a beautiful container garden turned into mush overnight.

Maintain white sheets or industrial frost blankets convenient; lightweight, breathable and reusable shouts are just the thing to have available to drape over your annual blossoms and tender veggies when frost threatens. The light shade lets sunlight in for photosynthesis and also traps solar heat for continuing plant and fruit growth. Multiple layers provide even higher insulating material.

More: Guides for your Rocky Mountains garden

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