Back in Business - Encinitas -2 - Painting the Garden

" Take thy plastic spade,

It is thy pencil; take thy seeds, thy plants,

They are thy colours."

~William Mason, The English Garden, 1782

Boulder at right front of drive anchors the scene

One dead computer, one sister recovering from her heart attacking and one Beverly Hills hair makeover by Shannon and Adrienne at José Eber's new salon and I am back. Ever more thankful for God's grace in this life.

Back to where we left off,  walking the Encinitas Garden Festival and Tour. Come, learn more of how gardeners paint their outdoor spaces with plants and negative space, one vision at a time.

Note the boulder at the front left of the driveway.  Its mass gives impact to the entrance. It adds to the perspective by providing the eye with a resting place before it journeys up to the house across the concrete divide.

Well- spaced billowing plants are both water-wise and back-friendly. Containing the water bill and less maintenance. As I ease into my senior years comfort and cost tip the scales as important values when nearing a cash register.

Balancing rock with mulch keeps the scene from being quarry-like

Attention to detail is not just in the plantings, but in what is brushed between. Note the walk-way colors repeat in the stones bordering  the driveway. Thus, mulch beyond is held back from muddying up the hardscape during a torrential downpour. Which we do get in California. Ask any one who has had both cars and the house windows washed at once.  Its an immediate cosmic reaction to keep mere humans from believing we have control. 

Not visible from the street, a generous lawn bordered by a bodacious outline drawn in paving stone  allows the house to breathe.  Ever wonder why splendid castles in France aren't hugged by shrubbery? Function first: in medieval times, lions might look upon a doorway as the opportunity for making a dinner out of those entering or exiting the safety of home.

Nowadays, notwithstanding the occasional bear or mountain lion galavanting from their hillside homes to ours, there is still plenty of wildlife we should design escape routes for or from. Snakes, rats, skunks- those sort of charmers ought to have separate, if not equal, habitat.