God is in the details: a Pine matrix

According to Wikipedia, the idiom "God is in the details" expresses the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly; i.e. details are important. And with this phrase, I couldn't agree more.

Patterns fascinate me; whether naturally occurring, mathematically based, or both. In professional practice I’ve had to come up with patterns to show the relationship between different landscape elements such as different varieties in a rose garden planting, or different sizes of stone in a hardscape design. A successful pattern creates beauty and balance, with a degree of randomness.

Recently, I worked on a large-scale screen planting, made up of three different varieties of Pine trees; Loblolly (Pinus taeda), Virginia (Pinus virginiana), and Shortleaf Pines (Pinus echinata). The three varieties were chosen for visual interest as well as insurance against environmental problems (e.g. a pine beetle that prefers Pinus x).

The nearly thousand pine tree saplings were obtained from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Division of Forestry. With a 30% expected mortality rate, the area forester recommended a plant spacing of no less than 6’ on center and a planting ratio of 2:1:1 Loblolly, Virginia, and Shortleaf, respectively.

This adds up to a lovely grid of trees reminiscent of a Christmas tree farm. However, the client wanted a more natural and less industrial-looking screen planting. The solution: a pattern that could be replicated throughout the specified area to create variable spacing and arrangement of the three species.

The design began with 6’, 7’, and 8’ diameter circles drawn randomly, overlapping ever-so slightly. Then 7’ circles were drawn over each center point creating an arbitrary plan of overlapping circles and voids. A 30’x30’ section was extracted and developed into a color-coded plan that would be easy to flag, rotate, and replicate in the field.

As with a lot of planting plans, some adjustments had to be made on site due to topography, existing trees, and with care to avoid any spacing closer than the 6’ minimum. Thus exemplifies either how complicated a simple tree planting can be made by a Landscape Architect or as I believe the true importance of detail.

february blooms

Looking back at my garden notes from Februaries past, one thing’s for sure, plants are blooming earlier. This has been a whacky winter; and by whacky I mean mild and wonderful. I’ve actually enjoyed spending time outdoors throughout most of this winter, which is in stark contrast to the incredibly snowy winter Nashville saw last year.

Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles), Daffodils (Narcissus), Lenten Rose (Helleborus), and Witchhazel (Hamamelis) lead the charge (and the Camellias are still blooming!). The thought of grouping all late-winter blooming plants together in one composition seems a perfect way to combat winter blues. And while ordinarily opposed to such theme gardens, this is one I’d like to try.

greenhouse adventures

The greenhouse is usually a welcome respite in the gardening adventures of winter. But this mild winter it hasn't been nearly as necessary. Regardless, I'm trying my hand at growing indoor plants and rooting shrubs. The top image is of an asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus) flowering! The images below are of my dogwood rooting project.

Asparagus fern is a fantastic warm season container plant which will do well in partial shade to full sun situations. It is related to the favorite spring time vegetable and prefers moist, well-drained, fertile soil. This is a great plant for indoor and outdoor applications, serving as a wonderful foil to a variety of summer annuals, or stealing the show in a pot by itself.

During the holidays, part of an indoor flower arrangement placed near a window began to sprout. I removed the sprouting twigs from the floral foam, removed any flowers and reduced them to 5” cuttings, dipped them in rooting powder, and placed them in potting soil in the greenhouse. After a few weeks, two of the cuttings are not only alive, but pushing new growth!

I’m fairly certain this is Redosier Dogwood (Cornus sericea). Which is a native large shrub/small tree whose red stems are used in the floral industry. Cuttings of this plant will flower in water and root well with a hormone treatment, though best success is generally achieved in warmer months.