Have fun with your garden canvas

Steve Kawaratani

“The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry

about -- along with the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.”

-- Lewis Thomas

“I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers,

someone is taking the time to plant some.”

-- Herbert Rappaport

The recent decision to review the Design Review process has proven

to be newsworthy in several newspapers and newsletters. Doesn’t

everyone have something better to do? Like counting parking spaces

Downtown or measuring the width of those spaces on Forest Avenue? How

about finding a place to park on a summer Thursday evening?

I have a solution to break the apparent citywide tedium. Grow your

own -- flowers, that is. Cultivating your own bed of flowers will

provide great pleasure, and for the cost conscious, the savings from

buying flowers will allow applicants and neighbors to file appeals to

the City Council.

Flowers add color and fragrance to your garden, improve your

perspective on life and look marvelous in glass vases. But there’s

more to introducing flowers to your garden and life than simply

picking the colors and shapes that appeal to you. Environmental

considerations like seasons, exposure, wind and soil types must be

noted for each proposed planting.

Experimenting allows you to learn what colors to use. At your next

visit to your favorite nursery, use the florist’s technique of

combining different flowers to create living artwork. Picture in your

mind where the flowers will be planted. Select color combinations

that accent or contrast with your house color, existing plantings and

views.

The most common layout for a flower garden is rectangular, which

continues or repeats the lines of the house. Patterns of beds should

be kept simple. There may be a central or terminal feature, a

fountain or hedge, wall or fence with vines and possibly a border

planting of perennial shrubs.

While gazing at story poles yesterday with some friends, I spotted

the common error of planting flowers around and about shrubbery, with

long bands of identical flowers. This kind of design soon cheapens

the flowers and makes them tiresome by repetition. It is more

effective to concentrate the flowers into one place than to scatter a

few here and a few there. Isolated beds in the lawn often look as if

they had been dropped accidentally.

Our generally mild climate in Laguna Beach allows flower-growers

to send nurseries a mixed bundle of color during the entire year.

Next to our summer flowers, the fall flowers are beginning to crowd

in. Pansies, violas and snapdragons are making an early appearance,

vying for your attention. Beware, however, that warmer weather is

still anticipated for the next couple of months.

Yesterday’s Design Review tour made the Tour de France seem like a

walk in Heisler Park (unless you had your own personal driver). Not

that I would challenge Lance Armstrong to any kind of race. However,

I did walk and observe enough to appreciate Laguna’s hilly topography

and beautiful homes and gardens. Let’s keep it that way. See you next

time.

* STEVE KAWARATANI is the owner of Landscapes by Laguna Nursery,

1278 Glenneyre, No. 49, in Laguna Beach. He is married to local

artist, Catharine Cooper, and has two cats. He can be reached at

(949) 497-2438, or e-mail to landscapes@ln.coxatwork.com.