The planting scheme consists of three main 'Plant Communities' which are suited to different micro-climates around the site, based on the amount of sun the different areas receive.
The concept for backyard plantings is to create continuous, successive waves of color over long periods of time, from spring to late autumn, then cap off the year with a textural array of seed heads, plant structures, and foliage.
The courtyard area has been divided into three Gardens, like vegetable rooms, each with its own function.
THE BIG GARDEN
1. PERENNIAL plantations in full sun. These are blends of herbs and perennials that are naturally adapted to dry, exposed conditions. This is the main plant type throughout the site. Very colorful, with different textures of the foliage and plant shapes.
2. SHRUBS and PERENNIAL plantings which combine blends of perennials, grasses, and grasses, but with additional low-density shrubs and multi-stemmed trees, to create multi-layered plantings with year-round structure and interest.
3. LIGHT FOREST plantations in semi-shade and where the medium cultivation depths allow the growth of the trees. The widely spaced, multi-stemmed trees create a light, open canopy, with a sparse undergrowth of shrubs and a diverse perennial soil layer.
Planting Design The concept for backyard plantings is to create continuous, successive waves of color over long periods of time, from spring to late fall, and then conclude the year with a textural array of seed heads, plant structures, and foliage. Although the plantings are very diverse, at any one time it is only two or three plant species that create the main flowering display. But these species repeat over the entire area, creating the greatest impact. The planting is layered so that one group of plants grows and with the previous group of plants, leads to a continuous succession. Naturalistic bands of perennials and herbs are framed and contained within tufts, groupings, and scatterings of trees and shrubs with several stems to give solidity. The distribution of the different planting mixes and planting types was dictated by an analysis of shade and sun, which resulted in four different planting zones.
The schematic section of the plantings has a typical substrate depth of about 20-30 cm. In some places, earthworks allow increasing the substrate, up to 80-100cm allowing the inclusion of trees and shrubs.