MUG | Mike's Urban Garden | MUG: Arts & Crafts Front Entry Garden

October 01, 2014

Arts & Crafts Front Entry Garden - One Year Maintenance Visit

One year after planting, today I detailed this garden: staking, weeding, shearing and deadheading. This is my first garden design to incorporate those plants and ideas from my trip to England in 2012. This small front bed was a blank slate. The building's Arts & Crafts style is the theme for this planting.

Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light', Verbena bonariensis, Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Golf Ball Kohuhu', Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spears', Achillea millefolium 'Moonshine' with Geranium 'Rozanne' and Erigeron karvinskianus.

Thuja occidentalis "Emerald Green' sentinel guardians.

Senecio mandraliscae (Cool) vs. Asclepias curassavica (Hot)

The collection of terra cotta pots is my attempt to recreate the charm of the entry at The Great Dixter. This greatly respected garden utilizes the ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement.

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My path

Garden Fluffer, Personal Gardener, Fine Gardening, Market Gardener these are some of the names I have toyed with as my official title or job description. Most would classify me as a maintenance gardener. But i do things much different than your basic gardening crew. It is all about the process or procedures that I use to make my green spaces.

Simple things, done well. A gardener’s influence on a space is through control. Pruning, thinning, dividing and moving plants around to create an authentic natural look. But this is far from Nature. Step lightly and preen like a large herbivore. Leave all clippings around its source to replenish and shade the soil, creating a good environment for seeds to germinate. Only remove weed seed heads, diseased material and anything sharp like rose thorns, all other green material is made into compost either in a formal pile or as a light mulch. Nothing looks more authentic than a plant mulched with it’s own leaves and twigs. That is my gardening process. Simply well.

This is on top of picking the right plant in the right place. When I am looking to fill a void, no matter if it’s an annual or perennial, tree or shrub, evergreen or deciduous; I start with California and Western US native plants. If nothing fits my requirements (exposure, water, form and floral timing, client preferences) then I look at plants from the other Mediterranean regions of the world.

This blog is my chance to show my work and those things that inspire and influence.

MUG | Mike's Urban Garden | MUG

October 01, 2014

Arts & Crafts Front Entry Garden - One Year Maintenance Visit

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