MUG | Mike's Urban Garden | MUG: February 2016

February 10, 2016

10 Grey Plants for San Francisco Herbaceous Borders

How can I bring supportive light into my borders, containers and vignettes? Bright white, silver and grey foliage will support any color scheme by reflexing the ambient color of your vignette back to your eye. So what are some good plants for San Francisco?

1) Centaurea gymnocarpa 'Velvet Centaurea' - shrub, with Ricinus communis 'New Zealand Purple'
2) Ballota pseudodictamnus (False Dittany)
3) Onopordum acanthium - Need a character, a real prima donna. Likes to reseed.
4) Stachys byzantina - ground cove
5) Verbascum bombyciferum 'Arctic Summer' - specimen reseeder
6) Artemisia - shrub
7) Dudleya - Succulent for rock wall
8) Cerastium tomentosum - ground cove
9) Dymondia margaretae - tight low ground cover
10) Lychnis white flowered variety- annual (Playing a true supporting role to the Wisteria, Rosa and Iris. Mid-lower right.)

February 08, 2016

Norfolk, England - Xmas & NYE

My Holiday in England, December 2015. Being in the spirit of vacation, I kept a safe distance from my phone. Here are the few highlights from London & Norfolk.

Saint Pancras Hotel clock tower with international train station. And Kings Cross train station across the street. Two glorious train stations, I'm in heaven.

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.

February 10, 2016

10 Grey Plants for San Francisco Herbaceous Borders

February 08, 2016

Norfolk, England - Xmas & NYE

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