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The word meadow has a wild-eyed aura about it — billowing weed , dancing wildflowers , flitting butterflies . It all sound so kickshaw and ethereal — and round-eyed . But a hayfield is also complex , long-lived and the epitome of all that is earthy . And John Greenlee has been utterly seduce by them .
Photo by : Saxon Holt . SEE MORE word picture OF THIS GARDEN
Owner of Greenlee Nurseries near Los Angeles and wide acknowledge lord of ornamental grasses , Greenlee has been in dearest with meadows since they towered over his head as a boy growing up in California . Now , after ten of work with meadow ecologies , he also understands their unique design potential drop , which is the inspiration for his ledger , The American Meadow Garden : Creating a Natural option to the Traditional Lawn(Timber Press ) .
While he has been honing the concept of “ designed meadows ” for the past 15 twelvemonth ( Greenlee prefer the give-and-take meadow to prairie , feeling that prairie implies vastness while meadow have more sense of position ) , a perfect chance for Greenlee to put his ideas into practice presented itself when Carole Marks contacted him looking for a way to fill in her garden at her Mediterranean - modern - style home ( design by Stephen Arnn of AGG Design ) in Woodside , California . And Greenlee was additionally excite that he would be complement an live garden designed by noted landscape painting architect Ron Herman .
First Baron Marks of Broughton had been searching for a solution to the 2 - acre - plus bare part of her landscape painting , which let in a wild sphere and drainage swale along a small brook . When she and contractor Mick Fox of Fox Landscape and Irrigation Inc. saw Greenlee ’s design meadow at the 2007 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show , Marks think back , “ I saw John ’s garden , and immediately fell in erotic love with the concept . ” Greenlee refer to the billet as a best - guinea pig scenario — an exquisite home set on property big enough ( 8 acres ) and close enough to nature to do something really interesting , Herman ’s solid design , and a squad of node , contractor and interior decorator who were immediately on the same page . The lofty finish was to make the hayfield “ look like God did it ” and be the connective tissue paper between Herman ’s more “ realistic formal ” planting near the house and the fence in California landscape painting .
A planting of lupines is part of the perennials constituent of Greenlee ’s designed hayfield . SEE MORE painting OF THIS GARDEN
Greenlee set about install 50 or so varieties of locoweed and grassy plant , to which he added 100 of what he calls “ hayfield sweetening ” — those plants that furrow with sens and bestow that sure something , whether it ’s efflorescence or seedheads , when “ moisten ” through the meadow . For the sweeteners , he turned to perennial like lupines , kniphofias and Achillea millefolium , and bulbs like daffodils . ( While most of us think of electric-light bulb as isolate clod or sweeps in a conventional edge , most are in reality native to meadow ecology . ) The see-through potpourri of plant life cloth on call for the Marks garden made a detailed architectural plan on paper out of the question , but Greenlee is accustomed to designing on the spot ( he equate it to weaving cloth but in three dimension ) . The end result is what he calls “ Mediterranean meadow madness . ”
But Greenlee aim out that it would not have worked if there were n’t already good off-white to wrap the fabric around , and he gives full credit rating to Herman for that . In fact , Greenlee felt some pressure at the expectation of add to a Ron Herman garden : “ The streak was call forth pretty high . ” But Greenlee has work with a roll of notable garden designers — Andrea Cochran , Nancy Powers , Robert Irwin , Jack Chandler — and he was reward to add Herman to the list . Though the two designers have distinctly differentmodus operandi , Herman sense that the demarcation between his garden and Greenlee ’s “ only raise our study . ”
The merge was made seamless in part because both designers had sustainability in mind . Herman ’s landscape , completed in 2007 , has a dry flow for runoff cachement , drouth - patient of plant life , a pitch lawn for effective pee employment and permeable pathways of natural materials . While sustainable idea have been around for a while ( one model is the usage of clay tiles to channel rainwater in Hollywood in the 1940s ) , the real thrust during the preceding 10 years has touched everyone . Herman note that all his new projects have elements of sustainability . Greenlee ’s hayfield is as fleeceable as it generate , with its drouth margin , specie multifariousness , deficiency of chemical dependence and magnetic magnet for wildlife . As one of the most vocal advocate for finding replacements for the standard lawn , Greenlee sees meadows as an obvious answer .
One of the fundamental aesthetic components that connects the piece of work of both designers is the opinion — from the theatre looking out as well as from the meadow front back . The organized arrangement near the mansion of grasses likeMiscanthusand blue Festuca elatior , and perennials including black - eyed Susan , lavender , Russian sage andPhormium , finds counterpoint and echoes in the grassy , wild flower - constellate meadow beyond , and vice versa . An oversized fire pit design by Herman afford a snug spot to sit in the midst of the meadow ( what better way to delight a Zen moment or eyeball wildlife ) . For Greenlee , being in a hayfield , as play off to just look at it from afar , is critical — Herman call the concentration experience an “ unexpected delight . ”
The concept of sequencing also feel its way into both Greenlee and Herman portions of the landscape . Herman produce a garden of layers , employ a series of bench and walkways and 90 - academic degree call on , part hiding one area from the next . The pathways continue to meander through Greenlee ’s meadow , which has fingers that extend through the property . The hayfield is itself the shape of sequencing , moving in and out of sun and shade , with swathe of shorter and taller grasses and perennial , and a strong connection to seasonal modification .
stroll among the waving grasses , as Carole Marks often does , check to sit around on a work bench “ and just take in the beauty and ataraxis , ” it ’s easy to link up to Greenlee ’s early days of lying in a field see clouds float overhead , and to interpret why , for him , meadows are witching .
With its russet tones and swordlike farewell , Phormiummakes a good companion for wispy Mexican feather grass , Nassella tenuissima . SEE MORE PICTURES OF THIS GARDEN
MEADOW devising
SelectThere ’s more than one way to establish a meadow . sow seminal fluid can be cheaper , but set up plants can bring it to realization quicker . Or you’re able to do both — plant some grasses and perennial as anchors , and seed seeds in between . Annuals ( regionally appropriate ones ) can be used to give immediate gratification the first yr , though over time most will go away as the repeated plants reach primer . Beware of to a fault aggressive plant , native and not , or you will wind up with a monotonous hoi polloi of limited species . And keep weeds under restraint .
SituateThere ’s more than one case of hayfield . you’re able to tailor your overture to the typical plant lifetime of your neighborhood , your ground type , wet conditions and hardiness zone . Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin even offers seed mixes that are low growing , cervid resistant , clay happy and butterfly stroke friendly . Take store of your condition first : If you have a great position for a moist hayfield in Ohio , a Mediterranean hayfield is not the best thought .
SatisfyThere ’s more than one way to maintain a meadow . Remember , however , that any hayfield or prairie planting is a long - terminal figure allegiance and does want even stimulation . Some people do command burns every two or three years ( install fire breaks and keep the fervor section inform ) , but mop once a year in the springtime works also . Both burn and mowing keep woody plants from pose a foothold , enrich the soil and stir new plant growth .
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