What Is A Garden?

by Terremoto

Our friends at Terremoto, an incredible landscape architecture firm in LA have created this beautiful guide to inspire your thinking about your landscape and garden.

 The Terremoto team also lost their store, Plant Material, to the Eaton Fire.

WHAT IS A GARDEN?

  • A garden is a constantly growing, pulsating, and breathing community of interconnected species and natural processes that transforms over time. 

  • A garden is an ecosystem that holds us as we transform with it, hands in the soil. 

  • A garden is a small-scale sample that reflects the natural processes that are taking place at this moment all around, above, and below us, that holds the potential to heal and clean not only the soil, water, and air, but also the soul, body, and spirit.

  • A garden is also an extension of the heart, mind, and worldview of the people who create and tend to it in communion with the species we share this ecosystem with. 

  • The dreaming of one’s garden can be deeply personal.


RECALL EXERCISE

We invite you to recall a memory of the last time you felt a deep emotional connection in nature.

What colors and textures come to mind? 

What did you hear – the call of birds flitting through the brush in the early hours of the morning, the pulsing reverberation of frogs in chorus with the soft gurgle of water moving down the river? 

What did you feel – a soft breeze passing through the tree canopy above you at dusk, the spongy give of moist pine needles underfoot? 

What did you smell – the dusty sweetness of the California sagebrush, the heady earthiness of the drenched earth after a summer monsoonal rainstorm? 

Now, recall how you felt during this time. Tranquil, safe, or excited? Perhaps a sense of release – of tension, stress, or pain?

What follows is a translation of these emotions, memories, and senses into the garden space.


Why, How and for

Whom is the Garden?

A garden is a habitat shared among many: the birds, the bees, squirrels and gophers, insects, bats. Think about your landscape context and site conditions. 


WHAT TO

CONSIDER

Where are you located?

  • Are you near any forests or natural water bodies?

  • Might creatures from these natural areas stop by your garden for a visit?

  • Can you provide them with shelter or food? Do you want to plant native shrubs for ground-dwelling birds to live?

  • Do you have tree canopy protection for small, vulnerable creatures?

  • Or, would you like to plant any big trees for owls to see from? 


FIT INTO YOUR 

SURROUNDINGS

As you contemplate what to plant, remember that plants provide many benefits to wildlife, and planting things that are beneficial to your specific environment can be additive to your local ecosystem. 

Visit Theodore Payne Foundation and CalScape to learn about how to choose beneficial plants for wildlife in your particular landscape.  

Think about your water use

Consider what you are planting in relation to how much water is naturally available. Native and drought-tolerant plants help conserve water. 

Do you want to be able to capture water? Keep that in mind when planning your hard surfaces.

Permeable ground planes like mulch, gravel, or sand-set brick allow water to soak into the ground to replenish the aquifer.

Mortared surfaces like concrete cause water to run off into drains and stormwater systems. Consider building a rain garden in a low point of your site for even more water capture.

TAP IN

A garden is also a place for you and your family.

Gardens have cultural and historic significance and are places where people can reconnect to nature. 

What to ask yourself:

What are your special plants?

These could be plants that you have a childhood memory of, that are important to your family.

Do you want to plant them in a place where you can easily access/harvest them?

  • Or do you want to be able to see them from your bedroom or kitchen window?

  • Do these plants need shade or sun?

    This will determine where you place them. 

Do you want the garden to look very organized, linear, and clean?

  • Or do you prefer to feel like you are lost in the wild?

  • Are there views of the mountains that you’d like to see?

  • Or are there views that you’d prefer not to see?

    You can use planting to organize space, framing or concealing desired views, and creating an outdoor atmosphere that you feel well in. 


CONSIDER YOUR

COMMUNTIY

How do you like to spend time with others?

Would you like to have a large open area to dine with family and friends?

Or, is a large space to play important to you and your family? 

  • The size of gatherings that you’d like to have will influence the way that you lay out space.

    Many people like to have their outdoor patio or dining spaces close to the kitchen. Others may want to retreat to a more intimate table surrounded by planting. 

  • How wide do you want your pathways to be?

    If you want to walk side by side with another person, the pathway needs to be 3-4’ wide minimum. Consider walkability for the elderly or wheelchair access needs. 

  • Permeability is important to consider.

    Do you want to feel like you are fully enclosed in your garden? Or are you open to seeing your neighbors on occasion? If you need a fence, consider a low fence in the front to encourage neighborly interactions and happenstance meetings. Usually privacy fences are in the backyard. 

  • The garden can facilitate fruit and vegetable sharing amongst neighbors and friends.

    Fruit trees in the front garden or near property lines facilitate this sharing. 

HOW TO MAXIMIZE FLOURISHING

How to maximize the physical and spiritual flourishing of all creatures who pass through the garden, human and other?

The things that make us happy in nature also make wildlife happy. 

For example: the sound and sight of a trickling stream is usually soothing and meditative for us. Animals also like to stop at bodies of water to drink and bathe. 

Let’s think of the garden through what pleases our senses, and how this might support wildlife as well.

SIGHT


Color:

  • Do you want to plant plants with certain color schemes?

    The plant called Ceonothus has a blue bloom. Achillea millefolium has a white flower.

  • Or do you want to create a whirling, rainbow of colors that change through the seasons? California native wildflower seeds are great for this. 

Texture:

  • Consider planting plants in masses or layering them to achieve a harmony of textures. Particularly “soft” plants are Artistida purpurea or Artemisia californica.

    Examples of “prickly” plants are Opuntias or Agaves. Avoid planting prickly plants near pathways where someone might get poked.

Light:

  • Where are your own or your neighbors’ trees located and how does this affect light and shadow conditions?

    A shady place to take a rest is desirable in Southern California’s hot climate. Do you want a place to sip coffee in the morning light? 

SOUND

The sound of running water can be quite nice in the background, and can be used to mask traffic noise.

Simple recirculating water features provide fresh water for wildlife and a nice sound for humans. Or, a simple, manually refilled bird bath will provide many benefits to your garden’s atmosphere.

  • Do you want to hear the sound of wind through tree leaves?

    Platanus racemosa leaves rustle elegantly in the wind. Populus tremuloides has leaves that quake and shimmer. 

  • Bells and chimes make melodic sounds when they are moved by the wind. 

Gravel offers a delightful crunch when it is stepped on. Different sizes of gravel offer different sizes of crunch. Mulch and hard surfaces like brick are quiet.

SMELL

  • Many native plants have natural smells.

    Particularly nice-smelling plants are: Salvias, Artemisia douglasiana, Pseudognaphalium californicum, Trichostemma lanatum, Lepechinia fragrans, Monardellas, Ribes viburnifolium, Baccharis salicifolia, Umbellularia californica 

  • Other drought tolerant plants that smell nice are Jasmine, Lavender, Rosemary, Mint, and many other culinary herbs.

TASTE

  • Do you want to be able to grow your own food?

    You can plant raised boxes with vegetables and herbs. 

  • Plant citrus trees or other drought-tolerant fruit trees like Pomegranate, Guava, and Avocado for a source of fresh fruit.

    You may battle the squirrels, but it’s worth it in the end. Underneath fruit trees, plant nitrogen-fixing plants to replenish the soil.

    If you want to go full food-forest style, plant berries underneath!

TOUCH

  • If you like to walk outside barefoot, consider what material you use on the ground plane.

    For example, rounded gravel is softer than angular gravel. You can also use stepping stones in areas where you might want to walk on a hard, flat surface. 

  • Immersion in hot and cold water in a garden setting can be transformative.

  • For cold water, try filling an old bathtub with ice (or buy a cold plunge.) A bathtub can also be run with hot water (or buy a hot tub / cedar soaking tub.)

  • Heat can also be made by locating a gas or wood-burning fire pit in a safe place, away from trees with low limbs or dense planting areas.

OMNIPOSITIVITY

What might it mean to build a garden that has omni-positive relationships to Land, Materials, Plants and Labor? 

Gardens are alive and change with the seasons.

Accepting seasonality is the first step in developing a relationship with the land. 

  • Evergreen plants are lovely, but try not to exclude deciduous trees that lose their leaves.

    Leaf litter can be used as a naturally decomposing mulch that inhibits weed growth, retains soil moisture, and feeds the soil over time.

  • To the previous point, death and decay are a natural part of a healthy landscape.

    In fact, decomposition makes the garden vital and dynamic. Bring in stumps and logs as seats and play structures. Use mulch when you can. This will help the ground plane become rich and habitable over time. 

  • Mature plants may look dried out and unhealthy during the summer, but watering them can potentially kill many established native plants such as Ceonothus.

    Be careful not to overwater during a plant’s naturally dormant cycle.

DESIGN through

Maintenance

  • Learn to be a good steward. We advocate for being as involved in gardening as possible. Learning to understand and love your garden usually benefits both the garden and you! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It’s okay if you kill a plant. 

  • If/when you bring on a gardener to help with maintenance, please ensure they are paid fairly for their time. Faster is not always better, and we find that the most effective gardeners are usually those who are given allowance to take the extra time that they need. 

  • Invest in sweeping instead of blowing! It’s more kind to the earth, and to your neighbors. 

We wish you all the best in your gardening adventures. 


WITH LOVE FROM Terremoto