Design By Nature

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Jaime

Let the natural landscape inspire your garden!

Memorial Day Weekend offered many of us time out of the city and in nature. Were you as inspired as I was by the natural beauty of our Oregon Landscape? Here are some wonderful scenes from my hike over the weekend that offer some great ideas for your own landscape project.

8 design lessons I learned exploring the Willamette Valley

1. Use simple plantings with distinct form and a path to create a little garden mystery.

Oak Savanna

2. Plant it! I discovered Oso berry with berries. Somehow I had only seen Oso berry in the early spring with new leaves and blooms, or later in the fall. I was delighted find the berries so beautiful and delicate in color and form. What a gardeners treat.

Oemleria cerasiformis - Oso berry

3. Cow Parsnip: Plant it but don’t eat it. What a fabulous white cloud on earth.

Meadow with Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum)

4. Poison Oak: Don’t plant, or touch, these leaves of three!

Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)

5. Create layers of color and texture with mass plantings and borrowed landscape views.

Meadows and Fields

6. Lupine is a fabulous native perennial for the garden.

Lupine and Oregon White Oak

7. Natural elements make for beautiful, sculptural, and playful landscape focal points.

Standing inside a hollow snag.

8. Frame an interesting view.

View from inside a the snag.

8. Make your garden explorable, interactive, and delight in its surprises.

There's a tree hugging me!

Posted in Inspiration, Jaime's Favorites, Planting ideas, Retreat | 1 Comment

Spring 2012 @ The Zak Residence

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Jaime

Last year at this time we were putting the finishing touches on the Zak Residence’s landscape design. You can see before photos here. Last week I visited to see how its looking a year later. The tulips and the beading heart were certainly doing their jobs!

See before pictures here

Posted in Before & After Images, Built Work, Jaime's Favorites, Planting ideas | Comments Off

Multnomah Falls Plant of the Day #12 Creeping Snowberry

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Jaime

Creeping Snowberry – Symphoricarpos mollis

Creeping Snowberry isone of my absolute favorite Oregon natives for its winter white berries. Its spring and summer shows are rather lovely as well, small delicate pink white blossoms, and the daintiest green leaves. Its a great plant next to evergreens for the winter interested they can create together. The green background makes the white berries pop!

Where: In the three main beds just behind the (evergreen) western sword fern.

Posted in Garden Tips, Jaime's Favorites, Planting ideas | Comments Off

Multnomah Falls Plant of the Day #13 Vanilla Leaf

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Jaime

Vanilla Leaf – Achlys triphylla

The broad leafs of the vanilla leaf perennial flower are a perfect contrast to finer textures in your native perennial boarder garden.

Posted in Garden Tips, Planting ideas | Comments Off

Multnomah Falls Plant of the Day #14 Oregon Iris

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Jaime

Oregon Iris – Iris tenax

A much smaller version of the traditional garden iris, Oregon Iris offers a delicate bloom of color in the spring. Plant in large grouping, or let one or two surprise you in a woodland planting of ferns and ground covers.

Where: You’ll find Iris tenax on the Hwy side of all three planters that sit in front of the lodge.

Posted in Jaime's Favorites, Planting ideas | Comments Off

Multnomah Falls Plant of the Day #15 Goats Beard

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Jaime

Goats Beard – Aruncus sylvester

This was my absolute favorite plant last year. It’s a gorgeous addition behind your favorite perennials or infront of larger evergreen shrubs. Goats Beard has a great spring green color that makes you want to sing when it first pops. But then doesn’t every sign of spring in Orgeon?

The blooms are white tufts that stay all summer to catch the breeze and keep their interest as they dry out in the fall. I like it best planted in groups of five or more. Its like having little fluffy white clouds in your garden, floating right at your knees.

Where: You’ll find Goats Beard tucked in the planter to the far right as you face the Lodge.

Posted in Built Work, Design Process, Planting ideas | Comments Off

Christmas eCard

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Jaime

This year at Kahoots we are celebrating the season with a tribute to the beautiful seasonal qualities of our native landscape, specifically that of the Western end of the Columbia Gorge and Multnomah Falls.

Here’s a cheat sheet for the native plant species included in our 2011 eCard. Starting from top left.

Gift 1

Western Columbine Aquilegia Formosa (spring)

Salal Gaultheria shallon (fall)

Salal Gaultheria shallon (Summer)

Salal Gaultheria shallon (Spring)

Gift 2

False Solomon’s Seal Smilacina racemosa (late summer)

False Solomon’s Seal Smilacina racemosa (spring)

Red Elderberry Sambucus racemosa (late summer)

Red Elderberry Sambucus racemosa (late summer

Gift 3

White Spirea Spiraea betulifolia lucida (spring & summer)

White Spirea Spiraea betulifolia lucida (fall)

Pacific Dogwood Cornus nuttallii (spring)

Pacific Dogwood Cornus nuttallii (fall)

Gift 4

Blanket Flower Gaillardia aristata (summer)

Golden currant Ribes aureum (fall)

Golden currant Ribes aureum (late summer)

Snow Berry Symphoricarpos albus (winter)

Gift 5

Bald Hip Rose Rosa gymnocarpa (spring & summer)

Bald Hip Rose Rosa gymnocarpa (winter)

Kinnikinnick Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (spring)

Kinnikinnick Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (late fall & winter)

Posted in Inspiration, Jaime's Favorites, Just for fun, Planting ideas, Sustainability | Comments Off

Four ways to love fall gardening!

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Jaime

The rain is back and the sun is fleeting but, that’s why I love fall gardening.

I’ve discovered that even a drizzly fall day can be lovely in the garden. Here are five ways that you can make the most of fall while preparing your garden for an early spring:

Photo by Rhett Jackson

1. Plant bulbs now.

Some of the earliest signs of spring are flowering bulbs and the best time for planting bulbs is right now, in the fall!

2. Tidy up.

Fall is also the best time to prune as plants begin to go dormant for the winter. Trim perennial flower heads and trees and shrubs that have grown unruly or a bit too big for their allotted space. Some tips though: don’t prune more than 25% of a tree or shrub and if you want it to look natural, don’t trim it into a perfect ball. Think like a hairdresser and go for layers, instead of buzz cut.

3. Plant cover crops.

Photo By Rhett Jackson

Try something new this year for those bare winter parts of your yard like the vegetable garden, annual flower beds, or that spot that you’re just not ready to deal with. Clean it up now instead of trying to tackle aggressive spring weeds, then plant a cover crop. Cover crops help keep soil healthy by reducing erosion in winter rains. They aerate the soil so that it doesn’t compact, and they fix nitrogen into the soil. Crimson Clover is my favorite but you can also get some great mixes.

4. Get ready for spring garden projects.

Winter is the time to prepare your plans for garden improvements. Collect and repair your tools, and research and gather any needed materials. If you have a clear idea of what you are going to change in your garden and how you are going to change it, come spring you won’t have to waste entire weekends running back and forth to Home Depot.

It’s this end-of-season gardening that pulls me outside to enjoy the beauty of fall while planting sweet dreams for an early spring. Give it a try! You’ll love it, even in the rain!

Need help getting started? Check out our great fall gardening specials!

Posted in Garden Tips, Jaime's Favorites, Planting ideas | Comments Off

Multnomah Falls Lodge & Entrance Planting Plan

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Jaime

We are incredibly excited about our newest project: a planting design for the entry planters at Multnomah Falls Lodge!

Multnomah Falls & Lodge Existing Planters

The current planting beds in front of the lodge are in decline and require aggressive maintenance to keep views open to the lodge, maintenance that doesn’t leave the plants looking their best.

In the new planting plan we are including a beautiful collection of native flora that will frame the views to the lodge and offer beautiful colors and textures year round.

We’ve just about completed the design phase and are getting ready for planting this coming spring! Stay tuned for updates.

Oh, and don’t worry! The waterfall is staying right where it is.

See project progress here!

Posted in Design Details, Design Process, Planting ideas | 2 Comments