The Landscape Designer Is In: Drought Tolerant,
Deer Resistant—and on a Budget—In Berkeley - Gardenista
Clients in the Berkeley Hills wanted a landscape plan that would work well both for the patio spaces surrounding the house and with a steep hillside below–which, by the way, happened to be a public right of way. In the distance, a neighbor’s house is visible. The hillside was planted in two contrasting grasses, one an evergreen, Muhlenbergia, and one deciduous, Miscanthus sinensis “˜Gracillimus.’ “The previous plan called for installing large rocks to make a more naturalistic landscape,” Janet says, “but that would have cost a million dollars–well, maybe not a million, but a lot of money. Janet’s design called for drought-tolerant drifts of feathery Muhlenbergia (foreground) and Miscanthus sinensin (in the back). An atrium Mr. Mack added to the house. In a courtyard adjacent to the house, everything had to be deer-resistant. In the green pot to the right, a tree peony: “It blooms every year– and for an unknown reason the deer never eat them,” Janet says. Wisteria, morning glory, the tree peony, and variegated miscanthus in the ground next to the sculpture. The client had inherited her mother’s staghorn fern and wanted to put it in a special place. Japanese anemone hybrid ‘Honorine Jobert’ does well in half sun, half shade. The view through a doorway. “Hummingbirds love morning glory,” Janet says.