Summer 2014: A Season in the Garden
· Escape Garden Design, Aspen, Colorado
The long days of summer are when the gardens finally do the thing they were drawn and built to do.
Water is the constant concern. The features run on a closed loop, recirculating the same water, and the planting is grouped so the irrigation only runs where it is needed. In a dry climate, a beautiful garden and a frugal one are usually the same garden.
The perennial beds peak in July, and steady deadheading pushes a second flush of color into the cooler nights of late August. The native grasses come into their own as the season ages.
The afternoon monsoon storms arrive most days from mid July, brief and loud, and a smart garden leans on them, pulling back the irrigation after a real soaking instead of running the timer.
On the practical side this season, a note from the field. The stone in a garden sets its accent, and the most convincing accent is the rock that already belongs to the region. Local moss rock, sandstone, and granite read as if they came from the hillside next door, because more or less they did. Stone trucked in from far away often clashes in color and texture with everything around it, and it costs more in fuel and freight besides.
Water early in the morning, before the midday sun and wind carry half of it off, and let the monsoon do the rest when it shows up.
We design, build, and maintain our own gardens, so we live with the results for years and learn from them.
The land around us is the best teacher there is, and the gardens we like best borrow from the hillsides more than from any catalog.
Everything in this valley runs on the same short calendar, and the gardens that thrive are the ones designed around it rather than against it.
Our soil is mostly alkaline clay, the air is thin and dry, and the sun is strong, so the plants that last are the ones that have made peace with all three.
We take on only a handful of gardens each year, which is the only way to give a place like this the attention it asks for.
More than anything, a garden up here rewards patience: it takes a season or two longer to settle than people expect, then looks like it was always there.
More when the season changes. As ever, ask if you want a hand with your own piece of the valley.