Mary Adelaide Scipioni - Your Rad Garden: Freedom, Purpose, and Meaning in your Backyard

by Mary Adelaide Scipioni, Landscape Architect

a Pebble-stream book

The sharing of any part of this book without permission is unlawful

According to the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.

Thank you for respecting my intellectual property.

2018 Mary Adelaide Scipioni

In the garden, every step we take,

even if a baby step,

should be in the direction of beauty.

Mariuccia Milla, Italian author and garden connoisseur.

Rad means radical, of course.

Because its radical to think for yourself, which is what this guide proposes.

This book is about garden design. It is neither a technical manual nor a coffee-table portfolio of garden porn. It offers some concepts, approaches, and trends that drive landscape design for your consideration, so that you can be more confident in your ability to create the intimate outdoor spaces that support your lifestyle.

You might be looking out the window at your neighbors yard right now, lusting after their weed-free Kentucky Bluegrass lawn, or calculating how much they spent on their walkway and their ornamental shrubs. Well, those days are over. By understanding your landscape preferences and considering other options that are based more on performance and the experience of nature, youll be equipped to make better choices.

Better doesnt mean right according to my standards. It means closer to what you really want. Ideas come from understanding, and art from control. My goal is for you to gain confidence in your own judgment and taste, a natural consequence of knowing how design decisions are made.

Based on the evidence all around us, I believe that is rad.

One note: in this book, I will use the terms landscape and garden somewhat interchangeably.

Growing your confidence

I used to live in Italy, and one thing that really struck me about Italians (who are particularly good at aesthetics) is that everyone has an opinion about beauty, and to each of them, that is the truth. They dont say in my opinion. They say, This is beautiful or, That is ugly. Now, they have the advantage of being surrounded by beauty: architecture, art, their rich landscape, the Mediterranean Sea, etc.

Confidence is important in any artistic or experimental endeavor. Garden design is an art, but there is also science to it, and that is the experimental part. You need to trust yourself. Think about what you want and focus on the big picture. If your goal is to create a magical place teeming with life and laughter, then focus on how to get that, rather than making assumptions about whether you need a patio or a tree. That means you need to direct your attention to the people who will be enjoying the garden, and what they will do there. Then, your design should be directed to making the landscape as accommodating as possible.

When designing a garden, you also need to consider who is going to maintain it, and how much time or money that will entail. For some people, landscape care is an enjoyable hobby; for others it is grueling work, plain and simple. Try to understand your own level of commitment.

Nothing teaches confidence better than familiarity. If you spend a lot of time outdoors in parks, on trails, at a lake, in the mountains, or at the sea, then you probably have a good idea of the type of experience you like, and the settings that appeal to you most. Its true that you may not have the scale in your backyard to replicate such places, but its possible to reproduce some of their character.

First, you need to get outside of the box that youre in. Dont spend time, energy, and money on something that you think you should do because everybody else does it. Be radical: follow your instincts and your heart.

My challenge as a landscape architect is that gardens are a moving target. Change is constant: things grow, flower, and die. Weather patterns are predictably unpredictable, and plant selections may require modifications over time. Property changes hands and people have different tastes. The most resilient garden designs are those that are developed gradually and responsively.

Every season brings new possibilities and challenges.

Gardens are disturbing

Landscape design is an act of disturbance. Thats something that you should understand right away. When you settle on a piece of land, build a house, cut, dig, and plant, you are disrupting an existing community by eliminating habitat, changing microclimate, and altering rainwater retention. But before you succumb to guilt, you should also realize that natural systems are constantly being exposed to change and, within limits, they are able to adapt.

Your house was probably already there when you bought your property, and the site may have contained any number of trees. Many municipalities now restrict clear-cutting of vegetation and other excessively invasive practices during construction.

Building houses without clearing all the trees is more time-consuming. They need to be protected, and heavy equipment is moving around every day. If youre lucky, you might have one or more large trees, usually preserved because theyre at a safe distance from the construction, very large, or in a low-lying area that is often a wetland.

If youre looking for a house, dont underestimate the value of an established landscape that hasnt been disturbed for a long time. I dont mean an extremely well-groomed landscape; those are being impacted on a regular basis. An established landscape is either natural, meaning untouched, or naturalized, meaning coaxed into a relatively self-sustaining condition. In either case, look for a good assortment of plant types and sizes. Its also advantageous to have some changes in grade rather than a level site, as slopes and dips provide opportunities to direct and collect rainwater. Landform is more interesting and often inspires unique design ideas.

Once youre in your house and have taken care of any pressing issues with the structure, like a new roof or windows, or made a pile of money, youll want to do something to create a garden all your own. Maybe you enjoy getting outside and doing all the work yourself. Just be aware that every time you put a shovel into the ground, you are making trouble for some living things in there. So, think about what youre doing and how to be most efficient about it.

On the other hand, if your landscape has already been greatly disturbed, then you may need to intervene a good deal to restore it to a functioning state.

Every living thing in the landscape contains carbon, which is released slowly into the atmosphere when it dies. Trees break and fall and go through this natural process. All sorts of creatures, visible or not, take advantage of the riches that a dying tree has to offer.

When a tree is cut down and put into a chipper, the carbon is released rapidly. This is convenient for you, because you dont want a dead tree lying in your yard. Its even more convenient for the contractor who will not only save the cost of transport but will turn around and sell the chips for mulch. If you need to fell a tree and you have room for it to lie for a while, say no to the contractor when he or she asks you if you want it chipped.

One client of mine wanted to remove a large Cottonwood tree on a lakefront. It was felled into the water, at an angle close to the shore. It created a haven for small fry fish and provided an awesome playground for their son. Branches that were considered dangerous or otherwise in the way were cut. You could sit on it and dangle your feet in the water. You could go out to dinner a couple of dozen times with the money you saved. This is rad garden design.