Hartford Before and After

What a difference a day can make (…well a couple weeks anyway)! Check out the before and afters of some of the projects we recently finished. 

Grandview Before and After

‘Watch This Handsome Beardy Show Us “How to make a Terrarium”’ -Accidental Bear

It’s easy to make a terrarium. All you need really is a container, plants, and some gravel. We like using vintage bottles. Watch and see how simple it is!

Read more about succulent terariums at the Bold Italic!

It isn’t about the color of your thumb is, it is about understanding your plant’s needs. Our friends at Flora Grubb demystify how to master watering your houseplants

make sure you find out from your whether it prefers to

1) dry out between waterings,

2) almost dry out,

3) dry out in the top layer of soil while retaining deep moisture, or

4) stay evenly moist.

Knowing its preference for light is crucial, too.” …continue reading  ]]> http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/2013/04/05/watering101/feed/ 0 http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/2013/03/08/tips-spring/ http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/2013/03/08/tips-spring/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:39:01 +0000 Christopher Reynolds http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/?p=2622 Our Alysia Sebastiani Shares Her tips for Spring

If you love the smell of fresh soil, the sight of new growth poking through the ground and the scent of just-opened blossoms, you probably start dreaming of spring long before the first warm rays of the new season arrive. You also know that a beautiful garden doesn’t happen on its own, so once the ground is ready to work, it’s time to start preparing your yard and garden for the exuberant growth of spring.  Continue reading

Get your garden ready for Spring!

Check out this article Michelle Ullman wrote about gardening trends in 2013 featuring Reynolds-Sebastiani predictions!

I remember when the bonded pair of Great Horned Owls died on Bernal Hill in 2007.  The pair was captivating and always drew a crowd when spotted. I often marveled at them when jogging in the park. It was very sad when they were found dead of a bird illness.

I haven’t heard or seen any owls since. Tonight, I was running on Bernal Hill. I heard an awkward muffled call and them timid hoo h’HOO. It sounded to me, like a not-yet-sure-itsself juvenile practicing his call. Then I saw it fly! Now, I am certain that at least one owl has colonized the hill again!

I hope that (s)he establishes and finds a lover and gives the world more young owls!

]]> http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/2013/01/19/owls-bernal/feed/ 1 http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/2013/01/16/tiny-bernal-garden/ http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/2013/01/16/tiny-bernal-garden/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:35:55 +0000 Christopher Reynolds http://www.reynolds-sebastiani.com/?p=2507 Turning a small catchall space in Bernal Heights into a usable garden.

Home owners near Precita Park brought us in to turn their small neglected garden into a beautiful usable space for entertaining and for their young son to play in.  The space had once been a source of pride for the father who enjoys tinkering in the garden, but the tolls of career and fatherhood had turned the space into a forgotten catchall.

This small space has a lot of potential.

We began by clearing the space and regrading the sloping open area to create a open, level space. The existing cracked and wonky retaining walls were patched and squared up. The low end of the space was retained with a raised veggie and spice bed.

We begin by clearing out or fixing up the old.

After addressing structural and space planning concerns, we moved on to aesthetic matters. The walls were covered in stacked natural stone. The addition of the veggie bed serves a number of functions beyond a place to grow edibles. It covers the space under the deck.  Best of all, by reducing the drop off from the deck meant we could safely remove the deck rail and visually open the entire space from the french doors of the kitchen!

We surface new and existing concrete in natural stacked stone.

The garden was completed, with a palette of exotic plants and succulents, an irrigation system, a patio of dwarf mondo grass and back basalt gravel, and grey stained redwood wall caps. The result is a usable beautiful space that the homeowners can be proud to entertain in!

The finished garden includes lots of usable space and features.

Make a Day Trip Out of Hearst’s Obsession With Dismantling Antiquities

William Randolph Hearst was a San Francisco born media mogul during the turn of the last century. He was obsessed with collecting antiquities including art, furniture, and architecture. Today, plenty of his collections are available to be seen and explored both here in San Francisco and throughout Northern California. Last week’s completion of the chapter house at the Abbey of New Clairvaux inspired us to reconnect with Hearst’s legacy.   We at Reynolds-Sebastiani encourage you to explore these nearby gardens, grounds, and buildings:

The vineyard and chapter house at the Abbey of New Clairvaux

See the fruition of Hearst’s vision of rebuilding using stones from 16th century Spanish monastery. Though many of the stones were used already by San Francisco Parks Commission, most of the key pieces including the ceiling vault stones remained. The stones were fit back together using domestic limestone blocks to fill in the missing pieces.

You’ll want to leave early for this trip so you’re sure to get your day’s worth. The trip is about 3 hours north of San Francisco in Vina, California – peaceful isolation is part of the draw. The Abby welcomes visitors for day trips or for extended retreats. While you are there,  stroll the orchards and vineyards, visit the wine tasting room and welcome center, explore the newly reconstructed chapter house, or recharge in the church sanctuary. Leave the madness of the city for the day(or longer) and restore yourself.

The Japanese Tea Gardens at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park

Wisteria and waterfall at the San Francisco Botanical Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden is open daily. Reflect on the tranquility and harmony of its natural order. The tea house offers traditional tea ceremonies and is the birthplace of the American interpretation of the fortune cookie. Bring your family when they visit- perfect for your mom or grandmother.

Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park

San Francisco’s Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a truely amazing garden and deserves a visit even even if it had no monastery stones.  However the stones are an added bonus. Unlike the formally rebuilt chapter house, the stonework in the botanical gardens has a decidedly ruined vibe. We love ruins and recreating ‘ruined’ stonework in our own garden designs so we think the botanical garden’s stonework is pretty hip!

We love the Botanical Garden and encourage everyone to go check it out.  The gardens are constantly changing – you could go once a week and still not take it all in. All the more reason to go!

Demonstration Garden

Rhododendron Pavilion

Rhododendron Pavilion

Bench in Library Garden

Raised Bed at Library Garden

Library Reflection Garden

Alpine Garden beyond the Entrance Garden

Raised beds and stairs in Succulent Garden

Succulent Garden.

Within Golden Gate park ( outside of the boundaries of the Tea and Botanical Gardens) look for more monastery stones at the Druid Circle, hidden in the trees of the Academy of Sciences or accenting McLaren’s monument.

McLaren Monument

Druid Circle

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California

Hearst Castle Neptune pool featuring an ancient Roman temple as a pool house.

Really wanna ‘go there’ and make a trip out of seeing Heart’s ancient stones and gardens? Go to Hearst Castle.  Hearst’s obsession was realized to its fullest at his personal home in San Simeon, California.  Hearst collected antiquities from all over Europe, not just art and furniture, but rooms and entire buildings too. He set out to remodel a family ranch used originally for camping into an opulent expression of his wealth and love of antiquities.

The home – a compound really – features the stones of an ancient Roman temple reinterpreted as a pool house. The home now welcomes visitors to see the collections of art, architecture, and grounds. Stay the night in San Luis Obispo at the  Madonna Inn- which also features some of Hearst’s ancient marble- and hop over to Hearst Castle for the day . Take your sweetie for a weekend trip!

We teamed up with the Bold Italic to talk decorating for the holiday season using boughs cut from the garden. Take a moment to check it out!!! Then, if you wanna know more about the pruning aspect come back and read on!

With a little forethought, fall pruning can be put off until early winter. Then it can serve the double purpose of pruning and making the season more festive. (Don’t put off pruning your deciduous trees, they really are happiest when pruned in fall as they lose their foliage – or in spring as they leaf out again.  Trees that lose their leaves don’t make great garland anyway! ) Boughs frpm plants that keep their leaves or are ‘evergreen’ are the best, and don’t mind the winter pruning. We like to explore alternatives to evergreen conifers that are traditionally used such as cedar or fir. We have found that Luecadendron, Eucalyptus, Acacia, Magnolia or Olive are Good choices. They are all common to California gardens and their tough foliage holds up well to hanging indoors.

Eucaluptus’ tough leaves make it a good choice for indoor holiday cheer. It is fragrant too!

There are a number of reasons to prune. In our tiny San Francisco lots, shrubs and trees can quickly grow out of scale. Pruning plants back is a must. The trick is in maintaining the appearance of the natural form of the plants. Here are a few infographics that share the basics:

How you make your cuts is as important as what you cut. For heavy branches, make a relief cut first ( a few inches above the collar), then prune off the stub. Be certain not to remove the ‘collar’ – a thickened band of overlapping connective tissue. Leaving it will ensure the cut heals quickly.

Leaving the collar behind is important for fastest healing.

There are tons of pruning techniques to explore. We are big fans of hiding the neighbors with espalier, a technique to flatten trees. To the point about appreciating a plants natural form …only smaller, the Japanese really developed the art. When the techniques of bonsai are applied to trees in gardens this is referred to as ‘niwaki’. These techniques go way beyond the Japanese garden, the idea is to let the natural form of the tree shine through even in a smaller scale.  We find good pruning therapeutic, you will too. If you are interested, get a book on the basics, and experiment. It’s fun!

Get yourself a good pruning book and have fun experimenting!