Dennis Mudd Home Garden Tour

I’m a big fan of the APLD International Design Conference. This year it was in San Diego and was delightful. Absolutely packed with amazing speakers, tours, and activities. Every year I swear I will take good notes and post in a timely manner before I have forgotten everything that happened. Every year I fail at that goal and this year is no different. I can see in my Notes App that I started to take notes but they are very bad and useless. So here we are once again posting vaguely but with lots of lovely pictures. :)

I posted last week about Easyscape so I thought I would at least get out a post about touring the home garden of Dennis Mudd the founder of Calscape and Easyscape. you can watch Dennis give a presentation about his landscape here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eilqQPUr3a4

Some entryway photos. the cool thing about this circular drive was that it is also a dry creek. One area is built so that it floods when it rains and it slows and directs the water to the landscape and allows the water to percolate back into the earth.

Dennis and his wife also were generous enough to open their house to us as well. I’ll just post a few pics of some details in the walls and flooring… and the dog, of course.

Some plant and hardscape pics:

They filled in their pool to create a lovely pond water feature.

The outdoor kitchen and dining area had amazing vines climbing through the willow - I believe a grape and a (non native)trumpet vine - covering the entire area. It was so lovely and I can imagine sitting under it eating your wood fired pizza must be amazing.

a delightful approach to a gate.

A landscaping project is never done...

Landscapes are ever evolving. Plants die and circumstances or tastes change. It is one of the reasons I like landscape design but I also see that, for some folks, it can be a source of frustration. “I just spent all this money on plants! Why do I have to spend MORE money on plants?!!!”

You don’t HAVE TO but it is awfully nice to go in to a mature landscape and fill in little gaps or just see what has worked and what has not worked. Plants are living things and, as such, can be squirrelly little shits. One plant thriving and the same plant, two feet away, has died a painful death. Maybe there is slightly less light in that spot or maybe the irrigation clogged and the plant wasn’t getting enough water for months, or a gopher moved in, there can be all kinds of reasons.

I’m thinking about this because we have visited a couple of our installed gardens this week. I swear we started designing this, like, back in 2017. I post about it several times before here and here.

These are the two concept sketches I made probably in 2017ish.

The tree I posted about in that last post ended up NOT bouncing back and spent several years looking like shit and making everyone sad. I’m so sorry we failed you sweet tree! :( We decided to replace it with a 36” box Arbutus marina. Here is the loyal little Ditch Witch bringing the chonky new tree in.

There are a couple of other spots in this landscape that just need a few more plants to fill in. There is also one-planting bed that is like, half sun, half shade under a big tree. Everything in that bed seems to fail and I’m just not sure why... Root competition? Dogs running rampant? Gophers? Compacted soil? IDK, but I want that bed to look as nice as the other areas in the landscape. Sadly, also, one of the counters in the outdoor pavilion kitchen cracked. It just wasn’t on a stable enough surface and was flexing too much. so that also has to get replaced. A TOTAL BUMMER!

Here are some nicer shots of areas that are working. Check out those crazy Senecio Skyscrapers! And in the 4th picture you can see the happy, relocated palm! That bed needs a few new plants though.

I have never been a dog person but since starting this profession I have come around. I could never be a dog owner but I do love meeting everyone’s dogs! Please behold this absolute sweetie face of a German Shepard puppy!!

Picture of a german shepard puppy with big, soft ears lying on concrete in front of a pretty garden bed.

Here’s a pavilion shot. Obviously, you can see the kitchen is back under construction. :(

Bay Area Trees for Fall Color

I grew up mostly in the south in place without a lot of fall color. It got cold but the trees were mostly tall pine trees. They always seemed kind of depressing and dour. but I did like braiding the needles when I was little.

The Bay Area is not exactly know for fall color either. But there are several trees that can really bring it! Every fall I think, oh yeah I should document what trees are doing what right now and that time has finally come! This thought often occurs to me as I am driving through a particularly colorful street. And, yes, I did stop in the middle of the street to get this shot.

Street lined with colorful orange, red, and yellow Pistacia chinensis trees in the fall.

Pistacia chinensis - Chinese Pistache is a great tree for a streetscape or a residential setting. It doesn’t get too big, grows at a decent rate, provides a nice dappled shade and this amazing fall color. Here you can see an example of a 24” Box Keith Davey specimen at the nursery.

Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Muskogee' is a nice crape myrtle that does well in this area and has gorgeous fall color.

Also consider this non native Buckeye - the Aesculus Early Glow. See some better pics here.

Next we have the Liriodendron tulipifera. This tree is in the magnolia family and has a really cool flower! I feel like I don’t actually see this tree very often. It does get HUGE soft may be that it is just too big even for the larger suburban neighborhoods in the East Bay. It is really pretty though!

Nyssa silvatica - Black Gum tree. This is another great tree for fall color. I’ve never spec’ed this tree but every time I see it I wonder why. Here is one in the background of this lovely patio at one of our projects.

In the nursery you can see this one has some set fruits. I don’t think it is a super messy tree though.

There are a million different Prunus varieties. When I first moved here the Prunus leaves fallen in the streets all yellow and red and spotty madame take up watercolors and sketchbooking. I don’t have the patience to figure out which ones these two are but I love how the leaves look intermingled on the ground!

Okay, one more. This Cercis is just looking very lovely with it's yellow leaves spread out under it!

All the Acers and Cornus trees have great fall color too.

Atlanta - Day Four

Day four was the day of the wedding but we had some time beforehand to take a walk to the Jimmy carter Presidential Library. I gotta say, I was underwhelmed. The map and descriptions made it sound better than it was. And it was hella hot out. Here I am looking sweaty yet pretty obviously Presidential. Hahahaha.

There were some nice, serene moments in the garden.

We walked to and from the library on the Freedom Park trail. There were many squirrels. I was unsure what this tree with the bean pod looking things was.

Then off to the wedding where we looked very cute.

The wedding venue was really pretty. The bride had, hands down, the best wedding dress ever. Some silliness with old friends. The flowers were all hand picked by the bridal party and arranged for the tables. So pretty!

I’m sorry to say that it all went downhill (in a good way) after the bride and groom left in their Georgia Tech themed car. :P

Exploring Atlanta - Day Three

Day Three!

We decided to walk to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens

The greenway walk on the way there was pretty nice with lots of people out and about. Also, seen... a dog restaurant with a hilarious promotional photo I did not photograph. There was a huge open air market getting set up and what looked like an epic bouncy house festival with a million huge bouncy houses.

The Botanical gardens were setting up their Alice in Wonderland exhibits. Some are there all the time and some are new for this event.

It is always inspiring to see gardens in places you are not familiar with. I loved all the sculptures. the first one was this pair of wire birds sitting in really pretty swathes of green grasses. I just love how the color blocking draws the eye to the birds and the water feature.

I don’t think we managed to see all the Alice in Wonderland themed sculptures. This Earth Goddess woman is part of their permanent exhibits.

Some of the more specific Alice ones were the Cheshire Cat, Alice falling down the well, the queen playing crochet, and the shaggy dog (also in the permanent collection) made out of Carex testacea.

Oh man, there’s just a lot! There was a little conifer collection. I love confers ever since touring the conifer garden of the President of the American Conifer Society in maybe 2016-ish(?). A few pictured here in hypertufa pots making me want to try making hypertufa pots again…

We headed in to the Conservatory next.

They had a really great cloud garden. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many times I have attempted to insert one of these into a clients garden. LOL. At this point I should just try putting one in my own tiny backyard landscape.one can buy round pruned plants from many nurseries. Cloud pruning - or Niwake style pruning - is just pruning hedges into cloud-like shapes. I feel like I want to make joke about all the CA native plants I see horribly box pruned around here. A video about cloud pruning in case you are wondering how this is different from box pruning.

Anyway, check out these balls.

More plant pics incoming. I almost didn’t go into the orchid garden for some reason. I am glad we did.

There were many nicely designed containers all over the gardens. I love this cobalt blue and peach color combo! I really want to spend more time designing containers. I have a couple in my yard that are in sore need of replanting.

We were so hot and exhausted at this point. We ate at the fancy restaurant there and then on the way home we rented those Lime scooter thingies. My first time doing such a thing and I was terrified. But it ended up pretty easy to pick up how to do it and we made it home. I will say those, money-wise, it was way more expensive than just getting an uber or a ride share.

Then, we were off to the beer garden party for our friends’ wedding. I kinda wish I had a pic of my dress because it is my new favorite. I wore it with sneakers because my feet were tired from walking all over the garden!

Exploring a bit of Atlanta - Day 1

We made it to Atlanta!

Is it just that I am old now that a flight across the US utterly knocks me out? It ends up being an entire day of travel, and then I am left feeling grubby and dehydrated.

Before traveling, I tend to do a lot of googling of the location, and I made a saved places list in Google Maps. After I figure out the hotel, I google to see if there are any gardens close by or any gardens/landscapes in the city that are noteworthy that I think I might want to see. In this case, I settled on the Hotel Clermont - a refurbished motel and apparently a local iconic establishment. There is a local neighborhood shared garden just around the block! Perfect! What else looks good? The Atlanta Botanical Gardens and some place called Fernbank. That is really all we'll have time to squeeze into this visit.

Anyhow, we made it here, and I LOVE our hotel. It is so freaking cute. Great details, lobby is super nice, a bar and a restaurant, and a rooftop bar as well. Did I steal a Clermont Hotel pen? Yes, yes I did.

two happy looking people relaxing in a hotel lobby holding plastic cups of champagne.

We arrived, checked in, dropped our stuff off, and headed to the bar where we had some delicious cocktails. Then we walked down to the Atlanta Goddess Garden - https://www.goddessgardenatlanta.com/about. The weather here is... sultry. It all feels sort of primally familiar even though I am no longer acclimated to this kind of humid heat. It's nice to have a warm evening walk though.

This garden has a wild and overgrown feeling. Walking along the paths, there are many small shrines, seating areas, and spaces for growing edibles. There are also a lot of rats scurrying in the undergrowth, so I'm unsure how they can sustain any veggies or herbs!

Here is the description from their website:

"Created by Shasta Zaring in 1990, the Goddess Garden Atlanta is an urban wilderness habitat and healing sanctuary nestled in the heart of the City of Atlanta. It is a sacred space dedicated to the Divine Feminine in all religions, paths and cultures. Altars to Goddesses from various world cultures adorn the paths and are tended by the Garden's keepers.

This one-acre private preserve, open to the public during daylight hours, is cultivated without the use of pesticides and herbicides and is a certified Audubon Society Wilderness Habitat. Located just off the Atlanta Beltline, the Garden is in walking distance to many city attractions, such as Ponce City Market, Historic 4th Ward Park, Carter Center and Little Five Points."

So it is privately owned but publicly available space. I wonder if they have to worry about insurance. Apparently, they have classes there, an attached AirB&B, and does seem like a nice place to go and chill in some lush green space! i can see that it is def. a labor of love for people in the neighborhood!

After our stroll we headed back to the hotel, drinks on the rooftop bar, and some dinner.

Project In-Progress

Oof, projects in-progress can look like a mess! There is some order to this chaos, I swear! Although, I will say that I prefer less chaos. In my ideal installation EVERYTHING gets done and then, like a week later, we come in with the plants, place them, ponder everything, and then plant. If contractors leave enough wire with their lighting fixtures we can then adjust those at that time. In this install we just din’t really have control of that. I can also see here that the sheet mulching is…. not great. I need several layers of OVERLAPPING cardboard. what happened here was that they literally planted the plants BEFORE they sheet mulched? It didn’t make a lot of sense.

This very small backyard was very boring. Why have a boring backyard when you can have color, and texture, and useable space?

Before picture. Photo is a long narrow lawn with a house on the left and a retaining wall on the right.

Currently, It looks like this. You can see we have added a new path and meanders through the middle of the landscape rather than crammed uncomfortable against the house. We’ve got some colorful plantings, a few small trees to help the absolutely scorching heat, and towards the far end there is a small patio with some raised beds, some really cute terracotta pots for herbs, and a self-contained ceramic water feature. We also bought a nice trellis from Terratrellis to help break up a very large and boring hot wall.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Garden Design Styles

When I tell people I am a garden designer, they often ask me what style of garden I design. The answer is usually that I design (to the best of my ability given a million variables) the garden that my client desires. The garden needs to work for the client! I know many designers prefer to design in one style or another, and so their portfolio reflects that, and then people wanting that style seek out that designer. I have not really reached that point and I probably never will.

I did name my business Wild Things, in part, because I love a wild and unruly garden with lots going on and colors and wildlife and fun garden elements and nooks to explore. That kind of garden is great but not always practical. I ALSO love designing super modern gardens with clean lines and architectural plants just as well.

A lot of what I love about designing residential gardens is the space planning aspect of it. I spend an inordinate amount of time imagining what my clients might want to do in the garden, how they will move about in the garden, what will happen at different seasons, what they say they want/need vs. what I think they might actually want/need, etc. Of course, I'm just imagining all this, and what I really need is for the client to be as articulate as possible about THEIR OWN garden imaginings.

There is a business plan activity that I have encountered several times now that wants you to describe your perfect client. One of the items on my list is a client that is really engaged and curious about the possibilities. They will have a Pinterest or Houzz board with ideas, they will have memories of gardens from their childhood, and they will have some practical views on what they and their landscape can manage.

It's actually a tall order. If someone has never designed a landscape, it might be hard for them to come up with all of these ideas. That's why Pinterest and Houzz are actually such good resources for folks. Just diving in and getting a feel for what might be possible and what you find visually intriguing is a great start. I do often have to sit down with clients and dive into WHAT about a picture they are drawn to. Is it a specific plant, the style, a color combination, etc.

So the job of figuring all this out is really what draws me to this vocation. I do, of course, love plants, but plants come much later in the design process.

I was thinking the other day about how I played as a child. And I basically sat around in my room with my dollhouse decorating it and redecorating it. I had a million of those glass or ceramic animals you could buy at the Hallmark store (there was one just outside my neighborhood), and they were the inhabitants of my dollhouse. Mainly because I thought most human dolls were creepy. So, that's a lot like what I do now. LOL.


Remember moving that epic palm tree in Walnut Creek?

In order to get this project going we had to move this giant palm tree first. See my post from 2019 here: https://www.wildthingsgardendesign.com/blog/moving-a-palm-tree

This project is creeping along at a snails pace for a variety of reason! But I thought I would just post a three year update about this Brahea armata. Look how healthy it is! Operation move-a-palm was a success!

Healthy looking palm in it’s new location

This photo was taken from inside the partially completed new pool pavilion. all the other hardscape has been completed. The pool was resurfaced and new updated pool deck concrete has been poured. The retaining walls are in but not stuccoed yet. Sadly, the tree right next to the pavilion ended up getting a bit damaged. Will it recover? We shall see!

Here is a shot of the pavilion under construction. We’ve got some infrared heaters installed and some cute light fixtures! You can see the palm peeking out over the house in the left corner.

Children's Garden

This was a delightful garden to work on. The client had purchased a home with an enchanting, wonderfully quirky garden full of surprises around every corner. As someone who grew up loving the book 'A Secret Garden', I found myself not so secretly envious of the children who would grow up with is garden.

There was an area that was designatied as a children's garden and it needed a redo. It was hard packed dirt and weeds after refurbishing the two story playhouse. Other parts the garden were overgrown, the grape stake fence was overbearing and the gates no longer worked.

The designated children's area needed a complete makeover after the two-story playhouse renovation, leaving behind hard-packed dirt and weeds. Other sections had become overgrown, the grape stake fencing felt overwhelming, and the gates were no longer functional.

Our goal was to open up the space while maintaining its character as a children's haven. Given the shady conditions, we chose kurapia over traditional grass for the lawn. We were fortunate to find sod rather than plugs, creating an instant lawn that would also reduce bee activity in this shadier spot.

We installed a round TerraTrellis as the garden entrance and replaced the heavy grape stake fencing with an airy cable rail system. Both will eventually be softened with climbing vines for added privacy. The design includes a circular gravel seating area with a curved bench, plus natural tree stumps and boulders for play. A concrete patio with a picnic table for crafts, while raised beds provide space for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Buffalo Bayou Cistern in Houston, TX

I grew up in the suburbs of Houston. Houston is VERY BIG. Wikipedia puts the Greater Houston area at about 10,062 square miles, slightly smaller than the state of Massachusetts. The suburbs were pretty boring, and as soon as we were teens able to drive, we left our immediate area to explore. We mostly went downtown, as that seemed to be where all the excitement was. We visited all the museums and parks, and of course, the music venues like Emo's, the Axiom, the Vatican, Fitzgerald's... I'm forgetting the others. Someplace called the Unicorn, maybe? Numbers... hahahah. We were underage, so I'm sure there were many clubs that were off my radar, plus my memories of high school are a bit hazy at this point.

I go back to visit my parents, and the area and city always feel very familiar but weird because I no longer really know my way around, and so many things have changed.

My interests have changed with age, as you might expect. Not that I don't still like to go to a punk club now and then! But I do love to explore parks with an eye for design, plantings, and history.

On my most recent visit, I decided to check out Buffalo Bayou Park, and more specifically, the Cistern. I don't remember this area being a park when I lived in Houston. It might have been, but it seems like they have put a lot of effort into it more recently, with tons of trails, landscaping, art, and gathering spaces.

You can see how big the whole park is! There is much to explore!

But it's hecka hot in Houston in July. I'm just not acclimated anymore, and I don't like being so hot and humid. It's not really conducive to exploring the outdoors. I did convince the family to head downtown to check out the Cistern on this trip though! I think I had seen that they were putting on concerts and art exhibits, but for our visit, they just had the regular history tour as an option. I love a history tour, so that was fine by me!

The Cistern is, obviously, pretty big! It held up to 15 million gallons of water. It is not in use anymore due to an irreparable leak. I just love that someone decided to turn it into a place to visit and tour. I'm imagining a meeting where some people are like, "Why the heck would people want to visit a musty old broken cistern?!" And other people are like, "Well, we can tell you are not huge nerds, so we're not even sure we can explain it to you!"

The ramped entrance is very dramatic!

I didn't manage to get many good photos. It looks as you might imagine... just like Khazad-dûm in the Lord of the Rings movies.

The water in this picture is only about 2 inches deep but the reflection makes it look like the water is deep and clear. I recommend this tour and exploring Buffalo Bayou Park. I’ll be back to check some of the other interesting-looking areas. The Lost Lake, the Arboretum, and there is a bat colony to visit(!), and a Children’s Nature Play Area.

Then and Now

I stumbled across this picture of our side yard the other day. Wow! It is highly cringeworthy. But such is the price and reality of construction.

Um. It looks you might have left some stuff in the side yard…

Um. It looks you might have left some stuff in the side yard…

About a year and a half later!!!

About a year and a half later!!!

Just came across these two photos of the space in 2014 just after the basement was done. You can see we still had the metal awning, no stairs, no porch, etc.

Landscape Sketchbook - Blobs of Color

I was just playing around with color in this sketch. I really love seeing a landscape where there is super bright color introduced. So far I have not really had a chance to get a client to do this. I have certainly suggested it and tried! I really have! I just love a bright contrast and pop of color!

Texture and Pattern in the Landscape

It's a cold and damp here in Oakland. We went for brunch and then took a walk over by Lake Merritt, where we played on the Mid-Century Monster and explored the Mediterranean Garden.

The Mid-Century Monster, recently renovated and repainted green, everyone loves playing on this sculpture and it's so nice to see if back up and accessible. It was originally created for the 1952 California Spring Garden Show. I need to look up pictures of that to see how it was displayed.

I'm such a fan of the Lake Merritt Gardens and have been bringing Jack here since riiiiight before he was born. Here is my TMI story... A month before Jack's due date, and just two days after starting my maternity leave, my water broke unexpectedly. I was freaking out, and the doctor advised me to wait before coming in for some reason! To calm me down, we took a walk at Lake Merritt. I vividly remember wearing a muumuu and Crocs—quite the sight! No amount of walking around in a nice garden and looking at Canada Geese was going to calm me down though.

We walked around through the Mediterranean Garden and I was just struck by all the texture and patterns during this walk-through. Once again reminding me of one of my favorite landscape books From Art to Landscape by W. Gary Smith. That book is one of the things that firs got me thinking about the use of these forms and pattern in actual landscape design. When I was in school for Computer Animation creating textures from photographs was one of my favorite parts of modeling

There are a number of patterns found in nature. Types include repetition, symmetry, drift, serpentine, spiral, branching, radial, and fractals.

Of course many of these are used in any kind of design work.


I like this example of serpentine and repetition. The tall upright palms are repeated all along the serpentine path, both drawing the key farther and farther into the landscape.