Drip emitters for this plant are punched directly into the 3/4" main tubing
Once the plants were in the ground, we still had some work to do. My goal is to provide a lush garden that requires very little maintenance. And, with as many plants as we added, that means adding automatic irrigation and mulch.
My Dad already had three spray irrigation zones in the front yard that he had used to water his former lawn. We kept one spray zone to water some of the existing plants that we left in place. The other zones we converted into two drip irrigation zones, one for the shade tolerant plants that went in the shadow of an existing maple tree and one for the sun-loving super drought tolerant plants.
The in-line emitter method with 1/4" tubing with 1/2 gph emitters every 6".
We ran 3/4″ Hardy Blue line piping in a closed loop from each valve then added drip emitters at each plant. We used two different methods to put the emitters at each plant. Method A: Punch the 1 gallon per hour (GPH) drip emitter directly into the 1/2″ drip main tubing. We did this wherever the main was located right up next to a plant. Method B: Where plants were located away from the main tubing, we ran 1/4″ spaghetti tubing from the main to the plant, then connected 2′ of in-line emitter tubing that has 1/2 gph emitters at 6″ o.c. spacing (4 emitters per plant). The loose end of the tube gets a ‘goof plug.’ Both methods work well; you can pick either one or combine them in a single zone.
Once all of the plants had irrigation to them, we tested the system to make sure everything actually worked as planned. It did! A 4″ layer of mulch over the landscape fabric and irrigation tubing finished up the job.
We ran both of the drip zones for a half hour that day. Then, we ran both zones every three to four days for the next couple of weeks. Because we did a major no-no, planting in the summer, we had to watch the plants closely and add more water than we would have if we’d have planted a month or two later.
When temperatures shot up to the high nineties and then topped 100 for a couple of days, some of the new plants were stressed. I pruned back those that looked crispy and they are all now showing healthy new growth. These guys are tough.
Now, a month after planting, we are
Foothill Penstemon two weeks after planting, in full bloom and growing.
running the shade zone every 4 to 5 days and the sun zone once a week, both for 1/2 hour. Total water usage for the two zones is less than 100 gallons per week. Compare that to the 625 gallons per week that my Dad had to put on the former lawn. And, next summer, when the plants are fully established with nice big root systems, we’ll be watering the sun zone only once or twice a month and the shade zones about once a week. Amazing!
An Artsy Touch
Once all the plants were in, the garden still needed something. First thought: a grouping of native lichen-covered boulders. Second thought: how the heck would my 78-year-old Dad and I pull off a boulder placing project (I am quite the pencil-neck). Then: DOH! How about some art? I’ve been telling people I’m an artist; here was a chance to make good on that claim.
What the garden needed was something vertical and fairly big to add visual weight and to provide a link between the large existing maple tree and the low growing grasses and perennials that we just planted. A sculpture, weather proof, subtle to respect my Dad’s complete lack of ostentation. And something that would be specific to this particular garden.
A Sculpture to Reflect My Father's Personality
To generate ideas, I spent a bit of time brainstorming and writing with my left (non-dominant) hand. In her inspiring book, Visioning, Lucia Capacchione discusses how this technique can greatly improve access your right brain and subconscious. I’ve been using it for several years for everything from garden design to portrait paintings and am always amazed at the unexpectedly creative results.
For this project, I wanted to develop a concept that would reflect my father’s love of sailboarding. Yes, my Dad - who hosts two prosthetic knees – is a big-time windsurfer. My right brain took the idea of a sail-inspired wire sculpture and ran with it.
Sail On, a wire sculpture reflecting my father's passion for windsurfing and aviation
The final sculpture has the basic form of a sail, sort of, with a mast and metal strips that suggests the ribs of the sail. My right brain thought I should play with the shape to suggest a wing with ‘feathers’ of bent wire to reflect my Dad’s career as a pilot as well as to refer to a seafaring bird, the Royal Tern, that visits my dad’s favorite windsurfing mecca, Bonnaire. And, add abstracted wave patterns to reinforce the windsurf element. The whole thing is made out of twisted metal, much of it salvaged, with no welds. The wire and rebar had to be thin enough for me to hand bend so the piece has a very light, open appearance that, with its gentle rust color, does not overpower the garden in spite of its 7′ height.