Which house color looks best with foliage?

We're planning to paint our house this summer. Of course, the burning question is: what color?

Three main color considerations are: 1) contrast with our neighbor's houses; 2) sensitivity to our home's age and style (modest 1956 ranch);  3) a color that enhances the brick details and the foliage that we're gradually adding around the house.

Our north neighbors have a soft-teal bungalow with cream trim and brick-red details.

Our neighbors' big house to the east has a pale-gray body color, white trim and navy details.
We have the limitation of existing white vinyl windows, so we know our casing trim will be white.

Enter the Sherwin Williams-Visualizer. This clever software lets you upload a photo of your house, then select any number of areas on the picture to "paint" with a selected SW color. It's simplified Photoshop, but the work of figuring out opacity is done for you, and the result is surprisingly realistic. Screen color is the biggest limitation, but it really helped us get the effect of a range of colors on our house.

How about a dark sage green?
 

Slightly lighter green?

How about a bright aqua blue? Very mid-century modest.

This is nice, but is trending too close to our north neighbors' color.

This is a greened-up version of the color above, and green foliage looks pretty nice in front of it. It could work.

I think this is the perfect mid-century color: Burma Jade. It's got great contrast to the foliage. But that's a pretty saturated color for the amount of siding we have. Could I get used to it? Could my neighbors?

Light green was extremely popular in the fifties and sixties. Why can I not get past thinking of it as "hospital green"? But foliage looks good in front of it, and I like it with our brick trim.

This chocolatey gray-brown is easy on the eyes, but may not be lively enough to really enhance the foliage in front of it. There may be too much contrast with the white trim. And it's not very mid-century. But I like it.

Here's a color I wouldn't have thought I'd like, but the deep blue-green looks good with the brick. Foliage seems to disappear up next to it, though.

Dark brown. Maybe for a bungalow, but I think it has a sort of cabin look I don't love on our ranch. It would make me want to plant all golden-leaved plants in front of it ... hmmm.

Harvest gold. This is another of those colors I have a hard time with, but I may be coming around: it looks good with the reddish brick. And look at how nice the foliage looks in contrast. A variation with less saturation could work.

And finally, a deep gray-green. I see houses painted like this and I love the effect. But is it mid-century sensitive? And our foliage completely goes away in front of it.

The next step will be to narrow our options. Then we'll get quarts of the paint to try them out on parts of the house in addition to the front facade you see here.

Input is welcome!
If this were your house, in which color direction would you be heading to enhance the garden?

Borrowed landscape

Gardeners spend a lot of time working on their landscapes. But there's a lot more to the total picture, and if you're like the MulchMaid, with a house in the city, it necessarily incorporates elements from other people's gardens.

At our previous house, we enjoyed lots of "borrowed" landscaping. Across the street were three lovely craftsman bungalows nicely landscaped with trees, shrubs and perennials. To the north we had cedar trees that gave us a bosky, green screen from the neighbors. And to the south we enjoyed a full city lot crowned with our neighbor's gorgeous old cherry tree.

Fast-forward to our present location just a few blocks away. The views are not as expansive. The space is differently filled. But in the three years since we moved here, I've learned to appreciate the borrowed landscape that we enjoy through the big windows of our '56 ranch.

To the north is an amazingly tall Coast redwood. Sequoia sempervirens is the single most impressive tree I have ever known. Not gracious, and not particularly graceful, it's a survivor. It towers above other trees in a totally uncompromising way. This is a tree with presence.

Our neighbors to the east have four lovely magnolias planted along the street. I don't know the variety. They're not the evergreen grandiflora type, or magnolia stellata either. They bloom on bare wood this time of year, and you can see from the picture that they don't last long. But they are wonderful while they're in bloom.

Our neighbors across the street to the south are minimal gardeners. But they have a stately blue spruce that I love - it barely fits in the tiny space between the street, the sidewalk and garage.

To the right, on the horizon behind the garage, you can just see the branching pattern of a huge Raywood ash. These are often planted as street trees and many younger specimens dot Portland streets, but it's less usual to see an older tree. This one is graceful and impressive in summer: I'll have to document it when it's in leaf.

 Our west view is the best. Because we're on a corner, and at ground level, there's lots of visual space. Our dear neighbor Julie has built on the great garden foundation she inherited from her parents and added walls, trees and plants that make our view beautifully green through our front windows.

Right now, we're enjoying camellias, forsythia and a young cherry that's blossoming in her garden.

Later in spring, we look forward to the show from her mature white dogwood. It appears to be the native cornus nuttallii.

We don't have lovely mature trees on our lot. We have unattractive mature trees and two old camellias that are blooming happily this spring.

And we may not be contributing to any one else's borrowed landscape yet, but when they walk by, I hope they get a kick out of seeing our kitty Elvis in the window enjoying his borrowed landscape (complete with squirrels!)

Bare root and rhizome time

Each year about this time, the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District has a big sale of native plants. You pre-order through their web site in January, then pick up and pay for the plants about five or six weeks later. It's a great way to get reasonably-priced trees, shrubs, perennials and ferns for your garden.

The MulchMaid picked up her modest selections yesterday: here they are, along with the helenium and trillium she got at the Seattle Garden Show.

She got five Oregon iris, (iris tenax) and three oxalis oregana. The EMSWCD plants had been nicely packed in plastic bags with moist sawdust.

The iris were bare root, and the oxalis were rhizomes.

Although the Mulchmaid only ordered five iris, she got twice as many! She was told they put two plants in each packet, in case one of them fails to grow.

It's important to plant the roots and rhizomes quickly so they don't dry out. Luckily, today was a perfect day for working in the garden.

This picture of iris tenax is from the Pacific Bulb Society.

The irises are ready to grow and are already putting out fresh new leaves.

The oxalis were long rhizomes, with only one leaf among all of them.

The trillium got planted under a cedar tree. The Mulchmaid hopes it will grow: there was no sign of life.

These were both Great Plant Picks. That's a program by the Elizabeth Miller Botanical Garden to promote outstanding choices in plants for maritime Pacific Northwest gardens.

The helenium had already started to sprout in its bag. It was good to get it into the ground today, and a great day to be out in the garden.

Who came home with me

I've been to two big garden shows in two weeks and I think I showed remarkable restraint in purchasing plants and bulbs. So what did I buy?

Agave gentryii 'Jaws' begged to come home with me. See the sad, yellowed leaf? He was like the quiet little kitten you just had to adopt because you were afraid no one else would. Even with his yellow leaf, this little guy's spines look like very serious business. I hope I can nurse him back to glossy, green health this summer.

Speaking of little, this petite trio of Haworthias will have to be indoors-only pets. Native to South Africa, most are hardy only to zone 9 or 10. I'll be planting them together in a flat dish so they can live in our sunny breakfast room. From left to right are h. attenuata  'zebra', h. greenii and h. attenuata cv 'lime green'.

Along with a perfectly prosaic culinary thyme plant
(I went all the way to Seattle for that, right?)
I also needed the lime green sedum Angelina (way in the back) as a contrasting ground cover in my garden.

The abutilon is Red Tiger. I was concerned about how it would fare in zone 8 and the grower gave me some great advice: "It will get to about four feet this summer, so just grow it, enjoy it, and then let it go."
At just $6, that didn't seem fiscally irresponsible, so I bought it. The flowers are small, but a beautiful dark orange with yellow veins.

At the front is ceanothus Diamond Heights. I love ceanothus and was swayed by its gorgeous variegation, but it is zone 9, so a pot and protection in winter is in order.

I showed these blossoms for Bloom Day yesterday, but perhaps you're curious to see the whole plant. Here's the Scilla natalensis. Its bulb and unusual leaves are as intriguing to me as the flower spike.

This particular Grevilla juniperina is also known as 'Lava Cascade'. I read it had been sold for quite a few years as  'Low Red', but somebody decided that just wasn't sexy enough, so they began marketing it as 'Lava Cascade.' I kind of like 'Low Red' myself - sounds more Australian.

I also bought a Trillium erectum bulb and a Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' root, but there's not much to see there!

That's my show booty.
So who's coming home with you this month?

Bloom Day, February 15, 2010

It's the 15th of the month, the day garden bloggers share what's blooming in their gardens. Thanks for visiting to see what's blooming in the MulchMaid's garden today.

 Old faithful rosemary. But what a great blue bloom against its sage-green leaves. I never tire of this one.

Several camellia japonicas were here when we bought the house. They are showing lots of color, but not yet opening wide.

I should be grateful for their color at this time of year: it's a huge (some might say overwhelming?) amount of pink when it happens.

The dwarf sarcoccoa is still in bloom, and sending its pungent scent into the garden. This is an excellent small selection: sarcoccoca hookeriana var. humilis.

Archtostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths' is blooming with its characteristic urn-shaped flowers.

I'm cheating with these last two plants, since I bought them just two days ago at the Portland Yard Garden and Patio show. But next year they'll be legitimate February bloomers in my garden, I hope.

Above is grevilla juniperina 'Low Red'. It looks like a rosemary, but those "leaves" are as prickly as a cactus! I love the spiky red flowers. 'Low Red' will grow about five feet wide but only 18 inches high – the perfect ground cover under my olive tree.

 

This is scilla natalensis. I fell for its fat, bulbous base and the tall bloom spike already starting to color. I'm looking forward to seeing just what emerges!

Happy Bloom Day! Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see what else is in bloom around the world today.

The first spring garden show of 2010

I've been slow at posting about the Northwest Flower and Garden Show I attended last Wednesday in Seattle.
First, I've had no time.
Second, I pulled a rank amateur move and ran out of battery power after about a dozen pictures. (So that's what that flashing little red icon was for. I thought it was telling me to use the flash!)

But I figured I'd better get a few impressions committed to "print" before my personal memory chips were dazzled by the next show, the Yard Garden and Patio show beginning tomorrow.

I was particularly taken by one of the display gardens by Susan Calhoun of Plantswoman Design. Her garden was called Swimming a la Naturale. Skinny dipping, right? But no, she had a natural pool filtered by a plant-filled bog, so no chlorine was needed. It's supposed to be good for people and animals alike, and must be better for the plants that surround it. I loved her choice of plants around the pool.
Just look at this little dark reddish-brown conifer and the manzanita species beside it.

The echeveria and the coprosma 'tequila sunrise' made a great warm purple combination.

The pond was supported and surrounded by a gridded iron enclosure containing stones, like the ones you see along the highway when there have been rock slides. I liked the muscular, industrial look of the structure, topped by contrasting gentle foliage.

I think this is rhododendron sinogrande. I know I'd want it around my pond.

Strong color contrasts seemed to be a hallmark of this year's display gardens.

And the gardens were lit very dramatically to enhance the contrasts.

This garden had wonderful rusted steel "batons" that provided great vertical interest and a nice repetitive element. There were a dozen or so and they were about five feet tall. Nice!

More color, but with gentler contrast. Looks like rhododendron PJM with its bronzy-red, small leaves.

These three colorful pots made a fabulous fountain.

The very first plant I saw upon entering the Convention Center was this amazing variegated acanthus. It's 'Tasmanian Angel', and the grower also has one called 'White Water' that's a bit creamier.

Want.

Textural contrasts were in good supply, too. I have to say I fell in love with this gorgeous combination of papyrus, rhododendron leaves and (I think) echium.

This beautiful 'Yellow Wave' flax mocked me, as I thought of my poor garden specimens languishing flat on the ground at home. But it was beautiful, surrounded by crinkly purple heuchera.

I finally saw a 'Chief Joseph' pine. What a breathtaking yellow for an evergreen!

A Golden Hinoki cypress (camaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea'). The shades of gold and brown on its scales (technically, they're not leaves) were not to be believed.

I want to leave you with this lively, yet soothingly zen image. In the Pacific Northwest in winter we have lots of moss...so we might as well love it!