A Conversation in the Garden with Alma Hecht
(Page 3 of 4)
May/June 2008
By Jennifer Jewell
Wool Street Commons
RELATED CONTENT
Following the principles of permaculture, an artist creates a serene, self-sustaining oasis in the ...
Use these eight simple actions to garden more responsibly and help protect and preserve our planet'...
Use container gardening to grow food for yourself or wildlife habitat....
Expose your children to the joys of gardening....
Try these goods for optimum growth....
When the fence between their yards blew down in a storm, these neighbors called upon Hecht to help eliminate the fence and create a common garden with enough room for relaxation and sports. The two families’ yards back up to one another with a 2-foot elevation difference; Hecht linked the spaces with wide, easy steps and a retaining wall that offers seating. Both homes now open onto a meadowlike commons. Hecht managed to pull the basketball hoop and the boxing ring together with the reading nook, the wandering path, the fernery and the snack table, largely through common plantings of fescue bunch grasses, native wildflowers and a screen of Pacific wax myrtles. A "silver" garden shines in the moonlight.
Vine & Dine
This large, urban garden behind an Italianate Victorian house once had a clipped-boxwood-and-central-fountain landscape. The home-owner wanted anything but boxwoods. He wanted a space where he could entertain and relax, and a cutting and vegetable patch he could putter around in. Hecht designed the garden on an offset diagonal to improve the flow and visually increase the size. Custom-made arbors and sentry posts are embellished with allium-head finials. A wall of recycled wine bottles defines the space around the mosaic dining table that Hecht designed and built with Erin Maxwell. The "den" with fire pit and plush chairs focuses toward the water wall, which acts as a privacy screen, a windbreak and as shade for the herb garden on the other side. The cutting garden provides in all seasons.
Alma’s Favorite Plants
Pacific wax myrtle (Morella californica). "The species is evergreen, accepts half- to full-sun and thrives in sandy or clay soil."
Vine maple (Acer circinatum). "They stay under 20 feet tall, don’t like hot sun and are fine in clay or sandy loam."