GARDENS AND CONTAINERS GO SUSTAINABLE IN 2011
Pros offer tips on how to make the change
May 25, 2011 – This year’s hot garden trend? Eco-friendly, water-wise, sustainable gardens and
containers.
We can thank a variety of factors, like a slow economy and water restrictions that are making folks
more conscious of their water use and water bills. Then there are our increasingly busy lifestyles,
which make treating for pests and diseases or replacing dead plants an unmanageable time drain.
Add to that Americans’ growing desire to do their small part to help the environment, and the result
is a skyrocketing demand for “eco-scaping” plants. The 2011 American Society of Landscape
Architects Residential Trends Survey, for instance, says drought-tolerant and low-maintenance
plants (like the red, glossy fountains of Festival Burgundy
cordyline, right) are among this year’s top trends.
“We’ve been using – and advocating the use of – sustainable
plantings for years, but this has now become the gold
standard for how we design landscapes,” says Sharon
Coates, co-owner of Zaretsky and Associates, a landscape
design/build firm in Rochester, NY. “Water conservation and
environmental issues are at the top of everyone’s minds
these days, and sustainable plantings can do a lot to reduce
the amount of water needed.”
Gardeners also want the same easy-care, eco-friendly plants
in their containers, according to the Garden Media Group’s
2011 garden trends survey.
“We definitely see a big movement toward sustainable
container gardening, which means using drought-tolerant and
low-maintenance plants that offer season-long interest while requiring fewer chemicals and less
water,” says Anthony Tesselaar, cofounder and president of Australia-based Tesselaar Plants. “As
we continue our mission of ‘making gardening easy’ for everyone, that has come to mean not only
developing plants that are low-maintenance and environmentally friendly in the garden, but also in
containers.”
Beyond the usual suspects
Sustainable landscapes don’t have to just look like cactus or desert scrub, either. If you think roses
are out, for instance, think again. Tesselaar’s easy-care, extremely drought-tolerant Flower Carpet
groundcover roses (right), can be a great choice for low-maintenance, season-long color in beds or
containers. Susan Harris (of the popular Garden Rant and Homestead Gardens blogs), for
instance, wrote a post last year about how she used Flower Carpet roses to quickly fill in a newly
enlarged border before a famous garden photographer stopped by for a shoot.
“I’ve admired my neighbors’ Flower Carpets for their spring-to-frost blooms and their utter lack of
disease,” she wrote in her May 3, 2010 post on
Homestead Gardens. “No spraying needed at
all … it is also drought tolerant (once
established), and requires no fancy fuss or
pruning.”
When planted en masse, carpet roses (which
spread more horizontally than vertically and
become covered with blooms) are also a great
way to quickly fill in a large bed you’d like to turn
into a more low-maintenance, sustainable
landscape.
Flower Carpet Pink Supreme in front of home
“There is nothing more dramatic than a sweep of one or two
varieties,” says Bruce Zaretsky, Coates’ husband and co-owner
of Zaretsky and Associates. He particularly likes to use
ornamental grasses, because the sound of them swaying in the
wind adds another sense – hearing – to the garden experience.
He also likes mass-planting rhododendrons, azaleas, astilbe and
hydrangea.
“But mass plantings can be a two-edged sword,” says Zaretsky,
“since a monoculture of plants is subject to being wiped out by a
pest or disease.” So if you do use one plant, make sure it’s a
time-tested disease- and pest-resistant variety or perhaps a
native or adapted plant that has proven itself in your area.
The Flower Carpet range of roses has won the most awards for
disease-resistance (most notably, Germany’s coveted All
Deutschland Rose (ADR) designation, the world’s top honor for
disease-resistant roses). And if you want roses in containers (which succumb to drought even
quicker), Flower Carpet’s Next Generation line (which earned high marks in the Dallas Arboretum’s
famous plant trials in extreme heat) also offers an additional 15 years of breeding for improved heat
and humidity tolerance.
Flower Carpet roses Plant Portfolio
High-resolution images of Flower Carpet roses in the landscape
High-resolution images of Flower Carpet roses in containers
There are also plenty of sustainable plants offering architectural interest and texture. Jimmy Turner,
the Dallas Arboretum’s Senior Director of Gardens, likes mass-planting agapanthus (also known as
Lily of the Nile) in tight squares or triangles within a formal garden bed. And the only agapanthus
that’s survived the arboretum’s intense trials in the heat is Blue Storm™ agapanthus (right). Blue
Storm, says Turner, is especially good for mass planting, because of its sturdy, multiple flower
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stalks, uniform height and multiple flushes of blooms, each lasting six to seven weeks. Between
blooms, Blue Storm still makes a statement with its freestanding cluster of straplike leaves.
“For us, however, Blue Storm is a first and foremost a container plant,” says Turner. “Agapanthus is
a diva. It really shines when it’s by itself in a pot.”
Blue Storm agapanthus Plant Portfolio
High-resolution image of Storm agapanthus in the landscape
High-resolution images of Storm agapanthus in containers
Or, why not try blocks of colorful or textured foliage? Perhaps you could try a tropically hued block
of the red, glossy, straplike foliage of Festival™ Burgundy cordyline. Not only is this cordyline
extremely drought-tolerant and pest-resistant, but its basal branching, low- growing structure allows
for fuller, more compact clumps and a gently fountaining effect (it also overwinters beautifully as a
houseplant for anyone in Zones 7 or lower, so you can
replant it year after year).
Festival’s growth habit also makes it a stunner in containers.
Festival Burgundy cordyline Plant Portfolio
High-resolution image of Festival Burgundy cordyline in the
landscape
High-resolution images of Festival Burgundy cordyline in
containers
For many of us with above-average rainfalls this year,
however, a “low-maintenance” mass planting might actually
be something that can handle too much water. Garden phlox,
with its full masses of fragrant flower clusters, is a treat for
the senses when planted in masses, but has traditionally
been plagued by powdery mildew in humid or wet areas. Volcano ® phlox (right), a mildew-resistant
variety, comes in six colors and is sturdy and compact – perfect for massing.
Volcano’s stocky nature also makes it perfect for pots.
Volcano phlox fact sheet
High-resolution images of Volcano phlox in the landscape
Volcano phlox (Purple) in container
Tips from the pros
If you want a sustainable landscape, you’re going to need some tips from the pros. If you prefer the
drama of planting en masse, you’ll need to remember that it requires buying and planting multiple
plants at once, so it’s an investment of time and money.
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“When planning a new garden area, it’s most important to start with a site analysis, where you take
the time to determine what areas of your property are sunny or shady, dry or wet – or perhaps both,
wet in the spring and dry in the summer,” she says. “Mass plantings are only sustainable if you
choose the right plant for the right place.”
It might also be wise, when dealing with a larger planting area, to hire – or at least consult with –a
professional landscape designer. They can draw you a beautifully designed, well-scaled plan and
properly specify quantities of compost, plants and mulch.
For DIYers, Coates advises first drawing out a plan with new plants at their mature width, so you
can calculate how much you’ll need in materials.
To help save money on plants, Zaretsky advises buying at season’s end: “Many retail nurseries
don’t want to overwinter plants and therefore sell them off fairly cheap.”
If the idea of mass planting seems too risky, Zaretsky recommends a mix of three or four varieties
that all have the same watering, soil and other requirements. If the area is dry and sunny, for
instance, try lavenders, coreopsis, daisies and black-eyed Susans. Wet and shaded? Try viburnum
nudum, cinnamon or royal fern, sambucus or sedges.
Whatever you choose, says Coates, “we hope the idea of sustainable gardening sticks, and that
everyone out there thinks of sustainability like color in the garden: a must-have.”
For more downloadable hi-res images, visit our photo Tesselaar Plants Image Library
About Tesselaar
Headquartered in Australia, Tesselaar Plants searches the world and introduces new plants for the
home garden, landscape, home décor and gift markets. Tesselaar Plants undertakes extensive
research and development of its varieties and, once selected for introduction, provides marketing
and promotional support for its plant brands through its grower and retail network. Tesselaar’s
portfolio of plants is small by design, given rigorous standards that result in high-quality, dramatic,
prolific plants that are also environmentally friendly and exceptionally easy to grow.
The Tesselaar philosophy is to introduce exceptional plants while “making gardening easy” for
everyone, and so they make them as widely available as possible. Tesselaar believes that the
more people who garden, the better it is for everyone.
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Media Contact:
Laurie Riedman, Riedman Communications
laurie@riedmancomm.com / 585 820 7617
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