Diana C. Kirby, Author at Diana's Designs Austin

About Diana C. Kirby

Diana Kirby is a lifelong gardener and longtime Austinite, who loves the Central Texas climate for the almost year-round opportunities it offers for active gardening and seasonal splendor. Known as an impassioned and successful gardener, Diana began by helping friends design and implement their landscapes. Soon, she was contracted as a professional designer by a popular local landscaping installation firm, where she designed landscapes for residential and commercial clients for several years. In 2007, her new passion blossomed with the launch of her own firm, Diana’s Designs. ... Diana is a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the Garden Writers Association of America, and she writes a monthly gardening column for the Austin American-Statesman. Diana teaches the Landscape Design classes for several county Texas Agrilife Extension Service Master Gardener certification programs and speaks about gardening and design for garden centers and other groups. Learn more about presentation topics, availability and speaking fees.

Partner up colors in the garden

txaas_masthead

color in the landscape

Color is the most conspicuous element in the landscape. It’s what others notice when they visit and it’s how we plan on our forays to local nurseries. It sets the mood that permeates the landscape and often defines its purpose.

Everyone has a favorite color and certainly your garden should be a reflection of your taste and style. But putting together a pleasing and successful color palette challenges many a gardener. And, in spite of careful planning, sometimes volunteer plants pop up in places they weren’t planted or a perennial’s bloom isn’t what quite as it was advertised.

When the wrong colors meet up in the landscape, it’s sometimes enough to make you shield your eyes.

With a little careful planning, pruning and a color wheel, you can use color in your landscape to provide unity and set the mood in your outdoor haven.

colorwheel Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colors – the color wheel – in 1666. His work on color theory provided a logical structure for the relationship between colors.

A successful grouping of colors creates harmony – a pleasing arrangement of landscaping plants. It also affects how we view spatial relationships among colors.

Yellows, oranges and reds are defined as “warm” colors, whereas blues, purples and greens are considered “cool” colors. Warm colors pop out at you in the garden and sometimes feel closer than they are. The cooler colors tend to recede and seem farther away in the landscape. For example, cool colors in a border around a small back yard can draw they eye back and make the space seem larger than it actually it.

Warm colors evoke an active, vibrant mood in the garden. Hues of blues have a more calming, peaceful effect. Interior designers often choose shades of blue for decorating bedrooms for the same reason. The palette in a garden can reveal volumes about the nature and style of its gardener.

There are many possible combinations of colors that make successful pairings or groupings when using the color wheel.

Complementary colors: These simple combos create a vibrant look in the garden. Complementary colors are those directly across from one another on the color wheel. These combos are easy to work with when you’re planning your landscape if you remember that opposites attract.

Secondary colors: These groupings are created by forming an equidistant triangle on the color wheel. However, not all three colors can be dominant. One color should provide the focal point, allowing the other two to sing backup in the landscape.

Analogous colors: These 3 colors appear directly next to each other on the wheel and are considered different hues in the same color families. These pairings complement a monochromatic-style design.

Many more color theory combinations exist, these three are the most commonly used.

The most transient of the elements in the landscape, color wanes and evolves throughout the seasons. Brilliant foliage in spring and bright blooms in summer often recede in fall and winter to more muted tones. For an all-season garden, look at your beds with a critical eye in the off seasons as well. Consider the changing color palette and how you can add a few carefully selected plants to make your garden pop year-round.

Planning with these design simple guidelines will bring added depth and dimension to your landscape. It will allow your plants to stand out, showcased against neighboring plants of complementary colors and hues.

Local Landscape Designer and Garden Coach Diana Kirby provides landscaping tips at http:/www.dianasdesignsaustin.com and writes a garden blog at https://www.dianasdesignsaustin.com

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:06-06:00June 28th, 2014|Articles|Comments Off

May Tip: Add texture to garden with plants, trees, stones

Lamb's ear

To achieve harmony and add interest to your garden this summer, consider the role of texture in your landscape. Texture is how coarse or fine the surface of plant or hardscape material feels and looks.

A broad range of plant textures will affect the overall balance in your garden, giving it context. Mixing textures is important so you can tell where one plant or area begins and another ends. One of my favorite plant pairings is a large, structural agave next to soft, billowy feather grasses that move with the wind.

Texture also makes a garden more inviting. I never pass by lamb’s ear in a garden without reaching out to touch its soft, velvety leaves, and the gentle rustle of grassed and seed heads is music in the garden.

Read the full article.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:06-06:00May 24th, 2014|Tips|Comments Off

Add texture to garden with plants, trees, stones

txaas_masthead

photo of fountain grasses in the landscape

The harsh winter has left many local gardeners with holes to fill in their landscapes. But instead of simply filling those holes with the same plants that didn’t make it through the cold, consider this as an opportunity to rethink your garden design.

On these beautiful, breezy days our local nurseries beckon with rows and rows of perfect plants waiting for a new home. So what should you plant? After thinking about size, light and water needs, the next consideration, for most gardeners, is color. It is, after all, the most conspicuous element in the garden and it is the focus of most homeowners.

But I often find even colorful gardens in need of depth and dimension. Too many similar plants deprive the garden of relativity. The placement of contrasting plants is what allows each individual plant to stand out against the backdrop of its neighbors.

Some examples of plants with varying textures include:

Coarse: Plants with large irregular leaves, thick veins, and rough bark. In this category you would find plants like philodendron, agave, leather leaf mahonia, sea holly, acanthus, croton and canna.

Medium: These plants have mid-size leaves, a smooth shape, and generally include simple lines such as agapanthus, viburnum, ruellia, monarda, Turk’s cap and Jerusalem sage.

Fine: Defined by small or thin, strappy leaves, fine-textured plants include plants like grasses or things with a wispy, vining form such as Japanese Maple, society garlic, ferns, artemesia, guara, yarrow or damianita.

Texture isn’t limited to leaves of the plants in your garden. When the cold winter has sapped much of the color from your garden, the trees that form the framework for your landscape can also add wonderful texture to the garden. Exfoliating bark becomes a focal point against dried grasses and bare limbs. The sculptural style of crape myrtles, burr oaks or lace bark elms all adds interest to the garden.

Just as with color, the placement of texture in your landscape can create the illusion of depth and space. Placed in the foreground, large, bold foliage followed by smaller fine plants can elongate and extend the image of space in your garden. With smaller plants and textures up close and a perimeter with large plants can make a larger garden seem smaller and more inviting.

But your design planning doesn’t stop there. Hardscape has texture, too. All of the elements in your garden play into the vision of the garden as a whole.

Hardscape materials can be used to match the texture and style of your plants, or it can serve to provide some contrast and dimension for balance.

Examples of different hardscaping that add to the look and feel of our garden include:

Coarse: To add a strong element to the garden, use rough-cut, irregular or natural stone, rough-hewn cedar, large boulders, or any type of unfinished surface or fencing, allowed to weather.

Medium: Materials that can work either way in the landscape might include flagstone, polished wood or brushed concrete

Fine: To create a finer look, use small, smooth stones like pea gravel or river rock, or small-slatted wooden fencing or furniture or delicate metal trellises or arbors.

So walk through your garden this season with a more critical design eye and identify the textures in your garden. Think about how you can enhance your landscape with the addition of some carefully placed textural plants or hardscape that will add dimension. And on your next visit to your local nursery, don’t be afraid to touch and feel your way through the plants.

Local Landscape Designer and Garden Coach Diana Kirby provides landscaping tips at http:/www.dianasdesignsaustin.com and writes a garden blog at https://www.dianasdesignsaustin.com

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:07-06:00May 24th, 2014|Articles|Comments Off

Beautiful Austin gardens on Wildflower Center tour inspire with details and structure…

One of my annual Mother’s Day treats — the day before Mother’s Day — is to spend the day on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s annual garden tour with my garden blogging friends.

This year’s tour included exceptional gardens that were previously featured during past tours. Since I had previously seen three of the gardens, it was a great opportunity to see how they had evolved over time.

Our first stop was an early invite to catch the morning sun in Tait Moring’s garden before the crowds arrived. Situated on a hilltop with an amazing canyon view, this garden is always a treat to visit. It includes classic elements and eclectic focal points — finely-honed view corridors and magnificent vistas. Several water features and a range of plants from xeric to native to tropical fill garden rooms with unique appeal.

This beautiful iron gate – which matches several others around the property, is the gateway to the beautiful view.

Strategically placed pottery and other objects serve as focal points around the garden.

Pots decorate patios, too.

I remembered the wonderful sculptural pruning of this pittosporum and after several more years of growth – it was even more beautiful than before.

More simple, understated pots with lush plants made a perfect match with the clean lines of the house.

Along the side of the house, these dramatic pots planted with yellow hesperaloe grab your attention.

In another vignette – this hardscaping elevates these pots with oversized agaves, both in height and in interest.

This ornate gate mirrors the other iron work on the property.

This wall was created with stones from Moring’s childhood rock collection and other memorabilia and art.

Pieces of glass are interspersed with the rocks in the wall, and a trio of pots adds more color to the display.

We couldn’t decide if this carving was Aztec or Southeast Asian in origin — but it was very cool.

And a field of native plants and wildflowers cascades down the hill.

Wonder what my tour mates are laughing about? I know!

This fence was definitely not meant to keep these beautiful blooms on one side of the fence or the other.

Pops of spring color.

I’m not sure this guy paid for a tour ticket!

This hammock, hidden down in the woods, called to my blogging buddy.

Intricate raised stone beds in the potager were filled with vegetables and flowers.

Artichokes on tour.

A small pocket of sun in a secret sitting area in the woods illuminates a blooming cactus.

After a long trek down the hillside and through the woods (no river), we found a beautiful Texas madrone tree. The Texas madrone is known for is its distinctive exfoliating bark. When the older layers come off, the new bark is smooth and can be white – like this one – or orange or even red. The madrone needs a xeric climate and very good drainage.

Another addition since our last visit – a beautifuldark-bottomed swimming pool. Subtle and simple, it fades into the backdrop of the garden.

A collection of tropical plants lines the stone wall and wood fence that serve as the backdrop for the pool.

This made me feel like I was in the Yucatan!

A delightful and fascinating garden, I left feeling peaceful and inspired.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:07-06:00May 13th, 2014|Austin bloggers, Austin gardens, bark, Blog, focal point, garden decor, garden tour 2014, pots, pruning, Sharing Nature's Garden, stone work, Tait Moring, trees, tropicals, Wildflower center tour, wrought iron|0 Comments

Time for garden container planting…

New soil, mulch and plants in last week’s post means it’s time to move on to the other things on my garden to-do list. At the top of the list? Pots.

Every year, I vow not to plant so many pots. The heat makes taking care of them unbelievably time consuming. But they add so much to our patio space.

So this year, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and actually gone out searching for more large pots to buy. Crazy, I know.

In the meantime, this is what my patio looks like — a war zone!

More pots!

Untersetzers. This is one of several words that I just think of in my native German. I don’t even know what you call them in English!

Online plant orders!

This is my favorite pot so far — a dracena, potato vine, diamond frost euphorbia in the background and a hot pink variegated bougainvillea.

This pot with only the amaryllis was given to me by a friend when she moved. I added the plumeria (stick on the right – just now putting on a leaf) and a succulent, potato vine and in the back a burgundy curly-leafed basil.

The two giant pots back by the pool have mystic spires, Mexican honeysuckle (not showing yet), homestead verbena, sun coleus and a lemon ball succulent.

Have you planted your pots yet?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:39:25-05:00May 5th, 2014|Blog, container gardening, containers, dracena, planters, Potato vine, pots, potting, Sharing Nature's Garden|0 Comments

Spring garden spruce up…

While the weather was cold and before it was planting season, I started a project at my house to add a chopped limestone edge and an Oklahoma flagstone cap to the beds along the front walk. It turned out great and I was very happy with the result.

But then the nice weather came, and with it, clients. Clients who wanted designs and hardscaping and landscaping and the items left unfinished on my project remained unfinished. Until this week.

An unexpected opening for the crew found them at my house with 4-1/2 yards of great soil – Thunder Garden Soil from Geo Growers. That was worked into the front beds, which are now, in essence, raised beds. Miscellaneous volunteer seeds – zinnias and salvias and other random plants were hoed out and given the boot.

I stood back and took stock of my bed and tried to view it as I would a client’s. I’d been unhappy with it for a while. So off I went, three days in a row, to the nursery to load up every inch of my car with plants.

We filled the holes and created structure and contrast and texture (all the things I preach about!) These are the plants I added:

Foxtail ferns
Variegated agapanthus – these are way cool!
Persian shield
Sparkler Sedge
Purple pixie loropetalum
Mexican bush sage
Amistad salvia
Bat-faced cuphea
Blackfoot daisy
Mexican honeysuckle
Purple skullcap
Yellow zinnias
Skeletonleaf goldeneye
Sun coleus
Copper plant
Helianthus maxmilliani
Whale’s tongue agave
Miss Molly buddleia
Yellow bulbine
Hibiscus
Mexican bird of paradise

These didn’t all go into the walkway bed, I filled holes in other beds, too. I finally replaced my critically-wounded franzosini agave with a whale’s tongue. It will never be the same, but it also won’t make 30 pups a month that have to be cut out and it won’t get 20 feet tall and it won’t freeze as easily.

I love the new plants and the new mulch that followed, but one of the things I’m most excited about is that they finally brought me moss rocks to put in the section of dry creek right by the front door. After lots of — no, tilt it this way, no, bury that end, no turn it around, not this way, that way — I am happy with the placement of the rocks. They add so much to the natural look of the entire area.

Though they are still small, the Persian shield and loropetalum will add a nice purple to the lime spikes of the sparkler sedge and the hot gold Cuban duranta that’s now just emerging from dormancy.

My new passalong bronze iris from Robin at Getting Grounded went into this bed along with some coleus to mirror the lime and purple on the other side.

These foxtail ferns (my first ever) will provide some structural contrast for the rock rose volunteer in the center that I babied over the winter. The yellow zinnias will coordinate with the yellow skeletonleaf golden eye and the bright edge yucca further down the bed.

I can’t wait to see the brilliant purple Amistad savlias bloom next to the bright edge and the agapanthus. (It’s still hard to envision it all since almost nothing is blooming quite yet.)

This vignette is at the end of the path – yellow columbine, golden grass, sun coleus, creeping jenny, a yellow lantana and hidden – a copper plant that will grow to become a nice tall bronze backdrop on the left.

This is just a little slice of the bed behind the pool. The ginormous Maggie roses used to live here. Now the center piece will be this Miss Molly buddleia, surrounded in front by a semi-circle of pure yellow bulbine. On either side of the bed are phlox paniculata and lavender trailing lantana and Mexican oregano.

I moved the Amistad salvias from behind these bright edge yuccas last fall. They just didn’t do well in this bed – I think it was too hot for them here. The stock tank I painted holds an evergreen wisteria planted in the fall – check out the amazing bloom color here. So now between the two I have three Mexican honeysuckles with their hot orange blooms to play off the purple, yellow and lime. Love those combos.

So, now I wait, and water a lot by hand. Bought a few new expandable hoses (yes, I love them and will do a post soon). And I’m using rainwater from the tank, so that feels great. I think there are probably 200-250 gallons in there and that’s going to go fast if it’s going to be 90 every day.

I’m happy with the result and enjoyed walking through the garden tonight with gin and tonic in hand, surveying all the new things and appreciating my garden.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:07-06:00May 3rd, 2014|Blog, bright edge yucca, buddleia, coleus, dry creek, foxtail fern, Mexican honeysuckle, Miss Molly buddleia, new beds, Persian shield, river rock bed, Sharing Nature's Garden, sparkler sedge, spring planting|0 Comments

Previous 323334 Next

Diana C. Kirby