Interview with Karen Boness, Principle and Landscape Designer with Wild Willow Landscape Design by Willi Paul

Please see an example of a Backyard Conceptual Plan here:
http://www.wildwillowdesign.com/design_process.html

Say I just purchased a small estate in southern Sonoma County and the place is over-run with neglect due to a long bank foreclosure. Why should I hire you? What are your steps to a happy native landscape?

Hire me because I specialize in ecological design. By that I mean that I help clients create gardens or landscapes that create habitat for wild creatures, build soil, save water, provide food and create beauty at the same time. I always keep in mind the client's particular plant and design preferences so that the garden has its own unique stamp. I don't thrust a design onto a client. I build ecological features into their landscape wish list.

My steps to a happy native garden start with site assessment. In order to create a successful and appropriate design, I need to understand the sun and shade patterns, weather patterns, soil profile, topography, etc. I spend a lot of time with the client getting to know them and their wish list. I take accurate measurements and create a base map. Knowing the size of the space helps us select plants that actually fit on the site. Too often people go to the nursery, choose something pretty and plop it in the ground without consideration for the plant's needs or future size. Then they have problems later when a favorite view is lost, a plant crowds the back door, or a shrub overwhelms the rest of the garden. Now I'm finally ready to create an actual design. Often I sketch 2 or 3 rough alternative drawings for the client. We work together to choose the best layout or combine features from all three.

I develop a plant palette that suits the client and the site. In the case of a happy native garden, those plants would be primarily or exclusively native, that can thrive on the site and fit in with the pre-existing general eco-system(s). Then, more fun--I build a mosaic of plants that vary in shape, color, texture and size. I always consider how much maintenance the garden will require, what the garden will look like in each season and how the garden will transition from infancy to maturity. Finally, I deliver a conceptual plan with working drawings to the client.

What home and garden water saving techniques are working – and which are not?

The rainwater harvesting from our roofs to our 50K cistern is definitely working. We actually have the capacity to harvest 130K gallons of water in a normal rainfall year. I guess one way to improve the process would be to build more storage capacity without too much expense. We use this landscaping for our permaculture demonstration gardens and all of our domestic use. So the theme in rainwater harvesting is to hold the water for a while on site, then use it again and keep it on site.

No water goes down a storm drain. It infiltrates the soil and helps maintain and rebuild our underground water table.

So that's working well too. We use drip irrigation. I love it. My husband created a home automation system for our house. I can manage the water needs of various zones simply by changing options in the software. However, drip irrigation can't be left to its own devices. You need to check on the tubing and emitters regularly. Emitters fall off, tear and break and they must be repaired or you waste water. We also save water by regularly adding compost to our soil and by mulching heavily. I wish we had added a grey-water option. It was (and still is) illegal in many places.

However, based on what is happening in Arizona and New Mexico everyone things that the law will change in the near future. We decided early on the have a constructed wetland for our wastewater, however we have not yet built it. I think it was a mistake not to set up for future grey water use. The water still stays on our property but why not irrigate some plants along the way to the deep recesses under our soil?

Do you connect your plants and designs to a spiritual plane?

Absolutely. I think gardens are my church. I include wild places in my list of gardens too--national forests, national parks, and state parks, for example. They all heal you and teach you and help you connect with what really matters. Plants themselves are incredibly intelligent. Creating a design where these aspects can all come together is like a meditation. I lose track of time in the creative process.

Of course, sometimes I get "stuck" and therefore frustrated. I have to walk away from the design for a while. Usually it means I've succumbed to some sort of rigid thinking in the design process. It helps to take a break and look at the design upside down when I return.

What is the difference between ecology and sustainability? Gardening and landscape design?

I think of ecology as the relationship of plants, animals and people and the world around them. Sustainability is about maintaining, supporting and nourishing the plants, animals, people and the world they live in so that they continue to thrive into the future.

I tend to think of gardening as the actual physical work in the garden – getting your hands dirty. Landscape design is the process where you create a beautiful layout for that garden. Landscape design does not have to be on a piece of paper. It can simply be an idea in your head.

Your slogan at Wild Willow Landscape Design is "Earth Artistry in Harmony with Nature." We can see this realized at Kenwood Permaculture: see examples of your work here:
http://www.kenwoodpermaculture.com/photo_gallery.html . Please relay some examples of the opposite result?

Earth Artistry not in Harmony with Nature? Hmmmm. I think of some truly beautiful gardens that have be designed with superb visual impact. Yet, when you step back from it and think of the excessive water use, the over-dependence on external resources, the pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and synthetic fertilizers – it is not so beautiful anymore.

Are you involved in any social justice projects? Do you volunteer?

I've volunteered in the past but these days I don't. I spend a lot of my time involved in education outreach at Kenwood Permaculture. Sometimes I do pro-bono work such as designing a garden for a good cause. I recently created a rainwater harvesting garden design for a man who wanted a demonstration garden for his family and friends. Social justice is at the core of sustainability. Without it, what is the point. I support this work through letter writing, financial contributions, etc.

How are you preparing for the Herb and Herb Spirals workshop in 2010? How do you propagate and raise herbs successfully?

I'm preparing for the Herb workshop as I do for all new workshops. I create my outline. I develop the Power Point slides, teaching documents and student hand-outs. Then I practice, practice and practice. Then I tweak, tweak, tweak. And I practice some more. When the workshop involves a physical activity such as sheet mulching or building an herb spiral, I actually do the activity on my own to time it, pin down the exact material quantities and practice speaking while working. My biggest challenge teaching is containing the what I say. I get so excited about this stuff that I want everyone to have ALL the information now. Of course, there is never enough time to cover everything I want to say and discuss in the time frame allotted. I have to remind myself about the "less is more" theme.

You raise herbs successfully by matching the climate and soil conditions to the plants' needs. I baby my new plants (including herbs) when they are young. Eventually, they find their own rhythm and I can let them go. Sometimes you have to accept when certain herbs just don't want to grow where you live. I don't raise cilantro (or lettuce for that matter) in the summer. It is simply too hot – even in our passive green house. I buy them at the farmer's market.

Is your training in Hawaii still influencing your work in NorCal? How so?

Yes, because permaculture is the foundation of my landscape design philosophy.

In a way, your work is about creating community with plants – and integrating these "groupings" within the larger human settlement pattern and aesthetic. Comments?

That was very well put! Thank you.

Is landscaping an art or a science? Why or why not?

It is an art that rests on science. To me, science is the term for the technical aspects of horticulture, soil science, botany, etc. Art is the creative process of working with that scientific natural world whether you are: a) physically working in the garden pruning, planting, transplanting, starting seeds, staking, or amending; or b) creating a design on a piece of paper or the computer.

Who is your favorite painter?

Currently Georgia O'Keefe. Especially her desert landscapes. Very stark and voluptuous.

We both grew up in the lakes and rivers of Northern Wisconsin! What is the essence of this memory for you?

I didn't actually grow up in Northern Wisconsin--I grew up in Milwaukee. My parents were raised on farms outside Butternut in Price County. We went up there often and I loved it there. Sometimes I went swimming in lakes and rivers with my cousins. My parents took us out to Butternut Lake where my mother worked at the resort when she was a teenager. Most exciting were our trips out to Pine Creek on my father and uncles' remote property. There was no development on this property and access was via an easement on someone else's land. I remember hiking through the woods and swampy landscape. It was magical, mysterious and so far away.

Wild Willow Landscape Design
(707) 237-2793
karen@wildwillowdesign.com
PO Box 1159
Kenwood, CA 95452