NoâŠthey werenât perfect gardensâŠ.or were they?
On July 15th, thirty-five curious garden enthusiasts gathered to explore gardens transitioning from Spring splendor to Summer slumber. What occurred for all that attended was nothing shy of transformational and alchemical.
As you may be aware, Studio Petrichor, a paradigm-shifting landscape architectural firm, focuses on a âwhole-systemâ approach to design, implementation, and ongoing landcare. The clients and communities that engage our services know they want to do something, to be a part of something, to be better humans in a culture that so easily forgets our lack of devotion to Mother Earth. What our collaborators arenât completely ready for is all that comes with reconnecting to the natural order and seasonal fluctuations of a planet that is alive and breathing.
We opened the tour at garden number one by expressing the theme for the dayâŠletting go. Letting go of the cultural programming and collective belief that our gardens need to look luscious and green and redefining what beautiful is to you! Is it merely aesthetic? Is it only culturally agreeable? Or is it personal?
We would venture to say that it is vibrationalâŠand to paraphrase Janine Beynus, âBeauty has always been a signal of the good. We deepen ourselves when we start listening to cellular truth.â
The gardens we toured were the perfect blend of green, silver, and brown with fading rainbow pops of floral delight. The gardens we showcased were in the process of fading into the toasty, dusty, tawny, letting us know âWeâre okay! Weâre okay if you let us go without water for another three weeks and weâd be okay if you gave us a little today. Weâre okay because you know we are gonna be okay. You are listeningâŠyou know what to doâŠyouâve already done it. And, weâll be back in about four to five months.â Can we live with brown as an accent color throughout the gardens? After all âbrown is a color,â sayeth our mentor and colleague Carol Bornstein.
Anticipation is the gift that reminds us we have something to look forward toâŠ.hope! ANDâŠ.as garden caretakers, we struggle with this! The contrast between this garden and the neighborâs green carpet of year-round thirst is stark! Deep down inside, do we feel like we are the outcasts of the neighborhood? One garden experienced an irrigation controller malfunction and hadnât been watered for over three weeksâŠand you could see itâŠand it still looked amazing. The plants were shouting to usâŠâwe got this!â

A new project in construction – Image Credit: Heike Knorz
Gardens that attempt to reflect the seasonal changes of a region are gardens that rely on less supplemental water and support so much more than the human desire for something nice to look at. And this all comes down to choice!
We can choose doing what we can to return rainfall to the soil profile like an acupuncturist tapping into the meridians of our cities. Through building the soil profile with organic materials to increase water-holding capacity, the rainfall is invited to remain on the land we have been gifted to care forâŠrather than away. To honor the regional wildlife and pollinators through emulating native plant communities in the garden. This is what Mother Nature has been whispering to us for millenia. We hear you. We are listening.
When we hike, camp, or drive to the breathtaking places where supplemental irrigation doesnât occur, we are witness to a community of plants in various micro-climates. We see geologic features that influence rainfall and local environments. What if, from these observations and quiet mutterings we received, we brought them home to co-create âneighborhood ecosystems,â supported by a fully integrated design, implementation, and ongoing landcare approach? A system where water, soil, and carbon were our main focus? Nature already has the emergent strategy we need. The âhow toâ is right outside, and the pages of this book are written in 365 seasonally changing pages.
In closing, we want to say thank you to all our clients, our friends, our colleagues, to those who support us through social media and continually say âkeep going.â Thank you to the guests who joined us for these inaugural, and soon-to-be-repeated garden tours, who without hesitation jumped at the idea of a late-summer garden tour. We felt your transformation as we shared lessons and insights throughout the day and throughout the gardens that MUST TRIUMPHâŠbecause if Nature triumphsâŠWE ALL WIN!
Landscapes are a vehicle for reconnectionâŠ.so jump in, letâs go for a ride!Â
Much Love and Gratitude,
Team Petrichor

A “summer dry garden” in full display. Image credit: Heike Knorz