Dan Effa / Landscape Design

Great opportunity to help build something lasting in Lake Country - the Demonstration Garden in Swalwell Park - donate here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/donation-form/donate-to-grow-a-garden-for-our-community?impact_chain_source=daneffa1%40gmail.com

Enjoyed last week's ProSource Irrigation ponds and water features workshop; learned lots! Love to see running water...

Unless you're creating a typical Italian style garden with subdued colour, a pop of colour, especially with foliage, can be a great thing. These simple examples from a recent trip to the Kona Coast.

As we get closer to entering a new year in our gardens (full disclosure - I'm doing some yardwork today...!), this is a great video from the City of Kelowna about wise water usage: https://youtu.be/jECM4ENrVLs?si=0DcuqrirB2RAHAu-

Reach out if you need some help with aligning your yard with waterwise principles!

Protect Okanagan Lake | WaterSmart Water conservation in Kelowna is a year-round effort. While this resource may seem limitless, most of our city’s water comes from Okanagan Lake and is very s...

Love this from SlideClear - either you're dining outside, or you feel like you're dining outside surrounded by greenery and daylight...

What a difference a week makes! Look at that paperbark maple now! Unfortunately the almost iridescent aspect of it doesn't come through in a photo.

Enjoy these last days of vibrant colour!

Can't believe how much time has passed since my last post! Time is flying, and autumn is showing up everywhere. Can you beat a maple at this time of year? Our paperbark is just starting to show its colours, and the unusual dwarf maple that was here when we bought the property is always spectacular (have not been able to identify the exact cultivar). The maples at Wilden (https://wilden.ca/) are STUNNING right now. Worth driving through just to see them! (or just look up when driving on Glenmore Rd.)

Show us a picture of your favourite maple this season!

Sometimes you just need some creativity to achieve your goals (safely!).

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOXPpy_D4NN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MW53ODhkcm1zbWJnYw==

Worried a water feature won’t work with kids around? 💦The key is depth. A shallow trough or sheet-style feature adds atmosphere, softens noise, and becomes a safe design element — not a hazard. Pool Fencing which is non climbing and integrates into your garden gives you the best of both worlds. If you planning your garden consider adding the element of water. Drop a 💧 if you’d love one in your garden. 👋🏼New here? I’m Kathleen. I help homeowners design beautiful, well-laid-out gardens that add real value to their biggest asset—their home. 🌿DM me HARDY for Free Hardy Plant List #gardening #diygardening #waterfeature #gardenias

On the subject of spacing plants: in the foreground are four Kinnikinnick plants, located at our son's townhouse complex. They're placed about a foot apart. Online information tells you they grow from 2 to 15 feet wide at maturity (that's the biggest range I've seen!). https://www.gardenia.net/plant/arctostaphylos-uva-ursi-bearberry tells you to plant them 2 feet apart because they will grow 3-6 feet wide. They've been in a year, and you can see they are already overgrowing their boundaries. When designers and installers "over-plant", it requires a lot of future maintenance (often known as ripping plants out). Of course, the goal here is beauty on day 1, not common sense for the rest of the plants' life...

You just can't beat running water. My in-laws treated us to a thank you brunch at the Harvest Golf Club yesterday. This waterful has been there for ages, but it still looks and feels amazing. (should have taken a video not a still!). While most of us don't have a property large enough for one this size, there is always room somewhere for something smaller. Where should your water feature be placed?

Feels to me like it might be worth the trip to Athens just to see this new hotel! What do you think of the "landscaping"? It even saves on the cost of air conditioning by keeping the building cooler...

https://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/Travel/Why_is_this_hotel_dripping_in_2_500_plants/