Fusion gardening blends old with new

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This article was published 24/01/2020 (1805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

According to Sean James, the owner of Sean James Consulting & Design, an eco-focused landscape design company based in Milton, Ontario, fusion gardening is a philosophy, not an aesthetic.

“Any landscape design from cottage to formal or contemporary can be a fusion garden, which basically is a water efficient and sustainable landscape,” says James. “It’s how you choose to create topography, select a plant palette that suits your site’s sun exposure and hardiness zone, and decide what’s going to grow best where and what’s going to need the least amount of supplemental irrigation.”

When James presents at the Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association’s Grow 20 Conference on Feb. 12, at Canad Inns Polo Park, he will address the techniques for designing and building a garden that infiltrates rainwater efficiently into the soil, how to choose a truly interesting palette of drought-tolerant plants, and why soil stewardship is so important. These are the components for creating a fusion garden that can handle a downpour.

James’ company specializes in rainwater handling, habitat creation and biodiversity. He is a graduate of Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, a Master Gardener and teacher, and has built an international reputation for his award-winning, cutting-edge eco-landscape designs.

Fusion gardening has evolved through the years. Interestingly, ‘Fusion Gardening’ is a trademark of the Regional Municipality of Peel. Finding ways to manage or minimize the amount of rainwater or polluted stormwater runoff is a concern of municipalities across North America. Rainscaping techniques include obvious things like rain barrels and permeable paving surfaces that allow excess water (including melted snow) to slowly soak into the ground, says James. One example of a porous surface that he utilizes in his garden designs consists of flagstone pavers each separated by a narrow strip filled with small stones with a 30 cm gravel chamber beneath that serves as the infiltration zone. James also uses an innovative product called Ecoraster, a permeable grid paving system made from 100 per cent recycled plastics.

James incorporates an evaporation pond into many of his designs. This is basically a regular pond that a downspout can run into. Pretty and ornamental, It will add value to your property, he says, and allow up to 2.5 cm of water a day to slowly percolate into the ground rather than flowing over hard surfaces, carrying with it residue from fertilizers and pesticides or debris from rooftops or driveways such as road salt that then ends up in our stormwater drains and eventually our waterways.

A rain garden is basically no more than a shallow depression, says James, and should be about 15 to 20 cm deep. The water it holds should drain within 24 to 48 hours. One should guide the water two metres away from a foundation before infiltrating, says James. If your rain garden is close to a sidewalk, step it in by 30 cm so you’re not creating a trip hazard and then create a small shallow swale along the sidewalk. “In the case of water from a sump pump that drains to the sidewalk, runs across it, and creates a slip hazard,” he says, “creating a long, thin, installing a long, thin, shallow rain garden (basically a bioswale) is just the right thing to do.”

If your property is sloped create a series of very wide, shallow berms with ends that curl uphill. “I would then plant into those crescents,” says James, “with the assurance that they will be able to contain the water.”

There is an irony to rainscaping with drought tolerant plants, they need more care (regular watering) in their first year of growth to establish. James says gardeners in Manitoba are gifted with a super drought-tolerant prairie plant palette. To name just a few: Iris versicolor Blue Flag iris; Asclepias incarnata Swamp milkweed, Carex bebbii Bebb’s sedge, Chelone glabra Turtlehead, Physocarpus (ninebark) and Cornus (dogwood) species, etc. It’s an extensive list, says James, but gardeners need to tell — not ask — the owners of retail garden centres to carry native plants.

James tells it like it is. “I want to hear people say, ‘landscaper’s orders’, but at the same time, landscapers need to be experts,” says James. “We need to stand our ground as professionals. We need to tell our clients about all these beautiful things they can have.” The plant palette your neighbour used for their landscape or the tempting designs on photo-sharing sites may appear attractive to you but not actually be worth duplicating for your unique landscape.

Consider James’ assertion that fusion gardening is a philosophy, not an aesthetic. At the same time, he insists you can have a stunningly beautiful landscape that blends eco-friendly design elements and achieves all the desired goals.

“Whatever your goal of gardening may be — perhaps you want to lower the amount of maintenance, increase your property value, or try something cool like fusion gardening, edible gardening, or habitat gardening — you don’t have to sacrifice beauty to achieve those goals,” says James. In his designs, James relies on the strategic use of native plants and nativars (cultivars of native plants) but not exclusively. “Sometimes a non-native plant might make a better choice,” he says. What about biodiversity? “I don’t think a design has to be 100 per cent native plants,” says James. “If you have a variety of heights in your garden (trees, understory trees, shrubs, perennials), and a variety of food sources (edible leaves, flowers, berries, pollen, nectar, seeds), then you are doing good for biodiversity.”

Sustainability is still a good word, but there are a variety of more specific terms that fall under that umbrella. James is more likely to use a more impactful phrase such as: variety equals resilience. “There are many plant varieties that we are overusing,” he says. “We need to be using more of the plants that are in the available palette.” If a plant suits the sun exposure and hardiness zone of an area and it’s also a biodiversity engine, that’s the plant he’ll choose. He also loves to try new things and isn’t afraid to take chances. “I kill a lot of plants,” he says, “but when I’m done experimenting and have succeeded in growing a plant variety in different places and different conditions, I can look my customer in the eye and say, I know this will grow in your garden.”

James likes to say that flowers come and go but texture will make or break your landscape. “We have a kaleidoscope of foliage colours available to us,” he says. An unusual foliage plant James likes to use in his designs for a burst of bold texture is blue sea kale (Crambe maritima). Super drought and salt tolerant with large cabbage-like honey-scented blue leaves that are also edible, sea kale is also visually palatable and fantastic for pollinators, says James. A zone 4 perennial, blue sea kale would need some extra winter protection in our colder growing zone but worth a try.

“It’s okay for us to give ourselves permission to plant something that we just plain like.”

“Play,” says James. “That’s why people garden.”

colleenizacharias@gmail.com