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The area under the oaks is dry, the dirt is very hard clay, and the roots are surface. I want to create a natural looking landscape that is not cluttered. I'm told not to plant too close to the tree for fear of fungus disease. Any suggestions on plants and designs would be wonderful!

This is in Oakland CA.

First of all, you should plant NOTHING under your oak trees (from the trunk out to the edge of the farthest branches). You should NEVER water under a oak tree. Winter rain is quite sufficient once the tree is a year or two old. Excess water will kill your tree and will increase the likelihood of diseases (oak root fungus and root rot being the primary ones).

Let all the leaves that fall from your tree STAY where they fall. The roots are very close to the surface and need the protection. As the leaves compost, they become a very rich mulch that feeds your tree and will turn your soil soft. The leaves also hold in any moisture for the shallow roots. (This also saves you a WHOLE lot of work!!).

Do not put rocks under your trees. They cut off oxygen for the roots and keep the leaf mulch from getting to the roots.

Following these rules will give you a very NATURAL setting. Just look around at oaks growing on hillsides (not yards) near you. You will notice that nothing grows under them, they do not get watered and they do very fine, thank you!

Keep in mind that EACH of these trees adds THOUSANDS of dollars to your property value!!! You do not want to risk losing that value. Several of my oak trees are close to our house on the west side and save us hundreds of dollars (more?) in cooling expenses each year.

Good Luck!!

2007-07-07 16:10:25 by Lady Morgana

Natural landscape design ideas from the 2009 Gold International design winner. Chris discusses landscape designs utilizing natural landscape ...

after finishing college i am planning to move into a condo in Sibiu, Romania pernamently. i am not goining to be on the first floor for sure. i am a fish hobbiest and have always wanted a pond in my backyard but cuz i am going to live in the city and in a condo, i was wondering what about a indoor pond? i have seen them before, not anything too big that might break a floor, but somthing like these
http://www.natural-designs-landscaping.c om/assets/images/indoor-pond-m.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h ttp://www.newpond.deguglielmo.com/images /indoor915.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www. newpond.deguglielmo.com/update.htm&h =252&w=341&sz=12&hl=en&s tart=52&tbnid=JXVbEdVjw4tpjM:&tb nh=89&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq% 3Dindoor%2Bpond%26start%3D42%26gbv%3D2%2 6ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/p hoto-s/00/17/c3/19/2nd-floor-indoor-pond .jpg
http://www.safarinow.com/db/id/108547/gt 34865.jpg
i am gonna get permission and all that, but do u think its pracitcal on not ground level floor and one that im considering is the bar-pond in one of the pictures

Great idea, love the bar thing.

Most of the indoor pools are made with preforms and plastic rocks with a covering of real rock to make it all look heavy and "real"

Plastic preforms enclosed with a thin layer of rocks (like your first one) on second floors are great for two reasons, light weight and easy to move when you do.

Wonderfull idea and I say go for the bar pond. Send pictures when you are done!

Luck

2008-04-13 14:30:03 by ROMANIAN POLAK. ?billkaulitz

Price: $85.00

How should i landscape down there. im usually all natural but i want to do something now.

louise is wrong, and misinformed, its AMAZING to find someone whos natural, keep it :)

2009-06-25 11:06:36 by funny_bunny

Price: $135.00 $90.00

ETL Listed
Includes 12 watt T5 wedge base light bulb, heavy duty composite ground spike and wire connection kit
6-1/2-Inch width 21-1/2-Inch height

Example: Warehouse like the obscenely large Wal-Mart DC near where I live with a green roof or brown roof. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_roof) Maybe even wind power turbines built on the roof too. Natural landscaping around it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_lan dscaping). Solar panels built into the car ports in the parking lot with places to plug in electric cars. Water reclimation catacombs beneath the parking lot.
re-use of grey water is a great idea too.

My grandfathers house is built into the side of a hill- 6 feet or so of dirt over the top with the front all windows. It keeps itself above freezing all winter even with no heat on. He wired it with large diameter copper wire, so saves as much as the extra thick wire cost every 7 months or so since there is less resistance in the wire. He uses rain water caught on a shed for all but drinking, and grey water from the shower for the toilet.

2007-10-23 09:02:36 by great_wiccan_god

Most, if not all, piano teachers begin by teaching music in the key of C. Learn the natural (white) keys by their positions relative to the sharps (black).

Over the course of study, we get into all the key signatures, modes, minors, etc.

Recently I was playing a piece in C major and discovered that while still easy, it was more difficult that I would expect because I was playing in the wide open plains of Wyoming ("C") not in the New York cityscape of "Ab", the rugged Colorado Rocky Mountains of "E" or even the Appalachian mountains of "F."

Two-part question:

1. We've all heard of Synesthesia (Seeing sound colors), but does any one else relate to the landscape of the keyboard as a city skyline, coastal wetlands, mountains, etc?

2. Do you find it more challenging to play in "simple" keys than "difficult" keys because of the lack of landscape?

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Erunno -- You strike close to home. I grew up in southern NH. Mt. Washington, as beautiful and majestic as it is, is small potatoes to the Rockies. It does make me think that I need to put the title "Franconia Notch" on a majestic piece of music. I think that "Kittery" would also be a fitting title for an introspective piece.

I believe that B is perhaps the easiest key to play in, but difficult to get students into a mindset for as they respond, "but it's got five sharps! How am I supposed to remember all of those?"
Switch ♫ -- the whole "landscape" theme falls apart with strings, brass or winds. Ostensibly each note is "the same" as you produce a harmonic of an open string, or shorten a length of tube. I expect most guitar players to take offense to the idea, since barre chords are a pain in the butt. Outside of keyboard instruments I cannot think of any that have a true three-dimensional physical character. (Perhaps a Theremin, but there you are controlling amplitude and frequency with no physical contact.)
Ian E - Funny you bring up the organ. That's where the concept of "naturals and sharps" in my question originates. All organ pipes are either natural or sharp ... yet most organ literature I've seen is written in flat keys; predominantly Bb, Eb, Ab.
Kalibasa - was that in intentional pun at the end? It wasn't my original intent of the question, but for the most part music in flat keys remind me of cities and in sharp keys calls to mind open spaces. Using "C" (or Am) as the plains or the prairie seemed fitting. Part of this question was triggered by a question a week or two ago about playing with fingers flat or curved. The degree of "topographical landscape" really wasn't my intention. But seemed to fit the analogy: more sharps more mountainous, more flats more urban (another pun for the UK crowed?). Not that the music in C is particularly difficult, it just seemed more difficult to naturally keep my bearings.

For some reason, most keyboard players find F Major a difficult key to 'feel' their way around. Improvisors find it awkward, as do people sight reading. Is it actually awkward because of its 'landscape', or is it simply different in orientation to every other key? I feel it is probably the latter.

Spare a thought for the keyboard player that needs to orient the feet to a keyboard's configuration. The Key of B, delightful to play with the hands, is almost impossible to play at speed on the Organ's pedals. The black note in between F sharp and A sharp must be toed, but where does the toe come from?

Most organists I know use the left part of the left foot's 'toe' for the F sharp, tilt the foot so that the G sharp is played by the right part of the left foot's 'toe' and play the A sharp with the right 'toe'. The next note up, B natural, must be played with the right heel [usually].

[The 'textbook' method, Left toe, Right toe, Left Toe for the three black notes, is utterly absurd.]

B Major, where only one complete octave is available on the pedals, is quite a rare key in organ literature, and for good reason. However, organists, occupied as accompanists far more than most pianists, don't only play music written specifically for organ.

You mention the Theramin. The 'landscape' of this intriguing instrument is amazingly 'tactile' as a sensation (even though nothing is being touched!), but most players [including myself] 'cheat' with generous amounts of audible portamento.

2009-04-09 07:59:25 by i. jones