How to Plan a Garden

Paula commented on my recent gardening post that she doesn’t know where to begin planning a garden. While I’m no expert, I’ve planted a few and can offer suggestions about things to think about.

Investment

Creating a garden takes an investment of time and money, but I expect you'll find the reward is well worth it. Gardening can improve your health (gardening gets you outdoors and active), put you in better spirits (digging in dirt is proven to relieve depression), and give you a sense of accomplishment and pride from creating a thing of beauty. 

Before you begin buying plants and digging, though, decide about how much time and money you want to put in. If you're new to gardening, you may want to start with a small piece of ground at first and expand on it as you learn and experience some success.

Money. Perennial plants are more expensive to buy, but provide a needed foundation for your garden. They get bigger from year to year and over time give you more bang for your buck. Annual plants are good fillers and provide color, but you must replace them every year.

Time. “Easy care” gardens are a bit of a myth. Some gardens are easier to care for than others, but you will always have to water, weed, trim, and prune if you want to keep yours looking nice. Bear in mind, too, that although grass requires care, it typically takes less time than a garden to keep up. You might want to keep most of your yard in grass. Incidentally, you can save some work by letting your lawn go completely dormant in the summer.

Sun and shade

Next consider the garden space itself. How much sun and shade does it get? How does this change with the seasons? Some plants need full sun most of the day, some can only live in a shady spot, and others thrive in part sun, part shade. You’ll need to pick out the right plants for your location. The garden center plant tag will tell you how much sun or shade the plant requires.

A shaded garden needs shade-loving plants.

Roses need full sun.

Soil type

What type of soil do you have? Unless the area was previously used for a garden, the soil is probably less than perfect. Is it full of clay, and difficult to dig up, or is it sandy so it dries out too quickly? You will probably need to amend the soil with the right ingredients to correct these conditions. For clay soil, use sand, peat, and compost to help keep the soil from compacting around the plant roots and suffocating them. For sandy soil, use lots and lots of compost to help retain moisture and provide nutrients. When you add soil amendments, dig them into at least the top six inches. Your goal should be to end up with soil that you can easily scoop up in your hand. When you squeeze it, it should hold a shape that easily falls apart.

Another aspect of soil is acidity and alkalinity. Generally, soils in rainy climates like we have here in the Pacific Northwest are acidic. Acid loving plants like rhododendrons, camellias, heathers and heaths, and azaleas love this soil. Other plants do not. To make the soil more alkaline, you can add lime. Pick up a PH gauge at your local garden store and use it to analyze your soil and figure out how much lime you need to add, if any. As your garden center pro what type of soil your chosen plants need. Also, be sure to plant acid loving plants apart from your alkaline loving plants so they can all thrive in the right soil type.

Water

Most plants need an inch of water a week, either from rain or watering. Xeriscaping is a good idea, but even in a xeriscape, you need to water plants for the first two years to get them established. Watering a garden by hand minimizes the amount of water you use, but is very time-consuming. Other options are putting in an underground watering system, usually on a timer or designing your garden space to make it easy to cover with a sprinkler or other types of above-ground watering gadgets. Some people collect water in rain barrels or cisterns to use for their landscape watering needs.

Garden design

It’s a good idea to draw a scale picture of your garden and plant placement so you can make sure it’s going to work. One garden design approach that I like calls for papas, mamas, and babies. Papas are full-size trees like oak, maple, fir, elm, etc. Mamas are smaller trees like cherry and Japanese maple and extra-large shrubs. Babies are smaller shrubs. The principal says for every papa have three mamas and for every mama have nine babies. Then fill in with the smallest shrubs and plants. In a small yard like ours, a cherry tree serves as the papa, and we scale down from there. Generally, you place the tallest plants in the back of the garden and add progressively shorter plants moving towards the front.

An interesting garden design combines plants with different leaf shapes and foliage colors for contrast. If you plan to use flowering plants, consider colors and timing of the blooms. Do you want an impressive flower bed that looks spectacular during one season, or do you want your garden to be interesting and colorful for three, or even four seasons? Visit your garden center at different times of the year and see what plants are featured. Note which ones you like the best and will fit with your overall design. Also, be sure to include plants that keep their foliage year-round to avoid having a barren garden in the winter.

This garden has lots of contrasting foliage colors and shapes.

Roses bloom all summer and fall.

Rhododendrons showy blooms last for only a few weeks in the spring.

Even though their bloom time is limited, rhododendrons keep their leaves all year round and keep your garden from looking barren in the winter.

Plant selection

In addition to foliage shape and color, pay attention to plant size. If the tag on a shrub says it will grow 5 feet high and wide in 10 years, realize that it will grow to at least 10 feet in 20 years. This consideration is particularly important with trees because they’re hard to move. If you plant a small tree right next to your house, and it grows too large for its allotted space, you’re probably going to need to cut it down. While you can prune trees and shrubs to make them smaller, they have a way of quickly growing back to their natural size. With trees, also consider the root system. Does the tree have a tap root that grows downwards, or does it have roots that spread and can eventually crack patios, sidewalks, and even your foundation if placed too close?

Flexibility

Every rule of gardening can be broken successfully if done with care. You can place acid lovers and alkaline lovers in the same part of your garden if you treat the soil around each one according to its preference. You can put tall plants in front of short plant to a dramatic effect. Spikey flowering plants work very well in front of shorter bushier plants, for example.

And just like living room furniture, you can move plants around. If one gets too big for its location, it may be possible to dig it up and move it or simply remove it and replace it with something else. If you get tired of part of your design, go ahead and change it. Rip out old plants and put in new ones. It’s your garden, after all. Enjoy it!

Peonies bloom for a few weeks in spring, but their foliage remains attractive through the summer. In winter, it dies down to the ground.

Planting a New Pacific Northwest Shade Garden

My Plants for Pacific Northwest shade gardens post of several years ago has been so popular that I decided to write about the new shade garden we started in 2011.

Here's a view from our kitchen window last year when the Foxglove and blue Campanula were blooming. The tree with the white leaves is a Japanese Maple called Floating Cloud. Creating interest in the front row with colorful foliage is a Chocolate Huechera and a chartreuse Feverfew. 

In 2010, we moved into a 1945 cottage in Seattle. The previous homeowners weren't gardeners, so there wasn't much in the way of plant life in our small city yard. The view out our kitchen window was particularly dismal, and we made it a top priority to change it. One problem was an ugly concrete retaining wall between our yard and the backyard neighbor's. To cover it up, we decided to use plants along the wall that would grow up tall and wide. Because the area is shaded by a large European Bird Cherry, we used shade-tolerant rhododendrons and camellias. Once they got big, they would create a lovely green screen year-round.

Here's what the back corner of the garden looked like in 2013, two years after we started planting things. You can see why we wanted to cover up the concrete wall, not to mention the metal stripping at the bottom of the neighbor's garage, which you can see above the wall. In front of the wall we planted four camellias that will eventually grow 10 feet or taller and three rhododendronsk that will also grow quite tall and bushy. In this photo, you can see the King George Loderi species rhododendron to the right of the tree. Full grown, it will be quite large.

Here's what that part of the garden looks like this afternoon. King George has grown up to almost cover the neighbor's garage window.

Here's a photo taken after we planted a Bleeding Heart between King George and the tree, Rhododendron Nancy Evans is in the front of the photo, and a tree fern is to her left. We filled in with some Irish moss for groundcover. Blue bells to the left came with the yard. I'm still trying to control them. :|

Rhododendron Anna Kruschke with her magenta blooms covers quite a bit of concrete, and very prettily.

Rhododendron Honey Butter, my personal favorite.

We've used Rhododendron Nancy Evans in several places. In this photo, she's in full bloom. The earlier photo shows the color of her buds, which have a lot of orange. Rhododendron Mrs. Furnival is in the upper left corner of the photo.

Behind the glider is a Chinese tree rhododendron. It will grow very tall. You may see why we've nicknamed her Audrey III. It looks like she's about to eat the glider. To the left of the tree rhodie is a Vine Maple tree. In front of the glider is a Chocolate Heuchera (aka Coral Bells) that provides foliage contrast. In the bottom left isOxalis ground cover. Ferns fill in between larger plants throughout the garden.

King George Loderi buds. The flowers in full bloom are huge.

Rhododendron Mrs. Furnival

We tucked Evergreen huckleberries here and there, and get to enjoy fresh berries in our pancakes in the summer.

We put in lots of Hostas of different colors and sizes to cover ground and create interest. Here's a blue-leafed one along with an Oregon Grape.

False Solomon's Seal

There are several types of self-seeding plants throughout the landscape. They come up randomly and fill in garden space with foliage and color. If I don't like where a plant has come up, I simply pull it out. In this photo are Forget-me-nots and Columbine in blue and white. We also have a lot of Foxglove with their dramatic tall flower spikes.

You might also like:
How to Plan a Garden
Plants for Pacific Northwest Shade Gardens

A Native Shade Garden in Sydney -- Year Two

Native shade garden in Sydney, Australia -- Year Two

In April 2013 I visited my daughter, Liz, in Sydney, Australia, and wrote a post about a native shade garden she was planting. Liz has continued working on the garden, and here's her update on progress:

Phase I is now complete!

I'll start with the failures:

Not everything has worked in this garden, and bush turkeys were a big issue initially. Because they forage in the soil, they are particularly drawn to areas that have been recently disturbed, and if the plants are too small (less than about 30 cm), the turkeys will pull them out by their stem or just snap them in half. The native gingers fell victim, and the burrawang cycad (Macrozamia communis) was defoliated. Two unfortunate losses, as both would have offered something different to the garden from the simple flowering plants. We also lost a flax lily and a native indigo to the turkeys, but I had them in multiple so they still have a presence in the garden. The Kangaroo fern died slowly from some incurable unhappiness, and the strap water fern looks like going in the same direction but it hangs in there for now.

Successes

The Chinese wisteria has been 95% successfully removed and I will finish the job this summer. I used a 50/50 mix of tree poison and kerosene applied liberally to a freshly cut stump. The kangaroo vine is now in its place and taking off like a rocket. I hope I didn't make a mistake there! All the plants other than ferns were tubestock when I planted them, and some are just now getting to a regular nursery size. Others have already reached their full height and spread, including the native indigo, which is now taller than me and bursting with flowers in the spring (it was stunning!). All of the original non-invasive ferns (I think they are common ground ferns) have taken well to being transplanted and spread around the garden.

Additions

I have added a number of new plants (see the list below). Some of them are transplants from this garden or a friend's, others were nursery purchases and a few are propagation successes from a local parkland.

And bees! I applied for a native stingless beehive from the council two years ago and finally made it to the top of the waiting list. They aren't for honey, just a bit of ecosystem repair and a talking point. They now live in a sunny corner of the shade garden and the colony will be split every spring (when possible).

A box full of native stingless bees for the garden

Phase II is now underway!

I gave some time (ok, an entire weekend) to the smaller upper level of garden mess that sits beneath the tall camelia. Once I cleared the area, I placed some silver lady ferns (Blechnum gibbum) and a prostrate geebung (Persoonia chamaepitys), as well as some transplanted ferns. Most of this space is deep shade, so will require true shade-lovers. The planting continues...

Silver lady ferns and a prostrate geebun keep the camila company

Maintenance

I have laid very course gum tree chips over the entire area which get refreshed yearly. The garden also gets a native fertilizer about every three months (or whatever the packet suggests), and the ferns get an additional handful of compost whenever I have it available. Since the first summer passed, I only water when the plants look limp, which is only on the hottest days, and weeds are a non-issue. This garden now needs less attention than any other area of our property, which is an amazing transformation from its original state.

Wildlife results

Birds are regular visitors to the garden, the main attraction being the birdbath - butcher birds, rainbow lorikeets and noisy miners all come daily, and a rare king parrot has made a visit. Lack of interest in the plants is probably due to a combination of causes. This is the first year of blooms for several of the flowering plants, including the lomandra and native indigo, but the cordylines, tuckeroo, and banksia remain flower-free. Additionally, none of the plants are large enough to host a perching bird, but perhaps next year we will see a change as the banksia looks set to take off with a growth spurt this summer. Turkeys still forage regularly through the garden, but the plants are all big enough to withstand the occasional partial exhumation. For all their trouble, the turkeys are still some of my
favorite garden visitors.

Lizards and amphibians are either rare or well camouflaged. One aspect the garden lacks is a decent ground cover, and this would definitely encourage the smaller vertebrate visitors.

The list of new plants

Lindsea linearis - Screw fern, a very distinct-looking small, upright fern

Calochlaena dubia - Common ground fern

Blechnum gibbum - Silver lady fern/dwarf tree fern

Cyathea australis - Tree fern, grows to 6 m with long, broad fronds up to 4 m each

Hakea sericea - Silky hakea, foliage provides protection for small birds and flowers attract birds

Persoonia chamaepitys - Creeping geebung, provides low cover for lizards, flowers attract birds

Correa glabra - Native fuchsia, attracts honeyeater birds

Correa baeuerlenii - Native fuchsia, attracts honeyeater birds

Scaevola aemula - Fairy fan flower, a bit of summer color in an otherwise very green garden

Hardenbergia violacea - Native sarsparilla, provides low cover for lizards, improves soil and attracts seed eating birds and insects

Cupaniopsis parvifolia - Small-leaved tuckeroo, small dry rainforest tree to 6 m (in NSW), fruit attracts birds and butterflies

Garbanzo Bean Pancakes (Gluten Free)

Hypo-allergenic Garbanzo Bean Pancakes

Here's my recipe for hypo-allergenic garbanzo bean pancakes. Due to severe food allergies, I don't eat any grains except for rice and eat no eggs, so traditional pancakes are out. These pancakes are more than just a substitute, though. They taste wonderful and keep my blood sugar stable for hours because they're high in protein.

I mix up a batch of batter and keep it in the refrigerator, taking out just enough to make a pancake breakfast each morning. I also use these pancakes as "bread" for almond butter or peanut butter sandwiches.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups garbanzo flour (I use sprouted organic flour from To Your Health Sprouted Flour Company and/or pureLivingorganic.com)
• 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Potato Starch (makes the pancake lighter)
• 1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour (adds moisture and flavor)
• 2 rounded tablespoons of sweet potato flour (optional - for moisture and sweetness). If you don't have sweet potato flour, then add 2 additional heaping tablespoons coconut flour.
• 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 to 6 ounces plain, unflavored yogurt or kefir -- or -- 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 cups water -- enough to make a batter
• Baking soda -- or if you omit the yogurt/kefir, use baking powder instead. If you want to make your own baking powder, mix together equal parts of baking soda and cream of tartar. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon per cup of batter just before cooking.
• Dried or fresh blueberries
• Non-stick griddle greased with coconut or other cooking oil

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients except for the baking soda, and then mix in the water. Stir in the yogurt or oil. If necessary, add a little bit more water to make the mixture "stir-able," but still slightly firm. If possible, store the mixture in the fridge overnight. This allows the garbanzo flour to really soak up the water.

To make four pancakes put about 1 cup of the mixture into a bowl, add a bit of water as needed to make it the consistency of pancake batter, then stir in a couple handfuls of blueberries and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda -- or baking powder if you didn't use yogurt or kefir.

Pre-heat the griddle to medium heat and cook the pancakes 2 to 3 minutes per side. 

Garbanzo pancake and almond butter sandwich. Mmmmmm good!

Watchbirds

German Shepherds of the Bird World

Our neighbor's two darling kittens have grown up to be lethal bird catchers, so keeping cats out of our yard and away from the feathered morsels at the bird feeders [sigh] is a continuing, occupation. After some experimentation (yelling, arm waving, chasing, paper snapping), I've found that watering the cats with a Super Soaker convinces them to skip our backyard in their search for prey. Recently, though, our next-door neighbor's sweet little kitten has also developed an unhealthy fascination with the bird feeder. Much as I hate doing it, I also treat that kitty to a super soak every time I see her in the backyard. [Update. The kitty, named Quira, has learned to visit me while I'm gardening in the front yard and entirely avoid the back. Who says cats can't be trained?]

Fortunately, I don't have to spend all day watching out the back window for cats. Bertram, Corvina, and Ned have turned out to be watchbirds and caw persistently when there's a cat in the yard. There is no ignoring the noise, or mistaking it for anything but a demand for cat mitigation measures. At first, the crows cawed at cats hanging out in other yards, too, but gave it up when they learned that their fuss only works in our yard.

Bertram warns the other yardbirds about a predatory cat. 

I thought this warning behavior might be unique to "my" crows, but a couple of weeks ago I watched a crow caw angrily at a bus that had hit a seagull. The crow sat on the wire over the bus stop and cawed at that bus and every other bus that came during the 15 minutes I was standing there. Crows also take action towards predatory birds during nesting season. When hawks and eagles try to raid a crow's nest, they flock from the surrounding areas and gang up on the predators, hassling them until they give up and leave.

Dr. John Marzluff, at the University of Washington, is very interested in how crows share knowledge with one another about "dangerous humans,"--humans who have trapped and banded them for research and then released them. From my personal observations, though, it isn't just humans that crows mob, but anything that represents a danger- a hawk, an eagle, a cat--or even a bus. Crows are to other birds world like German Shepherds are to people: watchers, warners, and sometimes even attackers.

Go Bertram!

Fun and Exhausting

Saturday's reception at Habitude was so much fun. Thanks to those who came. It was my first experience being the focus of an art event rather than being the hostess or one artist among others, and being a typical introvert, I found it both enjoyable and exhausting. Ten paintings were sold, which I found astounding. I'm so glad they've found good homes!

Here I am with my superhero, Bill, who hung most of the 29 paintings that were displayed.

This is my Personified Pears series.

My work will be featured on the June Ballard Artwalk

I was thrilled to receive an invitation from Habitude Salon, Spa, and Gallery to be their featured artist for the June 8 Artwalk in Ballard. Please join me there between 6 and 9 PM for a wine and snacks reception!

Habitude Salon, Spa, and Gallery
2801 NW Market Street,
Seattle, WA 98107

http://ballardartwalk.blogspot.com/p/map.html

My original watercolor paintings will remain on display there through July 10.
 

Planting a Native Australian Shade Garden in Sydney

Bird's Nest Ferns

I'm visiting my daughter, Liz, in Sydney, Australia, where she's rejuvenating the landscaping around her home. Like most gardens in this country, hers is dominated by non-native plants -- in this case English cottage garden plants such as camellias, azaleas, lilies, iris, and daffodils.

This would be fine, except that imported plants have an unfortunate tendency to "escape" from gardens and displace native species in the wild, causing irreparable harm to the delicate ecosystem here. Australia's geographic isolation has allowed its native plants and animals to evolve uniquely, and many species aren't found anywhere else the world. Since European settlement, 61 native plant species have become extinct, and a further 1,239 are threatened. Although many factors contribute to this tragic loss of diversity, the introduction of invasive, non-native plants into the ecosystem is a major one.

With this in mind, Liz has accepted the challenge to replace non-natives in her garden with native plants indigenous to the Sydney area. And a challenge it is. The small part I've taken has made me appreciate why people prefer gardening with familiar plants from their own countries (and may explain why Australia has so many non-natives). There is so much to learn! Australian native plants aren't like anything I've dealt with before. Their appearance is unfamiliar. I don't know their growth habits or their sun/shade/water/nutrient/soil requirements. I can't distinguish a weed from a desirable plant, or a native from a non-native. 

To meet the challenge, Liz has adopted a phased strategy, planning to take on just one section of the landscaping at a time, clearing it and figuring out which plants will work best in that particular spot. This should make the learning curve a bit less steep. Fortunately, most of the non-native plants in her yard are fairly well behaved and not known to be "escapees," and the problem plants can be controlled by removing their flowers and seed pods until such time as the plants themselves can be removed.

During my visit, I've assisted with Phase I: rehabilitating the garden across the driveway from the patio -- the most visible one. The whole garden is shaded all winter, and the front of it's sunny in summer.

Phase I: This garden hosts several invasive species, including Fishbone ferns, which are native to another part of Australia, but invasive here, where they choke out other plants.  The fence in back is covered with Chinese wisteria that Liz will remove in the  future and replace with native Kangaroo vine. Just as we experience in Seattle, the wisteria wants to take over the world, and will climb trees and strangle them if not constantly cut back. 

Liz clears the ground, digging out roots and tubers. Fishbone ferns seen on the far left of this photo are in a Phase II section of the garden and will be removed later.

We acquired these natives in an expedition to two native plant nurseries. Liz selected plants with a mixture of growth habits, adult heights, and foliage. Small plants are less expensive and easier to plant than larger ones. See below for her plant list.

Here's a close-up of several ferns, which should do well in this shade garden.

The planting begins.

Everything's now in the ground, including some stones for a path to the birdbath. As the plants mature, they will overtake the empty spaces and create a full, lush effect.

Here's a different viewpoint. Liz has started to apply a thick layer of mulch to retain moisture and help give the plants a good start.

And here's the next section waiting for rehabilitation.

Liz's list of shade-loving (or tolerant) Australian native plants and their habitat value:

Indigofera australis - native indigo, shrub, 1.5 m tall.  Produces small pink flowers which attract native bees and butterfly larvae, seeds attract birds.
Dianella caerulea – flax lily/paroo lily, perennial herb, 1 m tall. Purple berries attract birds and butterflies.
Alpinia caerulea - native ginger (and Atherton ginger*), perennial herb, 1.5-3 m tall. White flowers and blue fruit attract birds.
Lomandra fluviatilis - no common name, NSW ENDEMIC, 50 cm tall, tufted perennial herb. Attracts seed-eating birds and provides shelter for small birds and lizards.
Cissus antarctica - kangaroo vine/water vine, climbing vine. Provides nesting sites for birds. Purple fruit attracts birds, moths and ringtail possums.
Macrozamia communis - burrawang cycad, NSW ENDEMIC, 3 m wide, 1-2 m tall. Large seeds attract marsupials, large birds and fruit bats. However, they are extremely toxic to humans and non-native animals/livestock and can cause death.
Cordyline stricta – slender palm lily/narrow leaved palm lily, shrub, 2-3 m tall.  Attracts butterfly larvae.
Blechnum patersonii - strap water fern. Provides shelter to small birds and lizards.
Microsorum diversifolia - kangaroo fern. Provides shelter to small birds and lizards.
Doodia aspera - rasp fern. Provides shelter to small birds and lizards.
Asplenum australasicum - birds nest fern. 
Adiantum spp. – maidenhair fern (already in the garden).
And then of course the sun-loving Banksia integrifolia – coast banksia, tree, 25 m, to create more shade for the shade-loving plants.  Large flowers attract nectar-feeding birds and seeds attract small mammals.

*The Atherton ginger was the only plant we brought home that is not indigenous to the Sydney area. This ginger comes from Queensland, but we fell in love with the red underside of the leaves.

For an update on Liz's progress, see A Native Shade Garden in Sydney -- Year Two.

For more information on Australia's native plants, see: 

Flora of Australia Wiki

Australia Native Plants Society

Australia National Botanic Gardens and Biodiversity Research

Flora and Fauna of Australia

How to Start a Watercolor Meetup Group

Two years ago this month I started a meetup group on Meetup.com for watercolor painters in Seattle. Since then it's blossomed into a cohesive community with 94 members and a history of 167 meetups. We get together once per week to paint indoors and once per week to paint outdoors, in addition to various individual meetups to attend art shows and exhibits. Close friendships have formed within a supportive atmosphere, and everyone has learned a lot of new things about art.

The other day Barbara emailed me, asking for suggestions on how to set up her own watercolor meetup group in Everett. After responding with a lengthy missive, I decided to post my reply here as well. Usually when someone asks me a question, others are also interested in the answer.

Here’s what I told her:

1. Set up your site. First you need to set up a meetup site on http://www.meetup.com. The cost is $12 per month, and that price gives you everything you need to start and run your group. There’s no charge for participants to join Meetup. I suggest naming your group "[Your location] [your medium] Meetup Group," so people know what and where it is. For example, I named mine “Seattle Watercolor Meetup Group.”

You can associate keywords with your site that allow meetup.com members to find it. For example, my site has keywords such as painting, watercolor, art, and plein air. Individuals who have already joined meetup.com and listed one of your keywords as an interest will be notified about your site. In addition, anyone searching the internet for such a group will be able to find it, even if they haven’t already joined meetup.

To see how my site’s set up, go to http://www.meetup.com/Seattle-Watercolor-Meetup-Group/.

2. Decide whether to charge members for a meetup. You have the option to charge members for attending your meetups. I decided not to do this, even to recoup the cost of the site, because I didn't want to get in cross-ways with the community center where we meet each Friday. They give us space in return for a $2-3 drop-in fee per person because we’re considered non-profit, as I don't charge anything for the meetup. You'll figure out how to handle that issue in a way that works best for you.

Here's a photo of the Friday meetup, held in a wonderful space at the Loyal Heights Community Center in Seattle. This photo was taken a year ago. Now, we need two rows of tables to accommodate all of the attendees.

3. Choose a focus for the group. I decided to have our meetup group focus on watercolor painting for two reasons: (1) I'm a watercolor painter, and (2) watercolor is non-toxic and appropriate for doing indoors in a public space, such as the community center. During the cold, rainy Seattle winter, it’s pretty difficult to paint outdoors, and I wanted this group to meet at least once per week all year round. For our outdoor meetups, members are free to paint in any medium, although, interestingly, even the oil painters in the group opt for watercolor.

4. Set goals and the overall tone of the group. From the beginning, I wanted this to be a highly participatory group, rather than have everything rely on me. I scheduled the first meetup at a coffee shop, to discuss what members wanted to get out of the group. In that meetup we decided on a day and time to meet each week, based on the availability of a suitable room at the community center. We also discussed our collective "vision" for the group, determining that it was to develop a supportive and collaborative community of artists.

Our first meetup was held at Tully's Coffee, to discuss what we wanted the group to be like.

From that first meetup I emphasized that members should expect to get out of the group no more than what they put into it, and that each person is responsible for their own rewarding experience. I believe this set a positive and constructive tone that has been fundamental to the success of our group.

5. Increase membership. There were four artists at the first meetup. Of the original group, only one has dropped out, and over two years we've steadily added members. Today we have about 94, with 12-16 in attendance on any Friday. Our "paint around Seattle" group gets 4-8 weekly depending on the weather. This second weekly meetup spontaneously started after the first one had been running for a full year.

Our first "Paint Around Seattle" meetup, held last April in the Woodland Park Rose Garden.

We get a different mix of people each week, but active members come at least once or twice per month, so there's a lot of continuity, and some deep friendships have formed. Being an artist is a lonely occupation, and our group has brought many professional artists in addition to absolute beginners and everything in between. I believe the key to this success is the participatory nature of our group and emphasis on being supportive and positive. Attendees frequently comment about how warm, welcoming, and fun this group is.

6. Encourage participation. I encourage members to propose and host additional meetups and have named four co-organizers. If someone is interested, I coach them on how to set up a meetup (basically, you need a place to meet and need to greet people and make them feel welcome). Additional meetups can be scheduled in a series or be held just once for something like attending  an artwalk, show, or exhibit.

The work of member artists are included in shows all around Seattle, which we often attend in informal groups. I wasn't able to attend the opening of Nelda Hanson's show here at the Sunlight Cafe, but I met up with Beth later to view it.

One member, Eileen, has taken over the Thursday "paint around Seattle" group and figures out the place to paint each week, updates the meetup site, and exchanges cell phone numbers with people who plan to attend, in case anyone gets lost. Another member is hosting a non-publicized meetup at her studio twice per month in the evening for members who work. It isn't publicized for reasons of safety. She invites specific members offline.

I want to make this group as self-sustaining as possible, to succeed with or without me, but have come to realize that completely replacing myself as group leader requires at least one willing party and a lot of coaching -- and willing parties are rare. My current strategy is to hand off as much responsibility as willing members will take on, hoping that if and when I can no longer lead the group, there will be a few folks around with enough experience to keep the thing going.

7. Tips for conducting your meetups. Regarding conducting meetup sessions, it's vital to have a person "on point" for each one. For our group, this person (the host, me, or someone I nominate) makes sure that the still life and tables are set up for indoor meetups, greets each person as they arrive, and introduces newcomers to the others. This person sets the tone for the meetup, which is friendly, non-critical, and supportive. Ideally, this person will also have some ideas in mind to discuss about watercolor painting. This is especially important when the group is getting off the ground to help break the ice, but it's great any time. I used to provide a 30-minute seminar at the beginning of each meetup on watercolor basics. Sometimes I'd demonstrate a particular technique or else bring in a book to discuss. I encourage other members to volunteer for this, and when they do, it's a great addition.

The purpose of the group is to exchange ideas and develop a supportive art community, and getting to know one-another personally is key to these goals. It's helpful to have some off-topic topics in mind for this purpose. While people are sitting around painting, if the silence becomes deafening, it can be nice to discuss a good movie you've just seen, an exhibit, a book, and so forth. Most often, though, our conversation naturally settles on some aspect of art.

Initially I brought tea and cookies, but that was too much overhead, so abandoned that idea after a while. It's nice to do, but anything can get tedious if it becomes an obligation week in and week out. I have, however, set up a still life each Friday for almost the entire two years we've been meeting indoors. This, believe me, gets old, but at the same time, it's important to do. For one thing, painting from life is different than painting from photos. In addition, it helps generate discussion as people walk around and look at each others artistic "take" on the same subject. After a lot of prodding some members have started bringing in still life ingredients so I don't have to do it all, and occasionally a member will handle the whole thing, such as in the rare event that I'm not there (like at the moment, when I'm in Australia visiting my daughter).

"Nell's Breakfast" still life setup.

It’s a good idea to bring a camera and take snapshots of people painting as well as their work (if they're OK with that) to upload to the site. I also encourage people to upload their own photos of what they painted. People are shy about doing this, but less so when I tell them it's for the benefit of the rest of the group, which is true because the photos generate comradeship and chat.

In sum...
We all encourage and inspire one other in the Seattle Watercolor Meetup Group. The tone of our group is absolutely positive at all times. We've never had any disagreeableness, except one time when a new member came solely for the purpose of selling her art and dominated the session with her non-stop self-promotion. Members were polite, although quite irritated. Thinking it over afterwards, I decided that should something like that happen again, I would step in let the person know they were out of bounds. The woman didn't get the response she wanted and never came back, fortunately.

Members have told me over and over again how important this group has become in their life, which makes the effort that I put in feel worthwhile. I hope you’ll decide to create a similar group in your own area. If you do please let me know. Also, feel free to ping me with any questions.

Christina Scott painted this during a meetup at Greenlake.

You might also enjoy:
Art Studio On Wheels - How I set up my art studio in a small space.
Setting up an Outdoor Easel - I demonstrate how I converted my camera tripod into a watercolor easel.
How to Frame a Watercolor Painting - It can be a bit tricky your first time. Here's how I do it.

How to Frame a Watercolor Painting

I was just framing a painting for my mom and decided to take photos of the process in case some of you are interested in doing this for yourselves. I'm assuming you know absolutely nothing, so please bear with me if you already know the basics. For some ideas about where to get the materials mentioned in this post, see Watercolor Resources.

Materials

Watercolor "paper" is actually made from 100 percent cotton rag. Unlike canvas or linen used for oil paintings, watercolor paper isn't given a water-resistant coating. While some artists spray a protective finish on their work, most do not because it changes the way the painting looks, and not everyone likes the result. So most of the time you'll be framing work that isn't waterproofed.

To protect the painting you can use glass or acrylic. Acrylic is much harder to break than glass, which is good if you're shipping your framed painting or putting it in a show that requires acrylic. Otherwise glass is fine. Non-reflective glass or acrylic is nice, although more expensive than the regular stuff.

In addition to glass, you need to protect the painting with a mat and backing (usually foam core), which should be acid free and archival, unless you don't mind your painting turning yellow over time. I always use a double mat because it looks better. You also need some acid-free cloth tape to attach the painting to the mat. The mat keeps the painting from touching the glass, which is very important. If you opt not to use a mat, then you need to put a spacer between the glass and the painting so they don't touch.

Finally, you need a frame. In general, the larger the painting, the wider the frame molding can be, but it's all a matter of taste. Do, however, consider how the end result will look when you're selecting molding. You don't want to either overwhelm or underwhelm the artwork.

Sizing

You have three options for acquiring mats and frames. The cheapest way is to buy a pre-cut mat and pre-made frame. Alternatively, you can purchase the equipment to cut your own mats, and even buy parts to assemble your own frames. Eventually you can save money by cutting your own mats, if you do enough of them, although I've found the mat material to be expensive unless bought in bulk. Finally, you can simply order what you need from a framer.

It you're the painter, you have some options for saving money because you can paint in sizes that fit standard-size mats and frames, which are mass-produced and far less expensive than custom mats and frames. Here are a few examples:

Watercolor paper: 11" X 15" (1/4 sheet of 22" X 30" paper)
Mat inside dimensions: 10" X 14"
Mat outside dimensions: 16" X 20"
Frame inside dimensions: 16" X 20"
This is my go-to size because the mats and frames are readily available.


Watercolor paper: 12" X 15"
Mat inside dimensions: 11" X 14"
Mat outside dimensions: 16" X 20"
Frame inside dimensions: 16" X 20"


Watercolor paper: 6" X 8"
Mat inside dimensions: 5" X 7"
Frame inside dimensions: Various - just make sure the outside dimensions of the mat and and the inside dimensions of the frame are the same.

You can explore what's available online and in your area to decide what works best for you. Here are recommendations from West Charlton Frame Company for the correct size mats and frames to use for different size paintings. I highly recommend using this company for your custom framing needs.

Assembly

Here's the fun part. While framing the painting for my mom this morning, I took some hurried photos to show you the process.

I made this painting of a Great Blue Heron for my mom on Arches 140 lb cold-pressed watercolor paper.

To flatten the painting prior to framing it, I lightly misted the back with water, sandwiched it between two boards, and left it overnight under a pile of books.

This morning I laid the mat face down and then laid the painting face down on top of it, attempting to center the painting over the opening in the mat, which of course I couldn't see because it was upside down. To check, I held the mat and painting together with my fingers and lifted them up to take a peek. Deciding it looked OK, I attached the painting to the mat using two pieces of acid-free cloth tape at the top of the painting, like hinges. This will allow the painting to hang freely inside of the frame and expand and contract without buckling as the humidity changes.

Then I set the mat and painting down inside the frame. I finished it off by setting the acid-free foam core on top of that, and securing it all with the metal tabs that come with the frame.

Voila. Here's a crooked photo of the result. The frame fortunately is not crooked.