A Twiggy Trellis

Introducing my latest twig trellis!  I love this design because it allows me to practice my joinery, but since there are only four joints I can accomplish this much faster than a more complicated pattern.  It also allows me to recycle long plum branches from my neighbor's tree, pruned last Summer (thanks, Janet!)

I picture this being more of a room divider than a privacy screen trellis, with the option of leaving it as is or allowing a vine to traipse across its branches.  Perhaps since they're blooming now, I think a Dutchman's Pipevine (Aristolochia californica) would be pretty cool! 

 

Obviously, the twine and sticks will deteriorate before the redwood does.  However impractical that might be, I like the idea of being able to make a canvas which can hold a number of different looks over time. Many products are built for life in the name of sustainability- which is always good practice, but it's also important to remember the fickle tastes of the consumer!  I for one enjoy a change of scenery and am excited to create something that supports it without adding to the waste stream. 

Show and Tell: Tea Party Terrace

I've been sketching up a storm lately and just had to share this one.  We decided to go ahead with the other design, so this one will just live in my mind for the time being.  The privacy screens have frosted glass panels and open spaces to allow for light, but to obstruct the view of neighboring houses.  The dry-laid stone terrace has Armeria maritima popping through the spaces and Penstemons, grasses and succulents create a colorful border.  Anyone for a tea party?

Show and Tell: Kicks of Color

Here's one of my latest drawings for a bungalow garden.  Circles rarely communicate what I'd like them to, so I've begun adding color spots showing the approximate foliage and flower color.  It ends up resembling a bunch of little cells floating about! 

I really enjoyed creating this design, with bright kicks of red and yellow amid bits of blue, with varying shades of gray foliage all around.

Israel: Nature is the Best Designer

Whew!  I just returned yesterday from our amazing trip to Israel and have a camera card full of pics and a head filled with ideas and inspiration!  As I recover from a night spent in Jersey's airport, allow me to share some photos from the Negev desert.  This area is an oasis within the dry region and is a well-visited national park called Ein Ovdat (this is according to Google map, the park brochure spelled it Avdat).

Without too many plants to oogle, I found myself admiring the linear and dramatic nature of the rocks and cliffs.  The rushes growing in a line along the stream below serve as a textural counterpoint.

Textures were the other thing my eyes focused on, such as this stream-bed of stones and their impressions in the mud after a spot of rain.

I'm still drooling over this!  A low stepping terrace with water trickling along the way.  Oh, please let me make something like this someday!

A tree bends down to put a reassuring branch on climbers' shoulders.  The steps set into the path made the hiking easier without putting too much of a human fingerprint onto the experience.

The Late Show Gardens: A Bleak and Beautiful Future

This will be the last post on the show at Cornerstone last weekend, and I wanted to share two more gardens that seemed to explore a similar theme.  The main material used:  rust.  They created a post apocalyptic feeling, but with a twist.  As if Mad Max decided to take up bluegrass music.  First up, we have this fabulous "garden" created by Ben and Kate Frey.  I love how they took dinky container plants which typically are stacked on top of each other at garden shows to create a feeling of fullness and spaced them out to make them look even more pathetic.  I hope this was on purpose, because it sounds like I'm insulting them!  It left me feeling that the only thing missing was a harsh wind and tumbleweeds.

The Hermit house comfortably seated about five people and Ben was gracious enough to give a house tour of the approximately 6' x 6' space!  All I kept thinking was, 'How did they find all this cool rusty stuff?!'

Gary Ratway and Mike Lucas's Renewal garden was another one of those 'Where did they find that?!' kinds of experiences, as their rusted propane tanks stole the show with their old-modern look that seems to be so in as of late.  I love how it speaks of bioremediation:  planting specific plants that can help clean toxic soils.  The grasses springing up from the crushed gasoline tanks made me feel as if the garden was found that way after the ocean receded to reveal an old submarine subjected to the whims of nature.

 

All in all, what a cool show!  I feel so refreshed and ready to spring forward with all my new ideas and inspiration!

The Late Show Gardens: Future Feast In the Garden of Flow/Accumulation

What an amazing time!  The Late Show Gardens provided a much needed field trip and gave me an opportunity to meet some talented and friendly folks who all seem to geek out over plants as much as I do (in most cases, even more!)  If you are not familiar with Cornerstone, it is a playground of avant gardens designed by some of the most notorious landscape designers and architects of our day.  Among other things, the show featured some new gardens based on the theme of sustainability.  Something about the end of the world really seems to bring out the optimist/pessimist in us, but some gardens really succeeded in composing an aesthetically pleasing, thoughtful composition.  My favorite is pictured here.

Patrick Picard and Suzanne Biaggi created this incredible cor-ten table planted with a 'salad' of lettuces and sage and is set with Heath Ceramics, of course! 

I especially appreciate that they accomplished a fresh and modern aesthetic without having an overdose of grasses, unlike many of their counterparts.  I love grasses, but everything in moderation...

This view looks through the massive stone sculptures at the head of the garden where a water feature splits the table and spills over the edge into a puddle of stones at the other end.

I'll post various bits of inspiration I saw throughout the week.  So much to see!

A Bit Sketchy

I love rendering because it allows me to focus on textures and patterns rather than shapes and likenesses (not my strong point). It's an abstract form of order and repetition. When I picked up my sketchbook this morning, I remembered how rusty I am, so I began with a simple rendering sketch that uses shapes, pattern and shading.

Lost and Found in the Landscape

When I added these terracotta drainpipes to the front garden, my intent was to add a visual barrier from the sidewalk to my small front yard. However, they have taken on an interesting purpose: a place to showcase the random and amusing detritus that comes from living in an urban area. The "300" movie button above disappeared soon after I placed it on its pedestal, but the bent bracelet below still sparkles in the afternoon sun. Trash blows down our street regularly and much of it is, well trash. But I like the idea that sometimes there's little gifts to amuse me when I check on the progress of my blooms. Putting them on display creates a sort of discourse with my anonymous litter-bugs, but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm saying by doing it!