Sunrise on the cedar arbor with its new stainless steel rods. Was definitely the right decision. Just needs the vines to get growing…
What it used to look like.
Archive for June, 2010
much mo’ betta
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010modding the Asian arbor
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010About that arbor I ordered…
Yup, that one. Love the Asian influence. Hate the unnecessary busy-ness that detracts from the simplicity of the form. I blame the traditional trellis bits up the sides and across the top. Not a big deal — it can be simplified. First, you pull those trellisy bits off. You are so outta here…
See, looks better already!
Then you take the .25″ OD (outside diameter) x .028″ wall T-304/304L stainless steel tubing you ordered from onlinemetals.com to fit where the ugly wood trellis was…
Why steel rods? Strong. Minimal. Modern. They tie in with the steel going on elsewhere in the landscape now. And steel and cedar look great together, duh.
You measure and mark equal distances for the tubing, then drill a hole wide enough to insert it…
Then you hammer the tube into the hole. The tubing will cut itself into the cedar in the opposite post (where you marked it).
Saw off the excess rod…
You countersink the rods so they’ll sit just below the surface of the cedar rather than flush, leaving you room to wood putty the holes for a cleaner look…
And the next thing you know, your arbor looks much, much nicer…
The simple steel bars fade into the background. With the offending wooden trellis mess gone, the focus is on the architecture of the uprights and the upswept Japanese torii pieces across the top of the arbor. Essentially, a torii symbolizes that you’re stepping into an inner sanctuary or sacred place. Welcome to our garden, neighbor!
Steel bars still need to get installed across the top, but I really love how it’s looking…
Thanks, David! You rawk.
one step at a time
Monday, June 28th, 2010Retaining wall, check. Hot dip galvanized steel risers for the stairs that go at the end of the retaining wall, check. Time to put them in, um… Actually, after a fair amount of digging and cursing at the rocks, David did manage to get the first riser in.
Unfortunately, the risers are a little wonky along the length — which makes them practically impossible to put in straight without a fight. So the remainder went back to Rhode Island Welding to be put through their heavy-duty roller and unwonkified.
Oh, and then it turns out that they made two of the risers 2′ too short! So now two new ones have to be made and then sent to the galvinizer. Another three weeks. Oy.
the roots of a veggie garden
Thursday, June 24th, 2010Progress! Our hot dip galvanized steel planter boxes and stair risers were delivered by Rhode Island Welding just a few days ago and our buddies at Savage Trucking helped us set them in place. Here’s all the heavy metal action you missed out on.
Rhode Island Welding drove up with our load of steel…
The Savages unloaded everything with their big digger…
Rich helped maneuver the boxes into the driveway…
It required a little layout to make sure everything pieced together correctly. Figuring out which end was “up” was a little challenging…
Then the boxes were hoisted up to the top of the retaining wall to their new home…
Each box was constructed to fit the angles of our crazy slope, so they had to be fitted together just right — like the pieces of a puzzle.
Once everything was in place, Smithfield Peat delivered 7 yards of planting soil — 60% compost, 40% screened loam, per my request. Since the backhoe was still there, we were able to avoid lugging the soil up the slope shovel by shovel. You rock, Savages!
They’re a little bit taller than I’d pictured, but all in all the new steel boxes look awfully pretty…
And they’ll probably last longer than I will.
Ready for planting! Our tomatoes will be thrilled.
alien abduction!
Monday, June 21st, 2010I promise to post pix of the new veggie beds soon. In the meantime, I dropped by Farmer’s Daughter recently in search of the missing pieces to my garden puzzle when I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by this completely alien looking plant…
Holy moly! Here they are from another angle…
Sputnik flowers rising above a bed of Sedum Angelina! Spacetacular, aren’t they? Did a little research and figured out these are Allium Schubertii, an ornamental onion. Completely bizarre. And drought tolerant, no less! But wait, you really need a better idea of scale…
Can you believe the size of that thing?! I must have it. Yes, I will have it.
anticipation, galvanized
Thursday, June 17th, 2010Our brand-new hot dip galvanized steel planter boxes waiting at Rhode Island Welding…
And the risers for the stairs…
Men with big toys required to move these. Savages to the rescue! Man, I love those guys.
hardening our hardscape
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010So we haven’t talked hardscape in a while. Let’s. Remember how I like to dream big? No? Maybe this will refresh your memory…
d-crain corten steps | d-crain.com
Not so long ago, I confessed an unrequited love for Corten steel in the garden, like those steps backfilled with gravel. Gawgeous. Minimal. Streamlined. Perfect in a modern landscape. [Shot from above and many more examples on D-Crain’s site. And Andrea Cochran’s site. And Lutsko Associates’ site.]
With visions of steel in my head, I did a little research and learned that Corten lasts a long time in a Mediterranean climate — like in sunny California. Less so in New England with its damp, cold winters. The patina from the corrosion is what makes it appealing. But the rust can bleed onto other surfaces, including our brand-new concrete retaining walls. And burying the steel in the ground speeds up corrosion. So is there a way to make steel last longer, considering the investment?
The answer is hot dip galvanized steel. Hot dip? what the heck is that, you say? The steel is “… immersed in a kettle or vat of molten zinc, resulting in a metallurgically bonded alloy coating that protects the steel from corrosion.”
Zinc. Hmm. The American Galvanizers Association claims it’s sustainable — the zinc itself is 100% recyclable and the hot dip process protects steel for 50 years. 50 years! That’s a long time! That pretty much convinced me hot dip galvanized over Corten. So this is where we’ll be using it:
For steel planter boxes in the veggie garden area at the top of the retaining wall that runs along our front driveway…
The layout (click to biggify)…
For risers on the steps up to the veggie garden that currently look like this…
Ugh. The concrete crew just could not get them right. We talked about repouring them ourselves. But then we decided the raised beds would be made of steel and it just seemed easier to make the risers out of the same material and backfill with gravel. So that’s the plan…
Which is perfect, because out back we want a full set of steel stairs at the end of the other retaining wall. Remember when I drew that?…
Now imagine the chalklines in steel and backfilled with gravel. Looks nice, doesn’t it?
So the drawings went over to Rhode Island Welding a few weeks ago. They constructed the boxes and the stairs and then sent them off to a galvanizer in Massachusetts.
Expect to see the result — soon!
what CAN’T you get on eBay?
Monday, June 14th, 2010A few people have asked me where I picked up the cedar arbor we just put in…
ThreeManProducts.com made our Japanese arbor but they do have other styles — most a little too, how you say? suburban? quaint? for our lot. Found Three Man on eBay.
Plusses:
Real cedar.
More affordable than what I could find locally.
Got it fast.
Came with simple directions on how to put it together — and hardware.
Minuses:
My husband hates it; however, he harbors ill will toward all arbors. The good news is I have an idea to mod it up a little and hopefully he’ll detest it less. Must make time to pursue that.
Cannot attest to quality and endurance until it gets at least a season under its belt, so check back next year.
Did I mention free shipping?
other people’s gardens followup
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Just thought I’d share. Remember that awesome garden in North Stonington, CT, where we spent the day a few weeks back? This one…
Turns out it’s Blue Flag Farm, which specializes in raising daylilies — 600 varieties! That explains this shot…
Imagine how crazy colorful it is with all those daylilies in bloom…
daylilies in bloom | shot from blueflagfarm.com
plant geeks only: ornamental grasses
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010So about my garden style. It could be construed as slightly schizophrenic. I’ve analyzed the plants I’ve chosen and here are the major categories I see: Asian, tropicalesque, desert/rock garden/xeriscape, big drama, chartreuse foliage, blackish-burgundy foliage, blue foliage, plants with great architecture, amazing fall color, plants for birds/bees/butterflies and conifers.
How the heck am I going to make it all make sense, since you can see almost our entire garden from one spot — at least until it’s established? Ornamental grasses. They’re a no-brainer. There are shade varieties, sun varieties, damp and dry varieties. Some have plumes, some have panicles. Some upright, some blousey. They come in all sizes and colors. Are pretty low maintenance. And best of all: they blow in the breeze.
Here are the grasses I have going in the ground, in no particular order — 21 flavors so far:
Fargesia sp. ‘Rufa’ (cold-hardy Clumping Bamboo)…
fargesia sp. ‘rufa’, photo: Noah Bell | bamboogarden.com
Sasa veitchii ‘Kuma Zasa’ (Kuma Bamboo)…
sasa veitchii ‘kuma zasa’ | jmbamboo.com
Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (Japanese Forest Grass)…
hakonechloa macra ‘aureola’ | rainyside.com
Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’ (Japanese Forest Grass)…
hakonechola macra ‘all gold’ | awaytogarden.com
Hakonechloa macra ‘Beni Kaze’ (Japanese Forest Grass)…
hakonechloa macra ‘beni kaze’ | heronswood.com
Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern Sea Oats)…
chasmanthium latifolium | northcreeknurseries.com
Carex appalachica (Appalachian Sedge)…
carex appalachica | northcreeknurseries.com
Carex flacca ‘Blue Zinger’ (Blue Zinger Sedge)…
carex flacca ‘blue zinger’ | northcreeknurseries.com
Helictotrichon sempervirens ‘Saphirsprudel’ (Blue Sapphire Fountain Grass)…
helictotrichon sempervirens 'saphirsprudel' | westonnurseries.com
Miscanthus sinensus ‘Rotsilber’ (Red-Silver Japanese Silver Grass)…
miscanthus sinensis ‘rotsilber’ | perennials.com
Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’ (Little Bluestem)…
schizachyrium scoparium ‘the blues’ | abnativeplants.com
Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ (Shenadoah Switch Grass)…
panicum virgatum ‘shenandoah’ | northcreeknurseries.com
Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ (Blue Switch Grass)…
panicum virgatum ‘heavy metal’ | northcreeknurseries.com
Panicum virgatum ‘Dallas Blues’ (Dallas Blue Switch Grass)…
panicum virgatum ‘dallas blues’ | highcountrygardens.com
Panicum virgatum ‘Ruby Ribbons’ (Ribbons Switch Grass)…
panicum virgatum ‘ruby ribbons’ | plantdelights.com
Miscanthus sinensis v. purpurascens (Flame Grass)…
miscanthus sinensis ‘purpurascens’ | bluestem.ca
Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Avalanche’ (Variegated Feather Reed Grass)…
calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘avalanche’ | bluestem.ca
Elymus arenarius ‘Blue Dune’ (Blue Lyme Grass)…
elymus arenarius ‘blue dune’ | northcreeknurseries.com
Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’ (Dwarf Fountain Grass)…
pennisetum alopecuroides ‘hameln’ | bluestem.ca
Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’ (Blue Fescue)…
festuca glauca ‘elijah blue’ | gatewaygardens.com
Stipa Gigantea (Giant Feather Grass)…
stipa gigantea | casarocca.com
Every one of the ornamental grasses above, whether I’ve had it waiting in a pot or bought it new to fill out the garden, are perennial. At least here in Zone 5.
The great part about grass is how easy it is to make MORE OF IT. Take Japanese Forest Grass — late last summer I sliced my single clump in half. When spring came, I had two large clumps. I sliced those two into fourths and those eight clumps are already big! Btw, just saw that same forest grass at a local nursery for $25 a container. Talk about easy math.
Will share more plants in other categories in the days ahead. You can hardly wait, right? Right?