Posts Tagged ‘garden’

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what? cardoons flower?!

Friday, August 27th, 2010

After all that hunting high and low for a nursery that had even heard of a cardoon, I am pleased to report that my three are going gangbusters right now. Here’s the grand-daddy of them all…

one of my cardoons, growing like mad

About 4′ high. About 5′ across. And such a gorgeous silvery green shade. Definitely that big-time drama I was going for. Love it.

Last week while in the Berkshires, we spent a few hours at Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, MA. A wondrous place replete with late-summer garden amazement. Anyway, as we were just about to finish our walkabout, I happened into a small garden area that, low and behold, featured this…

cardoon at berkshire botanical garden

Hey, a cardoon! What the… what’s that crazy bit at the top there?

cardoon blooms!

omg, it looks like a thistle — a 7′ tall thistle! Whoa. It was literally swarming with bees, who all somehow managed to flee the shot right as I took it.

Are you sure this is a cardoon? None of mine are flowering. The first ones I ever saw at Denver Botanic Garden weren’t blooming either. Hmm… that is most definitely a cardoon in full flower.

cardoon bloom close-up

I had to look it up when I got back to my computer.

And yes, there it is in wikipedia: a cardoon in flower. Who knew? Yep, it’s related to a thistle. The artichoke lineage I knew about but the thistle I did not. Guess that’s because I didn’t know artichokes belong to the thistle family. God I love me some internets.

Of course cardoons flower, duh. Why didn’t that occur to me before? Even if mine never do, knowing they can makes my heart go pitty-pat for them just a little bit more.

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washing away

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Another hot couple of days but luckily the thunderstorms have replenished our water collection tank. Yay! However, take a look at what a torrential downpour does to our yard…

there goes our yard

That brown stream? That’s our yard going down the storm drain!

Still not enough plants holding our new soil to the slope, apparently. The front slope with all the Curlex is holding just fine. And the beds that have mulch are holding fairly well. But the water runs down the paths I’ve been digging out that have yet to receive pea gravel and then pours out into the street. We need the gravel to slow down water. Yeesh, always a plan and just never enough time to make it all happen!

Hoping we can get a few truckloads of pea gravel delivered soon before our entire yard washes away. Sadface.

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the last riser

Monday, July 12th, 2010

With grievous amounts of sweat and consternation…

shwetty

David got it on this weekend and bolted in the last of the hot dip galvanized steel risers for the stairs that lead up to the veggie garden…

the veggie garden steps are in!

front view

YES!! Still the stairs of death and completely impassable until we backfill them with pea gravel, but that should happen soon. Our wicked slope makes it look like the steps are crooked. Don’t worry, they’re squared up and it will all make sense when it’s done.

Easier to see how it starts to come together if you step back a little. See how the steps match the galvanized veggie beds?

view from across the street

Now picture it with the patchy grass filled in and a lovely espaliered asian pear across that long, empty concrete retaining wall surface. Perty.

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grill porn

Friday, July 9th, 2010

The Phoenix! Picked up yesterday, our new grill/firepit is sitting in its temporary spot on the gravel as we await a patio build. Thought I’d share shots of it because, frankly, the two existing pictures on your site suck, Wittus.

Why not show it off for the true beauty it is? Surely you can hire someone who takes better shots than I did. Here it is in all its increasingly rusticated glory…

it’s here! it’s here!

full view of the back

A slender 25″ W x 20″ D x 74″ H and 220 lbs. Does not come with cup holders, thank gawd, although it does come with Stay Cool stainless steel grill rack handles…

view from below

ooh, phoenixy!

from another angle

The angle on the walls is very similar to the angle on the house…

nice echo of the house angles

And the lines echo our vertical wood siding…

an echo of the house’s vertical siding

A closeup on the detail on the lip of the chimney…

view of the top lip detail

The grill rack is made of stainless steel 5mm rods. Slits in the curved steel wall allow you to adjust the grill rack height….

the grill can be repositioned

The bar across the back locks the grill pan in place…

shot of the curved rear detail

grill pan attachment detail

Pull out the bar and you can remove the pan…

a look at the pan with the grilling surface removed

Like so…

with the bar removed, the pan pulls right out

pan removed

Ooh, and here’s a bonus not mentioned on the Wittus website: also functions as a cat cave!

and it’s also a cat cave!

glamour shot

Why we’ve been ogling this grill/firepit for the last few years:

  • The strong angles echo the modern architecture of the house
  • Multi-functional and multi-seasonal… works as both a charcoal grill and a wood-fired pit
  • The tall chimney is supposed to funnel smoke up and away… we’ll test this out and confirm
  • When not in use, it looks like art… and if something is going to take up valuable space in your smallish entertaining space, shouldn’t it be something you want to look at?
  • Brushed Corten steel, an awesome thing to touch… we share an undying love for it

Thanks Joe and David for lugging that sexy thing home. My, my, what the neighbors must think of us now!

thanks to joe and david

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wowza!

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

This is for my friend, John, who’s lamenting that his orchid cactus isn’t doing much these days. Looking a bit like Medusa, this is my orchid cactus…

orchid cactus

Native to South America, it’s a little taste of the tropics, right here in Rhode Island. The blooms are about 6″ across…

orchid cactus abloom

No smell. But there are scented varieties out there. This one stays indoors until May, then I stick it in part sun/part shade and water it almost daily all summer. In June and July, it busts out about 100 fire-engine red blooms over the course of about a month…

orchid cactus closeup

I’ll lug the whole 50 lb pot back inside in late October. Well worth the workout, if ya ask me.

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dwained

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

We’ve been relying on our 1,700-gallon rainwater collection tank to water all of the plants since April. Well… not the grass and not the newly planted 100′-long hillside — those are more easily tackled with a sprinkler and city water. But everything else, rainwater. Until this weekend. Apparently, we dwained our tank…

compweetwee dwained tank

A peek inside confirms it. Empty. The pump doesn’t quite reach the tiny bit of slighty mucky water at the bottom.  Bumma.

I never really noticed it before but watering with city water really brings out that chlorine smell. Ack. No wonder plants prefer rain. We could use some about now. 102 yesterday. If I close my eyes it’s like being in L.A. Yes, a really sweaty sauna in L.A.

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baby steps

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

A very hot 4th of July weekend but David managed to make a little progress on our new steel steps out front and in back. Four of the six risers are now in by the back concrete retaining wall…

stair risers by back retaining wall

Still waiting for Rhode Island Welding and the hot dip galvanizer to remake the two that were too short.

As you can see from behind…

stair risers from behind

… we’ll have to do some regrading on that hillside so the stairs won’t be hanging there in space, a la Stairway to Heaven. Once the last two risers are in, we’ll take care of that. And order the pea gravel to fill the steps and the paths. So close!

Meanwhile, out front by the veggie garden there was much chipping away of concrete in order to make the wonky ends of the walls line up so that the top riser could be squared up and bolted in…

a peek at those veg garden stair riser bolts

Risers are now in top and bottom on the stairs of death…

stair progress in the veggie garden

Many more left for David to tackle. Now where did I put my whip? Hmm…

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stair fixie update

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

In progress! Those concrete stairs of death that lead up to the veggie garden are finally getting their makeover. Steel risers added soon…

david on the stair fixie

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much mo’ betta

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Sunrise on the cedar arbor with its new stainless steel rods. Was definitely the right decision. Just needs the vines to get growing…

love the new arbor now

What it used to look like.

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modding the Asian arbor

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

About that arbor I ordered…

arbor just after it was installed, avec trellisy bits

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…

trellisy bits are so outta here

See, looks better already!

a clean slate

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…

steel rods

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…

measure twice!

Then you hammer the tube into the hole. The tubing will cut itself into the cedar in the opposite post (where you marked it).

apply hammer liberally

Saw off the excess rod…

saw off the excess steel 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…

countersink the rods

And the next thing you know, your arbor looks much, much nicer…

all done except the top!

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…

steel rod closeup

Thanks, David! You rawk.

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