Friday, March 25, 2011

Lust worthy planters…

Sometimes cutting through a residential neighborhood yields dramatic surprises. Like these fabulous Cor-ten planters. Love the groupings and repetition. Looks like they may have other good things in the works too as the larger area looks to be a lawn that was removed…and is awaiting something fabulous. I’ll stay tuned.

12 comments:

  1. Nice grass combo in those fab Cor-ten planters. Do you think they're installed deeply enough to contain the bamboo?

    I like the house color with the rust of the planters, too.

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  2. those are wonderful looking. but what's cor-ten?

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  3. Looks like someone with a vision is about to launch into step 2. I'm depending on you to keep us posted.

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  4. Oh...I heart those big time...I wonder where they got them...or if they had them custom-made...love 'em.

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  5. I do love the simplicity of these planters...let's hope that's lawn being removed and not infested.

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  6. Wouldn't those look great with a big pile of succulents in them ?

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  7. Very nice planters. I love steel used this way, but I'm still working out the detailing so that the stuff doesn't corrode away too quickly. (I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to re-do the 30 foot raised bed I sided with the stuff before doing enough research on how to coat the interiors to protect them from the effects of wet soil.)

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  8. MulchMaid, good question! I'm not very smart about bamboo...maybe it's the clumping type?

    LD, from Wikipedia..."a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rust-like appearance if exposed to the weather for several years"

    ricki, you can be assured I will. And I can't wait to share another amazing cor-ten creation I just discovered!

    scott, me too! I'm guessing custom made?

    Darla, no worries...it looks like perhaps they removed it last fall and the weeds took advantage over the winter months. I see great things ahead.

    ks, oh god...yes! But with 5.5" of rain this month alone they would probably have turned to mush.

    james, yikes.

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  9. Those planters do look great. Unfortunately, I don't think we have them locally. If you will be following up what happens to the lawn, please keep us posted as well.

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  10. Hi Ms. Danger Garden...

    Yes, will be interested to see what they do with the yard.

    Two things: This week's Dave's Garden has a funny post about invasive succulents with some nice pictures. And, have you heard of Rancho Soledad Nursery in Rancho Santa Fe just north of San Diego? I visited last time I was out in S.D. They're huge. One of their specialties is agaves, they sell about forty different kinds, do tissue culture. They have an amazing hill planted with yuccas, agaves and aloes. All just plunked into the decomposing granite and adobe that passes for soil in San Diego county. They're on the Internet.

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  11. Bom, I will!

    Jean, danger! Rancho Soledad Nursery looks like paradise!!! I had heard of them but your comment sent me to their website for the first time. So many beautiful things! I will have to look up the invasive succulents article too, although such a thing doesn't sound so bad to me. Sure beats Bishops Weed.

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  12. Lisa and BarryJuly 17, 2011

    Hi all,

    We just learned of this post last night from a passing neighbor (we are the owners of the house) and we were flattered to hear that Loree wrote about our planters! We wanted to give you all a few more details about the steel and an update on our progress.

    The steel is not cor-ten but salvaged steel pipe we purchased from a local steel yard. Cor-ten doesn’t have the same rust problem that standard steel does but it’s very expensive and we are renovating our home on a tight budget. This pipe is 1/4” thick, however, so while it will someday rust through none of us will be here to witness it!

    We initially planted black bamboo in them but after one summer we realized that we did not bury the pipe deep enough to contain the aggressively spreading plants. We have since removed the bamboo and replaced them with a trio of Hollywood Juniper, Manzanita (Austin Griffith), and Agave (Blue Frost).

    The lawn was indeed slated for removal. We initially envisioned a xeric landscape with swales and rain collection etc, but this design took too much up-front investment. We are simply replacing the lawn with a drought-tolerant variety of grass for now (turf type tall fescue.) While not pretty and soft like Kentucky bluegrass, it requires half the water and is very durable. Not perfect, we know, but it’s what we can afford.

    Thanks for all the nice comments, everyone!

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