While in Phoenix last October we met my brother for lunch at a restaurant called
The Vig, I do believe my dear brother picked this restaurant because he knew I would love these…
Of course the fact that the building was a midcentury modern bank that’s recently been remodeled didn’t hurt either.
Our table was in the walled in, used-to-be the drive through area, and the old teller window is now a bar.
There’s a Bocce ball court too.
As well as a killer fireplace…
Which I’m sure gets a lot of use, even in Phoenix, as the large windows at the top of the walls all rotate open to let in a cool breeze.
But we all want to stare at those metal Agave and Aloe columns a little more don’t we?
Did you notice this little guy in the earlier pictures? He took a tumble, don’t worry we tucked him back in.
Planted up with the right cold-hardy species these could work in my garden…
I just need a metal fabricator with a great eye (and affordable rates).
While in Phoenix last October we met my brother for lunch at a restaurant called The Vig, I do believe my dear brother picked this restaurant because he knew I would love these… 
Of course the fact that the building was a midcentury modern bank that’s recently been remodeled didn’t hurt either. 
Our table was in the walled in, used-to-be the drive through area, and the old teller window is now a bar. 
There’s a Bocce ball court too. 
As well as a killer fireplace… 
Which I’m sure gets a lot of use, even in Phoenix, as the large windows at the top of the walls all rotate open to let in a cool breeze. 
But we all want to stare at those metal Agave and Aloe columns a little more don’t we? 
Did you notice this little guy in the earlier pictures? He took a tumble, don’t worry we tucked him back in. 
Planted up with the right cold-hardy species these could work in my garden… 
I just need a metal fabricator with a great eye (and affordable rates). 
Those columns are sweet! I was hoping you would show them closer, and then you did! Are you sure you didn't tuck that little guy who took a tumble into your purse? What a cool restaurant!
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! Love those too! Your brother made a great choice.
ReplyDeleteLooks like many of those will be quite large eventually and might need switching out.
What a great and simple idea for veritcal planting. And lovely plant selection as well!
ReplyDeleteVery much enjoying your Oct travels. I wonder who handles the plants for The Vig? Great ideas there. Hope the food was as good as the ambience.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! You might be able to come up with a reasonable facsimile that doesn't require you to pay anybody to build it. Some of that heavy "mesh" rebar, for the cage, maybe some square pipe for a couple of corners. I can envision it now...
ReplyDeleteDIY is more fun!
That's really cool! The vertical garden looks too cute.
ReplyDeleteLove the plants, have many of them I my garden. Just posted on my rock garden.
Hmmm...after the great work he did on your pergola, this seems like something Andrew could emulate. Thanks for the closer look. At first glance they looked like tillandsias.
ReplyDeleteI want to live there. SO cool!
ReplyDeleteThese columns are very nicely designed!
ReplyDeleteI want a few of these. Very cool! Alan, come up with a prototype :-).
ReplyDeleteGerhard
:: Bamboo and More ::
Love it. I was recently having the same idea after seeing some agaves and aloes growing in the wild. In nature they often grow in the vertical zone, perhaps the drainage would be ideal enough to survive up here in the north. I like it, we've gotta talk to some metal fabricators!
ReplyDeleteI love the look. I wonder how the succulents would fare with the fluffy material around their bases, holding the substrate in? In our winter-wet climate, it might require some tooling to get the retaining material right for plants with rot-prone bases. Fun to think about!
ReplyDeleteI see garden art in your future! That's a very cool lunch spot. Kudos to the plantsperson who did their column art!
ReplyDeleteYour brother knows you so well!
ReplyDeleteI like those pillars, a variation of vertical gardening, and by adapting the plants to the location, can be applied to any garden.
Alison, in all honesty I thought about it for half a second but did not...that would be wrong!
ReplyDeleteShirley, I wondered about that. I wonder if they contract the maintenance and some service will keep the plants appropriately sized?
Spiky O, agreed!
Denise, I almost included a bit about the food but then decided since I'm not a food blogger to delete that part. Of course I'm not a design blogger either but that didn't stop me from including those pictures! So...yes...the food was really good, we all enjoyed what we ordered and my husband especially enjoyed their "pretzel" bread.
Alan, this could be dangerous...
Nicole, I'll check out your post.
ricki, true, now if he could just get a little free time away from that job of his.
Heather, ha! Can you even imagine!!! That would be fabulous.
Lauren, aha! You seem to be just the person who would know how to get a few made! (since you have all that groovy metal work in your garden).
Gerhard, if Alan doesn't I might...
Nat, good point and so true, I remember seeing these plants hanging off the side of rocks and steep cliffs.
Kate, for sure...we can't have any of that pesky moisture trapped so close to the base of the plants.
MulchMaid, for some reason I was thinking of these more as garden structure than art...but I suppose they are straddling a very thin line.
Mark and Gaz, yes he does. He also turned down an invite to visit the Desert Botanical Garden with us because he didn't want to deal with me taking "thousands of pictures"...
To enlarge on Alan's idea of DIY, what would happen if you wired some of those long metal baby chick feeders
ReplyDeletetogether?
Very, very nice! I'll have to keep this design in mind for the future.
ReplyDelete