Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A couple of spiky fences and the winner of the book 'Landscaping for Privacy'…

Before I announce the winner of the book giveaway I want to share a couple photos of alternate, “living fences,” for those of you who like the spiky side of life. This first one I spotted in Tucson, AZ last fall, and there's a similar (although much better) photo in the book. Nothing is getting through there right? The other uses a fence material I dreamed about using in my own garden when I saw the movie Freda and an image of the fence around the two artist’s homes… (photo source) My memory of that image was triggered by an article in this month’s Garden Design magazine on the Mexican treasure Jardín Etnobotánico (photo source) (photo source) If you haven’t already seen the Jan/Feb issue of Garden Design it’s worth picking up for that article alone.

But onward to the book winner!

I used the magical online random number generator to select the winner. All the U.S. commenter’s (sorry Adam D, Bom and Delphine) were listed in the numerical order in which they commented...then the True Random Number Generator selected number 3, Alan of the blog It's Not Work, It's Gardening, as the winner! Congratulations Alan! I hope you enjoy the book and thank you to everyone who commented.

24 comments:

  1. This is awesome!!! Mexican Fencepost Cactus is THE best way to create a natural barrier. I love these shots. I envision several areas utilizing this idea and am currently in the process of propogating new cactus for several areas around the gardens here. Great plant for Tucson and Phoenix.

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    1. I'm a little jealous that you can take advantage of this design in your climate! Hope that you'll share pictures.

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  2. What in the world! *very big grin*

    The photos are astonishing. I especially love the modern house with those spikes in front.

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    1. The bright colors really make the green cactus fence pop!

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  3. Good god. I've been to Puebla but didn't know about Jardin Etnobotanico. We were just talking about how there's a great celebration coming up in Puebla this year and knowing about Jardin Etnobotanico is yet another reason to go back. That is just crazy cool.

    I'll pass, though, on the paddle cactus fence: I would feel guilt for every small child who walked by and reached out their hand to touch the prickleys. So mean!

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    1. Oh if you go I hope you'll take lots of pictures and post them! As for the mean fence I think the kids have to learn some things the hard way, besides if they live where you are likely to find a prickly pear fence they've not doubt discovered that you don't touch.

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  4. I was wowed by those images of Jardín Etnobotánico in Garden Design this month too. My husband's uncle flies his own plane to Oaxaca frequently and has created an entire website about the city, which he loves. Check it out if you're ever thinking about traveling there: http://www.tomzap.com/coaxaca.html

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    1. Oh my, that is quite website...we hope to do some travel in Mexico someday and finding a website like that is a great travel aid.

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  5. Amazing! How ever do the Fencepost Cactus grow so close together?

    Congratulations, Alan - enjoy!!

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    1. I wonder do they ever get so big around that it becomes a problem? Good point.

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  6. No one's going to dare go through that fence...

    I would love to visit Jardin Etnobotanico in the near future, especially after being featured on various magazines, forums, and shows lately.

    Congratulations to Alan!

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    1. I hope you do, and take lots of pictures!

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  7. I love your new blog 'look' and the subject of your latest post!!! I 'second' your comment re. Garden Design mags latest issue! There is nothing more engaging than walking between tall walls that engage our sense of scale and proportion...add the spikes...and WOW!

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    1. Thank you Lauren...now if I can just conquer the photo size issue. I want bigger pictures!

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  8. Monty Don visited Jardín Etnobotánico as part of his Around the World in 80 Garden series. You can see the segment on Jardín Etnobotánico here on YouTube. It starts at around the 6 minute mark.

    Congrats, Alan, on winning the book!

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    1. Yay! Thank you Gerhard. I've long wanted to watch that series but never been able to track it down. This is wonderful.

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  9. Forgot to say what Lauren remarked on too: I love the new look at danger garden!

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    1. Thank you Jane, how do you feel about the new commenting structure? Easier to read or more difficult? I'm not sure yet how I feel. It certainly bumps the comment count as each of my replies now appears as a separate comment.

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    2. I like the new commenting structure, but I understand you might not want to artificially inflate your comment count.It does make it easier to reference your response though: sometimes I'd find myself scrolling back up to see what you were responding to when you replied to someone else's comment.

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  10. OMG...those last images are just breathtaking! I always joke to Norm that I'm gonna plant some cactus in our parking strip to deter the "undesirables" in our neighborhood ;-)

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    1. Do it!!! If you like Prickly Pear I'd love to give you a couple of paddles to get you started.

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  11. I was arrested by a photo very like that last one that appeared in the Oregonian some time ago, and posted it on my blog (crummy newspaper quality and all). So fun to see it in high resolution and in context. Your new look is very attractive and clean. I like the comment set-up for the continuity of seeing your answer directly after the comment. Thumbs up!

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    1. Gosh you had me worried with the beginning of that comment! Oh oh! ricki was arrested!!! Thank you so much for the positive feedback! Now I just have to talk myself in to learning Blogger's new interface...sometimes I love change, sometimes not so much!

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