We moved into this house in June of 2005, so come this June we will have lived here for 10 years. Yet we still receive the Sundance catalogue addressed to the previous owner. Ten years! Sometimes it goes right into the recycling, sometimes I thumb through it. This time I found myself staring at that poor agave and wondering…
Did they just dig it up and plop it in the bowl for the photo shoot?
Did they get any roots?
Did they replant it afterwards?
Does anyone really think it’s growing there, with no soil?
Does anyone care?
Does Robert Redford like agaves?
All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Perhaps they thought it was a giant spiky Tillandsia..
ReplyDeleteI want a tillandsia like that!
DeleteCrikey, looks strange! Could be photoshopped?
ReplyDeleteI suppose anything is possible these days.
DeletePerhaps it's like the cabinets that magicians use, and the bowl actually has a hole in it that lets the Agave's roots go down inside. And I love your reaction to the picture, caring about Agave torture.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea about the cabinet, sadly I doubt that much care would have been taken.
DeleteI hope it's a really good fake.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even thought of that as a possibility but that would be wonderful!
DeleteYou know what I think? (And this is really gonna kill you.) I think they just gathered up a bunch of severed arms and put them together like a flower arrangement. Maybe stuck them into a floral frog. 'Cause the angle of the limbs is just so unnatural! That is not right.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, certainly could be done. I have to disagree though, about the angles, having studied a few thousand agaves in my time I think it looks about right.
DeleteYup! You are certainly the expert here. :-)
DeleteLike Evan, I think it's a fake or a Photoshop trick. It looks so out of place. I love agaves, but I'd never want one NEXT TO MY BED!
ReplyDeleteYou have me remembering the year I brought an agave in from outside to overwinter in the bedroom of our rental house, when we first moved to Portland. That room had the best light of any. Andrew wasn't so thrilled since it was on his side of the bed.
DeleteI'm with Evan. There are some really good fakes out there these days. I can't imagine digging up a plant like that just to take pictures.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right!
DeleteI second Evan.
ReplyDeleteI feel a little odd rooting for a fake but I guess in this case I am.
DeleteDanger - having worked in film, print, and commercials over 15 years, I can assure you that the person behind the camera doesn't care HOW you get the look they want, only that you DO get it and NOW. It doesn't need to make sense. Wonder why I no longer work in film?
ReplyDeleteOh gosh. I'm glad you got out Vicki!
DeleteBut darn it makes for a great photo shoot!
ReplyDelete(I cringe at "colleagues" who design for after-install photos, without any regard for beyond since it will all die, etc)
Damn, that really happens?
DeleteMore than not...worse is actually hearing their reasons.
DeleteFake Agave Big Lots! $12.95. Guessing.
ReplyDeleteRobert Redford shops at Big Lots?
DeleteOh yes, Bob loves a bargain! I've often seen him there rummaging through the final clearance items. We laugh about it and then hit Taco Bell for lunch. He's a big fan of that cheese like sauce that they drizzle on everything!
DeleteAha! I knew that whole organic thing was just lie.
DeleteOh wait, that's the other one. Paul somebody...
DeleteI wonder if it's plastic? Plastic agaves don't bite.
ReplyDeleteDo you speak from experience?
DeleteHi Loree, excuse my ignorance, but what is the conection between this and Robert Redford? Is he the owner of the catalogue?
ReplyDeleteOh gosh Lisa no worries! Yes, he is the founder.
DeleteI actually like that bed a lot. And I bet it's hella expensive (yep: $3,495). Trying to imagine reaching for the alarm clock with a salmiana, or whatever that thing is, on the bedside table... that's a 911 call right there, oy.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, indeed. That one arm is reaching out for the pillow! It just goes to show how much I am willing to make allowances for my beloved spikes that it didn't even occur to me what a dangerous placement that is!
DeleteWhat would happen if stylists got some basic plant training? I'll bet they have no idea of the reaction their work is getting from plant people!
ReplyDeleteSomeday People for Ethical Treatment of Plants (PETP) will rise up and force them to listen!
DeleteI can imagine fumbling around in the dark trying to find the bed and running into that thing instead.
ReplyDeleteGood times!
DeleteHave you ever been on a photo shoot? Believe me, you would not want to eat the food that looks so inviting in those pics...and plants? fuggedaboudit.
ReplyDeleteI saw that picture too and immediately thought, Ouch! You'd stab yourself reaching for your alarm clock. Clearly it's for staging a certain cool-plant factor, not for reality.
ReplyDelete