This corner of my back garden has undergone a few transformations over the years. Back in 2014 the privet was removed and the fence, plantings, and stock tank went in (
here). I enjoyed several years with the stock tank acting as a pond and
the fun of growing water plants, until marauding racoons continually trashed the pond and
took away any and all joy. Last spring I converted the stock tank to a table planting and thoroughly love the new look.
Shifting our gaze just a few feet to the right this is a spot that I've never really been happy with, until now. I am absolutely in love with this vignette and I stole the idea from my friend
Denise.
Back in February was when I first took note of the
barrel rings acting to define plantings in Denise's Tillamook garden (via
her blog). The rings showed up again in April, and
they'd multiplied! I saved those images to an inspiration file and periodically looked at them, knowing I'd eventually find a place to do something similar.
In July I visited Denise and finally saw the rings in person, here's a photo from her garden (
entire post here).
I was also rather taken with this astelia she planted in a metal tube.
Once I was back home it hit me where I could place a ring, and of course I already had one just waiting to be used. I completely ripped off her design ideas and transplanted them to my garden. Metal ring planting? ✔ A slightly different gravel mix within the ring? ✔ Astelia in a metal tube? ✔
That
popcorn cassia that's completely blocking the view of the plants in the ring? It's gone now. I'd already planted it in this spot before I put the ring in place, and since it's an annual in my climate I figured I'd just let it live out the season. Then one day I decided it needed to go, bye bye! It was a good decision.
Thankfully Denise visited my garden a couple of weeks ago and I was able to show her my idea thievery in person. I think she has forgiven me. I tried to bribe her with plant gifts.
This snippet of an article was in a recent Gardens Illustrated and I loved the quote so much that I had to record it (sadly I didn't track which issue, or even what garden Danni works in, my bad)...
Gardening is about the process, and small projects like this are what those of us with a "finished" garden can indulge in to get our creative ideas flowing and feel a renewed connection to our garden.
Thank you Denise for the inspration!
All material © 2009-2023 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Kudos to you and Denise for finding a way to subtly show off a collection of plants without losing the focus on the plants. The two of you also now have me thinking that raising the elevation of an Astelia is probably the best way to keep it out of the jaws of rabbits.
ReplyDeleteDarn rabbits! I saw one at Chanticleer last week, it appears everyone deals with those hungry critters.
DeleteMakes me laugh to think I saw this in person before the big reveal! And I'm still unsure if using pipes as planters reduces the hardiness factor. The inspiration just flows back and forth -- can't stop thinking of that stock tank planting table!
ReplyDeleteI've always followed the idea that a container takes a zone off the hardiness, so it would seem to follow that a pipe planting such as this would do the same? It does increase drainage though, so there is that. You were mentioned a few times during the Fling, we all would have loved to have had you there!
DeleteMany years ago I was surprised and happy to see a red daylilly pop up,,,,luckily a large pot had broken and the rim was intact. Voila! A new staging!
ReplyDeleteInspiration has many forms...
DeleteWe can't help being influence by everything around us. We borrow and share, consciously or not, all the time. Rather than thievery, I think it's a sign of an open and creative mind as we put our own touch on our creation. Finding the rings, tubes and gadgets: that's the trick.
ReplyDeleteI also have a rather mature garden at this point but as long as everything continues to grow, the process - thankfully - never really ends.
Tinkering! The word of the day.
Chavli
"a sign of an open and creative mind as we put our own touch on our creation"... I like that!
DeleteHaha, Loree, you’d probably be a bit unnerved if you knew how many times I’ve copied (stolen?) YOUR ideas. Truth, you’ve been hugely influential for me, and I imagine, countless others. Thank you for continuing to pump out the great posts and great ideas.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this comment! I do appreciate it whoever you are. It's a great feeling to know that you inspired someone else.
DeleteWe can't help but be influenced by what we have seen and heard. Humans have been sharing, and building upon each others ideas, as long as we have been around. It's analogous to a conversation, the thread of thought shifting and growing as it volleys back and forth between each person. In the end, we might end up with concepts that have been reassembled in a new an interesting way. I look out into my garden and see touches from my mother, father, grandmother, past relationships interweaving in and out. Our gardens are our stories of those people and ideas that mean the most to us.
ReplyDelete"Our gardens are our stories of those people and ideas that mean the most to us"... I'm going to be working that one for awhile.
Delete