Happy Birthday to ME!!

It all began with my generous sister Beatrice and her partner John giving me this lovely spiky specimen of Yucca filamentosa... just what I'd planned when I organized this new bed last year. And they gave me this plant a good two weeks earlier than my birthday so we'd have it in place for the garden tour! That was extra thoughtful. (The small coleus to the right look really great with that yucca.)
Not to be outdone, however, Bob took me on a wonderful plant buying spree for my actual birthday. He did this for me last year and it was such a hit that he offered a repeat excursion this July 20th.
Here's what I selected:

Cryptomeria japonica "Black Dragon" as an evergreen choice. And, of course, I have just the spot for it. I've been complaining that come winter, it doesn't look like we have any garden as most of our plants were deciduous. I'm working on changing that! A detail, please:

Look at that cool bark! It really is reddish orange and very prickly. Nice!
And how about a Vitex agnus-castus "Abbeville Blue"? Isn't that a mouthful

This one gave me a problem when I tried to photograph it; it washed out and the flowers looked dull. In reality, the flowers are a lovely blu-ish violet and very stiff. Handsome! I saw this shrub last year and thought about it for twelve months... that's how obsessive I am!

And look at this! On the "reduced" cart! I had actually liked this last year, too, so getting it for less than half price is a treat. This is Abies pinsapo "Glauca" or Spanish Fir. He's got these splendid little checkered looking needles. Cool!
And not to be outdone, my sister Cathy gave me tow Carexes.

Such crazy texture. They look like Zsa Zsa Gabor wigs. Very different! And appreciated.
And then, as a sort of over the top gesture, Beatrice and John brought MORE plants. Remember those Home Depot rhododendrons that had me fretting about how I could make a forest? Well, look at this:

They got me five, and I had five so now I have... TEN! That's fabulous! I am so happy. I think that Beatrice thinks I'm nuts because she thought there was some mistake and we got our signals crossed. Make no mistake: I am well on my way to making that rhododendron forest!
And we also enjoyed a lovely Spanish wine and all kinds of food stuff. It was a wonderful birthday! Thank you to all!

A Very Rude Plant

Oh my! I was walking through one of my favorite nurseries and trying to be good (ie; not buy everything I see). I had found the specific plant I was seeking- a Salvia Argentea (looks like giant fuzzy lamb's ears) and was happy and fully prepared to buy it and leave. When I passed a whole table of sedums.
In the middle of that rather flat display of rossettes was this very rude erect individual.
Talk about big pink stiffies! This plant was practically leering and winking and I found it so very funny that I bought him, too. The people at the check out were as entertained by the plant's rude presimption as I was and we all had a good laugh. I decided that maybe I'd decide to plant a Rude Border full of plants that give you the finger or flaunt their readiness for play and meaningful cross pollination.
Our friend now lives on the deck (well, loosely called a "deck". Remember that there are salad fixin's growing in the boards...) and confronting all visitors. Here's another shot of him:

Bob picked out the container that our new plant is happily ensconced in and I think it sets him off to perfection. And flowers are coming soon!

As Promised... The Walk Way!

Ooooohhhhhhh! Nice going! Isn't that just spectacular? That's the "Blue Plate Special" Walkway. I really think that Bob and I outdid ourselves (and we had fun, too!) It came out far better than I ever anticipated...
This is a shot looking back at the house from (of all things) the compost pile. That's where the walk way terminates- or begins- depending on where you're going. To the left is the Blue Garden, full of blue spiky foliage and it looks positively Californian when you have the trunks of those sketchy pines and our BauHaus Chicken Coop in sight. Definitely not expected in a New England Garden, and that's part of its charm. (Did I use that same photo in the last posting? I must be getting forgetful!)
Here are a few details:

Bob and I, as previously remarked, broke up a million plates. But some of the busted plates were re-assembled, almost intact, as seen in that detail above. There were some particularly special plates that were nice to include.

Like this one, above; just a really pretty plate with flowers and blue and gold. Or this fragment:

This is a Yale commemorative plate. I think I'm referencing my grandfather (Grampa) who taught at Yale and the fact that I'm in Yale's Special Collection (four times!) Yale definitely deserved a nod.
And here's a section for Jules:

See the little dog near the top? It also says "Mut" underneath (a sample form a mother's day plate, but it's in Danish). And here's a bit for Maggie:

I didn't have actual horses represented, so I used Sea Horses. I don't think she minded.
And here's a shot of one of the ends:

All three plates I used towards the house end have flowers represented, including Blue Roses on the right. A big influence was my trip (yea, these many years ago) to Antonia Gaudi's Park Guell in Barcelona. It is an amazing mosaic extravaganza, with stairways and walkways and miles of benches all covered in broken plates and bits of colored glass. Astonishing! Our walkway may only be 12 or 15 feet long, but it is pretty wonderful to me. I got all carried away and said to Bob, "Why stop here? Let's make all our walkways in mosaic!" Bob pointed out that winter snow cleanup would be a night mare; do we have to start thinking about snow now?!??!?!?!
One last detail:

I obtained tow Hudson City Savings coffee mugs at a local second hand store. That's the bank that holds the mortgage on our BauHaus Chicken Coop. Each end of the walkway contains smashed mug fragments to remind Bob and I of our luck in finally landing the financing to get us the house. I liked being able to include bits of our personal history.

Garden Tour

Where any tour begins: with one's feet! it would be nice if I were capable of taking good garden (overview) pictures, but alas! I have a hard time with that. But Bob and I worked very hard and weeded and edged and planted and mowed and cemented and generally worked all twenty available digits to the bones (avoiding heat stroke, unlike some unlucky gardeners I know!).
We were lucky, too, that the rain which threatened all day held off. We ran out early to another garden on tour just up the road. Totally different from ours! But really nice: lots of well maintained out buildings, stone walls, nice transitions underfoot (like gravel to pavement to bricks to moss). And the people from the two other gardens on tour came to ours, so that was nice to meet new neighbors.

All of our hard work paid off as there were comments that the garden looked very healthy and even friends who had seen our garden a few weeks ago commented on how everything had filled and and looked great. Thank you for being nice and not mentioning Japanese beetle damage and seriously chewed mallows... Three plants in particular caused comment: Plume Poppy (Macleaya Cordata), Stokes Aster (Stokesia "Blue Danube") and the native Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Fortunately, everyone who visited was well behaved. (Don't even go there: when we were on a garden tour back at our former garden, we received several very odd comments and even a woman who plucked flowers from our beds! Horrors!)
The vegetable garden received raves as Bob does such a great job with planting edibles, including less frequently grown things like parsnips and okra and the like. It is a beautiful as well as productive vegetable garden.

See? Not a great picture... Let's try another one:

Well, I was hoping for a nicely contrast-y photo of the very tall Thalictrum which is all fluffy and creamy and the droopy Nicotiana Sylvestris. Not easy photographing the garden! Bob's sculpture and metal work were causing jaws to drop and many appreciative oohs and ahhhs. We're lucky that our garden is not "typical", whatever that would be anyway. I suppose pastel flowers and potted geraniums? Poolside plantings? Well, we have a horse and a manure pile. (No takers on the generous offer of free buckets of manure!)

Here's that famous "Blue Plate Special Walkway". Done on time- and under budget!- for the tour. My next post will be devoted to it alone. Doesn't it make our place look down right Californian? What with the house looking modern and the pine trees looking so skeletal? Visitors were wowed...

Bits and Pieces (Mosaic in Process)

Ah yes, the old cliche about breaking a few eggs to make an omelette! I have been saving blue dishes for almost a year now. It helps to work at an auction house where endless amounts of table top porcelain appears- some of it damaged. The chipped, the cracked, the broken and unwanted all made it home with me, as long as there was some blue pattern or other. (Until about a week ago when three vast stacks of white china with a gold rim were being thrown away. I am so glad I thought to take them home! I would never have had enough blue material and the white set the blue off marvelously!)
In any even, on the eve of actual walkway construction, I made a fast stop off at a local thrift store and secured a large quantity of the above dishware, "Winter Holiday" by name. The nice elderly woman who waited on me kept remarking, "What a lovely pattern this is!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was taking it home to smash it all to bits...Bob and I smashed all kinds of dishes, bowls, plates, platters, cups and mugs. Very satisfying. One large bin was mostly blue; the other mostly white. We set to work, mixing manageable batches of concrete: one part Portland cement to three parts sand and enough water to make a loose mix. It took only one mix load to realize the best consistency and then we were in business.

We used plastic garbage can lids as "palettes" to hold our busted bits. We troweled on about 2 inches of concrete over the gravel (which was also about three inches deep). It worked so much easier than I thought. We had debated whether we'd need a edge of metal or wood, but the concrete didn't seem to need it.
Have you gotten the idea that I'm teasing here? I'm disinclined to show the walkway as it really is spectacular and I want to unveil it on our garden tour (the topic for my next posting).
But here's a detail of the mosaic:

We varied the sizes of the pieces to make it a more dynamic pattern, plus the fit together better. I devised a simple to follow pattern, sort of herringbone alternate stripes of blue and white. There's also quite a bit of gold which makes a nice sparkly detail. Again, thank goodness for all those many white with gold rim dishes I took at the last minute! I'd be plumb out of luck if I'd held out for just blue! And really? I think the walkway would be far less interesting...
We finished it! I wasn't sure if we'd get it done in time, but we succeeded and it is so much cooler than I even thought...

Piles

Oh no! Sort of deja vu all over again... I think I'm seeing piles of sand and gravel. It must be last year and we're only starting my studio project! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
But wait; could it be that we're finally embarking on the famous "Blue Plate Special" Walkway Project? Bob and I spent yesterday morning (which you will remember as being incredibly hot and sweaty) procuring- and then unloading- an impressive pile of gravel and sand. This took two trips to our local sand and gravel emporium; that's quite an exciting field trip! Towering heaps of all sizes of gravel and dirt and sand and giant trucks (which dwarfed our full sized pick up!) and large hoppers and conveyor belts delivering tons of processed rock. Altogether lunar and very dramatic! They load you up with a huge scooper bucket loader that appeared bigger than the truck.
All I can say is that I was altogether exhausted and on my third tee shirt by the time I had unloaded and then completed excavating the remaining dirt on the soon to be walkway. Another pile was created:

This may not look that big but what with heat and humidity, I was too exhausted to even spread the gravel out into the walkway. And that would have been very satisfying and impressive. Instead I made the mistake of taking a break and visiting my horse, who had thoughtfully provided me with several "piles" in her stall. This was to remind me to clean the pasture.

A woman's work is never done!
But here's a shot of the completely dug out walkway, awaiting Fourth of July gravel:

I made it with a unique and swishy lopsided sway, that I thought referenced those "Stella Doro Breakfast Treats". (Kind of an expanded S). I get my inspirations every where!