Category: garden design

April trees

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A repeat post from April 2013. . .

Ribbon tree in Chicago/enclos*ure

Our two days in Chicago were windy (of course) and occasionally damp, and very few trees had even begun to leaf out.

Ribbon trees in Chicago/enclos*ure

But I was taken by this arboreal display of blue outside the Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue.

Ribbons in trees in Chicago/enclos*ure

The ribbons were tied in the trees and along the fence in memory of the 28,828 children of Illinois who were abused last year.

blue ribbons tree in Chicago/enclos*ure

April is Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month in the U.S.  You can get more information here.

ADDENDUM:  The blue ribbons are in the trees outside the church this year (2017) as well.

 

this is the garden: colours come and go,
frail azures fluttering from night’s outer wing. . .

— e.e. cummings, “This is the Garden“

The Sunday porch: Tampa, Florida

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“Firemen aboard truck,” Tampa, Florida, October 1919, via Florida Memory Commons on flickr (State Library and Archives of Florida).

It’s not about the firetruck — snazzy as it is — but that trellis mounted over the front porch behind it. Was it simply ornamental, or did the vines help keep the porch and house cooler?

Pine Range, ACT

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pine-range-australian-capital-territory-1935-natl-library-of-australia
Garden bed of carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus) and water tank at Pine Range, Australian Capital Territory, ca. 1935 via National Library of Australia Commons on flickr.

My mother’s garden

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Wordless Wednesday pictures from an August 2012 post. . .

Northern Virginia, August 2011.

Click on any thumbnail below and enjoy.

The garden and view from the patio on the first of three terraces. A small pond is hidden by the arbor.
The view from the pond. The area is planted with lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina), Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), and a bright green small creeping sedum. You can also see the spent stalks of naked lady lilies (Lycoris squamigera) and some irises.
The arbor, built by my father, holds Clematis montana. In the foreground is beautyberry, Hellebores, and wild violets. The center holly has been limbed up by the deer. My father also built the stone retaining walls, using stone from the woods. On the top terrace (hidden by the arbor) is a patio area covered by a pergola.
Clear filament protects Viburnums and Hostas. The dark green plants in the background are Hellebores.
Hellebores border a path from the woods to the pond.
The pond.
A tall persimmon tree and a perennial bed that covers the site of an old sinkhole. Beyond is the old Christmas tree farm.
The view of distant mountains.
Sophie hunts in the Miscanthus; a grove of persimmon trees is in the background.
A birdhouse surrounded by Buddleia, goldenrod, and Miscanthus.
View from the house.
Looking down from the top terrace level and pergola.
My grandparent’s garden chairs.
“Tread lightly.”
Stepping stones with the imprints of grandchildren’s hands and feet.
The holly over the bench was limbed up by the deer.
Lichens on the bench.
A high fence protects the vegetable garden.
We brought this sculpture made from old auto parts back from Niger.

Spruce Grove, Alberta

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Alan or Robert (Jr.) Brebner on the homestead, Spruce Grove, Alberta, ca. 1905, via Provincial Archives of Alberta (both photos).

Robert McKay Brebner, a farmer and amateur photographer, immigrated from Scotland to Alberta in 1882 and secured a homestead in Spruce Grove. About 1894, he married Emily Wrench, and after the birth of their first child, Alan, in 1896, they built a two-story house. Robert died suddenly in 1909, and Emily ran the farm with hired help until Alan could take it over at the age of 17.

A closer view of the house.