Category: nature

Vintage landscape: the homesteaders’ garden

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Vintage landscape/enclos*ure: family in garden via UW Commons“Homesteaders seated outside in garden surrounding house, probably [in] Washington State,” ca. 1905, by Albert Henry Barnes, via University of Washington Commons on flickr.

This photo was taken by the same photographer as Monday’s picture of repeating haycocks in an apple orchard.

There may be a little porch underneath the vines*, but it’s hard to tell. There is one fairly large window at the end of the house.   In order for settlers to acquire a homestead, “[t]he law stipulated that a domicile suitable for permanent residence of at least 10 by 12 feet with a minimum of one window must occupy the property,” according to the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest.

*It looks like English ivy, which is now terribly invasive in the state of Washington.

A little Heaven in Kigali

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I was really taken with the cover of Josh Ruxin’s recent book, A Thousand Hills to Heaven.  The illustration by Emily Robertson depicts a table set for two in an idealized garden setting among the patchwork fields of Rwanda.

A Thousand Hills to Heaven

Inside, the book is a thoughtful and engaging memoir of expat life and development work.

The actual restaurant, Heaven, which was created by Alissa Ruxin,  Josh’s wife, is one of our favorites.  Of course it’s not in the fields, but in a leafy old Kigali neighborhood, in a building completely open to the view on two sides and shaded by old ficus trees.

We had Thankgiving dinner there, and you can see pictures of that evening and read more about the book here, on The Atlantic’s website.

Vintage landscape: repetition

Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

Haycocks in apple orchard, c. 1910, by Albert henry Barnes, via University of Washington Digital CollectionsHaycocks in apple orchard near Parkland, Washington, c. 1910, by Albert Henry Barnes, via University of Washington Commons on flickr.

I feel like this picture could inspire an interesting ornamental garden.

Here is a little further inspiration with another repeating shape.

The butterfly garden in early fall

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Perennial sunflowers 'Lemon Queen' on the left.

I’m sorry that these photos are a little out of season, but I enjoyed my late September visit to the Smithsonian Institution’s Butterfly Habitat Garden so much that I still wanted to share them.

The garden is a long corridor between the National Mall and Independence Avenue.  It’s bordered by very busy 9th Street, N.W., on one side and the parking lot of the National Museum of Natural History on the other.

Stepping inside, however, you feel enveloped in another world — particularly in early fall, when many of the plants are at their fullest and tallest.

The entrance on the National Mall.
I really like the simple hardscaping.
Exposed aggregate concrete and white granite.
At the end of September, parts of the garden . . .
were absolutely frothy.
The plants have specific relationships to the life cycles of eastern U.S. butterflies.
Seedheads of ironweed.
Perennial sunflowers ‘Lemon Queen’ on the left.
The garden sections mimic habitats important to the insects:
. . . wetlands, meadows, edges of woods, urban gardens.
Can anyone identify this plant?
These are its seedpods.
“Golden Fleece’ goldenrod and ferns.
Begonia flowers and violets.
Looking toward Independence Avenue.
The National Archives in the background.
Update: the mystery plant above is Asclepias fruticosa (syn. Gomphocarpus fruticosus) from South Africa.
Walking back toward the Mall.

Click on any thumbnail in the gallery above to enlarge the photos.

In my captions, I haven’t included many plant labels, because I didn’t take very good notes during my visit. I was depending on a list of plants at the S.I. gardens website, but, unfortunately, it seems to have been removed for the moment. However, there are some recommendations in this Smithsonian brochure, and there’s additional information here at the Smithsonian gardens blog.

To see the garden in early August in 2011, click here.

ADDENDUM:  The power of Pinterest — the mystery plant with the spiny seedpods is Asclepias fruticosa (syn. Gomphocarpus fruticosus), a species of milkweed native to South Africa.  Thanks to Miranda M.