TheOG

dancing trees singing birds

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:15:00 -0800

dancing trees/singing birds by estudio luis urculo an echo of a garden - instalation Museo Nacional Reina Sofia Madrid.

Urban Autumn 2

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:18:00 -0700

I managed to squeeze in a quick walk in Central Park a few days ago and enjoyed another view of an updated Urban Autumn except more biased to the autumn part. This time the Manhattan geometry was well in the distance framed by autumn golds, the human crush whittled down to a jogger or bicyclist or two and outnumbered by berries. Much better.

+ OGMedia:New Urbanism

New Urbanism

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:12:00 -0700

Grow Shelter

Rooftop Dwelling

Trailer Park

New Urbanism - More episodes at Babelgum

Bittersweet

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:19:00 -0700

The sight of these bittersweet branches hung on a line on the side of a truck in Union Square market stopped me dead in my tracks. It wasn't just their stark sculptural beauty, it was the contrast of their organic curving forms against the geometry of the trucks rivets, the intensity of the oranges and yellows against their monochrome shadows and the flat white paint. There was also something ancient about them that contrasted with the industrial modernity of the metal wall and line. On a table in front of this uncontrived and thought provoking wall art a pile of them pulsated the vibrant yellows and oranges of fall. There is always this strange thrill about fall in Manhattan, and this was definitely one of those moments.

Autumn Flotsam

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:41:00 -0700

It's eyes down, here in Manhattan as the pavements get strewn with Autumn flotsam. Acorns, leaves, seed pods and twigs litter the urban floor. Sharp yellows of turning leaves decorate the dull gray concrete. The crunch of dry twigs and seed pods add an autumnal nuance to the urban percussion of foot traffic. I have some acorns left over from some twigs I picked up a couple of weeks ago. This morning I picked up a couple of seed pods from the many honey locust trees in the neighborhood. Their dry brown tones counterpoint the mauve blue flowers of the Plumbago that is now blooming quite profusely indoors.

+ OGMedia:Mannahatta

Mannahatta

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:38:00 -0700

The Story of Mannahatta and the Lenape Edible Estate by fritz haeg

Small Mercies

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:05:00 -0700

.
Everytime I think today will be day I run out and indulge in a little garden photography, it clouds over or rains. My foster dog is highly dog reactive, walks in central park are out of the question but long walks are necessary since he is young and spirited, so recreation time is taken up by long urban walks where we can take refuge behind a parked car if we see other dogs. Work and volunteer work keeps postponing a day up in Mamaroneck.

I will settle for some small respite I tell myself, just a little tiny something, and on cue my Euphorbia Milli blooms. Small tiny exquisite yellow flowers. I move the pot closer to my desk so that I can gaze intermittantly at it. Outside on the fire escape my Chinatown Chillis begin to bloom. They have grown from the seed of small but fiery Thai Chilli Peppers from Chinatown. Cleaning out the vegetable tray of my fridge in spring I found a couple of stray shrivelled up peppers. Why not I thought and took them up to plant in Mamaroneck. I brought a couple of the seedlings back to NYC and they have grown into fairly interesting plants- tall and fine leaved with delicate white flowers.

+ OccasionalOasis:Parallel Lines

Parallel Lines

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:24:00 -0700

parallel lines by ricfortune

Urban Autumn

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:34:00 -0700

The first signs of the approaching fall usually start with the arrival of Gingko leaves, delicate little yellow calling cards outside my front door announcing the inevitable. This year the signs were harsher, a week or so ago the pavement was littered with acorns and small oak branches ripped off in recurrung bad weather. Today, on the first day of fall walking around downtown Manhattan I noticed some crab apples on smaller obviously more recently planted trees. To be honest they didn't really look in the peak of health. Then there was the glimpse of a single red berry through a gap in a swathe of construction fabric. Fall is off on a slightly grim start this year and maybe all these visions of vertical gardens and skyscraper farms has made the actual reality of urban nature a tiny bit underwhelming.

+ OGMedia:Makoto Azuma

+ OccasionalOasis:Suddenly, Last Summer

Suddenly, Last Summer

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:57:00 -0700

Suddenly, last summer by Leonardo Dalessandri

Makoto Azuma

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:34:00 -0700

Makoto Azuma - Botanical Sculpture by Institut für Kunstdokumentation

The Price of Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:17:00 -0700

I've discovered that late in the season, if I go down to the farmer's market late in the afternoon, I'm able to buy heirloom tomatoes at a great price. There's a particular vendor that sells of all his tomatoes at a dollar a bag. I'd say each bag is 2 to 3 pounds. I came home with two huge bags, I've been eating tomatoes every day and even made two jars of sauce to freeze. Two weeks ago when I came home with the half that amount from the Mamaroneck vegetable garden, the roundtrip train fare was fourteen dollars. Not exactly good economics and that doesn't factor in the cost of seeds or plants. Somehow it doesn't seem to matter but what's odd is price does matter at the beginning of the season as I usually refuse to buy the first tomatoes of the season which start off around 4.99 a pound and as high as 5.99 a pound. I guess it's not the price of tomatoes- it's the price of experience. I won't pay a high price to experience the taste of tomatoes early but I will pay an exorbitant one for the experience of eating one I've grown.

+ OGMedia:Tomato Farmer

+ OccasionalOasis:Birds on the Wires

Tomato Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:03:00 -0700

Tomato Farmer | Chow

Birds on the Wires

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:38:00 -0700

Birds on the Wires by Jarbas Agnelli

Winslow Homer’s Maine

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:39:00 -0700

Winslow Homer’s Maine | NYTimes

Summer Slips Away

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:53:00 -0700

Two things tell me that the summer is ending in Mamaroneck. The Judge's Hostas bloom almost precisely on August 15 and there's a realization that the long days are numbered. Then the autumn clematis starts to flower. I just about caught the very tail end of the hostas, their scent is exquisite mingled with the phlox, but they had already begun to look a little raggedy. The clematis was a mass of tight buds with a few popped blooms. Where did this summer go? It seemed to start well enough, early even, as I got my gardening on a lot earlier this year, and then in the middle there was that wonderful week in Rhode Island but there seemed to be no momentum. It never seemed to actually take off, and here we are at the end.

+ GreenKraft:Recycled Houses

+ OccasionalOasis:In Search of Wabi Sabi

In Search of WabiSabi

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:11:00 -0700

The perfect antidote to the materialism of modern life ?

In Search of WabiSabi | Marcel Theroux

Recycled Houses

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:04:00 -0700

One Man's Trash | NYTimes

Bean Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:42:00 -0700

'We can't eat another bean', Heidi said so the entire harvest was mine to take home. The Purple beans are prolific and its a pretty plant with pretty flowers, it will definitely be re employed next season. The Blue Lake beans, planted a little later are just getting going. I have to get my bean recipes lined up. I did poke around the interwebs to see if there was any way of keeping the purple color from reverting to green and, no, it's not possible unless you keep them raw. This weeks haul also included some tomatoes- a couple of Black Krims, a large head of chinese greens and lots of herbs.

Lush Window

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:24:00 -0700

I wanted to try something different on my front windowsill. I've had an assortment of terracota pots there before. This time I wanted something more lush, like an indoor courtyard in a tropical hotel. So I got deep square patio pots about 18 inches on all sides and I crammed whatever I had into 2 of the 3 pots. The middle one is still empty as I wanted to see what would happen - if the plants given that much more soil would get really big. They have. Both the Chaya and the Pulmoneria have hit the ceiling. The branches of the Chaya are somewhat gangly so I've trained the purpleheart up them. The pulmoneria clambers over the dogwood branches I had in spring.

The window is to my right as I work on the computer most of the day. In the morning, the light is strong, almost too strong, reflecting off my computer screen. So now there is more of a dappled effect. I like it, it's calming. I just have to plant the middle one and do a fancy wooden box cover/wrap around it. The ambition is to paint it black and paint some gold oriental lacqeur looking decorations, but that might take a while.

Frozen Green Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:20:00 -0700

A while ago I came across this Mark Bittman video for smoothies. It was life changing. I figured out what to do with all the extra bananas that inevitably spoil before I can eat them - freeze them. Then I discover - processing one frozen banana in my food processor with half a cup of kefir produced not a smoothie but a sort of soft serve frozen kefir that you eat with a spoon. That base could then be modified with the addition of any kind of frozen berries- raspberries, strawberries. I ate more kefir, bought berries from the market towards the end of the season and froze them. Healthiest, delicious most fun good for you food ever.

So I decide to do a food experiment with the two small green tomatoes I found knocked off the plant the other week. I cut and freeze them. One of my all time favorite sorbets is a lime and basil one that's on the menu of a friend's restaurant in Noho, a visit there always ends up with a glass of sorbet on the house. You can see where I'm going with this right? Some Basil leaves from the windowsill, frozen banana, frozen green tomatoes, kefir and some basil. Whirr. Not bad. Next time I would add lime- it needs a bite. My next green tomato food experiment will be another NYTimes recipes- green tomato marmalade.

+ OGMedia:NYC Urban Farming

+ OccasionalOasis:North Coast

North Coast

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:34:00 -0700

North Coast | Allister Reynolds

NYC Urban Farming

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:33:00 -0700

NYC's Cool New Backyard Farms: Growing More Than Just Produce | SkeeterNYC

A Farm Grows in Brooklyn...on a Rooftop! | SkeeterNYC

Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet | SkeeterNYC

Cool Reds

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:27:00 -0700

The temperatures have soared into the nineties which makes the indoors a cool air conditioned sanctuary. Not a bad thing as, I'm additionally confined indoors with a huge workload. Surprisingly, a color that I normally associate with heat has in fact been a cooling diversion. Ice cold cherries and chilled slices of red and striped beets. I blanked out my usual concerns about local produce to buy two incredibly cheap luscious pounds of cherries in Chinatown. The beets are from the garden. I ate the greens and even used the red liquid they cooked in to tint an old t shirt to right that wrong.

+ OGMedia:Botanic Cottage Project

+ GreenKraft:Build Your own Wormery

Early August Harvest

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:57:00 -0700

I decided to run up to Mamaroneck yesterday. I knew the tomatoes and the cucumber would be unruly and I was worried about the potato plants- they looked a little unwell last time I saw them and I didn't want that to affect anything else. So they were the first thing on list. Ripped them all up except one that looked quite different and healthy. There were a handful of tiny potatoes. I dug up the peas but didn't have time to plant anything else. I came home with a few tomatoes, don't know which kind, but dear god the couple I had were good as were the cucumbers. Purple Beans, huge carrots, quite a few Beets (and their greens), Chinese Greens, and herbs galore. Bliss.

Botanic Cottage Project

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:30:00 -0700

The Botanic Cottage Project by Planetandy

In 1761, John Hope became King's Botanist for Scotland and superintendent of the Royal Gardens in Edinburgh, then the Royal Abbey Garden and the Town Garden at Trinity Hospital. In 1763 he realised his ambition to establish a new, larger botanic garden in Leith Walk, predecessor of the present Royal Botanic Garden at Inverleith.

Shortly after the establishment of the garden, a small house was built at the centre of the Leith Walk frontage, which is described in the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1852 as 'Botanic Cottage'.

Build Your own Wormery

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:48:00 -0700

Build your own wormery | National Trust Sign Off

Ashes of Roses

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:33:00 -0700

I've barely been outside, never mind gardening due to work deadlines and my new foster dog who's just settling in- so into the photo archives we go and here's a rose that I've been intrigued by that I've seen in a couple of places, Rosa Glauca. The photos were taken at different times at the NYBG, early on when it was in flower and then more recently when it had these amazing chocolate colored hips.

I've never read the book Ashes of Roses but for some reason the title sticks and when this Rosa Glauca caught my eye, those were the words that popped into my head. Perhaps because the shrub has an eerie gray cast even in bright sunshine, a cold color tone that explains it's recurring description as blue or 'pewter blue'. I think this description fits best for me- purplish gray. In any case, it's complex, as described here: bluish gray in full sun (with shimmering overtones of burgundy and mauve), or with an icing of silvery gray-green in part shade

For me, this shrub is intriguing not because of it's colors in their own own right but what it does with other colors- the hips look so interesting against the variegated grass it was growing next to. In central park, a clematis clambers all over the shrub there and the color combination with a mauve flower is striking. The photos which make it look a little livery don't really capture the real thing and its interesting to see how difficult it is too get a mental image of it from the descriptions in articles and catalogues.

Get Back Outside

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:00:00 -0700

A walk in the woods | Orion Magazine
A growing body of scientific evidence identifies strong correlations between experience in the natural world and children’s ability to learn, along with their physical and emotional health. Stress levels, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, cognitive functioning—and more—are positively affected by time spent in nature.

How to Lick a Slug | NYTimes
getting kids awed by nature is as important as getting them reading

Kitchen Window

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 06:56:00 -0700

My kitchen window is looking pretty lush and dare I say it, not been assaulted by the local squirrels. I am now cutting a chilli pepper here and there, Mint, Oregano, Thyme and Basil. There's a couple more young chilli plants that have grown from seed from chillis I bought in Chinatown. There's a celery too that I've just been harvesting the young leaves. And that's just half the space utilized as I didn't want to go through the heartbreak of growing more and attracting those durn squirrels. I might extend this in the next week and see if I can't add some salad greens and a few more herbs.

I recently read about the National Trust in the UK starting a vertical vegetable campaign to encourage growing vegetables in window boxes. The logic being that it could represent 600 acres of urban farming land. I have four large windows, maybe I might be hesitant to use the front two that are exposed to traffic fumes but it's interesting to think of the possibilities. I also came across these images of interesting enclosed window gardening spaces. As all the emerging ideas for vertical gardens, green roofs and window farms begin to populate the public conciousness, just imagine what an urban city could look like and what it could mean for apartment dwellers.

July Kitchen Garden

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:45:00 -0700

The July Kitchen garden is poised for it's second act. The purple beans have climbed to the top of its tower and has beautiful knotted purple stems and flowerbuds. There are flowers and little miniature fruit on the cucumbers. The tomatoes are not quite as tall but look healthy and some have fruit. There are tiny little fruits on the chili peppers in Mamaroneck, here on the Harlem windowsill, I actually harvested my first one yesterday.

The best part is that although we now wait for all this to get really going, we had for the first time a pretty decent first act. We had a good amount of snap peas which we had both mange tout and shelled. We have had beet greens, carrots, pacific greens and the Monet's Lettuce is insane. It keeps being cropped as young leaves and just keeps coming back. The arugula, a wild Italian version, is small and keeps bolting but I've found the strong peppery taste a great herb for noodle soups.

The not so good news- the eggplants seems to have stalled, the second batch of beets were badly sown- big gaps, and the potatoes are looking a little dodgy.

+ OccasionalOasis:Solitude

+ GreenKraft:Willow Sculpture

Solitude

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:27:00 -0700

Solitude by robin risser

Willow Sculpture

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:56:00 -0700

Willow Sculpture Garden by Brian Birch

Beach Roses and Milkweed

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

My last vacation post is about the local flora that I associate fondly with Rhode Island. Top of the list are the rugosas also referred to as the beach rose. They are everywhere with bright magenta flowers and at this time of year heavy with ripening hips. The old house we used to rent always had milkweed popping up everywhere and seeing it anywhere else always reminds me of them at that house. There's also the beach pea that often grows alongside the beach roses. I also think about the phlox that grew in huge drifts near that old house and the Queen Anne's Lace that is everywhere. Weeds, natives, invasives, escapees, all a powerful part of my memories of this landscape.

+ OccasionalOasis:Sea Sky Ocean

+ OGMedia:New American Farmer

Sea Sky Ocean

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:24:00 -0700

Photographs: Sea Sky , Ocean, Video: Momenta by Judy Sternbach

New American Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:45:00 -0700

Meet the new crop of American farmers -- young and energetic idealists who are bringing local, sustainable food back to the table | mothernaturenetwork

Summer Bonfire

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:19:00 -0700

You can just about see my friends' kid, Liam's outline as he stares enthralled by the flames, as we all were. In fact we all became kids, singing songs, eating S'mores, layering all our fond memories of campfires past onto the fiery spectacle of this outdoor hearth. We sat in chairs, in an ancient circle around the bonfire watching the sparks levitate into the dark. The fireflies in the trees echoed their response. It's not difficult to see the primitive logic of smoke and fire as magical and capable of invoking spirits and communicating with gods but who knew in this modern day its immense power in forging community. My vacation was about a reunion with old friends and making new ones as they brought new family members to the circle. This summer bonfire welded our bonds, its shared memory as powerful as it's crackling flames.

Wild Boundary

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:18:00 -0700

My friend's property in North Stonington has an abundance of amazing features but particularly interesting to me was how the garden space is defined. Timbered fencing drew a rouqh quadrant around the property, keeping their two border collies in and drew your eye well into the distance. It was incredibly peaceful to sit in a rocking chair on the porch and visually roam this huge outdoor space that was further sub divided by two stone walls. The wind chimes added an interesting dimension to this space, I could almost sense the ripples of their chimes fade at the perimeter. The fence also kept the wilderness out. Beyond it, the forest was thick and mature. Coyotes yipped at night and hawks prowled during the day to remind us what lay beyond. I particularly loved how the wilderness was allowed to creep in, in places with huge drifts of wildflowers and ferns blurring that line between the two spaces.

+ OccasionalOasis:Kuroshio Sea

Kuroshio Sea

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:36:00 -0700

This was shot at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan | theradblog

Salt Pond Views

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:20:00 -0700

The salt ponds that are a prominent part of the southern Rhode Island landscape, where I'm on vacation add a certain ethereal quality to the views. There's always a sliver of land beyond the shimmer of water, and it always looks slightly hazy, a blue gray blur in the horizon. Although there are tidy gardens that punctuate this view where we are, it's best enjoyed through the unruly tangle of an unmown lawn.

July Harvest Getaway

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:17:00 -0700

On Sunday we had the kohlrabi curried in coconut milk along with some beet greens for dinner. On Monday I harvested a variety of herbs and greens packed them up and and hopped on the train to Rhode Island where I am on vacation for a week. Hence the basic framing of this photo as I am sans computer. I'll probably be posting more photos to twitter until I return next week.

Vertical Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:18:00 -0700

Try this vertical vegetable garden | craftzine

Three Lacecaps

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:54:00 -0700

At NYBG, these three lacecaps really caught my eye. The first one above, Maculata, had beautiful variegated foliage and the flowers were very pretty also combined in a flower bed with an assortment of blue and white flowers. I don't know the name of this unmarked magenta one but I love the color and I immediately processed an idea I saw earlier in another bed- tall lillies growing near and around a hydrangea shrub. It was a really great solution to propping up their slender stems and there are probably quite a few lily colors that would go well with this. Finally, this one called lady in red. I was drawn mainly to the bronze/ purple foliage, but looking it up online, it seems like the flowers turn a deep rose in the fall too

Mint Season

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:52:00 -0700

Is mint the summer herb? The ultimate yin for the yang of hot summer days? I picture a dish of new potatoes rolled in mint. I think of combining the potatoes that are still growing in the garden with the mint that is now flourishing in the pots and the moment that the two can go together and I realize - I've never really thought about this before. Growing food isn't just about produce, it sharpens the gardener's ear to the voice of the seasons, dulled by the seasonless availability of grocery produce. I can hear you now.

I'm on a mint trip. The imaginary resort staff have been garnishing my drinks with generous handfuls of fresh leaves. I inhale the pungent steam of mint tea and the soundtrack of Istanbul swells, I am in the deep shade of a cafe squinting out at harsh sunlight. I brush away the beads of condensation on my glass of lemonade to begin my visual meditation on the cool green submerged sprig and moments later dive into another past summer memory. There are two big pots in Mamaroneck and one on my Harlem windowsill to fuel this habit.

Check out the awesomeness of the climbing frames, Jim built.

+ OccasionalOasis:Poet's Landscape

Echinacea

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:08:00 -0700

The poor weather has kept me indoors too long, I've become sloth like reluctant to venture out. I finally broke this hermetic streak and headed out to NYBG. What I saw and what I liked was unpredictable as ever. One reason being that the plantings change from year to year, another being, different times of day with different light situations shift the aesthetics. Today, in the late afternoon light, I couldn't take my eyes of the Echinaceas.

I'm usually a little biased against them, I don't like their scale in the beds in Mamaroneck and they're always in uninspiring clumps when I see them in gardens. But here, in large drifts interplanted in a busy cottage garden way with a lot of other dots of impressionistic color, lit by a soft late afternoon light, they look really great. As they should closer to a more naturalistic prairie setting which is their native habitat.

I loved the orange glow of "White Swan". I don't know which one the magenta ones were, but the buds were really pretty. My favorite was one called "Green Jewels" and it was also the bees' favorite

Poet's Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:45:00 -0700

Mary Oliver's Provincetown, A Poet's Landscape | NYTimes

This is not a poem about a dream,
though it could be. ...

The Land and Words of Mary Oliver, the Bard of Provincetown | NYTimes

Purpleicious

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:57:00 -0700

Here's how this visual delicousness came about. We got a few other vegetables from Noah along with our tomatoes and one of them was this Kohlrabi. Since space is limited in the vegetable bed I googled to find out who it would be the best companion with and discovered that it was no one where there was available space. Heidi had also picked up some Purple Calibrachoas, so I thought- might be pretty in a pot together.

This week, the swollen purple stem seemed to have come from nowhere and it's a beautiful shade of purple that the photo doesn't really capture. Behind it the dark purple tint of the purple bean vines slither upwards. Elsewhere in the garden purple is well represented - two shades of clematis, Wisley and Jackmanii and the black Viola is the darkest purple.

+ GreenKraft:Xmas Tree Furniture

Xmas Tree Furniture

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:29:00 -0700

Royal College of Art graduate Fabien Cappello has created a collection of furniture from unwanted Christmas trees. | Dezeen

June Window

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:10:00 -0700

The monsoon subsided and we enjoyed a couple of hot sunny days here allowing a window of oppurtunity to do some gardening and get a last glimpse of June which seems to have slipped through our fingers. In the picture, note the nifty window tray that Jim had made from industrial aluminum. It's filled with gravel and water which helped the little pots of starter seeds we had there keep from drying out too quickly.

The vegetable garden is doing great, enough to make dinner that night and bring home a bag to NYC. The flower beds on the other hand were all over the place. There was a lot of weeding, some major pruning - the geranium Johnson's Blue got hacked. There seems to be a problem with the Japanese anemones in one corner of the south west bed. The fennel buds looked so different without their usual partner. The Cosmos are starting to flower but are disappointingly puny. The black violas on the other hand which I thought were a lost cause are flowering quite nicely.

It was distinctly odd to enjoy the hot sunny weather, usually the norm for June, instead its been gray wet and cool. The good weather followed me all the way back home and then it started pouring again.

Nature & Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:33:00 -0700

nature and numbers by Bethany Lesko

Quadra Medicinale

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:28:00 -0700

The full entry of Jef Geys is called Quadra Medicinale. For this new project seeking four acquaintances of Geys, twelve plants in the street near their homes (New York, Moscow, Brussels and Villeurbanne). The result is an inventory of the normal plant. It is a pavilion on instinct, on (how to) survive in the metropolis, an ode to the ordinary. | klararedactie

More photos on designboom

Grass Sleeve

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:39:00 -0700

A $30 grass laptop "folder" from ABC Carpet & Home | Hollister H Hovey

Jardin Majorelle

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:44:00 -0700

Jardin Majorelle
by MARRAKECHTV

Jacques Majorelle is born in 1886 in Nancy (France). In 1919 he settles in Marrakech to continue his career of painter, where he acquires a ground which was going to become the Majorelle Garden. Since 1947 he opens his garden's doors to the public. Following a car accident, he returns to france, where he dies in 1962. in 1980 Pierre Berg� and Yves Saint Laurent repurchase the garden and restore it.

Stone Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:50:00 -0700

Last year I hammer printed plants and flowers onto fabric. Yesterday I tried it on some stones and I really love the result. It works best with smooth light colored stones. I used a rubber mallet instead of a hammer ........resurrectionfern

Nostalgia

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:30:00 -0700

Nostalgia (for things that never were) by Nilz

Handmade Soap

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:52:00 -0700

Process: Handmade Soap with BeyondThePicketFence | Etsy

The High Line

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:10:00 -0700

The High Line
Could it possibly retain the tranquillity that made walking along its rusting, decrepit deck such a haunting experience?......

Joel Sternfeld, photographer, whose 2000 series "Walking the High Line" captured the High Line elevated rail structure in four seasons.

Adam Gopnik author of 2001 article A Walk on the High Line

Friends of the High Line: Robert Hammond and Joshua David

Design: James Corner and Piet Oudolf

Archictects: Liz Diller and Ric Scofidio

June 8 2009 the High Line opens

.....It is one of the most thoughtful, sensitively designed public spaces built in New York in years. NYTimes

Tomato Culture

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:24:00 -0700

Tomato Culture by Will W. Tracy

Plastic Fantastic

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:11:00 -0700

Found object sheathed in knitted plastic bags by Anne Cecile Rappa via Dezeen

Sandals by MLeak

How to make Plarn

More Plastic Bag Crafts | Craftzine

Make a Messenger Bag out of Trash Bags | Make

Renegade Picks

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:28:00 -0700

These were my favorites at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn:
Bettula
Photosynthesis
The Black Spot Books
Forest Bound

Plant Factories

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:31:00 -0700

Is this the future of food? Japanese 'plant factory' churn out immaculate vegetables | dailymail

Rustic Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:50:00 -0700

Lauren and Andrew's diy rustic wedding | iDiY via craftzine

left: place cards made from eucalyptus discs

right: chipboard invitation wheels made from two circles of untreated, recycled chipboard diecut and letterpressed to look like an old planting wheel with redwood rings on it.

Trad Tools

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:45:00 -0700

16 TEETH - Cumbria's last traditional rakemakers by Rii Schroer

Gardeners Get Back to Traditional Tools | treehugger

The Legendary Haws Watering Can

Painted Titanium

Vintage tools from the Museum of Garden History
Cutting and Pruning Tools

Plant Labels

Ohio

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:21:00 -0700

ohio by Obar

Elements of the Science of Botany

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:58:00 -0700

Elements of the Science of Botany as established by Carl Linnaeus by Richard Duppa

Bicycle Days

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:34:00 -0700

Image by Giles landscape winner of RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2009 Gold Medal for 'The Fenland Alchemist Garden'

Bikes Outsold Cars at the Start of 2009 | Fast Company

Bicycle Films : Venice Beach by newsuperhero

Bicycle = good | clusterflock

Late Spring Color Report

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:04:00 -0700

NYBG Color Report with Jon Peter — Late Spring 2009 | The New York Botanical Garden

New Moon

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:50:00 -0700

new moon by xpectations

Window Farming

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:26:00 -0700

Window Farms are creating several different designs for suspended, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield light-augmented window farms using low-impact or recycled local materials via inhabitat

Design for a living World

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:14:00 -0700

Design for a living World at the Cooper-Hewitt
Ten leading designers have been commissioned to develop new uses for sustainably grown and harvested materials in order to tell a unique story about the life-cycle of materials and the power of conservation and design.

Chelsea Flower Show 2009

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:50:00 -0700

Best in Show

The Daily Telegraph garden designed by Ulf Nordfjell wins Best Show garden award at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009.

The Show Gardens

Telegraph Slideshow
RHS 360degrees virtual tour

Flickr slideshow

Future Nature

Future Nature - A Chelsea Flower Show Garden by Chris Maloney

Shakspere Flora

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:46:00 -0700

The Shakspere Flora by Leo H. Grindon. A Guide to all the Principal Passages in which mention is made of trees, plants, flowers and vegetable productions; with comments and botanical particulars

The Perfect Raised Bed

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:26:00 -0700

How to build the ultimate raised bed | Sunset

Sansula

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:46:00 -0700

Sansula Dominik Eulberg musicvideo | dirk rauscher

Tomato Seedlings

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:25:00 -0700

Tomato Seedlings Time Lapse | Dave Splat Le

Crack Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:43:00 -0700

Inspired by the tenacious plants that pioneer the tiny cracks of urban landscapes, a backyard is transformed through hostile takeover of an existing concrete slab by imposing a series of "cracks".
Crack Gardens | Pruned

Wave Field

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:09:00 -0700

Maya Lin's 'Wave Field'| NYTimes

Urban Nature

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:16:00 -0700

Urban Nature by Alex Horner

Earthships

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:21:00 -0700

Michael Reynolds is an architect, innovator, and founder of Earthships in Taos, New Mexico. For more than three decades, he has been using recycled materials to build self-sufficient, off-the-grid housing.| Waste?

Wabi Sabi in Milan

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:54:00 -0700

An Ancient Japanese Aesthetic, Revived in Milan | Fast Company

Green Jungle Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:35:00 -0700

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.joost.com/02000ck/t/21st-Century-Garden-Art-Episode-1-The-Green-World-of-Fernando-Caruncho">21st Century Garden Art - Episode 1: The Green World of Fernando Caruncho</a>
The Green World of Fernando Caruncho | Joost

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.joost.com/02000cp/t/21st-Century-Garden-Art-Episode-6-The-Private-Jungles-of-Patrick-Blanc">21st Century Garden Art - Episode 6: The Private Jungles of Patrick Blanc</a>
The Private Jungles of Patrick LeBlanc | Joost

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.joost.com/02000cj/t/21st-Century-Garden-Art-Episode-9-The-Tropical-Paradise-of-Made-Wijaya">21st Century Garden Art - Episode 9: The Tropical Paradise of Made Wijaya</a>
Tropical Paradise of Made Wijaya | Joost

Selections from 21st Century Garden Art on Joost

Hammered Botanical Prints

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:06:00 -0700

Hammered Flower and Leaf Prints by Buildmakecraftbake via craftzine
using the natural dyes in plants - great for making cards or simple botanical prints.

Rosarium

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:38:00 -0700

Cy Twombly The Rose at Gagosian Gallery

New York’s Roses, Home to Root Ann Raver NYTimes

A Rose by Any Name: The Little-Known Lore and Deep-Rooted History of Rose Name by Douglas Brenner, Stephen Scanniello

Bullet Proof Rose by Tobias Wong at Citizen Citizen

Flora

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:53:00 -0700

Interesting new ad by Chris Cunningham, more well known for his avant garde music videos for Aphex Twin and Bjork, for Gucci's new perfume Flora.

In the Woods

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:03:00 -0700

In the Woods with Bryant, Longfellow and Halleck by John A Hows

Sopheap Pich

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:44:00 -0700

cambodian artist sopheap pich via designboom
'my main materials are rattan, bamboo, and metal wire – the stuff that is common and
cheap in cambodia. my tools are simple: razorblades, knives, axes, pliers, a blowtorch.
the manual labor allows me the time to contemplate on the forms and my relationship to it.this relationship between the viewer and the form is what matters most to me, and each pieces are open to interpretations by the viewer.' sopheap pich

Kinectic Wave Sculptures

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:52:00 -0700

Reuben Margolin - Maker Profile Kinetic Wave Sculptures on MAKE: television

Bamboo Biotechnology

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:57:00 -0700

Booshoot is a biotechnology company that grew the first bamboo plants by tissue culture in test tubes in 2004. This scientific breakthrough instantly transformed the plant from a backyard ornamental to an economic powerhouse with the potential to be grown on a mass scale and the ability to compete worldwide in the pulp, paper, textile and hardwood markets.

Big Bambú

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:39:00 -0700

Mike + Doug Starn: Big Bambú | Vernissage TV

Finnhouette

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:49:00 -0700

finnhouette by wes johnson

Vegetal Chair

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:15:00 -0700

Vegetal Chair by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Cheapskate Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:36:00 -0700

This is a term I saw in a recent article in the NYTimes about Slow Gardening. It's a concept that fuses well with green sensibilites as it promotes use of recyled items like turning old tires into planters and uses paint buckets as pots. Joe Lamp'l aka Joegardener who was quoted in the article has a great post on the use of freecycle as a source for garden supplies. He takes the concept further with his series called twenty-five dollar organic victory garden on his blog. There's also this great post from last year in the Guardian called thrifty gardener. The image is from an instructable called Greenhouse From Old Windows.

Waste Not, Want

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:51:00 -0700

David Stark's re cycling/re imagining of West Elm's cardboard packaging

Nothing office by Joost van Bleiswijk

Mark Langan

Drawn in the Sand

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:29:00 -0700

Jim Denevan's Sand Drawings

Composting

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:54:00 -0700

How to make compost | Kitchen Gardeners International

How To Compost - with Rick Valley (LostValley.org)

Berkeley Method Thermophilic Compost | Hoodababba

Build a compost bin (with wooden Pallets) | Gardeners World

Change the Way you think

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:23:00 -0700

My friend Shaun works for the WWF, so I'm regularly reminded, and rightly so about the impact of some of the many choices we make without knowing about their true impact. A few months ago he mentioned how many gallons of water it took to make a litre of soda, this recent video shows how many gallons of water it takes to make a latte. Mind blowing.

Seed Starting

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:07:00 -0800

I'm about to start seeds so here's all my research in one spot:

Brooklyn Botanical Garden Seed Start from Greenhouse tv

Note use of bark as a alternative to peat.

Organic Gardening Magazine

From Gardeners World:
How to sow Sweet peas
Mint from Cuttings
Chillies from seeds

Hypertufa Container

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:58:00 -0800

Make Your Own Hypertufa Container | Fine Gardening

Watershed Sculptures

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:41:00 -0800

Maker Profile - Watershed Sculptures on Make: television from make magazine

Sunny Rising Leather

noreply@blogger.com (The OG) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:25:00 -0800

Handmade Portraits: Sunny Rising Leather