I like to do little landscape vignettes. Not a whole landscape design but just a bed or a small area. It’s fun to use these informal, made-up sketches to explore color and texture and layering of plants.
Here is one with lots of maroon, red, orange, and yellow plants.
Another one with some red and adding in some boulders and gravel, IDK, I find drawing these fun and soothing!
In order to get this project going we had to move this giant palm tree first. See my post from 2019 here: https://www.wildthingsgardendesign.com/blog/moving-a-palm-tree
This project is creeping along at a snails pace for a variety of reason! But I thought I would just post a three year update about this Brahea armata. Look how healthy it is! Operation move-a-palm was a success!
Healthy looking palm in it’s new location
This photo was taken from inside the partially completed new pool pavilion. all the other hardscape has been completed. The pool was resurfaced and new updated pool deck concrete has been poured. The retaining walls are in but not stuccoed yet. Sadly, the tree right next to the pavilion ended up getting a bit damaged. Will it recover? We shall see!
Here is a shot of the pavilion under construction. We’ve got some infrared heaters installed and some cute light fixtures! You can see the palm peeking out over the house in the left corner.
I grew up in the suburbs of Houston. Houston is VERY BIG. Wikipedia puts the Greater Houston area at about 10,062 square miles, slightly smaller than the state of Massachusetts. The suburbs were pretty boring, and as soon as we were teens able to drive, we left our immediate area to explore. We mostly went downtown, as that seemed to be where all the excitement was. We visited all the museums and parks, and of course, the music venues like Emo's, the Axiom, the Vatican, Fitzgerald's... I'm forgetting the others. Someplace called the Unicorn, maybe? Numbers... hahahah. We were underage, so I'm sure there were many clubs that were off my radar, plus my memories of high school are a bit hazy at this point.
I go back to visit my parents, and the area and city always feel very familiar but weird because I no longer really know my way around, and so many things have changed.
My interests have changed with age, as you might expect. Not that I don't still like to go to a punk club now and then! But I do love to explore parks with an eye for design, plantings, and history.
On my most recent visit, I decided to check out Buffalo Bayou Park, and more specifically, the Cistern. I don't remember this area being a park when I lived in Houston. It might have been, but it seems like they have put a lot of effort into it more recently, with tons of trails, landscaping, art, and gathering spaces.
You can see how big the whole park is! There is much to explore!
But it's hecka hot in Houston in July. I'm just not acclimated anymore, and I don't like being so hot and humid. It's not really conducive to exploring the outdoors. I did convince the family to head downtown to check out the Cistern on this trip though! I think I had seen that they were putting on concerts and art exhibits, but for our visit, they just had the regular history tour as an option. I love a history tour, so that was fine by me!
The Cistern is, obviously, pretty big! It held up to 15 million gallons of water. It is not in use anymore due to an irreparable leak. I just love that someone decided to turn it into a place to visit and tour. I'm imagining a meeting where some people are like, "Why the heck would people want to visit a musty old broken cistern?!" And other people are like, "Well, we can tell you are not huge nerds, so we're not even sure we can explain it to you!"
The ramped entrance is very dramatic!
I didn't manage to get many good photos. It looks as you might imagine... just like Khazad-dûm in the Lord of the Rings movies.
The water in this picture is only about 2 inches deep but the reflection makes it look like the water is deep and clear. I recommend this tour and exploring Buffalo Bayou Park. I’ll be back to check some of the other interesting-looking areas. The Lost Lake, the Arboretum, and there is a bat colony to visit(!), and a Children’s Nature Play Area.
I was walking down the street and saw this plant and was sort of baffled by it. Have I seen this before? Maybe? Anyway, I took some pictures and googled around and then also asked my boss @terralindadesign.
So, these are caused by aphids. They are eating the leaves and cause the leaves to create this redish gall around the aphids. I’m still sort of having trouble picturing exactly what is happening here but the link above has a pic of a manzanita gall cut open and filled with aphids. I never took the Pests class at Merritt and clearly I should have!
I stumbled across this picture of our side yard the other day. Wow! It is highly cringeworthy. But such is the price and reality of construction.
Um. It looks you might have left some stuff in the side yard…
About a year and a half later!!!
Just came across these two photos of the space in 2014 just after the basement was done. You can see we still had the metal awning, no stairs, no porch, etc.
I was just playing around with color in this sketch. I really love seeing a landscape where there is super bright color introduced. So far I have not really had a chance to get a client to do this. I have certainly suggested it and tried! I really have! I just love a bright contrast and pop of color!
I came to landscape design through drafting and design, not through plants or gardening. When I first started landscape design classes I seriously did not know a single plant. LOL. One of the first classes I took was planting design for some reason. It was kinda hard since I knew absolutely zero about plants. :D
But I looooved hand drafting so much. It’s one of those activities where I can really get into a flow state. I like CAD drafting as well but it is not nearly as soothing.
I like to doodle these plan view symbols. Would it be weird to get some of these tattooed on myself?! No, no it would not be weird.
colorful plan view plant symbols
colorful plan view plant symbols
My bubble diagram of my mental landscape. I think I was in a bit of a depressive episode when I drew this one. I should redraw this now and then to see how things change. Because, if nothing else, we know that landscapes change over time.
What would yours look like?
watercolor painting in a sketchbook of a Clanculus margaritarius
Our second to last chicken died in February of this year and, with just one chicken left, I decided that we would get a new batch of chickens. My timeline was dependent on Concord Feed and their schedule of chickens. I was hoping to get some specific breeds. I ended up just getting the ones they had available and I am very glad I did because the week after I picked ours up there was a global pandemic declared and people went nuts buying up all the chickens. It was all about sourdough starter and buying ‘pandemic chickens’ in those first few weeks. I mean, also it was about people being scared, dying, losing their jobs and a host of other horrible things.
We ended up getting six chickens, 2 cream legbars, and four cochins (black, blue, buff, speckled). Our older hen is an Easter Egger and she mostly hates us.
Even now I feel the inexplicable pull of chicken math. I really want to add some chocolate eggers or a Lavender Orpington… there are so many adorable chickens out there.
Meme showing a still of Boromir from The Lord of the Rings with the caption, “One does not simply get a few chickens”.
Baby chickens are just the cutest things! Check out these nerds as babies:
So the week after got these the SIP order was put in place. My sister and I organized a pet fashion show for the kids in our lives. It was a great success. I submitted several chicks wearing muffin papers.
Photo of a sketchbook page open to a watercolor and ink drawing of a ticket (front and back) saying ‘Pet Fashion Show March 2020”
Picture of a gray and white chick butt wearing a muffin paper as a skirt.
The goals for this outing were for me to check out the landscape in front of the Natatorium, go to Keller Beach, and to try out a restaurant in Pt. Richmond.
What the heck is a Natatorium?! A natatorium is just an indoor pool. This one is called the Richmond Plunge and it is a public warm saltwater pool. It is fairly newly restored, in 2010 I think the building was retrofitted, solar panels installed (these panels help heat the water) and a new, native plant landscape was installed as well.
Wandering through the landscape in the front of the building I noticed that along the side by the train tracks the landscape continues. There is a regulation sized Bocce Court, a farther back behind the building there are tennis courts, picnic areas with tables and grills, a Little Free Library, and more native plants.
View of a teenager reading a plaque in front of a brick building with a large sign that says, “Municipal Natatorium”.
We ended up going to Masa to get tamales to bring with us to Keller Beach. I had been the Keller Beach before but a long time ago and I couldn’t remember what access was like. My prediction last month that my achilles tendons were giving out was, unfortunately, correct and so I am wearing a boot to try to give the left one a rest. We ended up not going all the way down to the beach but we sat on a bench looking out over the swimmers and ate our tasty tamales. We split a strawberry dessert tamale, the first dessert tamale I have ever had. It was good!
Just sitting by the water listening to kids playing in the water and the sound of wind and waves feels so restorative. I was amazed at how far out the swimmers went! I forget that people swim here. I have only been in the water here (in Northern CA) a handful of times.
View of a small beach surrounded by greenery covered cliffs, a few people are in the water and you can see the Richmond Bridge in the background.
There is so much more to explore around here I am sure we will be back. Here is a link to a PDF of the East Bay Regional Park tri-fold about this areas trails.
Plaque displaying the Ferry Point Loop and Shipyard Trail.
We also made two side trips. First, to Serrano’s Bakery in Richmond and then to TAP Plastics to get some silicon mold making supplies.
Did you know that Oakland has it’s very own equinox observatory? This article in the Oakland wiki suggests it was planned by several prominent citizens in the early 1900’s.
The Oakland Local Wiki is actually a very interesting site to hunt around in. Check out the 101 Things to love about Oakland article. The cool thing about Wiki’s is that anyone can contribute.
Sphaeralcea ambigua, Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls', and Carex testacea.
I got this Sphaeralcea from Mountain States Nursery a few years ago, I can’t remember what variety this nice peach color is. The yard was still being trampled by construction so this spot was where I put all my randomly acquired plants. So far I have NOT cut this plant back in the Fall so it tends to get leggy and awkward looking. It really should be cut back to about 6 in when it is done flowering.
Came across this nice metal garden art a few weeks ago. Desert Steel.
Sometimes you really need a focal point and plants are great for this, so are water features. But art can be a great focal point as well. These all have a really nice level of detail and look amazing nestled among plants.
I really want to use one of these in a project!!
There are no camps I’m willing to send my kid to this year. So I have reduced my work schedule to have one more week day to hangout with him. While it’s okay to visit public spaces I’ll be whisking him away to visit various sites around town. I feel my privilege in being able to do A. work from home most of the time and B. have the ability to adjust my schedule. I’m feeling this privilege even more as I think about the coming school year. Are we really willing to risk the health of our teachers and students just to get childcare?
So anyway, UPS in Oakland is having a covid-19 and crappy equipment related melt down and thusly the shoes I ordered kiddo are not arriving any time soon. He is wearing shoes 2 sizes too small so I MUST get him something. We head to Walnut Creek to get shoes and have our side trip to the Ruth Bancroft Garden. I haven’t been here in several years, in fact, since they have upgrade to have an event space and a nursery.
It looks amazing. The parking lot is even nice and have beautiful Palo Verde trees planted between spaces. At this time, there are strict guidelines in place to stop the spread of Covid-19. Kiddo and I wore masks and kept our hand sanitizer at the ready.
The garden was full of employees/volunteers working, there was a photoshoot/video interview happening, and there were a several other visitors. I was thrilled to find a plant in the nursery that I had been looking for since the beginning of the year, a Eucalyptus cinerea ‘Silver Dollar’. This plant was in a recent landscape design but I ended up having to find a sub and think I ended up using a Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Golden Mop'. This Eucalyptus is great for a cutting garden. You can keep the plants small and shrub formed if you prune it down in it’s second year encouraging multi-branching. Then prune at will to add to flower arrangements.
The Ruth Bancroft Garden has several pamphlets you can pick up at the kiosk. The especially useful ones are the Self Guided Tour and the What’s in Bloom. Oh! Looking at their website just now I see that they have a YouTube channel that gives you a tour of their blooming plants! no need to leave your living room and brave the sweltering heat anymore!
