Lifecycle of the Perfect Climbing Vine

One of my favorite climbing annuals is
Lablab purpureus, or Hyacinth Bean.
I discovered this vine when I found it
climbing the side of an charming, old,
brick home in Portland, Maine.
I "borrowed" a few mature pods and
my love affair began.

It produces lovely lilac flowers and striking
electric-purple seed pods that last for months.
This vigorous climber is great if you need a
quick screen on a trellis or fence. It grows fast
and has beautiful, fragrant flowers that attract
butterflies and hummingbirds. Even better,
the leaves, flowers, pods, seeds, and roots
of the Hyacinth Bean are edible.

Let pods stay on the stem until dry.

Penthouse Tree Suite

Not all tree houses are found in the forest. Some appear in the most unexpected places, created out of desire and opportunity, like the one in which this child staked claim.

Priceless.

Grow Healthier and Thicker Grass

A hollow cylinder aerator is a must have lawn care accessory. Holding on to the handle at the top while standing, the tines of this tool are manually pushed into the ground, as you step onto the cross-piece, and several thin plugs or cores of soil and turf are removed. What remains looks somewhat like dog poop,
don't you think?

The removal of soil plugs creates pockets of air that make it easier for grass roots to get the nutrients, water, oxygen, sunlight they need to grow deep. This helps produce healthier and thicker grass.

A hollow tine aerator is simple, inexpensive, green, and safe.

Yard Butler

Click to see a similar style aerator in action.

Is it warm in here, or is it just me?

The USDA has released a new 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
This map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive in a particular location. These hardiness zones are mentioned on every plant tag.

Last updated in 1990, most gardeners will find that their region has warmed by half a zone. This may give additional peace of mind when planting material that was not previously expected to survive a harsh winter. Climate changed isn't mentioned, the creators of the map say they relied on advanced measuring equipment and more weather monitoring.
The new map includes click and zoom state maps that provide detail down to a half a mile.

Yet, savvy gardeners have always known to locate microclimates. These sunny protected pockets can influence what is able to grow there since they can be up to ten degrees warmer than other areas of the same yard. 

So, push the edge of the envelope. Test the limits. It's called being in zone denial.

Gotta Get it Garden Gear - Grass Knuckles

Growing Jewelry

is a clash of jewelry and gardening; couture and organism. 

The collection is an experiment in drawing nature toward man.

 

Street Tree Selection

A job took us to a wholesale nursery on Long Island to hand select street trees for a local municipality. The nursery's specialty is tree stock that is specifically grown for placement in cities, towns, and villages in the tri-state area.

As you can see from the length of the trunks, these trees are grown and pruned to be suitable specimens for planting near pedestrian traffic. Not one low hanging branch can be found here.

Since much of the plant material available locally is shipped from the south and west, it was great to see a nearby nursery growing a wide variety of strong, healthy trees. 

Yale Discovers Fungus That Eats Palstic

Students at Yale University, part of the Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory with molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel, recently discovered a fungus in the Amazonian rainforest that naturally eats polyurethane and breaks it down into carbon. This is the first fungus species, identified by the group as Pestalotiopsis microspore, that has a steady diet of polyurethane alone. Most impactful is that it can grow in an oxygen free environment, which will enable the fungus to do it's dining in the deepest regions of our landfills.

At the same time, we should look more closer at what they do in in the Netherlands and the Philippines; plastics used in supermarkets to package food are already biodegradable.

Singing Tree Rings

Created by Bartholomäus Traubeck, Years is a record player that translates the yearly
rings of a tree into sound. Using a ps eye camera, the grain on the slices of wood
is read and converted into music.

Have a listen to the unearthly sound:


Years - 'scratching' from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.

For more info... click here.

Tree Tourniquet

How to kill a tree. 

These poor suffering trees have since been replaced... without the fatal guy wires.

Cornell Cooperative Extension states, "Do not stake unless absolutely necessary. Staking is necessary only if trees are planted in a very windy area. If a shade tree will not stand up 

on its own in a windless site, choose another tree."

Music for the Birds

How cool is this. A Brazilian musician has just completed a collaboration with an unusual partner: a large group of birds sitting on telephone wires.

According to reports, Jarbas Agnelli saw a newspaper photo of a large flock of black birds sitting on the wires and recognized that their configuration looked very much like a musical score. Starting from there, he arranged and recorded a composition, using xylophone, bassoon, oboe and clarinet using, of course, the notes laid out by the birds on the wire.

"The pleasing melody is not my invention. It was the birds' idea," Agnelli told the Daily Mail. "The notes are the exact position of the birds (in between the lines). The rhythm is a interpretation of their position, since there are no bar lines."

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Gotta Get It Garden Gear - Pink Flamingo

 

Created in 1957 by Don Featherstone, the kitschy pink flamingo has been a lawn icon since Eisenhower was in office. To some this classic is a symbol of grace and elegance, others consider it tacky and tasteless. Having placed them myself  (under cover of darkness) on the lawns of unsuspecting friends, my opinion falls somewhere in the middle. Funny, fun, and most importantly temporary, the pink flamingo as lawn ornament is firmly ensconced in our American culture. Whether viewed as icon or eyesore, these goofy bright birds are here to stay.  

Order an original

Deviant Art

An amazing organic drawing called "Nemo Graffiti" found at deviantART.com, an online community of artists. 2,500 categories of styles, media, and culture; from fine-art to 3-D modeling, street art to fashion photography, film and animation, poetry and literature.
For inspiration or sale.

Pothole Gardens

British designer Pete Dungey created a beautiful solution to the eternal pothole problem. These colorful guerilla gardens are certain to draw inquisitive smiles and may cause drivers to slow down to smell the proverbial roses.

Grass Vases

These really unique and funky grass vases would make mere weeds look special.
They are designed by two Danish artists who call themselves Claydies. (Clay Ladies, get it?) Their wide range of creative work ranges from ceramic hairstyles to tableware for the Danish Railways. The whimsical faux grass is over five inches tall and is available in three sizes.

Claydies from Copenhagen

World's Largest Trellis

On a recent trip to Montreal, I returned to an Expo 67 icon now reincarnated as The Biosphere. Designed by Buckminster Fuller, it was one of the biggest attractions at the fair. Now, it is a site devoted to environmental action and as a showcase for studying water and the local ecosystem. Based on the bottom photo it may eventually become the world's largest trellis!

Built from triangles, which Buckminster Fuller considered the perfect form, the Biosphère is the synthesis of his entire process: he demonstrated that it was possible to create a liveable space using only one-fiftieth of the materials normally used in a conventional architectural design.

Definitely worth a stop if you're anywhere close.

A Farm with Wheels

A traveling, edible exhibit that brings the farm to urban youth,  the Truck Farm was started by a filmmaker in Brooklyn who had no room for a conventional in-ground garden. The farm-on-wheels has expanded to include 25 unique farm trucks across the country. Their philosophy?... to teach people of all ages that growing food can be fun, easy, and rewarding... even if you don't have a lot of land. They are always looking to expand their fleet, so contact them if your interested in setting up a Truck Farm in your community.

Holiday Greetings

This year's holiday greeting card used our logo as a jumping off point. The bow was created using live Lamb's Ear leaves and a glue gun. The challenge was to photograph the finished bow at the correct angle so the final composite looked as if it was actually tied around the trowel handle. Below is a sampling of the many shots taken to ensure that one would look correct. What do you think?

Tree Drawings

From the Horticultural Society of New York:

Tim Knowles is an internationally exhibited British artist working in all media. The three projects on view investigate elements of chance and randomness in nature. In his series of  
Tree Drawings, Knowles engages the tree as an active participant in the creative process.
By attaching drawing instruments to low-hanging tree branches, the artist records a tree’s natural motions in the wind, as well as its moments of stillness. Each drawing acts as a signature, revealing the unique qualities and characteristics of the tree.

 

 

Tim Knowles: for the Baron

April 27 – June 24, 2011

Opening Reception:
Wednesday, April 27th, from 6:00 to 8:30pm

Curated by Chris Murtha

The Horticultural Society of New York Gallery
148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10018 (between 7th Ave & Broadway)

Alright Already

"The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.  
  The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month."

-Henry Van Dyke

Green Space

A recent exhibit at MOMA adds life to a usually uninteresting lobby space in the museum. New York landscape designer / artist Paula Hayes has created shapes specifically for the building's architecture.

Photo by Jason Mandella

The show is aptly titled, “Nocturne of the Limax maximus,” or Night Music of the Great Slug. The exhibit includes a fifteen foot, horizontal, wall-mounted piece named "Slug" and a floor-to-ceiling sculpture called "Egg." Created from blown-glass and silicone, the terrariums are filled with an array of plants, including begonias, creeping miniature figs, and assorted ferns.

Your Epidermis is Showing

Now that winter's frozen gifts have departed, there is an array of land-locked flotsam and jetsam left behind. Soon after a snow drift finally melted, this translucent landscape resembling human skin was revealed.

The weight of six feet of snow, in addition to not replacing autumn decorations, lead to this quirky creation of nature and circumstance. This is (was) a beautiful, squat pumpkin with a lovely color known as the Fairytale Pumpkin (or Musquee de Provence, Cucurbita moschata). Hefty and shaped like a big wheel, these are a long-lasting fall fruit. Well... except under the weight of a snowy winter.

Bookcase as Landscape

Great animation with kicky music. Don't miss the dragon and the clock.
(OK, this is my second post with a bookcase in four months. What's up with that?
Perhaps I need to read more.)

What's Happening in the Garden Today?

There is a huge white oak in my back yard that is probably over 125 years old. (I know this because two others of the same era have had to be removed over the years... sniff.) 

It's lowest limb is over 30 feet from ground level.

Recently, on one of the first warm days of the year, I was sitting beneath it's broad, bare canopy staring up into it's massive limbs. These strong, protective arms stretch so wide that they reach far into adjoining properties. I was reminded then of how much I love this tree. 

It is home to many of my friend Charise's beloved squirrels and if I were a critter or bird, 

I too, would choose to live here. It provides dappled sun in spring, much needed shade in summer, and a plethora of leaves in fall to rake and jump into. Though my bare feet aren't crazy about the acorns, it's dignity is overwhelming.

During the SuperMoon this weekend, I took these photos hoping to capture some of it's aura and majesty.

Gotta Get It Garden Gear - Nubrella

Now that April showers are on their way, here's a new take on an old standard.

The Nubrella's clear plastic dome stops rain, wind, and snow, and its built-in shoulder straps keeps your hands free as you stay dry. While the inventors seem to envision their 

newfangled umbrella making a statement with pedestrians and bikers on city streets,

it'd be great for yard work in a downpour.

Tree becomes Paper becomes Tree

Yuken Teruya (1973- ) a Japanese-born artist based in New York City, constructs intricate paper cuttings from discarded materials like toilet paper rolls, high end shopping bags, books, McDonald's fast food bags, and cereal boxes. His meticulous creations  begin with everyday objects and often reference consumer culture.

“When people become attracted to my work and observe it closely, they start extracting messages from it.” Teruya told Asian Art Newspaper. “Whenever art is made from everyday objects the viewer brings the experience into their own private sphere and upon using the same material, they will view it from a renewed perspective.”

Using tiny scissors, Yuken Teruya creates meticulous and intricate and enchanting worlds that are sometime viewed from within and cast haunting shadows. In each bag or roll, the shape of a tree is created without adding or removing anything, just by cutting out and folding the paper from the object itself. Simple yet elegant. 

To view additional work, visit Yuken Teruya Studio.

 

For his Giving Tree Project, Yuken cut and created a tree from the pages of Shel Silverstein's classic children's book, The Giving Tree.

Earth From Above

"Earth From Above" is the result of the French aerial photographer, journalist, reporter, and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand's five-year airborne odyssey across six continents. 
It's a spectacular presentation of large scale photographs of astonishing natural landscapes, 
a project that consists of more than 500,000 photographs taken in over 100 countries. 
Every stunning aerial photograph tells a story about our changing planet. 

To see more, Yann Arthus-Bertand.org.
 

Suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark

Coal mine in South Africa

Boats stranded on the dry Aral Sea, Kazakhstan

Switzerland

Freeways in Los Angeles, CA, USA

The Changping District in Beijing, China

Military cemetery in Verdun, France

Cattle near the Masai Mara National Park, Kenya