Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

Hibernation

clad with radiance
the garden sleeps quietly
all winter to dream

Stacking stones

This year I'm adding perforated pipe to the dry stack stone retaining wall construction process (pictured wrapped in white filter fabric). The pipe's purported purpose is to provide a passage for water to flow through the wall, thus alleviating potential hydrostatic pressure that could cause rotation and failure. I'm fairly certain based on the performance of the previous installations that a good amount of crushed stone behind the wall ensures ample drainage, but we had extra pipe and filter material so I decided to give it a shot.

Morning in the garden

The wall, cont'd.

This summer we ordered two more skids of "Laurel Hill" Pennsylvania fieldstone for yet another dry-stacked retaining wall. This installment will repeat the gesture of last year's side yard project (visible in background), creating a new tier of plantable space under and away from an existing thicket of forsythia hedge. The red flag on the lower left marks the center line of the view from the front yard to a focal oak tree in the back.

Raised beds, part three

The construction of this garden project is nearly complete. Time to let it grow.

Arboretum of the Barnes Foundation

Visited the Barnes Foundation on Saturday. The estate hosts a significant collection of impressionist and 20th century works (many by Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, van Gogh, Matisse, Rousseau, Monet, Miro, and much more). The museum is open to the public with reservations for tickets, this trip was booked over a month ago.

Click image to view slideshow.

It rained a bit when we were touring the galleries, which were mostly empty of visitors. The sun resumed shining once we got out into the arboretum. From the Barnes Foundation website:

Art Collection
The Barnes Foundation collection is unsurpassed in breadth, quality, and depth in French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern paintings. It is enhanced by Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, Chinese painting, African sculpture, retablos from New Mexico, Native American pottery, and American decorative arts. Juxtapositions of objects from different cultures, periods and media provide exciting opportunities for teaching and making visual connections.

Arboretum
The Arboretum houses a rich collection of species and varieties of trees, shrubs, and other plants introduced from various regions. There are a number of living fossils or very ancient plants, historic/biblical plants, botanically precious specimens, plants of proven medicinal use, and a few extensive collections of genetic importance. The Arboretum is a paradise of well-known ornamental plants artistically landscaped, reflecting concepts from the installation of art in the gallery ensembles.

Seattle, Ellensburg, Yakima

Click image to view slideshow.

Raised beds, part two

Take that, lawn.

Today, tomorrow...

Raised beds

This year's garden project is getting into full swing: a potager (four part kitchen garden) of 8'x8' raised beds. Each square is chamfered at one corner to create a little open space in the center.

...and you show me a sign, I'll be tillin'

Street view

For an impressively comprehensive walking tour, enter "Petit Trianon" into Google Maps and zoom-in until it snaps into StreetView mode. The gardens at A.I. duPont's Nemours mansion in Wilmington are purportedly based on this sub-development at Versailles, and are of similar scale.

Snow capped

Photographed December 25th, 2009

The wall, continued

Here's the front corner retaining wall, a bit behind schedule but finally finished.




Planting: Azaleas, Euonymus fortunei, Nandina domestica

When the world wearies
and society ceases to satisfy
there is always the garden.

Balance restored

Beautiful rocks, beautiful grass
Beautiful soil where they both combine
Beautiful river, covered in sky
Never thought of possession
That all this was mine...

When you know, even for a moment
That it's your time —
Then you can walk with the power
of a thousand generations

~ Bruce Cockburn "Dream Like Mine"

Sometimes this song pops into my head when I'm looking out over a sun-streaked field. Screams, "It's ours! It's now! It's been here all along!"
The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few.

The fall

Autumn Leaves, by cedarkayak

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"
Robert Frost, 1923

Grass roots

Discontent is the engine of progress.

I'm not happy with lawns. Mandatory high-maintenance monoculture zones. From Public Garden, Vol. 24, No 2:

Lawn is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in most gardens due to the amount of energy involved in using mowers and other power tools, pumping water for irrigation, and manufacturing the fertilizers and pesticides commonly applied to turf.

Speaking of engines, gas-powered lawnmowers are particularly nasty polluters. A 2001 study by Roger Westerholm, Stockholm University, stated,

Air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride.

The EPA estimates 17 million gallons of oil and gasoline are spilled each year in the process of fueling mowers.

Yes, green lawns are inextricably bound to suburban culture. Yes, there's a ton of industry developed around lawn maintenance. Yes, your riding lawnmower is bigger and better than your neighbor's. No, these are not good reasons for idle contentment with the grassy status quo.

Pull up your lawn and plant a garden, for victory over stagnant, deleterious institutions.

The wall, part three

The first installment of dry-stacked retaining wall is nearing completion. Gaps between the stones will host small plants, a row of scrubby herbs will cap the top edge. The garden bed will be populated with vegetables in the summer, surrounded by perennials and shrubs. I am very satisfied with the results, like a big staple stitching the front and back yards together.

Concept sketch

Improvement concept for driveway/front yard. To be built & planted by the time MuteMath plays Philadelphia. Note the use of Google Street view.

The wall, part two

Ingredients: Pennsylvania fieldstone, crushed gravel, landscape fabric, ibuprofen.....

The Lego Days
Spar Cove Rock Balancing
Brandywine Creek State Park
ENGR 305: Mechanics of Materials