Urban Front Yard Gardens

I've been amiss in blogging about garden design. I think its partly because I don't have lots of lovely photos to share or because I'm not working on any projects. But I've been trying to take some photos with my phone when I'm out and about and see something I like. Unfortunately the phone doesn't take the best photos, and I forget to clean the lens so there tends to be big blurry patches.

Here's a nice burgundy and green garden in the small strips next to someone's driveway. I love the small stucco wall to divide the space from their neighbors and focus attention on the plants. I don't care so much for the stamped concrete driveway, but do like the color of it.

I also like the cordyline in the planters on either side of the steps. Nice and formal but Mediterranean (or Victorian) at the same time. I think formality is very appropriate in tiny public urban spaces.

Here's a cottage planting bed, but they used a picket fence to make a formal edge. I think its quiet lovely and love how the looser plants spill out from the very open pickets. Its a nice mixture of informal constrained which I think works really well for tiny urban front yards.

I have a large incense cedar in my back yard that produces leaf litter nearly year round as well as copious amounts of shade particulary in its nether regions and I'm trying to figure out what to do next to its roots. I came apon this incense cedar at the SF Botanical Garden and really like the mondo grass the used as an underplanting. It's not totally filled in but the more woodsy feel seems to work. So I'm gonna think about that when/if I ever get around to doing anything under my cedar. I love the California Rush in the background of the bottom photo.

This last one is a of a very nice detail on a planter box. So pretty. I'm also feeling the boxwood love right now. I like the broadleaf evergreen look. I especially dig reinventing the formal feel in a California or modern or other untraditional garden.

Did I say I was moving?

Well, I changed my mind again. You can still find me here on Blogger. Enjoy.

Valentine's Day Crafting

No, its not a hot pad! Yes, I know it looks like one.

It started out as an idea to do some photoshop silliness. I was trying to think what I could make for Valentine's day and decided my son was a little too scrumptious not to make into cupid. Step 1: take nakey butt picture of son. Step 2: search yahoo photos for cupid. yahoo photos are actually better than google for this, because they pull from all the flickr tags. Step 3: mashup in PS. Once I did this I really wanted to try sewing with paper. So I had to print out some cupids. I then I thought it would be cool to try a bit of patchwork (see the back) and then quilting (see the heart shapes inside) and then well, I've never done embroidery so we gotta throw that in and put some bias tape (that's actually store bought) to tie it all together.

The fabric is all for free from a thrift store. No pattern, just trying things out. I think I even drew straight on the fabric for the embroidery. I love the red and turquoise blue together. I don't love my stitches, especially my first attempt at applying bias tape (pee-you). The blur in the upper left is my son's name tweaked to protect our privacy.

Once it all came together I had that sinking feeling of this wasn't exactly what I imagined becuase it does look exactly like a hotpad. But DH seemed to like it just the same. Perhaps its because we aren't exactly good gift givers so he was happy to receive anything from me :) I had grand plans on making everyone in the family one, but it just didn't happen with colds and the house being under construction and my underestimating the evilness that is bias tape binding. So I'v got 5 other half finished hearts in my studio now. There's always next V-day...