Month: March 2010

Copper and Silver Garden Dressings

These two photos were posted at GardenHistoryGirl this past Fall and are simply fabulous. GHG Blogger Arcady said she was inspired to post them after seeing similar concepts at other installations at the Chatsworth exhibit/sale.

The first photo is of copper garden pavers which might make a beauliful addition to any garden path. The second photo is of a collection of silver orbs in a garden pond.

Arcady wrote, “Yayoi Kusama did an installation of thousands of those silvery balls floating on the good-sized indoor lake within the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia a few years ago. As well as being lovely to look at, they made the most pleasant, deepish-hollow sound as they gently knocked together. And, best of all, all the children visiting had wonderful fun pushing the balls around.”

The original works are ‘Narcissus Garden’ by Yayoi Kusama and ‘Cuprux’ by Carl Andre.

Photo Credit: GardenHistoryGirl

Warm Up With Some Lighting Tips for Summer!

There’s that beautiful bit of time in the spring and summer after the sun has set when those flowers in your garden are at their fragrant peak and the air has cooled down to a comfortable temperature. This is an opportune time for highlighting the foliage you’ve spent the past few months cultivating. Below are some tips from EHow.com for installing Feature and Safety lights in your yard to make the most of those perfect Summer evenings.

Feature Lights

  • When you have an exquisite array of lush garden flowers, plants, bushes and trees, you want to enjoy them and show them at their best both day and night. When planning your garden lighting, consider areas of interest that may be especially dramatic at night. Tall trees or hedges, for example, become impressive and mysterious with a spotlight (placed in the ground facing up towards the sky) at the base. Often areas of low foliage or large spreading leaves will look enchanting with a globe light hidden amongst them. Globe lights cast a soft sphere of accent light without drawing attention to the hardware.

Guiding Lights

  • A commonsense use of garden lighting is to illuminate walkways, protecting your delicate landscaping plants as well as preventing accidents. Styles appropriate for this kind of lighting include entrance or tier lighting. Both are a series of small shades atop a foot-long pole that cast light down and away, creating a wide circle of light on the ground. Solar-powered lighting is a practical and easy to install, giving effective for delineating a driveway or path. Art Perez, consultant lighting design expert for HGTV.com landscaping, suggests that although solar landscape lights are inexpensive and easy to install, you may not be as pleased with the light output. Perez suggests setting the lights in a southern exposure, as other locations will not fully charge the lights’ power cells.

Photo Credit: California Landscape Contractors Association

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A View From the Top

Exactly how much of a role does a staircase play in your home design? More and more, this centerpiece is becoming less of functionality — although it always will be — and more of an opportunity for some design creativity in the home. Every aspect of it from its flooring, to how it winds –straight stairway or spiral?—presents an opportunity for fun.

Take a peek at some photos we found from MaterialGirlsBlog.

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Photos courtesy of Buckingham Interiors + Designs.

The Many Uses for Mulch!

mulch

Closely related to edging is mulching. We know we should mulch to suppress weeds and conserve water, but mulch also serves an esthetic purpose, according to About.Com. The educational site notes that If the color combination of dark soil and green leaves can make an impact with an edge, why not bring that impact throughout your garden? The darker the mulch, the more your plants will stand out. The shredded cedar mulch is a fine choice in general, for mulch, but the pale rusty color doesn’t do much to enhance the golden leaves of the hakonechloa grass.

 Another benefit of mulch is that it can be used to nicely frame various plants. Here, the yellow seems to brighten when played against dark mulch. You can see the shape and texture more clearly.

 Visit About.Com for more information.