Each Little World

A business bouquet

This lovely little arrangement was outside the front door to the fabulous Turtle Ridge Gallery in Door County. Not the best background for taking a picture since you can see through the glass wall behind it into the shop. But I found this bouquet inspiring enough to want to capture and remember.

What I liked is that there are no unusual ingredients in this composition and it continues to look good as plants like the coneflowers drop their petals. The poppy seedpods are a great touch but I think any pods one has in the garden would do the trick as well.

A pair of topiaries

These shots are from the small but elegantly planted and structured garden outside the entrance to the Turtle Ridge Gallery in Door County, WI. We walked all through and around the exterior plants before we even set foot inside the door of this wonderful shop.

What caught my eye was this pair of topiaries. The owner/gardener was not around so I could not get a definite identification as to species. The could be white pine or Scots pine. I am not good with evergreen id's but the bark reminds me more of Scots pine.

Note the turtle motife in the stone walkway that leads to the shop and the turtle stepping stones that guide you to the bench. Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see these details.

Using topiary pruning techniques means that you can keep a very large specimen under control and in the scale you want. It's a great way to have cake and eat it, too.

 

Tea House update: Window details

Once all the windows were in place Mark added decorative details. This view focuses on the wrap-around corner window.

It now has bamboo accents on the outside of the window. 

He used pieces cut from worn bamboo swords previously used in Kendo.

All the windows are retangular and filled with clear glass except for one round one. Windows in a tea house are typically covered with rice paper to allow light to enter but to focus your attention on the ceremenony taking place inside the space. This structure, however, is our personal interpretation of a Japanese tea house. We decided we wanted to enjoy the framed views into the garden and thus used mostly clear glass in the windows. 

The round window — the exception to glass — is made of plexiglass purchased from Routed-4-U in Sun Prairie which was able to quickly and cheaply cut one unique size for Mark. He then covered the plexiglass with two overlapping sheets of Japanese rice paper. The paper is glued down using matte medium. 

He overlapped two piece to make them less translucent since we had plenty of light coming into the space, and to minimize the flowery design of the paper. Lastly he added traditional bamboo detailing. 

NEXT: Window shutters

Tea House update: Glass windows

After a long hiatus, Mark has been making progress on his Tea House in recent weeks. The plastic sheeting that has covered the windows lo these many years has finally been replaced by glass!

This project has been years in the making because every step has pretty much required Mark to not only design the given element but to teach himself how to build it — and often requires buying new kinds of tools and materials to do the specific job at hand. Currently our garage is a wood shop and both cars are living in the driveway. 

The two windows above now have permanent glass panes in them but the door between them is still temporary while Mark ponders its ultimate replacement.

This view from inside the tea house is looking toward the front of the structure where a high narrow window wraps around the corner. In the lower left you can see more plastic covering the low front door. To enter by that door one needs to bend down and crawl in.

This is the view from the same window as above but at standing height. The view looks across the stepping stones that span the stream to the fence Mark built across the back of our property. 

NEXT: Decorative window details.

Foliage Follow-up: 2013 Best shrub purchase

Don't you just love it when you make a perfect plant purchase? There's nothing more satisfying. We bought this dwarf Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'North Light' ('Schirrmann's Nordlicht') in late May on the WHPS shopping day to Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery.

The little shrub has creamy white foliage over fresh green, as evidenced from the Klehm catalog photo below. It's a deciduous conifer which originated as a witch's broom on M.g. 'White Spot,' according to the on-line description.  If you are not familiar with Dawn Redwoods, they have delightful feathery needles that typically turn a cinnamon color before they drop in the fall. 

KLEHM SONG SPARROW NURSERY PHOTO

This shrub seemed to settle into our garden immediately and has had no pest or critter problems all season — unlike neighboring shrubs which have had both. Though it still has to make it through its first winter, I'm not worried given that we have three other Dawn Redwoods who've been doing well for a number of years. I'd highly recommend giving M. g. 'North Light' a try.

Mark took the photo below recently in our garden which indicates our shrub lost some of its white over the season. It's continued to do well despite the heat and dry conditions we've had lately. I've done very little supplemental watering and it is in full sun.

Here are its stat's from the Song Sparrow web site.

Size: 2.5' tall x 2.5' wide in 10 years. Plant zones: 5-8. 

Genus/Common Name: Metasequoia glyptosroboides

Light Requirements: full sun 

To see other great foliage plants, visit Pam Penick at Digging who hosts the monthly Foliage Follow-up.

GBBD: 9.15.13

Fairly quiet in the garden this month. The heat and very dry weather have taken their toll. Sedums, Cimicifugas, assorted Heucheras, a few asters are all contributing color. As always, 'September Charm' Japanese anomene is putting on a beautiful show.

Trycirtis 'Togen' is also blooming but is only a shadow of the monster clump that was growing in the garden before last year's long drought.

The the big event in the garden here today is rain. We've only had .40 of an inch so far but rain is forecast all day, so I've got my fingers crossed. We had less than an inch of rain the entire month of August so we are in desperate need of moisture. 

Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in gardens around the world this Sept. 15.

 

Door County domesticity: Inside

These are just a few quick shots taken at Whytefyshe before 7 a.m. as we were stripping beds, taking out the garbage and generally picking up and packing up before we left for Madison the morning after the Labor Day holiday.

Our friend Pat Whyte's house offers "2800 square feet of rusticity and sophistication, with four bedrooms, three baths, a great room, fabulous kitchen (which I have fully outfitted with everything one needs for gourmet cooking), wood burning fireplace, screened porch with great comfy gliders, decks, three car garage, all on four private acres of woods and meadow," according to her website. A great place to unwind and you can rent it!

This view shows back-to-back couches, the wood-burning fireplace and lots of original art.

The wall opposite the scene above gives diners a great view towards the woods. You'll also note the screened-in porch on the outside of the dining room wall.

The kitchen area features a long counter for cooking, eating and spreading out a buffet meal which we did on Labor Day. That's me dealing with garbage in the background.

Mark and I stayed in the huge bedroom above the Great Room. Lots of space for a family, nice bathroom and beautiful light — as well as views of the stars visible through the skylights. 

Plenty of beds for children or friends and a folding screen to privatize the area.

Room for lounging, reading or game playing.

Plus this room offers this great view out into the prairie and woods' edge.

All in all a great house in a great setting.

Door County domesticity: Outside

We spent Labor Day weekend at our friend Pat Whyte's beautiful home in Door County. Pat's daughter named the house "Whytefyshe,"  a play on her mother's name as well as a a reference to the ubiquitous white fish dinners of Door County.

The building dates from the 1860s and started life as a barn on Washington Island. When Pat bought the house in the late 1990's it had already been converted into a living space. 

It's located in Ellison Bay but it feels like the wilderness since no other dwellings are visible on the four acre property.

When she's not using the house herself, Pat rents it out to paying guests, usually friends and acquaintences. It's large enough to hold a big family or six or eight adults. 

After spending a weekend in this idyllic retreat we're dreaming about staying there with friends in the winter. It's beautiful in summer and I imagine even more so with a dusting of snow.

There are woodsy views as well as a lovely prairie area complete with seating right out in the midst of it. And there's a big screened porch for rainy or buggy days!

You can find all the rental details here. I'll post interior photos in a day or two.

Farming partners

The yin and yang of barns are juxtaposed on this property in northern Door County, Wisconsin. Cost of materials and construction — to say nothing of skill and knowledge — mean that pole barns like the red one tend to be the rule of the day in most farming communities. But American life and culture are the poorer for the lack of new structures built to allow for the beauty that comes with vernacular architecture and with age. Click on the picture to see the cluster of outbuildings around the old barn. 

Peonies' final show

Woodland peonies produce seedpods that are as gorgeous in this season as the flowers are in April.

These are all from my Paeonia obvata var. alba.

My Paeonia japonica produces similar seedpods but a bit smaller. These photos were taken about a week ago and the seedpods are even more open and exotic-looking now.

Though this plant is from the late Seneca Hill Perennials you can find similar plants at Song Sparrow, Hillside Nursery, and Plant Delights — just not every year. It may take a bit of searching but they are worth the effort.

If you'd like to see them in bloom, click on peonies in the category list. 

It's also worth noting that the leaves on woodland peonies do not have the fungal problems that my regular garden peonies seem to suffer from by late summer. All my woodland peonies are still fully leafed-out and looking good.