Each Little World

A Pattern Language

Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language" is a book about architecture, community and design solutions that came out of UC-Berkeley in the 1970s. I own a copy and have skimmed it over the years. I love patterns and recently kept noticing them, no matter where I was or what I was doing. So this is my "pattern language."

No bouquets yet

I did make a tiny arrangement of snowdrops for a friend, but the garden is so wet from the snow and rain that I'm just enjoying it from a distance. A few weeks ago I arranged a display on our pair of Chinese wine tables in anticipation of Spring. This is as far as spring has made it inside the house. 

I first saw this plate a number of years ago on the website of a store called Asiatica in Kansas City. It has been out of stock since the first time I saw it — until now. It is one of the few things in this beautiful shop that I could afford, so I snapped it up immediately.

And I got the bowl as well. You can see that I enjoyed my pots of Muscari until the bitter end. I will plant the bulbs out in the garden very soon. 

I have a small number of Japanese indigo fabrics woven on narrow looms. I don't really have a plan for them, but I couldn't resist the different patterns. Rolling them up and displaying them in this tray from Target seemed like an easy way to enjoy them. 

Despite the fact that this is not a large vase, it will be a while before there are any flowers in the garden that are tall enough not to be hidden below the rim. 

The rain should end today and the forecast is mostly sunny with temps in the 70°s by early next week. That's way too warm for early April, but it is what we are seeing more and more as the climate changes.

No place like home

Why not stay here forever and ever

enjoying this immortal rhythm,

in which both eye and soul are at rest?

— Virginia Woolf —

 

A Chinese necklace (probably bone) and a dried Magnolia leaf resting in our Thai Spirit House.

Look low

On Valentine's Day Mark and I drove out to Stoughton to the Abel Contemporary Gallery. We hadn't been out to visit and look at art in a while. The openings are so crowded that we've been avoiding them. A Tuesday morning was perfect.

Both the owner, gallery director and a new staff member were all there and with time to talk. After I caught up with everyone, I wandered off while Mark told them about his upcoming photo show.

As always, I am as captivated by the floor as much as the artworks in this 1891 building — originally a tobacco warehouse. Every step you take reveals new marks and changes in the wood. 

Eventually I looked up again and bought myself a necklace for Valentine's day and Mark treated himself to a tea bowl to add to his collection.

Holiday decor

Last month, a long-time artist/gardener friend had a big sale of his artwork at a gallery space he created in his home. Artists never stop making new work and eventually they need to move it on to make room for new work; thus the sale. Mark bought a large print and I opted for this painting. I found the scene very calming despite its intense coloration. 

I added this ornament being pulled by a toy farm tractor as a nod to the holiday. The big green glass ball already had the pink bow on it. Clearly it was meant to join the painting. 

We are starting to come out of our cold spell. I'm a bit worried that it may get warm enough and rainy enough later this week to melt the snow cover. I'm thinking of going out looking for a couple of curbside Christmas trees to bring home. I will cut the branches off and have them ready to put over new plantings when the temperatures plunge back into winter. 

IVOM: The perfect vase

Some vases are perfect because they are just right for short-stemmed blooms.

If you're lucky, they're equally good for long-stemmed beauties. 

But the very best vases look perfect even when they don't have any flowers. 

I love the glass vases by Richard Jones of Studio Paran in Madison. Given that I have three more of his vases in different shapes, sizes and colors, you could probably say I am addicted.

Jones is closing his studio and has been slowly selling his stock; first online and now Saturday afternoons in person at his shop. 

I bought this one knowing it was unlike any of my other black and silver vases. Mark suggested I display them as a group without flowers. I was thrilled he said that as that is exactly what I was thinking of doing!

I added a pot of Cyclamen to turn it into a Christmas display. Though I admit the flower color looked much more red in the shop than in my living room. Still, I am happy with my new purchase and love the group as a holiday display. 

Where they went No. 3

This image looking down the Tea House slope has always been one of my favorite views of the garden. For the last few years it has also been the area where I've been replacing high maintenance perennials like Hostas with shrubs.

It has been a problem free landscape except for the rabbits; thus the caged Deinanthe cerulea. Deinanthe is a shrubby perennial which dies back in the autumn and returns each spring. Its size makes it function like a no-fuss shrub. 

Despite a lot of extra watering, this year's weather and the loss of a neighboring tree proved too much for the Deinanthe. In September I dug it up and moved it to a much shadier location where I hope it can recover. I've had this lovely plant since 2006. It came from the the source of so many of my treasures: the late Seneca Hill Perennials.

I replaced it with New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americans), a low growing  native shrub whose flowers attract humming birds. An Oak Leaf Hydrangea (H. quercifolia 'Pee Wee') is behind it. The Hydrangea flowers on old wood and our erratic early spring temperatures have kept this from flowering for the last two years. Luckily it has distinctive foliage to recommend it.  

Among the other shrubs along the edge of this slope are Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa", a trio of Thuja occidentals 'Pancake' and a few others that are not visible. There are still a few Hostas because they are one of the few plants that provide so many foliage options in my Zone 5 climate. 

Where they went No. 2

More looks at where some of my 2022 plant purchases have gone.

. . . 

The Lower Moon Garden

Thuja orientalis 'Franky Boy' performed beautifully in a pot all summer.

It has such great texture that it was nice enjoying it up close.

Its permanent location is far out in the front garden. Given it's potential size — 4'-6' high x 3'-4' wide — I am hoping it won't take too long for to become visible at a glance out the kitchen window. Right now it's barely noticeable among the nearby ferns, ground cover shrubs and trees.

Once the leaves disappear and the Geraniums die back for winter, it will definitely be more visible, especially with a little snow cover on the ground.

The West Gate Garden

On the west side of the house we planted three seedling European spindle trees that I bought from the original Heronswood nursery. Opposite them were three burning bushes original to the house. Over time, both plantings were devastated by tent caterpillars and we removed them all.The ground covers in this 2011 photo are also long gone.

I loved the transition from the shady front space to this short sunny corridor. But Mark has been after me to put something taller in there. I don't want to lose all that light so I have been focusing on tall but narrow plantings. 

On the front left is a Thuja occidentals 'DeGroot's Spire' which will get around 16' high and a little under 3' wide. This is the last big plant that I intend to put in this area. It went in late in the summer. 

There are clumps of Epimediums echoing the same plants across the path. Between them on the left is a very small Taxus cuspidata 'Amersfoort' (6' x 4'), followed by a Cornus sericea 'Pucker Up' (eventually 4' tall) and ending with a Carpinus betulus 'Columnar nana', a dwarf fastigiate Hornbeam that will ultimately get up to 6'-8'.

Good fences . . .

A number of years ago the young couple who lived behind us announced they were getting a dog — and thus needed to fence their yard. To our surprise they wanted our advice on what kind of fence they might get. They wanted something that would not detract from Mark's beautiful Asian-influenced fence (below) that separated our two properties. We talked about possibilities over a glass of wine and gave them a couple of books that had inspired Mark. 

We were so pleased with the fencing they added that we hired the same company and extended it into our garden on the side that had ancient wire fencing. Last year we added similar fencing in the front garden. Nothing fancy; it will fade and blend into the landscape and give me a nice backdrop for planting. 

Imagine our surprise when we looked out from our usual chairs into the garden late Wednesday afternoon. We could suddenly see a blinding bright light in a back yard a couple of houses east of us on the street behind us. At first we thought it was a huge "pod" structure. But when we looked closer this is what we saw. 

The properties behind us are all higher on the slope that runs down to our property. So this solid white plastic fence is extremely visible from a distance — visible right into our living room. I took this photo through our garden fence across two neighbor's properties. 

Mark is already trying to decide what we can plant to hide that view. I figure the fence should be less visible this winter when it snows and everything is white. At least we don't live directly next door to the fence. I'm afraid I would be hard pressed to be polite about such a visual monstrosity running along my garden. If only they had gone with a picket fence, I'd be a lot less frustrated. 

IVOM: Pumpkin decor

I am not a big fan of Halloween decor, but I decided it was time to change the objects on the Chinese wine tables in the living room. 

My autumnal display includes "Pumpkin Mine" by artist Chuck Bauer. The dried pumpkin is covered in sculpt metal with rifle bullets glued on. I got it at an annual art weekend this summer. Not my usual type of purchase but I was instantly smitten with it; I suppose because I knew I had other not-quite-the-usual-pumpkin objects.

We found this gorgeously illustrated squash at the Farmers Market in Milwaukee a number of years ago. 

A metal container and an incense burner that both seemed to fit in with the others. Alas, that is all I know about them. 

Hanging above this display are three new photos by Mark of autumnal fall color — printed in black and white. 

I think they tell the story in a surprisingly subtle, yet strong, manner. (Ignore the lampshade in the lower left!)