Tippy Pots

I use tippy pot stacks in my displays around the garden centre, and am often asked, "how do you do that"?

The trick is to install a piece of re bar, to support the stack. If you have a hard surface, where you intend to place your stack your re bar will need feet. The feet allow you to place it in the bottom of the pot. Otherwise you may pound re bar directly into the ground, and thread your pot onto it through the drain hole.

I sometimes place additional support, in this case some old stakes, to keep the second pot from settling. Make sure you compact the soil well before placing second pot id you don't use a stake.

The second pot rests on the soil.

The pot is held in place by threading it on the re bar through the drain hole.

The re bar should sit up against the edge of the pot, giving it maximum tip.

Thread on your third pot, balancing it on the edge of the second pot.

The next, or final pot, must tilt from the opposite edge, it's easy.

This is my giant version, these are large pots, and they sit outside the front of my store.

tippy pots planted up with pansies, and perennials.

Arborisculpture

An ancient art is being revised, pleaching or arbori-sculpture has been around for centuries. Many of us have seen braided ficus trunks on our potted specimens at our tropical plants store. This is the same in a go big or go home manner. Pleaching has also traditionally been used to make wattle fences; a method which involves bending and weaving live pliant saplings of species like willow. They are planted in a row, woven into a fence, and in time grow together to form a solid structure. Here are some pics where this technique has become although practical, I think for fun, or Art's sake.

Here is nature creating her own version.

Ficus tree hut

How to grow a Chair interview with Richard Reames

Using ancient grafting techniques and a few basic tools, Richard Reames shapes living trees into furniture and sculpture near his home in Oregon for clients worldwide. He is the author of two self-published books, How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary with Barbara Delbol, and Arborsculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet, published in June. His work was on display this summer at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan. Joshua Foer spoke to Reames in July 2005 by telephone. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/20/foer.php

Lawn chair with real lawn

I finished my Lawn Chair, for more pics check out http://urbanoasisgardening.blogspot.com/

The jungle book

http://www.adverbox.com/the-jungle-book/
A funny little advert.

Living walls

Living wall technology is finding it's way into mainstream Urban cores in North America. I was excited by the conceptual drawings, and demo board my Art instuctor Xane St Stevens brought to show the class. Xane was delighted to be involved in the upcoming living wall design for a local project here in Victoria, BC. http://www.gatewaygreen.ca/pdfs/GreenWall_TC_Jan27.pdf


The exciting part was not only the project, but all the ways the living wall concept could be used both functionally, and as Art. It is another way to push the envelope and re-visit the way we garden. We have all seen moss hanging baskets, and many of us have seen or made living wreaths. My succulent chair is a chicken wire and moss assemblage.

I have added links to the Eden project, there are many great pieces to view, under Art; make sure you navigate through the current artists pages.

You will also enjoy Patrick Blancs site.

This living sculpture is from the Eden project.

http://www.edenproject.com/index.php?splash=0


Sue and Pete Hill Sue is Artist Director at Eden, was a member of Kneehigh Theatre for 12 years and is a renowned sculptor, designer and actor.

Sue and Pete with Eve
Born and raised in Cornwall. She makes most of her sculpture with her brother Pete Hill. Together they made some living sculptures for Heligan Gardens - a huge sleeping Mudmaid and a Giant's Head. Just mud and sticks and Cornish plants.
Their Eve is a great, green, woman. She's just taken a bite out of that apple, and is using her new knowledge.
Eve will shortly be re-appearing in Myth & Folklore built into the bank above the 'willow dome'.
Pete has also worked on the magical Story Pavilion with Kate Munro in the Myth and Folklore area of the Outside Biome

Living wall architect Patrick Blanc
http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

Tofino Botanical Gardens

The Tofino Botanical garden's is host to Art in The Garden's annual sculpture event, as well as home to some great west coast works.
photo's
http://www.tbgf.org/photos/art.php

artist's bio
http://www.tbgf.org/gardens/sculptures.php

About the garden's

TOFINO BOTANICAL GARDENS
Tofino Botanical Gardens are twelve acres of gardens, forest, and shoreline that explore the relationship between culture and nature. The gardens are operated by the Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation, a non-profit registered Canadian charity.
A network of paths and boardwalks will take you from the Visitor Centre past kitchen gardens, the Frog Pond, and Children's Garden into the forest, where clearings have been transformed into a series of pocket gardens.
Some of these gardens display plants that once thrived in other coastal temperate rainforests around the world. Others celebrate the various cultural groups that have made Clayoquot Sound their home now and in the past, particularly the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, early pioneer homesteaders, Japanese fishing families, and, of course, Hippies.
The mission of Tofino Botanical Gardens is to inspire conservation of the world’s Temperate Coastal Rainforests
We are dedicated to the cultivation and display of plants native to the world’s coastal temperate rainforests, and to research and education programs to improve knowledge and understanding of the ecosystems of the UNESCO Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve.
We hope that Tofino Botanical Gardens will help people of all ages to develop an interested and caring attitude that will encourage them to take action for temperate coastal rainforest conservation.
We believe in the Preservation of the last remaining Old Growth Forests of Clayoquot Sound.
We understand that a sense of humor helps in this effort.
Tofino Botanical Gardens is a non-profit Foundation.Thank you for your support

Clare Dohna

I came across a Mosaic Artist, who creates stunning garden installations. I hope you enjoy Clare Dohna's works as much as I have. Here is a link to her web site. http://claredohna.com/








I love the colors
















Each tile is individually hand cut, fired, painted, re fired, and applied to the piece.

This installation creates a whimsical world, making this garden a special and unique place.