Scanner art by Craig Cramer, gardening & more
Legend has it that gypsy punker Eugene Hutz wrote (and later performed) American Wedding at the reception of the first wedding he attended in the U.S. Imagine his disappointment that the party didn’t last three days, as is the Ukrainian tradition.
Be you Donald Trump, or be an anarchist
Make sure that your wedding doesn’t end up like this.
Bonus Gogol Bordello tracks: Madagascar | Alcohol (Live)
Next time you’re thinking about hiring some help for one of those big projects, think about this:
Castor bean leaf cast.
First I read an uninspiring article in the May/June Fine Gardening (Leaves that last forever).
Then there was Susan’s rant over at Garden Rant (“Quick and easy” concrete leaf castings? You’re kidding, right?) where she wrote: “I’ve produced more than a fool’s share of castings that break, and an even larger number that just look like crap.”
Well let me let you in on a little secret: Vinyl patio patch. You can find it wherever fine construction supplies are sold.
Yes, straight concrete is not strong enough to make delicate leaf casts. But the additives in patio patch make it easier to work with thin and are not nearly so prone to breaking after they are fully cured. If you get the mix at the correct consistency, you don’t get the oozing over the edges that Susan complains about. And what little does ooze over is not difficult to file off.
The patio patch tip came to me from my sister-in-laws boyfriend Marc. (Did I mention his wooden bowls and sculptures make great gifts, and you can order online?) He picked up the technique at an art show where he got to know a woman who makes these for a living. No way would she try to use straight concrete for such a project.
Granted, Marc’s pieces here show his knack for working in three dimensions. My attempts aren’t nearly as good. (Sorry, no pictures handy. Look for a very serviceable bird bath in the yard now from an elephant ear leaf cast in pictures later this summer.) But they beat the heck out of any I’ve tried to do with straight concrete.
Here’s Marc’s elephant ear leaf cast:
One of my first posts (Aug. 2005) was about the garden of my friend and coworker Marcia. She needed some environmental portraits shot for a feature about her on another website, so I stopped by for a quick visit a week ago. I couldn’t help but wander around and shoot some more pix after the portraits were done.
While some trees have been removed to let in some light and many small details have changed, the bones are mostly the same. From this angle (above, from a second-story window), it’s a well-designed flower garden with a vegetable garden in back separated by a fence. The new bed on the right was inspired by an article in a recent issue of Garden Design about a Charleston, S.C., garden (see “Southern Classic,” May 2008, image on page 39) that features a lawn area ‘pinched’ by beds at the far end to create some separation between different areas.
From the opposite angle (above), you can see the second face of Marcia’s layout: A functional veggie garden with some funky ornamentation.
This small water garden also provides some separation between the flowers and the food. You need to walk around it to get to the entrance arch.
This column provides a focus in the round bed in the center of the veggie garden, as well as being the anchoring lighthouse at the far end the garden’s axis.
One thing Marcia and I share it the love of the blue bottles …
…and funky ornamentation. (I’m thinking Les Quatres Vents only smaller.)
A closer view of the left border from above.
This nearly black iris came from a small iris farm nearby that went out of business last year. The rhizomes were free for the digging, but not labeled. (I got several buckets too.) Adds to the surprises in the garden this spring, waiting to see what the new irises are going to look like when they bloom.
I don’t know the name of this iris. But it seems like it’s everywhere. I’ve got some that are identical or very similar that came with the last house that I lived in.
Rhodie flowers starting to pop.
I fell in love with these Thalia daffodils a few weeks ago. So I played around with the images in Photoshop a little.
