2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 8,700 times in 2010. That’s about 21 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 13 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 145 posts. There were 22 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 30mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 3rd with 88 views. The most popular post that day was Hellebores and Haute Couture.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were digginfood.com, squidoo.com, en.wordpress.com, blotanical.com, and blogcatalog.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for peacock, peacock pictures, hellebores, garden path, and compost.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Hellebores and Haute Couture December 2008

2

The Garden Path January 2009
3 comments

3

How Do You Make Square Pavers Look Great? December 2008
2 comments

4

Pleached Lindens Make the Best Screens October 2008
2 comments

5

The Poem “The Camellia” by Honore de Balzac December 2008
2 comments

The Minimal

I asked my great friend, Randall Lake, for a photograph of his compost pile very recently. I knew it would be good- but how could I have known it would be this good? For all my internet friends out there who allow me the usurpation, I have only this response:

The Minimal

I study the lives on a leaf: the little
Sleepers, numb nudgers in cold dimensions,
Beetles in caves, newts, stone-deaf fishes,
Lice tethered to long limp subterranean weeds,
Squirmers in bogs,
And bacterial creepers
Wriggling through wounds
Like elvers in ponds,
Their wan mouths kissing the warm sutures,
Cleaning and caressing,
Creeping and healing.

-Theodore Roethke

Minimalism

When I begin to dream of house decor and styling my own, this photograph comes to mind. Something about an all white, white room and stacks of books on the floor appeals to me greatly. Maybe the conceptual economy of the surrounding space coupled with the physical reductive quality of what a plant needs to thrive alongside you in your civilized invention of home is soothing to the cluttered mind. A drawing of lots, even, that makes the human in the case at ease with itself. And, of course this little tree is poetic to me. What else does anyone need, really?

Queen of the Nymphs

This is my first one. The first one I have ever seen, much less, in it’s native lands. What a lucky find for me in Indonesia! The Nelumbo nucifera, or Lotus flower, was originally name in the genus of Nymphaea, or Water Lilly, only to be re-classified very recently. And, why this re-classification, you might ask? Wow. Check this out: The Lotus Flower is discovered to have thermoregulating powers. The Lotus warms itself, much like a human, to about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (and, thereabouts) during the pollination season to keep itself warm for it’s insect pollinators! What?? Thought by the Greeks to be goddesses of the Springs to compliment the gods of the Rivers, they still have their peacock proud, majestic, nympho-like allure, don’t they? Nelumbo or not.

Orchids In Their Natural Habitat

Last year I travelled to the island of Bali in Indonesia and climbed (on the back of a motorcycle, mind) to the mountains outside of Ubud to see the orchids at the Botanic Garden of Ubud. The orchids were everywhere growing, as the imagination might perceive, all over the trees. It was wonderful to see this elusive plant thriving in it’s natural habitat…without the instruction manual and the calendar marks for spraying mist, etc. This photo above is merely one sample. Can anyone name that orchid?

Oh, The Linden Tree

Or, Tilia japonica, to be exact. Not to be confused with Tilia cordata or Tilia europa…though, this nearly perfect plant grows in so many different cultures of the world that I find myself falling in love with it for it’s open mindedness. My great friend Mark and I strolled along this romantic path together in Tokyo and this is the photograph that he snapped. Imagine my surprise to find this London like boulevard of Linden in Asia. The Linden is truly egalitarian and upright and social (can be crowded and planted quite close to another one) and healthy. It is no wonder so much of the world’s greatest writers have penned homages to this one. Here is a poem in the

Paris Review

about the Linden just for you.

Tea Party In Tokyo

I have been travelling around Asia lately photographing gardens. The Japanese take the cake in the 21st century for their style And, the 4th. And, the 14th. They essentially have three types of gardens, most of the influences begins in 400AD with Buddha and they continued to finesse until the 14th century. Karesansui Gardens, or Zen Gardens as we refer to them in the West, are the dry gardens that are abstractions…the box of sand with rocks and the rake, you might recall? These are for meditation. And, of course they exist not only in the miniature you are familiar with. Tsukiyama Gardens are the style that really makes the gardeners of the East famous with the gardeners of the West. These are the majestic sculpted gardens. I will talk more of these later as I have visited one of the style in Tokyo. And, finally, Chaniwa Gardens. Tea Party Gardens. The fountain above is typical and the visitor is to cleanse his hands before partaking in the sacred green Tea Party. The fountain is followed by lanterns and the lanterns light a path and the path leads to a tea house that is generally kept amongst the flora and out of site. These are the gardens that support the Western decorations of towers of cemented lanterns and fountains and such that are curiosities of our garden supply shops. In Charleston, South Carolina we have many formal gardens that have such accoutrement in them. The Tea Party was all the rave in the colonies, brought to America vis a vis the Dutch who colonized New Amsterdam (New York). The Dutch had the most magnificent Eastern trade on the ocean and brought with them the tea. Think about a serene scene and not these very, very misguided and embarrassing rallies that are going on across the United States today. The influence of the Japanese Tea Garden is one of my favorites: peace and harmony in the pretty garden.

Do You Say Pecan or Pacane?

I don’t know how many Americans would recognize this grove at this distance to be a quintessential Pecan grove, but, most Southerners do. We live amongst so many of these deciduous trees and pull the fruit of them from our windshield wipers all Fall and Winter long. Every time the breeze kicks up, Pecans fall all over our landscape and our grandmothers bake pies. This particular grove is part of Brookland Plantation in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. And, I always find the leafless fields in the cold season to be a lonely and lovely sight. I came across a really fantastic article here from the American Forests website, written by a botanist named Jeff Ball, that points out that the word pecan comes from the Algonquin tribe of American aboriginal/First Nations inhabitants to mean the nut so hard as to require a stone to crack. Maybe the Algonquins didn’t run across the Sumner Paper Shell variety or maybe that variety is a modern grafting product and didn’t exist when the tribe was pounding the nut wondering what they should call it. Mainly, I sit around and ponder the reason there is such a nasty, bitter slice in between so tasty and wonderful a prize. And, of course I can get into a conversation about the pronunciation…So how do YOU pronounce the word? It still is unsettled with me.

The Potting Shed V

I keep wandering out to the country this Winter and I can’t seem to embrace an Urban existence. And, in my hometown the country is called the Lowcountry. South Carolina’s coastal plain is filled with neat things to visit and most recently I have found Botany Island and it’s subsequent park, Botany Bay Plantation to be just lovely. I ran right into this gardener’s shed on the now public lands dedicated to the Department of Natural Resouces. I was so excited to see this little gem with it’s oyster tabby walls dating to the late 1700′s that I ran back here to research the potting shed. And, boy did I find quite a lot of material on the history of the shed, from a philology of the word shed across Teutonic translations unto philosophical derivations of the existential “shedliness” of the word shed. My interesting trek through the Google myriad of articles led me to laugh out right with this one from the Telegraph UK. Leave it to the English to corner the market on a precious potting shed contest!

Tokyo and the Olive Tree

I had to travel all the way to Japan this year in order to consider the climate they might experience. And, no doubt about it, I was surprised at just how humid it was this September past. I was in Tokyo. I loved it. The gardens and garden shops were fabulous! However, I never lingered over the idea that the islands that make the Japanese chain (remember that I was on Honshu) are sub-tropical, Mediterranean- style Olive Tree (Olea europaea) growing extravaganzas. They have festivals that celebrate the olive and offer the plant as a symbol of peace, as well. So, imagine my delight when I cruised past this shop and saw the silvery, silky, sexy Olive Tree for sale. It was an “ah ha!” moment because Japan sits on the Pacific Rim just like California and has limestone and craggy coastal shores. Olives love it there. Now, I begin to dream of tuna sashimi with a diced kalamata ponzu sauce. And, I thought it was going to be 100 % bonsai cedar, cypress, junipers and soba noodles…

Daffodils on Botany Island

I found these yesterday while touring Botany Island, South Carolina. And, of course, the name of the island speaks volumes.

I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: –
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

-William Wordsworth, 1807

I Want To Talk About That Mud Puddle

Yes, yes, yes…I see them. Those oaks ARE beautiful! But, really, I do want to talk about that mud puddle. Because, I want to talk about Mud Daubers. This unbelievably beautiful view is off the front porch of Rochelle Plantation’s main house. That direction we are looking is the finest selection of coastal plain of the South Carolina Santee River Delta I can find and I am lucky enough to get to wake here and have some coffee and walk about. We are looking East towards Bulls Bay, ultimately leading to the Atlantic Ocean. Very close to being beneath sea level, too. So, the bugs around these parts are plentiful and varied and important and some can be super cool and interesting. Like, the Mud Daubers, or Dirt Daubers, or Sphecidae Wasps, a category of thread-waisted wasps that build their nests from mud and cling them to the side of the cabin. Or, porch. Or, bury them up in the bow of your jon boat. These wasps abound around Rochelle. I have seen their nests all over the joint. They fly down to that particular mud puddle there after a rain and navigate their tiny bodies to the rim and collect their material for home building. They are non-aggressive to humans. No need to fear. What they really want to eat and feed their young and store in their tubular larders are Black Widows. Dang, can you say “Thank you?”

Longleaf Pine

I shot this photograph while touring the coastal plain of South Carolina. The Longleaf pine, Pinus palustris, is the probably the most majestic of the natives of the forest of the savanna reaching heights of 100 feet. The natural resistance to forest fires creates this particular habitat above of wide open spaces and pine needle beds. Early settlers of the states released their hogs to feed beneath these trees and the hogs took to the environment nibbling away at the saplings causing a disruption in the ecosystem. This disruption and endangerment to the tree, introduced by man, has consequences that continue today. One emergency that comes to mind is the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker, which is dependent upon this beauty for her seeds. But, don’t stop here if you are reading this post. There is so much interesting information available on the web including Wikipedia about this tree. The Longleaf Alliance might make a better read on this subject than my attempt here today, as well. Please go see.

Oh My, The Winter Rye!

Wow! I am very lucky some days and I get to visit places that look like this. Airy Hall in Charleston, South Carolina is a private piece of heaven and this is the ancient Live Oak, or Quercus virginiana, drive way. She is underplanted with lime shaded, gorgeous annual Ryegrass or Lolium multiflorum. Used for color, beauty and erosion control out of doors and quick growing (seeding almost overnight) color terrarium extravaganza indoors by me (see category). And, I must credit myself with the photo, though, I would like to make sure that everyone knows that I have not always used mine own photographs and will continue to find others that enchant me….however, I will try and find the author and give credit where credit is due!

Continental Shift

Hello World. I have moved since my last entry from the North American Continent to the European Continent. I am in Amsterdam, Netherlands trying to figure out how to grow all over again. Hortensia abound here and the roses look quite happy at this latitude. Bear with me while i adjust. For now, here is a photograph from The Selby of the artist Xavier Veilhan’s show held at Versailles. The topiary-esque sculpture here is my favorite piece.

The Saucer Magnolias Are Beginning to Bloom

Just a reminder for me that I have sooo much to do to get ready for Spring. But, we are a little early here this year in zone 8b.

Camellias After a Century

I went to a client’s house yesterday to diagnose a problem with some historical camellias. They are part of a century old tourist attraction in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina’s Old Village and were called the Pierates Cruz Gardens. And, yes, it is hard for me to write that spelling of Pierates. But, alas, that is the spelling and I can find no information on the trusty Google as to it’s origin. However, the camellias needed mulch and aeration, first and foremost. The ailing ones were several 15′ + japonica varieties in the back yard. And, because they are in the back yard, they were not getting the pine straw/mulch beds that they need for a continued healthy lifespan. So, it is a quick fix, we hope. But, look how beautiful this allee in the front yard is! How lucky to have these to stroll through everyday.

Oh, the Earth Is Alive, Afterall

Look what I found today!

The Garden Path

Forget the enormous amount of upkeep necessary for that gorgeous lawn in this shot. I am here for that little garden path. The encroaching wildflowers make themselves at home in these rocky, compacted areas. I just love irregular spaces in between slate and granite crammed full of hardy little succulents and Alysum, or Lobularia maritima, crowding the stones and creating an old world feeling, like it has been around since the Appian Way, making it the queen of garden paths. This gem is created by Edwina von Gal for her client on Long Island.

Me and My Succulents

My succulents and I are patiently waiting to return out of doors. Thank goodness for these good sports! Though, I must admit that I am practically having to take showers with my collection. Since the freezing snap here in zone 8b, all my friends have come inside. And, what a collection I have now! Who knew? Here is one of my favorite plants, the Aloe vera.

Succulents and Los Angeles and 80 Degrees Fahrenheit Today

I wanted to re-visit this article from Martha Stewart’s Living mag this summer. Why? Because it is so toasty warm in Los Angeles today while the rest of us in the nation and Europe are freezing! And, because it features my favorite plants of all, succulents. Just look at that wall of Aloe vera! Makes me not afraid to forget the pot handles returning the Le Crueset back to the oven! This is the landscape architect, Joseph Marek’s home and garden. Pretty nice, huh? How about the foxtail agave, or Agave attenuata? Just because she is named after the goddess of Greek mythology that tore her own son apart doesn’t mean anything! She doesn’t need hardly ANY water. What’s not to like? Malek has done a beautiful job. And, he makes me long for a land that doesn’t freeze.

Compost! Fun For The Winter.

Look at those perfect layers! Look how simply made! You still have to eat in the Winter, which means, you still have to cut the ends off the squash, cut the tips off the brussel sprouts, pop the stems off the arugula and collards, right? Then you still have turn your pile. It’s the best part of outdoor activity in the Winter in the garden. I promise.

What Else In Winter?

I have been reading Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert novels this Winter, and, not a ball or salon goes by in 19th century romantic France that someone doesn’t have Camellias in their hair or in a vase. Just the other day I was wondering where old man Winter was this year, and, he came. Tonight will be 20 degrees fahrenheit in my land of Camellias. Careful what you wish for! However, the chill will deliver me beautiful and bountiful japonica varieties, won’t it? I can’t wait to collect a bouquet. And, wear one in my buttonhole or my hat. These are the tags from the ones I have planted this year, so far.

Old Man Winter Where Are You?

I was looking for him this morning and got a warm (60 degrees fahrenheit at 7 a.m.), humid rain, instead. In my neck of the woods (zone 8b), we haven’t seen Winter, yet. So I thought I’d look elsewhere, like Vermont. This photograph of Birch trunks are from the book, The Soul of Vermont, by Richard W. Brown. If I were there right now, I would probably be out in my snow man outfit collecting the papery, resinous bark from these guys for some project indoors later, maybe. Building a fire. Eating pancakes with local maple syrup. What else? Instead, I am watching the azaleas begin to bloom in my neighborhood. Ah…

Barococo Decadence and the Lawn

Okay, yes, I just made that word on my own…however, rococo is a French linguistic derivative of the Italian word barocco and it stems from the Baroque movement in 17th century architecture. Now, the baroque was intended to bring piety to the people, a vox populi movement, even. And, as an attraction for the masses, paintings were added to the interiors of churches and buildings to give the folks something to come in for. Also, apparently, the rounded curves and circular movement in the buildings itself were a popular attraction, also. However, as our bourgeois ideals expanded into the United States, it seems we have a tendency to think of the Rococo as a decadent period. And, maybe it is. So, a natural extension would be the landscape attached, eh? Rococo landscapes abound throughout Europe just as Baroque churches abound throughout Mexico. They seem such strange bedfellows to me. And, it is this strangeness which leads me to this curiosity in Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Landcape Architect, Deborah Nevins, and photographed here for the book, The New Garden Paradise, where I can’t see any dollar weed in this lawn. Can you?