GardenDesignOnline

A New Take on Outdoor Heating

What is it? Well .... it's a new take on lighting when the garden is cool and you want to stay outside and read.  Or if fireplaces are not your style, maybe you'd want to consider one of these.

From Kindle Living in Los Angeles, California, it's an outdoor heater (a propane tank is concealed in the base) ... and it's also a lamp, powered by batteries.

It comes in several different colors, and there's also a version with a lighted base, which positively glows in different colors at night.

And if  you don't like this traditional style, check out the website for other options.

(image: Kindle Living)

Unusual, Common Garden Containers

The next time you're in a kitchen equipment store, take a hard look at containers ... especially those with little holes -- strainers and the like.  They could be just the thing for your garden ... and perhaps a great, inexpensive, long-lasting container for -- well, big tropicals, flowering annuals, and maybe even vegetables, depending on the container's size.

A recent New York Times article, (read it here), notes that landscape architect Ken Smith often visits kitchen supply stores to look for garden containers, and finds them in other unexpected places as well. 

Smith thinks a lot of garden containers are just plain boring, so he's always on the lookout for something unusual. He says that if you put plants in a wagon, you can easily wheel them around into sun or shade, or even bring the wagon inside if the weather turns too cold for them.

So let your imagination take wing!

(photos: www.bari.com, www.farmtek.com)

Garden Sculptures for the Modern Age

Terra Sculpture

Jennifer Gilbert Asher is a California landscape designer who couldn't find good-looking and moderately priced contemporary sculptures for her clients.  As Asher succinctly put it, "I was utterly shocked at the lack of accessible outdoor sculpture and the abundance of tacky, mass-produced garden 'art.' "  I couldn't agree more.

Asher, however, decided to do something about it.  She teamed up with her friend Karen Neill Tarnowski, an art collector, and they launched Terra Sculpture several months ago.  It's an online art gallery and art studio, and Asher now designs art and produces new works with metal artist Mario Lopez.

All of the sculptures are hand made at their Los Angeles studio, in limited editions, and most pieces are 4-1/2 to about 6 feet tall, suitable for most residential landscapes.  They do, however, take commissions for larger pieces, and the sculptures can be shipped anywhere in the United States.

Asher studied art in Italy for a time, and it shows in her modern designs. All the sculptures are made from stainless, weathered, or powder coated steel.  "Embrace," shown above, and "Tempest," left, are priced in the mid $2000 range, and that's likely why the Terra Sculpture motto is "Modern Art for Everyone."

I can imagine these sculptures in many a landscape, and if you visit the Terra Sculpture website, you'll find something to fit almost any garden and any client's personality.

Artworks always give life to a garden, and these sleek and tasteful works are among the best I've seen in a long, long time.

If you're in the LA area, some of Asher's works will be on display at the LA Arboretum  garden show May 1-3.

Art for White House Veg Garden

You've already heard about plans for a White House veg garden, I'm sure ... (NY Times article here) ... and to complement the garden, someone surely should donate one of these striking red pepper pots designed by noted garden author and photographer Ken Druse.

As Druse himself puts it, "a perfect pot is always a perfect fit." And there couldn't be anything more perfect for the White House garden than this glazed red terracotta container (or sculpture) from Seibert and Rice.  It's 24 inches tall and 18.5 inches wide, with a bright green stem and a removable lid.  So if you like, it can be planted -- or as Druse says, it can also be used to stash garden tools.

Since simply EVERYONE has to have a veg garden these days, it would also make a great addition to your own home plot.

Seibert and Rice terracotta is made in Italy and is said to be frost-proof to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, so there certainly wouldn't be a problem in Washington DC.  So ... someone step up and make this idea a reality.

(photo: Seibert and Rice)

Garden Globe Lights

I get a lot of mail in my inbox, especially at this time of year ... and these globe lights are a definite winner.  They can be mounted on the ground, on decks, on poles, floated on the water, hung from branches ...  just let your best design instincts take over.

"Moonlight" globe lights are illuminated at night by fluorescent bulbs, and in daytime, many of them look like stone.  Depending on your decor, stone finishes resemble dark and light granite, sandstone or terra cotta.

Otherwise, choose almost any color you like -- and custom colors are also available.  The globes are made in Germany, and they come in many sizes ... to fit either modern or more traditional landscapes.

They're made of a durable polyethylene, and are said to withstand winter temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero and summer heat up to 170 degrees F. They can also be cleaned with pressure washers, if necessary. 

For complete information, see the Moonlight website. 

 (photos "©Moonlight USA, Inc/Visuelle Medien.de")

Botanical Sculptures

For a bit of whimsy in the garden, you almost couldn't do better than this bright red chili pepper, a creation of landscape designer and artist Jan Kirsh, whose studio is located in Bozman, on the eastern shore of Maryland.

Kirsh began experimenting some time ago with materials and shapes that would capture the sensuality and beauty of fruits and vegetables.  The result is a series of striking sculptures, which can be custom-ordered by size and finish.

Ten of Kirsh's sculptures will be exhibited at the Architectural Digest Show in New York City March 26-29 on Pier 94.  The sculptures range in size from seven inches to seven feet & more, cast in a variety of materials -- bronze, resin, concrete and carved marble.  According to Kirsh, the finishes are all hand applied and are inspired by the texture and sheen of each individual fruit or veg.  There'll be an artichoke, an onion, a pear, and the chili pepper shown above, among others.  "Each piece," says Hirsh, " is a marriage of my love of horticulture and three-dimenstional shapes, and like any good marriage, the pieces seems, to my eye, to be more than the sum of their parts."

The chili would certainly look great near a good-sized veg garden, which of course are booming in popularity.  For more information, see Kirsh's website .. or visit the show.

Coney Island In Your Own Back Yard

Well, you might not be able to have the parachute jump itself, but yes, you, too, can own a piece of Coney Island.

That's one reason many designers turn to Olde Good Things, the architectural salvage company, when they are looking for something very unique for their clients' gardens.

Olde Good acquired the original Coney Island fishing pier after NYC went ahead with plans to replace the old boardwalk and pier, both constructed out of the Brazilian hardwood Ipe.

Olde Good Things has also fashioned a bench from the Coney Island wood planks, which could easily fit into a design for almost any garden, large or small, urban or suburban.

So take the plunge and own an original piece of New York history.

Olde Good Things is also selling the original wood planking, either reconditioned or in its historic state, weathered by salt air, millions of feet, and likely many Nathan's hot dogs and thousands of other things.

(images: Olde Good Things)

Classic Garden Antiques for Less

Barbara Israel has had a lifelong love affair with garden antiques, and it's no wonder.  As a child growing up in Far Hills, New Jersey, she and her sister found an old zen garden in the woods, with stone lanterns and lions and other objects lying about on the ground. The sisters also sneaked onto the grounds of nearby Blairsden -- an 1890's Louis XIII mansion -- where there were lots of statues and other garden accessories.

Many years later, working at an auction gallery, Israel bought an entire lot of garden antiques from an estate in Locust Valley, Long Island, and she was soon in business for herself.  "They were beautifully aged," she said, "four dwarf Chinese musicians, elephants with obelisks on their backs... I suddenly owned 40 statues, I had a sale at my house and broke even, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven." 

Israel formally went into business in 1985, and she is now considered one of the country's foremost authorities on garden antiques. In recent years, garden antiques have zoomed in price, and that persuaded her to start a new business -- Garden Traditions  -- reproducing classic garden antiques.

Garden Mosaics

Garden Art by Metamosaics

This "sun" mosaic by Mark Kretzmeier marks the entry to a residential theme garden in Seattle, WA that pays homage to the four basic elements: earth, wind, fire and water.  Kretzmeier started Metamosaics in Portland, Oregon, about 12 years ago, combining his twin interests in art and construction. "I always liked geometric patterns," he said, "and anything that was pixelated."

Kretzmeier learned his craft by studying the classic book on pebble mosaics, The Art of Pebble Mosaics by British artist Maggy Howarth. He recently finished a design of sea creatures for the Zoo in Jacksonville, FL.  It depicts a redfish, a dolphin, a turtle, a pelican and more, among the waves of the nearby Trout River.  That was his largest project to date, but he's now working on a design that's twice as big for a children's park in Memphis, TN.

Kretzmeier says that most of his mosaics are used as highlights in residential gardens, or sometimes as doorsteps.  He uses local stones wherever he works, all tightly packed into a flat plane that's easy to walk on, even in high heels, he says.  The photo at left is of a mosaic in a courtyard at a transitional residence for women and children -- and it measures about five feet in diameter.

Sometimes he uses recycled glass or even glass marbles as components in his designs.  Each element in the mosaic is individually selected and tightly packed into a dry concrete mix that is "activated" once the design is completed.  According to Kretzmeier, the mosaics do fine in northern climates as well, where he uses a high strength concrete that will withstand the cold weather.

This photo is a vine motif used in a front walkway, a nice touch for a garden entry.  Kretzmeier designs most of the mosaics himself, although he's willing, of course, to work with clients to get the kind of design they want.  He usually works on location, and designs begin at $50 per square foot.  Mosaics might not work in every garden, but if your clients truly desire something unique, you should give Kretzmeier a call.  In the past, he has manufactured some mosaics that can be shipped all in one piece.

(photos: Metamosaics)

Adirondack with a Twist

An Updated Classic

Wish I had known about Archie's Island before I bought my own Adirondack chairs for the back yard. When the catalog showed up in my mailbox last week, I wondered why everyone else is sticking to the same old boring shapes and colors. If you like creativity, Archie's is what you want. The fan back Adirondack, shown here -- wow! -- comes in 28 colors, from mango to kiwi and blue grotto to tumbleweed.

There's also an Adirondack with a round back, and a table to match, and a loveseat, too.  As it says in the catalog, "it's 50% Adirondack, 50% fun."

The Swedish country bench, shown here, is just off beat enough to make a statement wherever you might want to put it.  Any of this furniture would look great in an urban setting -- or in any garden with a casual air, and who wants anything else these days?

Archie's is owned by Archie McIntyre, who gets his wood -- a mahogany known as Merpau -- from Malaysia.  Archie says all the wood "is sustainably harvested and carefully controlled by the Malaysian government to insure the long term biodiversity of its rain forests while providing an economic resource for its industries and people."  Archie personally visited the forest where his company's timber is harvested and said he made the trip to ensure that his company's activities "are not harming the environment." 

The company also donates one percent of its "top-line" profits to the Massachusetts Chapter of The Nature Conservancy through a program called One Percent for the Planet.  Everyone in the business should be encouraged to do the same.

Archie's furniture is weather resistant and can be left outside year-round, although they do suggest a little extra care if you live near the ocean -- and of course it'll last longer if you bring it in during the winter.  It's a great new take on outdoor garden furniture, and I can even imagine designing a garden around it.

(photos: Archie's Island)