Have you noticed that immediately after you purchase a new car, you find yourself spotting the new make and model everywhere? For my fashionista friends, the same effect occurs with designer shoes or handbags, but for me, the catalyst was writing a book on vertical gardening. Is it my imagination or are vertical innovations popping up all over? Here’s what I’ve noticed lately:
My design-school chum Baylor of Lila B. Design has come up with an ingenious way to keep the succulent wall art she recently added to her dockside storefront irrigated: Supersoakers! I’ve been relying on plain old drip irrigation for my own Woolly Pocket wall, but admit the resourceful method Lila B team member Shannon came up with looks like a lot more fun.
Above photos by Sophie de Lignerolles
I’m also pleased to see that more and more restaurants are adding living walls to their décor. We featured photos from the innovative design of New Hampshire's Cava Restaurant in Garden Up! (a particularly notable achievement given their harsh weather conditions) but I especially enjoy when a new one appears close to home. In my reader Friday was a new post on Sunset’s Fresh Dirt blog highlighting this stunning example from True Food Kitchen in Southern California. As post author Sharon Cohoon puts it: "Usually my husband and I fight over who has to face the wall. This time I was perfectly content to take that position."
But enough about living walls! If you’ve read Garden Up! then you know it goes far beyond living walls to celebrate the ingenious vertical solutions every day gardeners have experimented with in their own patch of Eden. Of course as many of you know, some of the photos in the book were from our own gardens. As several of you ALSO know, my co-author Rebecca can be very competitive, and I suspect has long secretly envied my kooky, purple wall. Could jealousy have been part of her motivation in adding this charming focal point wall to her own garden? Whatever the reason, it’s a smashing addition to her already magnificent garden, and I encourage you to check out this post where she explains how she put it together.
How about you? What’s on your radar this week, vertical or otherwise?
If it happens to be lawns (or why we don’t really need them) be sure to come back next Tuesday when I revisit my serious side as part of a joint Garden Designers Roundtable and Lawn Reform Coalition extravaganza all about lawn alternatives. Members of both groups are passionate about the topic, and more than 20 bloggers are expected to participate, including well known lawn-reform advocates Saxon Holt (photographer of The American Meadow Garden), Ivette Soler (author of The Edible Front Yard) and Evelyn Hadden (author of the upcoming Timber Press book Beautiful No-Mow Yards). Hope to see you here!
Update 9-26-11: In case the original post was unclear, the succulent wall art on the exterior on the Lila B. Design premises was designed by Lila B. Design.
Who me? Competitive? ;)
Posted by: Rebecca Sweet | August 16, 2011 at 02:48 PM
Wowza! Honored that our Supersoaker (and succulent wall!) is among such talented company.
Posted by: LilaBDesign | September 26, 2011 at 01:46 PM