I am planning a family trip to Italy later this fall.  Unfortunately, I think we will miss being able to see gardens and general greenery as it will be too late in the season.

This morning, my good friend emailed me about this tree cathedral that is being inaugurated tomorrow (September 4th 2010).  I think even without greenery — this may be end up being a stop on our tour.

image from wired.co.uk

The Tree Cathedral is located outside of Bergamo, Italy, on the slopes of the Arera mountain, and is the creation of famed Italian contemporary artist, Giuliano Mauri.

Giuliano Mauri, is a ‘natural architect’ who died in May 2009. The structure was his last work, to signify the International Year of Biodiversity. It stands 21 metres tall, with five aisles and 42 columns. It’s 28.5 metres long and 24 metres wide, and has been built from 1800 firs, 600 chestnut branches and 6000 metres of hazel branch that’s been weaved into the design. 42 beeches have been planted inside, which will grow over time to provide the roof to the structure, which remains open to the rain for the time being.   Here are some interesting images of the making of the cathedrale, but with all good gardens, I am excited to keep an eye on this one and see how it matures with time.

Joseph over at Greensparrow Gardens has a keen eye for the quirks of gardeners and designers (which he incorporates into his cartoons).  Happily (or embarrassingly) I can relate to far too many of his weekly doodles.  I am so pleased that he took me up on my offer to guest here, and create a unique cartoon for us.   Does your garden look like the former or the later?….mine is the later for sure — I wish it were the former, but suspect that may never happen unless I give up my clients. How to get over this, I simply don’t know….

From boring and bland to chic and sleek — it is almost hard to believe this is the same house.  The silver blue and sage green textural planting is sharp against the natural wood siding.  It would have been so easy to keep the ornamental trees and go for an update, but the complete re-think of this space is very imaginative and I think very successful.  Designed by Laughlin Design in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I am in awe of the resoucefulness of the creator of this tiny garden.  Armed with little space and a desire to grow as much as possible – they got a little creative.

The pallets create a potato growing heaven on one side and compost on the other.  The strawberry pot decorates the center.  The various and sundry plastic containers hang to give more planting space and even the edges of the pallets serve to hold little pots of dangling plants.  It’s rustic and resourceful and utterly charming don’t you think?

Click through to see more detail or take a visit to Catholic home to read more about how it was created.

Oh No!  As I am sitting here prepping my August Blogs I like post, I clicked over to email to see that Loomis Creek is closing.  I have to admit to being quite sad.  While I have ever only visited the store once, it is one of those websites I peruse regularly.  In my same zone (5), Andrew and Bob cultivate a list of plant varieties that are quite different than those readily available at my more local suppliers.

I am forever trying to find the quirky and unusual often with some frustration.  Either I can’t find or I do and it doesn’t perform.   Thats usually when I check at Loomis Creek.  They have the plant — which feeds my determination to get the item because now I know if will work, — or they don’t, when I usually decide I should let that one go. They are like a quick online litmus test for my plant choices.

As they move to the pacific northwest, for new adventures, I and their neighbors in the Hudson valley will surely miss them.  For now though, I am scoping out my already full fall schedule to see when I can make the couple hour trek to Loomis Creek and pick up some final treasures before they are gone at the end of the season.

Urban Rooftop gardening is is quite vogue but while the reality of actually creating such a garden can be daunting (think hauling all that dirt to the roof) – this garden is quite inspiring because it literally looks like someone went through the apartment building and picked up all the stuff that would have gone down to the curb and instead took it up to the roof to create this quirky but appealing mix.
Found over at urban garden casual.