I love being the plant lady. Especially in a town like Worcester, MA. Worcester is a place that seems to me to have more than it’s fair share of urban craziness and being the gardeners we get to see it all. Yesterday as I was having an entirely pointless conversation with ‘high as a kite’ guy – a regular- I thought it would be fun to share with you excerpts from our days in Worcester. Worcester provides me and my crew with unending little anecdotes to laugh over with each other and share with our families and friends. I have decided to tweet my favorite one liners all summer as they come to us (I just turned on twitter from my blackberry) so you too can share in the colorful crazy silliness from the flowerbeds of downtown Worcester, MA.

So here is a quick rundown of some of our cast of characters from this year and previous years. I am not sure who will be back this season as things have changed a bit in the city but I am sure for each who has departed, someone new will take their place.

High as a Kite guy – In his 20’s and generally found wearing excessively baggy clothes, he is super friendly and talkative when high as a kite, but after peppering us with endless questions and strange conversation, will, upon coming down from kite height, seem to not recognize us at all.
Hawk guy – Hawk enthusiast that works in local office tower. Has stopped myself and each of my crew on the street to point out the nesting hawks on the top of the building at least a half a dozen times each if not more. He knows a lot about hawks and likes to share his enthusiasm with anyone with ears..because presumably we all want to hear it again.
Pretend-a-cop guy - Faithful and reliable, this young man clearly has a dream to be a cop, though sadly I don’t expect it will ever happen for him. So he dresses in his police t-shirt and dark trousers, dawns his kids toy hand cuffs and police hat, and with his plastic pinned on badge he faithfully patrols the sidewalk directly in front of the local police station (which happens to be right next to one of our flower beds). He is rather large, and never speaks…but keeps a close eye on us suspicious flower people and occasionally takes a swig from his giant gallon sized gatorade bottle. I am concerned that he may however have moved on this year as the local station was closed for budget cuts — I think maybe no pretend-a- cop guy if there are no real cops.
The professor – older man who dresses like a professor (tweed jacket look) who likes to ask me what the Latin names are of plants and then argue with me about whether I am correct. I think he means well, but I find him really irritating.
There are a few more that I am not thinking of at the moment, but as they pop back into I our lives,I will introduce you.
So yesterday’s favorite quote — from ‘high as a kite guy’ – while actually high as a kite… ambles over and with a mouth full (I mean really full) of some sort of chewy taffy like candy he sort of eagerly says “you guys need any help?”
to which we respond, no thanks,
to which he says…”Any of you guys have college degrees?” most of us nod yes…
then he says “I really want to talk to someone who has a degree in Botany, I want to know what you would do if you were planting a garden and came across a bunch of cannibis sativa”
I was impressed – he really knows his Latin.

Will be back out there today…I plan to tweet my favorites…so if you care about these characters, join me on twitter…

If you will excuse me, I have to go plant about 5000 annuals in downtown Worcester today and tomorrow….this is one of my big things for my little business.   I will subsequently be light on posts for the next 48 hours.

I am loving the ideas that you have sent for ‘Can you make this into a garden’, but haven’t had the chance to get them all worked up into pictures….but here is what I have added so far.

Purple Planters….yes I agree that would be a nice addition and I am drawn to these nicely shaped ones from Planters Paradise. The lovely overlay picture is from Landjbannerman taken at the Sarah Raven Cutting Garden Course at Hanham court — seems she knows that purple is a great color for garden planters already.

I had meant to ad Brugmansia and Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurellii’ to my original suggestion but over looked them….and because I agree, this needs more yellow and orange, here are a couple great shots of these beauties.

1. Brugmansia, 2. Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurellii’ (Musaceae), 3. BRUGMANSIA versicolor

I am working on the mirrors and the furniture…I can’t wait to see it all together.
Off to plant a lot of plants now…

Can You Make This Into a Garden?  I love this feature and I love this sketch, but this one has been a bit difficult and honestly I really don’t want to call it done.  It seems there is so much more that could be added…I am hoping you might have some more ideas.  I mean really this girl looks like slightly complicated fun and the garden she inspires from me is dramatic and theatrical.  This might well be my favorite illustration so far, which is perhaps why I am having trouble coming up with the garden for her?

Fashion Illustration by Can’t not Know

This is what I have so far…

Can you believe this fireplace?  I am not sure how it will fare being outside, but I suspect it would be fine in a covered porch.  Available from Bordelet .

She is a totally dramatic princess and the flowers around her should be be likewise.

1. Brazilian glory bush / Tibouchina urvilleana / 紫紺野牡丹(シコンノボタン), 2. Princess Flower, 3. Tibouchina urvilleana

A little on the dangerous side, but totally worth it, (I wish I could find a local nursery to sell me some).  Her garden would house other dramatic beauties like Castor Bean and Abutilon

1. Ricinus, 2. castor bean

Abutilon megapotamicum image by FanciThat

And this is where I begin to struggle.  I feel like she might smoke…and need a cool outdoor ash tray.   Should her furniture be sleek and modern or perhaps more boho vintage?  And containers seem like they should be large and aged terracotta, but does that really go?  What do you think?  What does she inspire in your mind?  I would love to hear your ideas and continue to evolve this mood board.  Comment with your thoughts and I will evolve and re-post.

I love the idea of collaboratively designing by blogging… looking forward to hearing from you…

Made from teak these old Balinese Kanuboote’s have been repurposed as garden benches for the German retailer Rooms.  I love the time worn quality and the exotic flair that they would add to a garden.  There is a place here in Boston called Mohr and McPherson that would probably have something like this from time to time.  It is worth looking into unique importers in your area for special garden pieces such as these.

Wow, I just realized that the last post (Daily Garden 042) WAS MY 500th POST! Well, that feels like something – but I am not sure how to celebrate…any ideas?

But moving on….You know what I dislike more than anything else in the garden….play areas with some sort of swing set thing set in the middle .  Most especially horrible are the cheap garish plastic ones.  The ones that have more durable and natural materials are better, and better still are those that have made some significant effort in design, but they all have one common (negative) feature…they relegate kids to one area of the yard and to me seem completely repetitive in their offerings.  Why not go to a local playground?    As a mom, I get the practicality that this can have, especially if the play structure is located in plain sight from, say, a kitchen window, but personally, I prefer to integrate the play opportunities with the rest of the garden as much as possible.

by blasen landscape architects

Here is why — (at least from a kid perspective — I assume I don’t need to mention that ‘jungle gyms’ are a general blight on the landscape)

1) Kids can get bored quickly and move on.  If there is only one play area…then there is no place to move onto.

2) The play area tends to encourage only one type of play – that is playground play…where kids are excitedly swarming all over the structure like ants.  It is all energy and excitement – and it is good, but there are other things too.  Play structures can encourage kids to interact with their surroundings and they should — it is possible to provide better options than just a pile of plastic to climb on.

3) There is no opportunity to move around the outdoors, they just stay in that spot. Sure there is exercise in climbing, but giving them destinations and ways to move to them is much more interesting not just for kids but for adults too.

What would I prefer? and of course this is dependent on how much space you have, but I will give you a for example.

Create multiple areas, with simpler more natural and less obtrusive garden based features.

At my house we have a tree platform with a slide.  My little people and their cohorts have taken it upon themselves to accessorize the platform with  their own creations – pull up buckets (created from plant pots), and variations on rope swings made from found wood and rope scavenged from the garage.  While I want to add on to this tree house, I am discovering that it is becoming it’s own thing with out me having to spend too much money or imaginative effort.  The kids are leading and we are following and it is really nice.

On the side of the house, we have a gravel patio that doubles as a sandbox.

Around back we have a hammock strung between two oak trees.  I can see it from my desk.  My kids love this thing.  Roughly 4 children can be in it at at time and you would be surprised by how many hours are spent in this thing with stuffed animals, books, pets, swinging,  etc.   It is totally separate from the tree house and this play is much more contemplative and  collaborative (because they are all swinging together). It is not uncommon for me to find my 3 year old gently swinging and daydreaming by himself here.

image from usedcarspecialist

My garden shed frequently doubles as a playhouse and garden paths are inviting journeys to other things.  Oh and I should not forget to mention the ‘play tree’ which is a bunch of giant rhododendrons that have be denuded from about 4′ down by deer that have fun branches to climb in.

So I guess what I am saying is that when you see all this, you aren’t immediately struck by the presence of a play ground in the middle of our garden but rather by an interest to see what awaits around the next corner and I think that is infinitely more interesting to kids and adults.

While at Blasen Architects website, I saw these two beautiful example of what I am taking about…. The swings above are so simply beautiful and I would happily sit there to chat with my husband as eagerly as my kids would.  This slide is so pretty, I had to take a second look to realize what I was even looking at….a slide on a hill that blends beautifully with the landscape. Nice.

by blasen landscape architects

Along this line, the best book that I have ever seen about this different sort of approach to a childs garden is 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children (Archetype Press Books) by Molly Dannenmaier…(I mentioned here before) but it really is worth a read if you are looking to create outdoor spaces that children can interact with.

Summer is here and I officially feel like being at the beach. So when I came across this modern beach garden by Blasen landscape Architecture, I was hooked. This firms beautiful portfolio also contains some stunning more traditional gardens but this simple relaxing scene with the flowing grasses and modern buildings that have barn detailing are completely relaxing to me.