My 4 year old fell and split his chin open this morning…we have to wait until 3:00 to get stitches ( I didn’t know that so long as the bleeding has stopped — stitches can wait for up to 24 hours!?! – which is a good thing since the Urgent Care facility and ER are always completely overrun!)…..The nurse told us to keep him still and calm…so we sat down in front of the TV, put in Empire Strikes Back, and he promptly fell asleep (now I really know he doesn’t feel good).   So I have been sitting here since….occasionally perusing the channels and pay per view…..which is what this post is actually all about.

Have you heard of the the documentary film called The Garden?

By all accounts it is a remarkable story about a 14 acre community garden in south central LA (the largest int he country).  It started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, but the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. “Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.”

The Garden follows the plight of the farmers who are mostly immigrants from Latin America where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out.  But now they organize, fight back, and demand answers:  “Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public?”

In an era where gardens are part of the silent movement of the masses and particularly the poor toward a greener and more sustainable economy,  this film tells the story of the country’s largest urban farm, backroom deals, land developers, green politics, money, poverty, power, and racial discord.  It was nominated for an academy award and won many other notable accolades, and now, I see, as I sit here waiting for the Dr. ….it is available on pay per view….I think I will be watching it later tonight ….

Have you seen it? What did you think?

I have gone into high planning mode.  I hope to find out this weekend if my sister is definitively going to take me up on my offer to host her wedding later this summer in my garden.  If so, I have to quickly make some lists and calculations for materials ready as soon as the land is workable.   I am using the Landscape calculator – it’s a very handy tool for figuring out how much mulch, plants, stone, or whatever you might need for your project.  So far 10 yards of compost and lots of plants….

images by jose villa.

I think this garden is so interesting…primarily because I can’t decide what I think about it.  I really like the path, the design is really striking and the obvious detail is interesting.

But I think I would need to be in this garden to determine if I actually like the garden as a whole.  I am looking at these pictures and thinking about a common experience I have with photography.   I find most of the time when I am taking pictures in the garden, the photo rarely captures what I am really seeing or experiencing.   It’s not because I am an entirely bad photographer, but actually just as often it is because the picture is too good (usually macro shots), even portraying things to be prettier than they seem in real life.  I feel like goldilocks;  garden photography is either too bad or too good, but rarely just right.  I think the photographer of this garden might have the same problem.

I am not sure which way this one goes; is this garden more interesting than it seems in the shots?  Or, are the individual features are all really nice, but I am loosing a sense of the thread that strings them together in the place? So I can’t tell.   I think it is important when shooting a garden to think about how a garden is experienced so that you can lead people through with a set of pictures.  There are a couple more images at Artecho, the designers website but it’s not quite enough for me.

What do you think?  Do you like it?  Do you photograph gardens?  What are some of your tips for that just right image? My tip:  try and capture context, which is hard, but I think it makes a huge difference.  This garden is on a bluff over looking the ocean.  Does that change your original thoughts about this garden?   It does for me. It makes me wonder where that path is going to, or coming from.  And the round sitting area – what do you see when you are there?  Is it gray because of mist?  Maybe it is moodier than it looks?  Hmmm…

I’m simply blown away by this front garden makeover in Seattle.  I am not sure what property values are doing in Washington, but I have to think that this garden and curb appeal makeover added way more than the average 10% value increase.

This might be my favorite part.  I love neighborhoods that have landscaped areas between the sidewalk ad the street.  They really are just much more friendly.  Given that this areas is particularly wide, this path from the street to the sidewalk has the opportunity to become a really lovely feature.

Images by leahsteen

The clematis growing over the front door is so sweet.  I am forever irritated that many of my clients have a complete phobia of climbers on their homes.   Sure, they can always get out of control, but so can the “foundation”  trees that are frequently requested.  I am a fan of the vines on the house…I say go for it.

It’s not an entirely lawn free makeover, but given the  grass is in minute quantities, I think this would even satisfy the lawn-less cheerleaders among us.  Are you loving it as much as I am or would you do something different?

Apologies for the less that clear ‘after’ shot, but I couldn’t help myself….it is obviously still a beautiful transformation made by the Friends of the Urban Forest in San Francisco.

I am about to lose countless happy hours to my new favorite blog.  It is called Fennel and Fern and it an amazing collection of posts from some of my favorite garden bloggers.  It is written by a gaggle of of writers and designers, but was founded by Isabel Eyre.  Her helpers, Debbie of Carrots and Kids, Chris and Harald of vegalicious, Kathy, Sarah, Ryan of Ryan’s Garden, and Susan pitch in to cover everything from rare plants to recipes to gardening with children.  It is really a great mix and makes for an exciting blog after my own heart.

Isabel is a fan of the inspiration board too and I am really enjoying this potager (Kitchen) garden and the “raffish” garden below.

Image credits, from left to right: Martine at http://www.banlieusardises.com/; Oscar de la Renta’s vegetable garden, by Richard Felber at Domino Magazine; cat among nasturtiums by Microsoft; artichoke by Karen; Dorset Cereals Edible Playground Garden at Chelsea 2008, courtesy of the RHS; Oscar de la Renta’s garden, as above; potager design by Michelle; forcing pots in West Dean kitchen garden by Andrew; potager design courtesy of Country Living; Oscar de la Renta’s garden as above; designs for Oscar de la Renta’s garden, as above; Gardens of Plenty by Marylyn Abbott; Potager design by Sylvie Guillem; Marigolds and dahlias in potager at Growing appetite; Rural garden by Moser’s Maroon; potager by Noisy Sound.

Coincidentally, when I found Fennel and Fern I noticed the terracotta rhubarb forcers in the above board….I have been researching rhubarb since last year; my own installation of three plants is, I think, probably not going to make it through the winter.  I love the stuff and dream of having it grow wildly out of control as my mother did when I was a kid, so I need to sort out what went wrong…my research introduced me to rhubarb forcers – though not probably the answer to my problem, I am wondering why I cant find a US based outlet for these lovely garden implements?hmmm…. And – any rhubarb tips would happily be appreciated.