sculpture – transplant studio

IMG_0062c — view from gas works park across lake union

i’ve returned from the garden blogger’s annual meetup in seattle, refreshed from the cooler temperatures, views of tall coniferous trees and vast expanses of deep, dark water. it was a wonderful trip of garden touring and catching up with friends both old and new. over four days we visited an array of private and public gardens, retail plant nurseries, a sculpture park and a farmers’ market. knowing how long it can take me to go through all the photos (1028 on the camera, plus several on the phone – but that doesn’t even come close to those who shot over 2000 photos…), i thought i’d post a few to pique your interest until i can spend more time on a post for each tour stop.

pre-seattlefling day 0:

apld & gwa regional meetup, that graciously invited garden bloggers to attend:

IMG_0101c — barbara lycett's garden, host of the apld & gwa regional meetup

seattlefling day 1:

IMG_0159c — a comfortable respite in the garden of suzette & jim birrell

IMG_0188c — summer's view from the garden of shelagh tucker

IMG_0203c — lunch time gathering at the historic dunn gardens (designed by the olmsted brothers)

IMG_0279c — soest garden at the university of washington's center for urban horticulture

IMG_0284c — entrance to elizabeth c. miller library at the center for urban horticulture

seattlefling day 2:

IMG_0302c — lower view of the epping home & garden

IMG_0325c — filtered-light entry to the lane home & garden

IMG_0396a — waterwise vegetable & compost garden at the bellevue botanic garden

IMG_0439a — richard serra "wake" sculpture at SAM olympic sculpture park

seattlefling day 3:

IMG_0472c — west seattle farmers' market

IMG_0522c — home & garden of lorene edwards forkner, one of our fabulous seattlefling organizers and timber press author of the forthcoming book, handmade garden projects

IMG_0544c — garden shed of plantswoman and designer kate farley

IMG_0574c — interior canopy view of Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia) at south seattle community college's arboretum and coenosium rock garden

gloriously rain kissed seattlefling day 4 on bainbridge island:

IMG_0648c — the etheral reflection pool at bloedel reserve

IMG_0680c — raindrops falling on the pond near bloedel's japanese garden

IMG_0791c — west meadow path toward bloedel's storage barns

IMG_0847c — plant shopping at dragonfly farms & nursery

IMG_0873c — danielle ernest of proven winners hosted the "punch drunk in love with the PNW" cocktail party for our final soiree. lorene is enjoying a well-deserved beverage.

i hope that gives you a taste of what we saw during the seattlefling! more images and descriptions of my favorite stops to follow. thanks again to EVERYONE who organized, sponsored and participated this year! it was great to get to know you and spend some quality time together, enjoying the things we love.

IMG_0609c — andrea fox @grwhryrpltd (thanks for the photo kelly @floradoragal!)

we’ve been keeping busy on the garden project front for the past couple of months. projects that have nothing to do with gardening per se, but add personal atmosphere to the places we enjoy spending time in.

one project that i was very pleased see come to fruition was the garden signage for the DIG. friend and fellow MG volunteer judy and i started working on the project quite a while ago. six of these garden location signs were installed for the arboretum dedication that took place on arbor day. the signs were fabricated here in town, on a uv-protected aluminum and vinyl composite panel called signabond. the panels were attached to standard chain link fence line posts using brace bands.

bcmga signs_021a — bcmga garden location sign

bcmga signs_004a — bcmga garden location sign

i designed the signs using the bluebonnet of the brazos county MG logo as inspiration for the background logo for the signs. after working on it for so long, i only saw the bluebonnets, but most everyone else saw trees… a subtle coincidence that i thought would perfectly apply to both the arboretum and gardens at the DIG.

bcmga signs_001a — garden location sign line up

the plan is to continue using this graphic style for the rest of the DIG signage. knowing that, i also used it for the dedication invitation and program brochure designs. since it was arbor day, the board requested i change the color to green, a more tree-friendly color.

Arboretum Dedication Invitation_green.ai — arboretum dedication invitation

back on the home front, i updated our address sign from the crappy plastic-plaque-with-glue-oozing-from-behind-the-numbers (no picture, you’ll have to imagine it) to this:

modern numerals floating above a slab of walnut (from upstate ny) we had left over from another project. i still have to modify how it attaches to the brick and figure out some way to conceal the screws. it already gives a warmer feel to the entrance of our home.

mr. grwhryrpltd finished the second of two metal welded sculptures (the first was a christmas present for his mom; unfortunately, i don’t have any pictures of it to show you…), and we planted it in the garden today. he makes me smile:

af_005a — welded metal man sings in the garden

and finally, today’s most recent garden project consisted of utilizing the tub of vino bottles we’ve acquired over the past two years into a new edging material. because really, when you can’t recycle green or brown glass, what better way to use them?

af_002a — the sun shines on the wine bottle garden edge

i’m looking forward to watching how light will pass through the bottles throughout the day and see how the entire edge weathers over time. 47 bottles wasn’t quite enough to finish the entire length of the garden, so i guess we have a few more bottles to consume… like 100 more… garden party, anyone?! come on over, and help us come up with the next round of garden projects to add to the list…