The theme of my display/show garden is somewhat of a personal story that started last year during my surgical recovery phase from partial lung removal surgery.
After my surgery I spent a fair amount of time homebound and in my back yard garden ( attached to an oxygen machine ).
During those long contemplative days I was eternally thankful that I had previously created a sanctuary ambience in my garden to recover in.
As much as it may sound like a cliché', I truly felt that there was a definite healing power being in my garden.
So I have designed a simple sanctuary style healing garden that is somewhat ethno-modern in style for the upcoming 2008 San Francisco Garden show..
It includes a comfortable place to take a nap ( I did a lot of that while recovering ) a place for yoga, an outdoor hot water soaking tub , an outdoor shower and the garden is fairly low in maintenance but yet has enough color and textural foliage to make you feel as though you are truly in a garden.
Below are a couple of sketches and some elements of the garden that I have been working on.
The show is coming up rather quickly so a lot of fabrication will be taking place in my studio ( aka the garage ) over the next 2 months so I'll be pretty busy.
If you are in my neighborhood , feel free to give a call and come on by and check out our progress .
If you can’t stop by in person please check this blog to keep an eye on the various elements we’ll be prefabricating for the show.
Happy Gardening,
Michelle
This perspective plan shows the basic design premise though the color scheme has changed a bit.
This is the simplified site plan - Size of the garden is 16 x 32 feet
There are several unique features in the garden.
The most colorful and stunning will be the tub area.
Standing behind the cast concrete tub by Concrete Works Studio will be a glass mosaic wall.
The glass wall will have a window cut out in the center . In the window will sit a Balinese stone Buddha head.
Spilling out from below the head will be a cascading sheet of water that spills into the cast concrete bath tub.
Here are a couple of progession photos of us building the glass mosaic wall in the garage along with a photo of the Concrete Works Studio bath tub ( photo taken at their studio workshop )
Picture 1-
This shows the Hardie Backer board being painted with water based paint
Picture 2-
The colored glitter paper being glued to the painted Hardie Board
Picture 3 -
Lots of broken tempered glass getting ready to be epoxied onto the board
Picture 4-
Epoxy-ing the broken tempered glass onto the colored board in the garage studio
Picture 5-
Most of the glass is epoxied on.
Next step is to finish all of the glass work and then to grout the open areas between the glass fragments with colored grout.
I have purchased a yellow and a dark red grout and wll mix in a little bit of gold glitter into the grout for a sparkley effect.
Picture 6 -
Shows the type of Epoxy and hardener that I used along with the grouts.
While the glass mosaic wall is being fabricated in the garage we have been busy propagating succulent in the greenhouse .
These flats of succulents will be used to build our Bio Wall wilth.
Picture 7 -
Succulents in the greenhouse
Picture 8 -
Our biowall will not be as large as the one I am posting below, but we will use the same
type of building methods.
And our bio wall will be planted with succulents and not grass.
Picture 9 -
This is the cast concrete tub by ConcreteWorks Studio - It is 5 feet long and 25 inches tall
Photo taken at their fabrication studio
Enclosing our spa sanctuary garden will be a lush hedge of Bamboo provided by The Bamboo Sourcery in Sebastopol. - www.bamboosourcery.com
We chose this screening plant for its beauty and low maintenance characteristics.
Inside the bamboo screen room , on the back side of the Venetian plastered L shaped wall will be an outdoor shower set into a stacked pebbled wall.
We will also have plenty of comfortable places to sit and relax while taking in the time to enjoy the surrounding artful ambiance.
Chaise lounge and hand carved stone Balinese pots provided by Translations Imports located in Sonoma . www.translations-sonoma.com
We’ve also paid attention to the small details, right down to the type of eco friendly replica turf provided by Foreverlawn.com and the hand crafted colored concrete and stone mosaic paving that our craftsmen will be fabricating
I’ll be posting more photogaphs as the various design elements are being built such as the stucco planter boxes, the venetian plaster shower and pebble walls, the stone mosaic stepping stones, the bio wall and the other water feature and benches.
So come on back and check out our progress and we hope to see you at the 2008 San Francisco Garden Show at the Cow Palace on March 12 thru the 16.
Happy Gardening !
Michelle
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8 comments:
Michelle, thanks for showing more of this project. I really like the stacked pebble wall for the shower area! NICE! I like the bamboo idea as well, Weren't you originally going to use one of those african grasses for that hedge? I wish I lived it a warm enough climate to grow some of the giant Bamboos, Sob... Anyway, can't wait to see more...Patrick
I'm a sucker for that stacked pebble stuff too. You've got to check out the rajueleado walls in the Yucatan, if you don't know them. The only thing I could find on the internet was from the book that I read about it in. The picture is on the previous page from that link.
Your components look wonderful! Can't wait to see the completed project. Stacked indonesian jade? Beautiful if a bit pricey. Love it!
Layanee,
I've been calling and resourcing the costs of the stacked Indonesian pebble tiles for a month now and guess who has it the cheapest, ( when you consider shipping is thrown in ) - Cost Co.
$100.00 for 5 square feet.
I have a direct source for these pebbles from a shop that I bought stone from while in Bali last year but I don't have enough quantity to make it affordable to ship over, and one can never rely on getting things on time from Indonesia.
Two years ago my friends and I all chipped in to get a shipping container shipped over with all of our purchases. The boat was suppose to arrive in by the end of Nov or early Dec. It arrived in Feb.
Max , I'll have to check out your link. I love Mexican pebble art just as much as Indonesian.
They have some similar characteristics but there is a difference and both are stunning to see ( and behold ! )
Patrick.
I thought about using some of the African Restios in the planters as accent plants but after meeting with the folks at The Bamboo Sourcery , who are supplying all the bamboo, we decided to go with just 2 main varieties.
In front of the bamboo hedge is a swath of savory succulents.
I have close to 100 one gallon size containers growing in the back yard with Aeoniums, echiverias,and euphorbia red martin growing.
They'll be placed in the stucco planter box infront of the bamboo hedge and will slightly drape over the side of the tomato soup orange stucco wall.
Michelle, I am so impressed that you are doing this after what you have been through last year. Great Job!!! By the way, I have never told you this, but I love watching the transformation of your projects, especially from the hardscape developement through the planting phaze. Amazing how the plants you choose compliment and complete the project. With this project, I was surprised by the drawings that showed it to be 90% hardescape, but I can visualize from your description of the plants you have choosen to encorporate into the various planting areas that this project will be so much more than the drawings you posted. Wish I could see it in persion. Does the Cow palace have an pre-opening day festivity for the exhibtors to cocktail and smooze after the installations are complete? Most of the plant shows I have been too have such an event, even if sometimes its a bit causual. Art shows have opening parties. Do they do that there? Patrick
Howdy Patrick,
Yes, the Garden Show does have a Preview Party.
In the past it has been quite an elegant affair.
It is held on the first evening that the show opens and is a ticketed event with ALL of the proceeds going towards a local Bay Area Horticultural charitable event or society.
This is how I came to do my first show back in 1989 when it was an all volunteer event and All of the financial proceeds from both the show and the party went to benefit the S.F. Parks and Recreation Department.
Now that the show is operated by a for profit ( gawd please help them make a profit ! ) company , only the Opening Night Show Party contributes its profit proceeds. I believe this year the financial proceeds are being given to the San Francisco Botanical Garden.
Tickets to this swanky event are in the $ 150 dollar range ( plus or minus ) .
The last one that I attended was several years ago when Garden Design Magazine handed out their Golden Trowel Awards and I was given a pair of freebie tickets ( to collect my golden trowel of course ! heh he ! ) .
Lots of lovely gowns, beautiful couture , handsome men in tuxedos and exceptional culinary delights and a nice easy listening band.
I am very tempted to come to the Cow Palace in San Srancisco to see this in person.
I'm just a pilgrim passing through, having stopped here after Googling "yard and garden show San Francisco." Yours is a good story with great pictures. I'm looking forward to the show next week-end, and I'm definitely looking for your exhibit. It's great-looking on a stand-alone basis, but with your story to go with it, it shines!
Cheers.
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