diddling around

Today I visited one of my favorite local wholesale nurseries in preparation for the upcoming garden show.
They had some extremely beautiful vivid orange Anigozanthus “kanga orange” plants growing in 2 gallon size containers.

I bought one as a ‘try out’ plant.
I think I will go back tomorrow and pick a few more out.

I placed the bright orange flowers in the small water feature planter box area but they seemed to over power the area.
So I think I will use the very understated ornamental grass “Carex spicta” and some echiverias.

But just in case I think I will purchase a half dozen of those orange kangaroo paws.
They were incredible !

Photo below shows the Suphur Springs Yellow American Clay covered shower wall with a small sliver view of the red tempered glass mosaic side wall in the background.
A couple of Euphorbia wulfinii plants were placed in the red vase for texture.

Our Post Card

This is the image that we will be using on our 4x6 postcards.
It has a 3/8th border of black around the top and sides and an inch of black with our business name and address on the bottom.

On the back side it will list the collaborators and the artisans that we are working with on the show.

Show Update - 3 weeks to the set up

Show update - Feb 16 - 3 weeks to set up

I think that we are in pretty good shape in regards to the prefabrication of the project.

As of today we have all the American Clay applied to the planter boxes and walls.
I spend three full days last week cutting the wood frames, the 1.5 inch thick styrofoam , prime painting and assembling the perimeter planting boxes.








The guys came after all the boxes were assembled and applied the American Clay


I’m not so thrilled with the Colorado Red color of the American Clay
It has dried too light and “pinkish” G A S P ! No NOT PINK !
So I have to figure out a way to darken the color either by applying a wax or oil type finish or do another coat with more iron oxide pigment mixed into the clay.



But for this evening, the bulk of the pre-fabrication is almost done , with the exception of the cast concrete stepping stones.
All the pieces are now drying, curing and resting until the big move out.

Working on a few details- garden show update

Last week was about getting some of the smaller details together while the bigger picture was being crafted.

Miguel and I went to the Concrete Works Studio to fit the tub with the plumbing / pumping fittings.
The guys in the studio were very helpful in putting the tub up on a forklift so the fittings could be more easily installed .


I worked on getting some of the plants dialed in.
I reincarnated some of the Bio Wall plants into a 5 foot long succulent swag.
Starting with a large Staghorn fern in a metal basket, I wove in some succulents and then made a 4 foot long chicken wire ‘toostie roll’, and planted it with succulents.
The wire basket and toostie roll will be hung together on the corner of the shower wall and drape down the length of the wall


Below are some of the plants being pre-planted in plastic troughs - these will be placed in a planter above the tempered glass mosaic wall - Philodendron, Bromeliad, Birds nest Fern and another split leaf fern.
I’ll also plant some more bromeliadad and a variety of orchids in these planters.



A couple of accent details were also worked out.
Placed on the chaise lounge will be a teak tray with some sumi calligraphy paint brushes and my calligraphy practice book.


And some festive lighting will be set over the two chairs in the yoga garden room

Reincarnation

Seeing how this is a Zen Spa Garden the Bio Wall has been “reincarnated”.
It’s new incarnation is 3 separate planter boxes.


The boxes shown above are crafted out of 1.5 inch thick styrofoam and will be veneered in American Clay.
The color of the clay is called Sulphur Springs and is a nice mellow yellow with a tinge of orange /tan / orche

They’ll be planted with a bronze foliage bromeliads, green aeoniums, chondropetalum, furcrea medio pica , giant kalanchoes, bronze cordylines and phormiums

These planter boxes will match the American Clay veneered shower wall ( the shower is on the Inside of the display.- not shown in this sketch )

Attached to the outer wall is the small stacked slate stone square planter with a smaller water basin on the inside
Edging the water basin will be a planting of carex and primrose.

Transformation

After many incarnations of the elusive Bio Wall from Hell, it now has transformed itself into three separate eco stucco planter boxes.

The bio wall frames were taken apart and reworked . They are now veneered in 1.5 inch thick panels of styrofoam and are ready to be stucco'ed with a sulphur yellow colored plaster like veneer.

Inside each planter will be an array of succulents, restios, and bromeliads.

below is the revised sketch.
The stucco planters will match the stucco'ed shower wall partition.