Just letting the kids play with water and dirt in the backyard.
Wooly pockets.... hmmmm
Well, T tried to get me to put these elsewhere in the garden and I'm afraid he may have been correct. I'm not liking them right here. That side fence is SO janky. Maybe if it was covered with some pretty vines?These were both planted at the end of April.
Monardella villosa, Phormium Black Rage, Bacopa, I can't remember this one, Helichrysum petioleI set up my two wooly pockets this weekend. I'm not really sure how well all thee plants pair up in a container. I mean, they should be all pretty together but maybe not all compatible water/sun requirement times and size. we'll see!Bacopa Growing and Maintenance Tips:Bacopa flowers best in full sun, preferably morning sun. Keep Bacopa evenly moist and provide good drainage. The plant may rot if it is waterlogged and it may stop flowering if it is allowed to dry out between waterings. Pinch back as needed and feed with an all-purpose fertilizer following package instructions.Monardella villos - coyote mintThis perennial will grow to 2' tall by 2' wide. The dark green leaves contrast nicely with long blooming lavender flowers (June-August). Place in full sun to light shade, with good drainage and little summer water. Cut back heavily in winter for a compact plant next year. Native from Northern to Central California. Flowers attract a wide variety of butterflies and beneficial insects.Phormium Black RageStriking blue-black sword-like leaves make a bold upright (to 2-3') statement that holds its color well; incredible contrast plant in container or border. Sun/Med-Dry/GdDrainH. petiolare is a shrubby treasure with felted, heart-shaped leaves. Its stems form low mounds or spill out of containers, weaving their way through their neighbors. Growth is vigorous in average to dry garden soil. For best foliage color, provide afternoon shade. Perennial in Zones 8-10.
another wooly pocket experiment!creeping mint, Rumex sanguineus, Ajuga reptans 'Chocolate Chip', centradenia floribunda, Carex flagellifera - Toffee Twist, Prunella grandiflora 'Blue Loveliness'Prunella grandiflora 'Blue Loveliness'Sun to Partial Shade, Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwaterSelf-sows freely; deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next seasonAjuga reptans 'Chocolate Chip'Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' is a low growing, narrow leaved ground cover with compact variegated foliage - dark green splashed with chocolate, with burgundy highlights.Leaves are thinner and longer than other Ajugas. This versatile ground cover is topped in late spring to early summer with intense deep blue flowers held on 2" flower spikes.centradenia floribundaspreads quickly to almost 6’ across & as much as 18” tall. Praiseworthy bright coppery-bronze shiny foliage make it a true stand-out in the garden, adding tons of long-range foliar interest & contrast. And wow, what a backdrop the leaves & ruby stems create for the showy bright magenta-pink flowers! Trailing stems root along the ground & are simple to control. Cascades beautifully out of beds, containers & hanging baskets! Bright shade/Sun, avg. waterCarex flagellifera Toffee Twist is a zone 7 hardy ornamental grass for sunny areas. Actually a sedge, this carex is grown for its beautiful toasted coppery brown foliage which turns a rich mahogany color by fall.Clump forming Carex cascades and twists in the most pleasing of ways, making this ideal for container gardening.Rumex sanguineusFull Sun, May be a noxious weed or invasiveAverage Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater
Schoolhouse Creek Common Berkeley, CA
I came across the awesome Schoolhouse Creek Common Garden playscape in Berkeley during a Bring Back the Natives Tour in 2008. Here is the write up on the Bring Back the Native site. I think this was my very first experience with an actual natural playscape and I was really excited by it.This playscape has so many great features, including boulders, a tire swing, a mesh tunnel, tree stumps (movable and not), CA native plants, a nice BIG sand pit, a small hill with boulders and plantings, and secret paths.I have brought my son here a few times over the years although we were never regulars since it is a bit far from my house. The last time we went my son was about 4.5 and we had a really good time. the first thing I did was get out my sketchbook and some pens and I started to make a map of the garden. this was a great opportunity to talk about maps and to have my son help me. He got really into it and really got the concept of translating what we were seeing to the paper. I sent him off to explore and to report back with what he found.Note to self: find that sketchbook, scan and upload it.We have actually have never encountered any other kids at this site and I would really love to see a group or even just two kids playing here to see what they do! J and I made maps, and we played Hide and SNEAK(TM), and dug in the sand pit looking for dinosaur bones.You can read more about the process of building Schoolhouse Creek Commons here.
My front porch plants
Most of my adult life I moved once a year and was an enthusiastic killer of potted plants. Now that I'm settled in a house I'm hoping to keep some of these babies alive. Unfortunately I can only have outside planters because our new cats eat, mangle or otherwise harass anything in a pot.
The front planter has one Helianthum nummularium 'Henfield Brilliant'.I love this plant's gray green foliage and bright delicate orange flowers. The flowers are short lived but there are a lot of them. The flowers are also thigmonastic, which means they move in response to stimuli, so if you touch the stamens they slowly move outward, it's so cute! I haven't seen any bees around it yet but it has been raining pretty steadily since it started blooming.Closer picture of the back planter:
I'm experimenting with combining plants in this one. The one on the left is Heuchera villosa 'Cintronelle'. Heuchera's are awesome and this one has this great neon-y chartreuse foliage. This plant gets pretty big, like up to 2 feet, so I might eventually transplant it. The flowers are spikes of creamy white flowers and it blooms in late spring to summer.The Primula polyantha 'Victoriana Silver Laced Black' on the right also gets fairly big so we'll see how it does in this pot. I like an overflowing full looking planter and this one should get fluffy by summer. This Primula is sooo pretty, it has a yellow center w/ black petals and white edges and blooms late fall to mid-spring.Here's a picture of the blooms, aren't they stunning?
The bulb in the back is Dierama pulcherrimum 'Slieve Donard', common name is fairy wand, and I've never seen this plant in bloom in real life. It has deep reddish purple flowers and blooms in late spring and summer. I can't find a good picture to use that isn't copyright protected. so here's a link to one. this is supposedly a nice cut flower and in late fall I'll try dividing it since it spreads by corms.
J and Me
Rainbow slide in Sweden
I've seen a couple of pictures of this slide in a playground in Sweden.
How fun does that look?! I want to go there immediately. I love the slide/bridge over a stream environment creation and that there are so many elevation changes visible in this picture. I wonder what the rest of this park is like!Oh I searched around online web and found out it is The Fairytale Playground in Malmo.Here's a picture where you can see more of the park.
LOVE those grass mounds to the left.and here's a link to Alex Smith's post on Playgroundology about the other awesome playgrounds in Malmo. Actually just go read his post about all the themed playgrounds in Malmo. Links and pics galore!The Spiral Playground, also in Malmo, reminds me of the DNA strand in front of the Lawrence Hall of Science.Here is my nephew climbing it
Oh this is a good pic too. You can see my son's bald head. Heehehee
On the hunt for great play areas
A and J climbing up the bank.I'm always on the hunt for great local play areas. It is easiest to start with hunting for actual playgrounds. Anyone with the care of a small child will tell you the importance of knowing your local playgrounds intimately.Just driving around isn't good enough for really exploring. I also use Yelp and Google Maps. Yelp is so useful for reviews and finding out if a playground has a bathroom or not (crucial!). In Google maps get to neighborhood level in regular Maps (not satellite) view and look for any green areas. We moved into a new house about a year ago and I found, three blocks away, the most fun little informal play area. I swear I had walked by it a million times and never even knew it was there until I saw the green band in Google Maps. It's a long skinny path mostly used by dog walkers BUT a creek runs along it for a whole block and in one spot you can cross to find a tiny little grassy picnic area. Creeks are about the best thing ever to play with, you can make dams, watch the flow of water, float boats made form leaves and bark, throw rocks, there are so many possibilities. The other non creek section has some rocks and planting beds and some neat trees. Perfect!
This area is quite urban and even though I can drive 10 minutes and be on the beautiful bay in Alameda or Berkeley it's nice to have some tiny bits of nature in walking distance.Where do you play that isn't an actual playground?
Kids playing on a neat-o tree.
KaBoom - Online Resources
It looks like KaBoom has some interesting sounding talks you can listen to online about various aspects of playground design and installation. Heres a link.There are interviews with designers, how to maintain a community garden and get volunteers, info about outdoor schools and tons more. Go check it out if you are interesting in getting your community active in having playgrounds installed and including kids in landscapes.I see KaBoom also has a new iPhone app called Playgrounds! I haven't tried it yet and I see that it gets mixed reviews. One reviewer mentions that it seems to include any school campus regardless of age range. It's not often you find a high school with a playground... and even if you did it might not be open to the public. I'll download this myself and give it a try. Hopefully my very old and getting decrepit iPhone can handle it.
Evolution of an herb spiral
When we moved in and had an arborist come cut down some of the plum trees we kept all the branches. When I was making my herb spiral I dug a hole to mix in compost and such and I buried some of the plum branches in a nod to Hugelculture. We also piled up most of them along the back wall and dumped dirt on it and have things growing on it (oh, and an embedded hillslide) in a more traditional hugelculture bed.April 2011:It started fairly small.June 2011:I enlarged it to include an attached bed for flowers.October 2011:February 2012:Here's the flower part of it in May 2012:I had a fantastic crop of borage, chamomile and comfrey plus some nice annuals this spring. I have prepared the bed for some new things but I'm not sure what. I already sprinkled some seeds randomly and put in a few ground cherries. There is also some lovely lovely smelling lemongrass and some valerian in there plus some basic herbs like rosemary and oregano.Here it is June 2012:
Lake Merritt Gardens - Sensory Garden
I love the Lake Merritt gardens. It is the perfect place to take a 2 year old! We often come to the sensory garden and J. also loves the Japanese Garden.
