Steve Snedeker’s Landscaping and Gardening Blog

So here is a look back from the driveway. The Garden Grotto featured in the posts prior to this is back behind this young grove of ornamental “Shirotae” Cherries. The lawn we mounded somewhat and placed a few boulders in, just to break up the lines a bit and to provide some interest. The dog here I thought I might remove, but I like looking at him, knowing he stole so many of our lunches just to remind me I will probably outlive him. A true cur he was, too, although he sucked up well, lol. Hey, we run into lots of these guys. They tend to show up for lunch times, expressing their uncanny political abilities by almost always achieving some sort of edible treat. Naturally, then they make a habit out of it. This one became quite the “pal”. And he gained weight on this project, I am willing to bet.

This home also had cement edge stripping installed around all of its grass lawns. I believe there was something like 1,200 feet in all. It makes a very perfect edge and is ten times easier to maintain. Sturdy and long-lasting, the tires of a lawn mower can rest in it while mowing without any ill effect. It also addresses the tendency of bluegrass to rhizome outward and make it far more controllable. I love the stuff, myself.

Grotto

This shot goes across the top of our little Garden Grotto towards the front yard and the driveway and street. The trees at the top I arranged to be a grove of ornamental cherries (Shirotae’s) which make a spectacular Springtime look. Inasmuch as this was taken soon after completing the project, their growth is not as visible or rewarding as the current look offers, 4 years later. The branches are all nearly touching now and the blooms tend to the spectacular. There are abundant perennials planted throughout the trees near the edges of the upraised planter walls as well. One of our grasses is visible in the foreground. I absolutely love the modern grass trend. They are hardy and make a fabulous garden addition.

We placed a meandering band of lawn, seen here at the top of this picture and which I will give a view of tomorrow, from the driveway itself, connecting generally with this aspect. Naturally, the Garden Grotto will not be seen from there, which was the initial purpose of this little sunken hideaway in the first place.

In this picture, we reveal the small water feature, our “little Lourdes”, embedded in the rocks to the top. A kneeling figurine prays there, lending some placidity and a serene contemplative subject for the eye. As can also be seen, we dealt with potential drainage issues in such a trapped little scenario by making a sort of French Drain around the base of all the rock walls and connected to a pipe which we ran under the walls and the soil to the rear of the property, where it “daylights” and drains.

Playing around with my blog, the budding geek in me updated all this cool stuff. Yes, I had abundant help, lol. I am particularly fond of my new ability to enlarge these thumbnail pictures. So let me play a bit. It am using this picture because of its gentle pastels and the nice deep greens. Frankly, I just want to see what it looks like and if I like it, it will stay. It was a fun project, this one, for Steve and Mary, good friends and a great couple who did as much work on their place as I did. No…….more.

Anyway, here goes!

We had a client with a most religious orientation. He was Catholic and he was intimately involved with his church and things related to it. A very nice man who wanted a private and peaceful spot for his meditations. He is in a moderately-populated neighborhood, so the idea of a recessed area with some religious motifs around is what he very directly asked for. This would give him not only privacy, but the quiet he so craved. We excavated a huge hole about 50 feet round and 6 feet deep. We would use a floor of sand for a soft subsurface, put a ‘crust’ of decomposed granite about two inches thick on top of that and put a couple of rocks in strategic locations, perfect for sitting and relaxing. For walls, we used local rocks and tried to go for a sort of early Romanesque look, a little primitive, yet stacked nicely. The rocks add a sense of permanence to the overall effect. We placed a few Christian Themes around: a grotto, recessed in the wall, which would double as the “Tomb of Jesus”, an opening into which he placed his own very interesting Salvador Dali print of “Gaia On The Cross”.

The visible plants here are two Viburnums opulus ‘Roseum’ flanking the “Crypt” and a creamy Tree Hydrangea behind. Others include junipers and some lavender, for scent. I always try and make them smell. I’m bad enough, that way they forget about me quickly. We also put a number of smaller grasses around with some perennial color, including this pitch black bloomed Hollyhock plant.

We also made a small fountain, bubbling in small amounts but audible and visible, to double as a sort of Lourdes. He placed statues around appropriately, for example The Pieta by the “Tomb”. It is a delightful area, rather serious, very quiet. The privacy was achieved immediately, simply by the depth of the structure. As plants develop, it will only increase the sense of isolation and privacy. It is a place of repose and meditation, an interesting project for us, and the client was delighted.

Here is another angle of the little recessed edifice. We were fortunate to find some Basalt Boulders which supplied the sitting spots around the grotto. They are ‘volcanic crystal’ and I always just loved that term, lol. I use them whenever I can, not only for their “spoken”, verbal value, but also because of their incredibly interesting columnar shapes.

We used them as well at the entry, upright, as pillars straddling the entrance and the steps down. I will post pictures of them as well, in time. By the way, bear in mind these pictures show the project at an early stage concerning plants. They have grown larger since, needless to say. This was the very freshly planted look. The fact is, I have not been back there in a couple of years, as often happens. You get to know people so frightfully well. You see their hopes and go through a myriad of emotions as they see the unholy (appropriate here!) messes we landscapers make, then watch their faces light up as they return home on that magical day when the grass goes down and it starts really looking “done”.

Then you’re off in a cloud of dust to the next project.

Oh, lest I forget, this home is also the home of the “Formal Garden” posts just below these.

I do regret missing a certain much-missed batch of pictures which featured this place much better. Nevertheless, this one is a reasonable reflection of the style and the essence of our “formal garden” effort and I think it is represented effectively. It was precisely what the owners wanted in any event, so my job was a success in that very vital respect. To get even more “Italian”, we went positively “B.C.” in the series I show tomorrow: ‘The Grotto’.

I am sooo not a geek or even close to high tech, lol. But at least I do take credit for having the foresight to take the pictures supplied so far. Frankly, the entire blogging aspect surprises me with all its ramifications. It is actually some kind of wonderful. You readers will have to accept that part of my sense of place and what I often get most from landscaping efforts are views of “in-progress” and some “before” looks. The construction process can be interesting and educational. For me it invokes some pride and a sense of achievement, naturally enough. But it is always the learning that I care for most. I owe so much to so many people who have helped me learn about these landscaping and other matters. As one of my favorite philosophers, Eric Hoffer says:

“The central task of education is to implant a will and a facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.”

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

I’ve determined to update pretty much daily. I still have oodles of pictures to use and this blog may even take on a less technical and more personal character as time goes by. Since I began connecting with other bloggers, this entire galaxy of new people and intriguing and exciting ideas have borne an urge to continue that and to try to supply the same level of interest and stimulation for them as well. Other people, like you all, Brian and Billie Jo (gotcha!), down in Owensboro, I always like keeping you happy. I’ll start linking reciprocally soon, and give my friends who don’t blog a chance to see what I am talking about. For now, a good place to begin is in http://www.Blotanical.com.

I am actually not entirely sure what this will look like as I sit here typing. I had hoped to find an old photo showing more detail of the circular pattern we established at the entry to this home. While I suspect one can see if they look hard enough at the pattern towards the top of the picture, it may not give the intimate look I was hoping for. Alas, I’ll go ahead and see what I see here. (Later………if you click the thumbnail photo to enlarge it, for many it will have an additional enlarging capacity……click it again and this will give the best view.)

This project was noteworthy for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the labor we lavished on the pavers. This interesting design of pavers offers a ‘mottled-top’ look in a “tumbled” style, reminiscent, the owners hoped, of Italy. I think that much worked in its own way and they ended up very pleased as well. But what was far more wild was the cutting and fitting my foreman, Kenny, did on establishing this circular aspect as one approached the door.

Making circles in pavers is often a mere matter of ordering a “circle kit”, where they have pre-cut pavers made to precisely and meticulously fit into a radiating pattern, from the center out. However, this paver did not allow that. It had no template. What it implied was that we had to cut small radii, fit them into place and see if they worked. Balance and proportion were always an issue. Also, once fit satisfactorily, we then needed to shave the upper corners where they were cut and rough them up to match the “tumbled” appearance of all the other edges of this purposefully-’antiqued’ design. Lots and lots of grinder work!

These pavers actually cover a concrete surface. The entire porch was formed and poured in a glaring white cement, especially glaring with Reno’s constant sunshine. We then glued each paver in place to the existing cement, giving the super solid structure of what you see here.

Even in Reno, Nevada, the urge for formality and a Retro sort of Italian style reverberates with some people’s urges. This project was a pretty vast one and detail-rich one and includes the “Infinity Edge” waterfall and pond out in the back yard as well as the “Grotto” pictures also shown earlier. But for sheer symmetry and balance, mixed with the natural ‘informality’ of most plants, Nature and Architecture can make a pretty splendid blend. Combining anarchy, well-represented by Nature and plantings, their diseases, their weird growth and all their wildness and genetic zaniness with pure concrete symmetry and formal lines makes for some interesting projects.

This place had another couple of features, no less, which I plan to show tomorrow, including hand-cut circular paving patterns on their front porch as well as surrounding this very formal fountain.

By the way, leveling and getting these formal fountains in the right spot is a chore that tries a man’s patience. (Just thought I would toss that out there!). Especially the prefab ones, you get a very imperfect product, bottom line, as pretty as they are. What it implies is the need for the patience of Job. Do I have that? Don’t ask.

Just on time for Spring………..if of course we ever get one this year in Portland. This picture overlooks the prior 3 posts on the Still Pond in the Forest theme and is noteworthy for not a whole lot, really, save for the nice cherry blooms from this “Shirotae”. Rhododendrons, azaleas, cheery blossoms, Spring perennials have historically all meant the most riveting Springtimes for me, in the past. I remember discovering Rhododendrons while mowing grass in Vancouver, B.C. and attending school there. It was my first true brush with what became a passion and a career later and was the most noteworthy moment, quiet as it was, of almost any living there.

I was struck by their huge blooms, just mesmerized that day. I can remember everything about that small epiphany, gazing at the intricate beauty of a Rhodie bloom and amazed at its sheer size. That moment propelled this beer-drinking baseball-playing young waif into a most satisfying and rewarding career and pastime.

Anyway, I love Spring. I just wish I had more of it, dangit.

I discovered a most unique blog directory the other day in my constant search for other garden and landscaping work online: http://www.Blotanical.com . What a delightful resource it is. It honestly opens up the entire blogosphere in a way I only suspected existed.

I can whip over there to find what I now consider a source for the finest garden and landscaping blogs on the entire web. It could be too good, actually, lol. From appearances, it seem they get about 10 blogs a day joining as well in this crush of discoveries from others like myself.

Believe me when I say it is an uncommonly rich and diverse directory, guaranteed to provide eye candy galore and some extremely noteworthy ideas in general for whatever gardening purposes imaginable. For pure and amazing garden art, try out these bizarre and amazing avant garde shots from an very young blog, full of promise: http://artfulgardener.blogspot.com/ Scroll down and look at the sculpture of the reclining woman, made entirely from mirrored mosaics and sod. Wow!

Anyway, this highly-addictive spot on the internet dial will be getting some traffic from me and I hope you as well. Thanks, Blotanical.