How To Make a Bubble Rock Water Feature

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Steve

Cheat. 😉

That’s the most important thing. I have to admit to overusing my own resources which see me doing automated and machine-driven work instead of old-fashioned pick and shovel stuff. For me, the excuse to use a machine always wins the race of fun things to do. (There IS that!) And, yes, I would far rather dig a hole and place a rock using modern technology than by honest shoveling. Let’s just say I have seen both sides of the issue and have drawn a conclusion. It’s a fault! 😉

Here, for example, is a perfect example of that very thing!

(click to enlarge all images)

We were tasked to create a small bubble rock water feature at my softball and business partner Bill Hermant’s house in Reno. Actually, I am positive it was his wife LaDonna’s idea, but Bill was warming to landscaping around this time and it might just have been something he wanted. A mystery, fer sure, but she sure wasn’t crying about it!

Anyway, we were using these machines at another project and it was a quick trip down to his place – which was in the neighborhood – so we “reallocated” our machines down to Bill’s place. The portable nature of even the mini-excavator made this all a half-day enterprise, the fact is. So, I dug – for 15 minutes. As The McKenzie Brothers would say, the “Beauty Part” was in how the little mini-ex grabs dirt and then drops it into this other machine – the awaiting Bobcat – which then runs the excavated dirt to wherever Kenny was taking it. For sheer automation, this is a formula from Heaven.

Does anyone else think that’s a great hole? I do. That’s a good hole. Moving along, we add liner, and some additional “protection (additional layers) where the big old rock will sit –

The rock was purchased locally and we had it bored by the firm who supplied it at $50.00 a “bored” foot. Here it sits in the rear of the truck, a chain stuck through the hole and ready to lift – gingerly – out.- It weighs about 600 pounds so, as I have made clear, allowing the machine take the lifting place of a few guys fumbling around with this sort of weight is – still – the height of wisdom. The number of disasters, from ailing backs, skinned knees, penetrating the liner inadvertently, clothes losses and banging up against a house are pretty long.

We do so, preparing for the insertion into our great cool hole –

We set it down, then re-grab the thing, so that we have the incline and the angle of approach set well enough from above to insure we set it with a minimal need for reorienting inside the hole. At this stage, someone will be setting either bricks or other smaller rocks in place to rest this big guy on top of. At that time, we will run piping, being careful to keep it from pinching off the stream. Then we will cement it in place –

I got a bit carried away doing the plumbing, cementing, lifting, orienting and mixing it up down inside the hole and did not get many pictures of the process at this point. However, the picture below should give a great view of what it looked like down there during the process of plumbing and cementing. Yes, there are two pumps in this picture. The one we are most interested in for purposes of this post is the small black one on the right. Note also the clear and flexible plastic tubing which conducts water up through the pipe to the top of the silicone-grouted top. It connects to the little pump, but in the case of Bill’s place, it gets itself a bit detoured so we can install a control mechanism for adjusting the amount and rate of flow by hand, then returns on down to go up the big ole rock.

Note also the rock in question standing on its own. This is the set-up when cemented into place.

This was actually a pretty quick project. We cemented everything into place, then returned the machinery back to the other project where we finished the day. Then, the next morning, we dropped by Bill’s, ran the pump, got satisfied, then re-filled the hole with river rocks and an attractive top and finished her up by pretty much break time.

Here is the final product – a nice gurgle at the front entryway which always attracts a small crowd who love the sound and the effect.

St. James Court – Once More Around Louisville Spring

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Steve

I describe Louisville’s St. James Court/Belgravia district in some historical detail in this other post here in this blog, including its role in the Southern Exposition of 1883-87. Click here, please.

The last time this blog visited it was during the past very gorgeous and somewhat warm Fall. So much of the attraction of Kentucky in general and Louisville in particular is invested in their two most-attractive seasons – Spring and Fall – that I thought revisiting during this “very bloomy” Spring might be worthwhile. Well, I think it was.

I almost always begin my journeys around St. James Court with a visit to the place my parents once lived. This home they renovated at some expense, while renting, and it remains one of my most favorite places dating from back when flights to Louisville originated in Vancouver, BC. Mother remembers this Dogwood tree well, having been there when it was planted, nearly 25 years ago.

Across the street was this behemoth which always tickles me to feature. I mean, the sheer size and heft of this single family residence pretty much always blows my mind:

But there is always a far more human dimension to walking this gorgeous area. If nothing else, appreciation from a craftsman yields dramatic evidence of sheer professionalism and craftsmanship in all of the home designs and construction. Not only are the homes here over 100 years old, they were made by people who were the very best at what they did – from masons to glass makers and carpenters. And let us take just a moment to praise a few gardeners as well!

By all means!

A simple and relaxing layout overall presents a superb example of urban planning, back when the trade was rather young and new in America and people like – in this case – Frederick Olmstead designed them for permanent beauty.

Made for walking and enjoying, the beautiful mixture of interesting architecture, iron work and landscape pitch in to present a moderate, yet gorgeous and still somewhat extravagant face –

Like yet another hidden gem in the midst of a bustling city, St. James Court and Belgravia are actually not quite as hidden as the earlier post. Host of the largest Art Fair in the nation, St. James Court still does not get the traffic outside of those few outrageously packed days, to deter one from making the visit and relishing its various beauties.

All the blooming articles have gone somewhat bananas at the same time, with this warm weather, making for some incredible eye candy.

And the list of wonders also takes in the more avid gardeners of the area and their efforts at maximizing some early Spring perennials such as these gorgeous Bleeding Hearts – or the cute Tulips below that.

Yes, there are some darn good gardeners in the neighborhood, prone to enjoying something more than the stable, structural landscapes and who grow delightful groupings of oddities among other things. Check out this virtual “Variegated Spring Perennial Garden”, now just developing, featuring the variegated (and new to me) Solomon’s Seal:

Here are two extremely well-planned microcosmic glories, both in front yards in relatively small spaces but whose attention to detail and very obvious patience in development offer us fabulous examples of what is possible in Spring:

Needless to say, there are your standard “structural” beauties, if such a thing could be said about a plant as gorgeous as an Azelea:

There is Iron Work everywhere:

Even in some of the smaller front yards:

Once again, any trip through here – any time of the year – is a marvelously relaxing abiding among lushness – homes and trees and urban landscaping designed to be what it is – a place of small worship of Nature and Man, teamed together in a gorgeous dance of possibilities.

We are most pleasantly assaulted by the sounds, sights and smells which are the furthest possible thing from our daily worries – which is also by design.

Our cute little Dogwood brings us full circle this day. Splendid simplicity also has a place.

Louisville Eye Candy – Street Scenes

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Steve

While I had been exceedingly jealous of my brother Mike in Portland and my friend Paul, with whom I speak even more regularly, over their spate of unseasonably gorgeous weather in February and March, the complete reversal of form sees me in the true “Catbird Seat” these days. (Ha ha, they were bragging about BEES!!) When Winter finally relented, she did so with some passion, leading to warm days and nights and a profusion of blooms I have a hard time ever recalling seeing anywhere, at any point in time.

(Click all images to enlarge, twice for more detail)

It gets better.

It continues now as the earlier-blooming trees – the Chinese Pears and Cherry and even Crabapple species finish and the Redbuds and even more spectacular Dogwood varieties ripen with a profusion that literally boggles the mind. I recall the blooming Dogwoods as a child, dotting the forests with Redbuds in deeply accenting detail, splashing swirls and bold swaths of white and pink deeply inside forest floors amid the lime-green of all the new budding leaves of these deciduous forests.

The term “Shady Lane” would have to be applied to this gorgeous small park and its adjoining streets, just swimming in Dogwood blooms. This is not a particularly noteworthy park, tiny by park standards and lost over by Preston Highway off Poplar Level Road in a district my Mother calls home to the Dogwood Festival.

A near-absurd and dizzying array of blooming things greets the eye and dazzles the senses in this tiny park. It is honestly – without exaggeration – a true assault on the senses, but particularly of sight. Having said that, the redolent and profuse smells waft one into near silence, sniffing like some dog at a popular hydrant as one picks among the billions of rich photo opportunities which fly around, arranged completely differently at each and every single footstep.

I guess I am exhausting my list of superlatives as I describe this 200′ by 600′ city park, diffidently-maintained, studded with native white and blue violets and Bluet’s in the grass –

“Oh My! Oh My God, this is a lawn care guide’s nightmare!!” – 😉

I mean, the lack of discipline is complete! Even the neighbors to this unfortunate park have gotten into the absolute dearth of anality over the this gross omission of the forceful smooth monolithic green necessary to make what we all know is a Real Yard. Those slaggards! You think this is pretty or something???

🙂 Oops, I think the cat’s outta the bag.

Personally, I decided to live with it. It made my life so much easier. Truth is, all in the world I really wanted to do most was to go over and lay down in it. For a long time, too. It smelled real, real, real good. There are worse things than reeking of violets. I know this from my vast experience at reeking. 😉

We who reek, salute you!

Simple colors, gorgeous sun, shady lanes of goodness and visual delights. The simple but gorgeous blooms of the Dogwood lend themselves magnificently to picture-taking. The blooms are very sturdy and gorgeous on a totally individual basis, all by themselves. When arranged in densities such as these, it makes me glad I have car insurance. No one in their right mind can’t stop in the middle of whatever they’re doing to check this stuff out. I’m sorry, it’s impossible. This is the one zone where speed limits should be in single digits.

But allow me for a moment to mention my next posting in here. We took another trip on over to St. James Court the same day, a neighborhood I have featured at other times in this blog and which one can find by typing the area name into the search bar. I got a picture of the fountain, to whet the appetite for the next post I’ll make. Since the Kentucky Derby is coming up in 2 weeks, Louisville will be in the news rather incessantly. It’s a nice time to feature this splendid town.

This district, designed by Frederick Olmstead to adjoin a major Fair – the Southern Exposition of 1883-1887 – features home designs of the very best of that era, sometimes ornate and all teeming with the craftsmanship and professionalism in their construction of a rare and unique type. And so sure – that’s all cool and stuff – but I was looking for plants, man. And I found some!

Here’s 3 plants now!

Meanwhile, back at the Dogwood festival –

The neighbors do get into the act, just in a billion different ways. Check out these tulips – don’t they look like little lights with the Sun at that angle?

I credit my Mother for forcing me to this journey. I had been reluctant, frankly, owing to time constraints which magically disappeared upon seeing all this. Sometimes, she knows her business.

The park also contained some very statuesque and just huge Oak trees, which must also be mentioned. They are so large, in fact, that my camera couldn’t catch them all. But I believe the “drift” is easy enough. Like gigantic feet and legs, they provide a young dappling of leaves and shade, towering overhead, just proper for administering a dappled but still-bright sunlight into the groves below.

Sometimes, simple is best. There are few things in North American nature to rival the impressive strength and stability of a huge Oak. Dappled with all these gorgeous Dogwoods around its feet, these massive trunks leading straight up to the sky offer a protective sensibility to the entire park. Well, at least til their leaves fall! 😉 But, know what?…….. me likey!! It’s job security!

But, honestly – what a find!

It’s getting boring now – you are getting sleepy, soooooooooo sleepy.

I lived on a bloom once ………….

My ‘Hood And Mucho Marvelous Magnolia Mania

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Steve

This sudden outpouring of uncharacteristic hot weather locally has urged local Spring blossoms to pretty much a “kick butt and take names” modality. While it makes for an unbelievably luscious floral environment, the trees and early-blooming shrubs will close out a bit quicker than is normal. Alas, that’s also fine because the trade-off is this smorgasbord of rioting color and texture which is undoubtedly rare enough to warrant recording.

Here’s a look at stuff around the suburban blocks and neighborhood where I do most of my daily walking:

(click any image to enlarge)

It’s cool the Dogwoods and Redbuds come at the same time as all these Chinese Pears. It mixes texture and colors into these deep dimensions and palettes suitable for painting, like some Impressionist Holiday.

I like that these are normal neighborhood views. The issues of landscape architecture become so much more obvious this way. I finished a great book, recently: “Devil in the White City”, by Eric Larson, a really good writer and a riveting and special book, where Frederick Olmstead was featured, speaking of landscaping at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1892. He was in his 70’s at the time and in poor health, but he did the yeoman’s share of the planning and even the overseeing of this mammoth project. To make a long story short, Olmstead was in the midst of his adamant lifetime declaration that Landscape Architecture be considered on of the classical great “Arts”. His advocacy for the field made many believers, of which I am also one, myself. I have often called landscaping the “Ultimate Cosmetic” – painting structure, form and color into the out of doors in unique and absolutely uplifting ways. It gives humans the right to enjoy Nature, but more so, it gives them the experience, at 360 degrees, of Nature, arranged in human ways to highlight beauty – simply put. This unassuming neighborhood, hard by Middletown in Louisville, fulfills every single possible aspect of that goal.

I really adore this neighborhood. The curving streets, the lack of curbing and sidewalks present this lush green basis from which the rest stems. The streets are nice and wide in this very middle class ‘hood and kids and Moms and Dads are always out at the park or riding bikes, destined to enjoy their days. I suppose it is easy to take for granted, living among it all. Yet, it’s also why guys like me are allowed to remind us that it is special. So, what the heck – it’s a living!

The park always looms central to this neighborhood, here in Douglas Hills. It has a public swimming pool, some tennis courts (no softball fields!! Morans!), and acres of expansive and succulent lawn space – just grass, as much as you want. It is also studded with these gorgeous Redbuds, set between the Chinese Pears, which add color and fun, accompanying a cool walking path.

Once again, the view down a side street, with its colorful street scene boulevard, the Korean Viburnums (Tinus), upright Columnar Chinese Pears, Redbud, Dogwood and the rest. It’s honestly hard to get enough of this view for me. I can’t imagine a more perfect timing for capturing these blooms although I confess I am looking forward to what it has for me today.

But let’s leave Louisville. Let’s re-check things over at Bernheim Woods, hard by the Jim Beam Distillery. 😉

Mother and I passed up the chance to go “tasting” – which was unfortunate. The large warehouses, for those new to Bourbon, hold just thousands of large barrels of aging whiskey. If you drank everything they had inside of just one of those warehouses, you would be drunk for probably 1,000 years. Actually, probably more. Maybe even a billion years. Think about it – and you’d be preserved too! You could be like one of those dead Zen guys, but much more famous. 🙂 An icon!

Anyway, this very famous distillery is pretty much across the road from Bernheim Forest. Needless to say, there is a small clear creek running through both places which is where they get all that great water what changes into something more. Well, it does the same at Bernheim, just better. It changes into life-sustaining gorgeousness.

We’re now visiting the “cultivated” parts of Bernheim – dare I even say much of it is the “Experimental” or at least the “Unique” parts of Bernheim. In all its history, managed by a different set of folks at many turns, there has almost always been the delight of offering species for observation over the luxury of Time itself. Patience paid off in many ways, in spite of recent spates of such tough natural events as Ice Storms which cut a nasty swath through the tops of the forest, laden with a literal 3 inch thick layer of ‘ice rain’ for sub-freezing weeks. The odd tornado has coursed through as well as have your standard average wind storms. Inasmuch as so much of the ‘experimental’ areas are out in the open and consist of most-fragile plantings such as azaleas and rhododendrons, much has also been lost, sad to say.

The picture above has all the promise of future glory as this nice Spirea gets going, I’m guessing in about it’s 3rd year. I just liked the tree behind it so much, I was pleased to be able to include this little guy in the picture.

But now we move to the Magnolias. All of these featured here are Magnolia “Soulangiana” hybrids. Frankly, I have never personally seen such a wild mixture all together in one place – anytime, anywhere. It was stunning running across these as Mother and I picked our way through this virtual small forest and every single turn was yet another revelation to me – “The Virgin of Magnoliana.”

We plunge inside, loins girded, as it were, smiles as wide as the one we see here on an experienced, local “Magnolia-ette” nymph.

You could say there were “quite a few blooms!”

The entry to the grove is this sprawling cacophony of Magnolia Mayhem, probably from the development of plants 50 years in the making. The smells………..Oh My! These dudes smell – a lot! It’s like a Lilac Nasal Massage, only times 20. 😉

Arranged most interestingly, as we crept through, there were camera-rich opportunities beyond the norm. Each Soulangiana had a certain definite uniqeness, all its own. Some were timed differently as well, opening just slightly earlier or later than the others and each nearly “pure” in its own right, rife with beauty and a luxurious flower, larger than a baseball.

Typical of me, I was distracted (Look! A butterfly!!) by a grove of evergreen shrubbery down the hill, the backdrop to the Magnolia Mayhem. I really liked this look.

But the Magnolia Love was just beginning – these plants are all about the bloom. Check out this “rather Purple” item:

Around the corner we were fortunate enough to run into some of the rarest colored blooms in Nature – here’s a practically brown bloom, I kid you not: (enlarge it)

From a couple of angles. Can you tell this one fascinated me?:

Well, this was moving us now towards the Yellow species – another stark, revelatory moment for this Magnolia tyro:

And they were not small, either!

Incredible

This brownie looks almost edible!

Once more, looking back:

Of course, there’s a “down side” to all this. From here on out, when I see a plant like the one below, from here on out I’ll just go:

“Oh, hey, another small magnolia soulangiana. Listen, I’ve been to the Magnolia Mountain, Bubba. That one is cute, but it ain’t world class. Hahahaha!”…………. “Nice try!!”

These want to be enlarged – just some random, lacy shots of bloomin’ Magnolias. Don’t get excited: 😉

Almost forgot! (Hey, look! A Balloon!!”)

We ran across a Vasey’s Trillium in the roads in the park. Traveling with Mom, she has all these spots covered where she and her walking Bernheim buddy, Sharon, used to walk and check out every inch of territory with a fine-toothed mental comb – or brush. These Vasey’s guys are ‘no bigger than a minute’ – about 4 inches from leaf-end to leaf-end, but they have this gorgeous little effect and they are somewhat rare up this far North.

All this action is enough to make a grown Redbud Weep!

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Monthly Archives: April 2010

How To Make a Bubble Rock Water Feature

St. James Court – Once More Around Louisville Spring

Louisville Eye Candy – Street Scenes

My ‘Hood And Mucho Marvelous Magnolia Mania