Cast Iron Pots; Revisited

Last week I posted about these iron pots that I had picked up at the local auction.

[The pots in question. ]

In the comment’s section Jonathan asked about the sizes of these pots this was my reply:

I’d say they’re somewhere between 30″-36″ in diameter and a good 18″ deep. They are some good size pots, and certainly, very heavy!

Jonathan also remarked on my list of possible things to do with these pots. I had kind of brain stormed my way through this list and just fired away. Looking back I believe I was looking for some feedback, or remarks . . . or something! Anyway . . .

Here’s my list:

1. Obviously they could be used for annual plantings.
2. How about for some type of perennials?
3. The other obvious one is some sort of combination, or throw in some tropicals.
4. Do the pots belong on hardscape?
5. What about buries in garden beds?
6. Maybe some weird shrub(s) pruned in some weird or unique way.
7. Trees; small of course, a bonsai of some sort.
8. In a formal planting, at attention on opposite sides of a prominent entry to a formal area.
9. Turn one of the pots into a water garden.
10. Tomatoes?
11. Place all 3 together in some sort of sculptural element.
12. Rubbed down with a sandstone block to bring out a different look/paint?
13. Use one or more pots with some other object to create . . . . . ? ? ?

Then Jonathan answered with his list. It looks like he spent a little time on this list and deserved further thought, discussion, examination. Nice job Jonathan.

Some great ideas:

1. These pots could be used to create a spilling/cascading water feature. water could spill from one pot to another.
2. One pot could be hung by its bail over a “fire” of red and orange blossoms. Cascading flowering plants could be planted depicting a pot boiling over.
3. Small fish could be allowed to roam into the abysses of the pot.
4. An ideal location for their use would be in a Kitchen garden.
5. They could be inverted and water cascading over them to act as an umbrella for a ceramic toad.
6. I would use one pot to create a fire pit for our patio.
7. I would use another pot on our shop loading dock. It’s an old grain warehouse and a pot like these would look grand painted black with seasonal annuals.

That’s a great list, with some very interesting ideas for their uses. Which leads me to ask the question to my readers.

What say you? How would you use these pots?

This might be worth a Squidoo lens. A place to keep record of all the ideas. I really haven’t asked a lot of my readership, but I am now. So . . . put on your thinking caps and let’s hear it.

If you had these pots how would you use them? Or; if you were able to design them nto a client’s property how would you use them?

An Appreciation of Stone (34)

[ Ash Cave in SE Ohio during the Summer season. ]

This is a perfect example of Blackhand Sandstone. The sandstone at the top of the formation is harder than the lower stone. Causing this wear pattern where the lower stone wears away leaving this spectacular overhang.

This unique formation of sandstone is called Ash Cave a name that came about by a discovery of the original settlers to the area.

Their discovery?

A mound of ashes over a hundred feet long and some 50 feet high. This site had been used by the local indians for 100’s of years as a mystical place of prayer and ceremony.

The height from the top of the ledge to the pool is 90 feet and a small waterfall spills over most of the year.

For me this is a place of magical intensity, scale, and reflection . . . a place of long ago.

Golfing on a Aircraft Carrier

Now for something completely different, of the photoshop variety. I must say this is pretty clever and a tip of the hat to the creator-whom I can’t seem to find.

[ Image was originally found on BLDGBLOG. ]

The link for the image sent me here, then that link sent me to here. So I was not able to find out who is the artist/creator of this image. No luck.

So; my guess, it was created for some contest on Worth1000.com. If this great image is not from there I don’t know where it’s from. Wherever it’s from I really would like to acknowledge the creator.

Why was it on BLDGBLOG?

Geoff was posting about how the last Ice Age, and the subsequent landscapes-led(in a round about way) to the 1st golf courses created in Scotland.

From there that topography had golf course designers borrowing the same formed landscapes and re-creating that typography around the World, it’s a very informative read.

The above image was at the end of the post as kind of an exclamation point and was a good ending.

“Golf is a game in which you yell ‘fore’, shoot six, and write down five.” — Paul Harvey

Ice Age, Glacial fields, kettle ponds, moraines, Scottish sheep shepherds, Indian Burial Mounds, bulldozers, golf fanatics, and designers all the way to images on Aircraft Carriers via photoshop . . . it sure is an interesting world we live in.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Addendum: You gotta be careful going out that driveway!

Man this is a brutal sentence:

From there that topography had golf course designers borrowing the same formed landscapes and re-creating that typography around the World, it’s a very informative read.

An Appreciation of Axes (1)

Usually I have some sort of an Appreciation of Stone, or this, or this . . . on the weekends, but today I am feeling appreciative of one of my favorite tools . . . My Fiskar’s ax.

Over the years I have used several axes and different types of wood splitting tools and the ax has done the job better than any of my previous tools.

To be a great ax there needs to be two important attributes for that to happen.

One; can the ax hold an edge? Over a lot of use, splitting several different types of wood will the edge hold?

Two; what is the weight of the ax? The lighter the ax, the faster the handler will be able to swing the ax. The faster the swing means more momentum, force, and power . . . for me, that’s splitting power with ease of use.

Which is exactly what this ax gives me.

Other factors include balance of the ax, and the strength of the handle.

[ Working on a pile at the tree line, in the backyard. ]

The woods behind our house are full of dead, damaged, diseased, and weakened trees, which is our main source of firewood. The area is not in very good shape, and I’m guessing it was logged out about 25-30 years ago when they really cleared it out.

This amount of material gives me a lot to work with and I am grateful I have this ax to work with. Light, strong, good steel, and a strong handle.

I’d say if you’re looking for a good splitting ax, that holds a great edge then you need to go with a Fiskar’s. I understand it is readily available at either a big box store, or one of your better hardware suppliers.

[ Finishing up another wheelbarrow load for the winter. ]

By the way, I was not paid by Fiskars or a representative of someone who supplies Fiskars tools to endorse this ax, honest. No one, not a soul.

Splittin’ Time:

Not doing field work like I used to I am constantly trying to find other ways to stay active that do not impact my knees. Splitting wood is one of them; from swinging the sledge for halving down to the final pieces for the fireplace.

Something satisfying about walking into the barn and seeing the cords of wood piled along the South wall, or feeling the warmth of a fire on a cold winters day. The size of the winter heating bills is satisfying to look at also.

This years 1st Snowflake

This afternoon I was sitting at my second favorite diner eating breakfast after a tough morning.

How tough a morning?

How about root canal tough, that’s tough. Anyway as I was gingerly eating my ham and cheese omelet and sipping coffee my attention wandered to the scene outside . . .

Snow . . . that’s right snow. It’s that time of year, the beginning of winter. White stuff, hidden landscapes, evergreens, and sitting by the fire reading catalogs kind of snow.

I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines. -Henry David Thoreau

Snow.

[ About 24" or so on this falls, can you see the box? ]

Which got me to thinking about something else . . . opportunity, and more importantly opportunity lost. A season and a time that most Landscape Designers seem to forget. The season of snow.

Designers; do you think about snow? Do you plan for snow, and the opportunities for viewing that snow brings? The plants, trees, shrubs, and hardscapes that will come to the forefront with the coming of the snow.

[ Light, shadow, tracery, outline, contrast, beauty. ]

New Views, New Opportunity

Opportunity is there, take advantage of snow, plan for snow, embrace snow.

A garden and landscape do not die with the onset of winter. A landscape evolves, it changes, it adapts it becomes a completely different kind of wonder.

Design for this change of season, remember the prime views from inside looking out. The views that come about because of the short walks from here to there. Remember contrast and outline.

Remember the sun as it shines through the naked branches of the trees, and the patterns on the snow, the shadows, the reflection.

Take advantage of water and the stark difference of moving water in the stillness of the snowy landscape.

[ A very powerful contrast in the winter landscape. ]

So many opportunities in a season that so many neglect or throw away in the design process.

“Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.” -Jeff Valdez

Embrace the winter, embrace the snow.

A Great Find, 3 Cast Iron Pots

I thought these cast iron pots might be worth sharing. Recently we found these at a local auction we attend on a regular basis.. It’s the type of auction held at the same location, same time every week, and you never know what may show up each week.

[ These are the iron pots. ]

What to do, what to do

Character like this is very hard to find, very hard. I attend a lot of auctions and go through a lot of garage sales, and do some plain old searching around, and to find three of these together is what I consider a major “get”. To say that I was very excited to win these . . . would be a major under-statement.

How will they be used? This is something I haven’t decided. I know for sure that we will keep one, and that pot will be used near the front door, slightly buried in a bed that contains a lot of “hot” perennials. What will go in here I have yet to decide.

It is the fate of the other 2 pots that I am unsure about. I may design them into a project that I am working on for another client. I may clean up one or both and display them in some weird way. Heck I may even sell them. I just don’t know.

As a designer I see numerous ways to use these pots in the garden.

[ Looking at them from a low angle. ]

Lets think about this for a minute:

1. Obviously they could be used for annual plantings.
2. How about for some type of perennials?
3. The other obvious one is some sort of combination, or throw in some tropicals.
4. Do the pots belong on hardscape?
5. What about buries in garden beds?
6. Maybe some weird shrub(s) pruned in some weird or unique way.
7. Trees; small of course, a bonsai of some sort.
8. In a formal planting, at attention on opposite sides of a prominent entry to a formal area.
9. Turn one of the pots into a water garden.
10. Tomatoes?
11. Place all 3 together in some sort of sculptural element.
12. Rubbed down with a sandstone block to bring out a different look/paint?
13. Use one or more pots with some other object to create . . . . . ? ? ?

What about you?

If these were yours what would you do with them.

How about if these pots were not yours, but they belonged to a client, then what would you do with them?

Is there a type a garden pots like this do not belong in? Is there a type of garden cast iron pots are perfect in.

Could it be this type of element transcends garden style because of it’s high character development/style.

Pictures, share some images if you have been lucky enough to have used pots this size.

Your Typical Horse made of Gourds

From Speigel Online. This is something you don’t see everyday. I’d say it goes beyond the typical gathering of large pumpkins.

[Bruno Bohrer and his horse of gourds. ]

I’m sure this brings some business his way.

I grow gourds but I do not think I will grow this many next year. If I did it would have to be something more outrageous than a horse.

Times are Tight, are They Getting Tighter?

This may start off a little off-track, but I am going to try and bring it around to our industry.

Oil prices continue to rise, which means gas prices continue to rise. I have read/heard several knowledgeable people remark that gas will be $3.50 a gallon next year-not spike to that price but go there and stay there . . . ouch.

The various legs of the industry.

Let’s start with the maintenance guys who obviously use a lot of gas, prices will have to be affected with this part of the industry. I mean they use gas for everything. Plus those of us in the industry know there are a lot of fly-by-nighters out there, This crowd usually weeds itself out in times of turmoil.

Nursery folks will take a big hit, with heating bills rising the way the are, it’s going to be big bucks for greenhouse growers this winter(and future winters), costs will have to be passed along down the line. So will shipping rates from wholesalers moving materials to the retail side, or to the install contractors.

Will this effect what large contractors buy this winter at the shows? How about the over-all buying at shows this winter? This angle is something I will look at and investigate this winter at the CENTS show in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a big show, national folks come in to buy and sell it should be interesting.

And; of course . . . gas for trucks, we got lots of trucks . . . trucks everywhere.

The design/build side.

Contractors; how will this situation come to play on this end? There have to be consequences, and how companies react will definitely have a bearing on the design side. It may not be a great story.

There has to be some consequences on the low end and in the middle, especially the middle of the market. Adding in the slow down in housing sales . . . a double whammy.

The possibility of a slowdown in the $20,000-$50,000 seems very real to me. Looking at that it may be an even lower number on the low end. What about higher/bigger jobs?

$50,000-$125,000 I don’t know, it’s hard for me to make a guess on that range. Above $125,000 installs. . . I doubt there will be any problems, especially going even higher up in 6/7 figure jobs. That crowd is always there and will be making money no matter what comes up. The disposable income and the will to spend will be there.

Designers

How does all this affect Designers, especially free-lance or self-employed Designers?

I am already getting the vibe that smaller guys(contractors) are going to cut back on using my services as they feel things tightening . . . and; of course, this is the craziest thing they can do. Because . . . in adversity comes opportunity. This is their chance to further separate from their competitors.

By using my design/rendering skills we can further separate from others in the same price range. Providing superior skills, opportunity, solutions, and graphics when others are cutting back to survive.

This is how I will present my argument to those guys thinking about cutting back, and that will be my explanation when I approach other contractors this winter.

Separate yourselves, take advantage of the tightening market to raise yourself further. When things get tougher, opportunities open, being strong and pro-active will help you survive. Find ways to stand out in a time when mediocre is the accepted norm.

Be pro-active

So don’t look at all the bad news and get bummed out, and it’s bad news that will get worse . . . find the opportunity. Find the guys willing to accept the challenge, guys who want to be better, who demand to be better.

Let’s get busy, time to get back to work on my quick drawing rendering skills . . .

[ Very fast rendering for a fence/screen design. ]

Great Illustrations

My great desire to become a better illustrator as a landscape designer has me always looking at other type of illustration and designed illustration. Here are a couple of examples of what I speak of. Cool stuff, to me anyway .

[ I think this is great stuff, the detail, the effort. ]

Here’s another one to take a look at.

[ I think this is by a fellow named Frederik Ruysch. ]

Click on the images to go to pages, I am looking for more info on both of these, especially the skeleton images. If you know anything-let me know.

Tree . . . mendous

I am just amazed at the amount of traffic this post is still getting.

It seems that it comes up pretty high on the search engines when searching for trees, Trees, tree.

A note here, I have still not been able to find out who took that photo of that tree, or where it is on the web(besides here). The image was sent to me in an e-mail with no other information.

An Appreciation of Stone (33)

[The stones that hold the stream edge together sell the illusion.]

Higgins on Hayward and Small Spaces

Adrian Higgins of the Washington Post has written another great article (print page link) on residential landscape design. This one focuses on a lecture he attended where Gordon Hayward spoke about small garden design.

This lecture at a symposium at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton was also a good chance for Hayward to promote his new book “Small Buildings, Small Gardens” (Gibbs Smith, $29.95), but I digress.

Hayward makes a lot of sense when he talks about the steps involved in residential design; or rather, the order of the steps. I have always tried to talk about the big picture, thinking conceptually and not looking at the little things(perennials, pots, paver style, etc.) first.

This is also mentioned in the article by Higgins.

Finally, he comes up with plants that bloom in the growing season. “What we usually do is just the opposite,” he said. “We go to a nursery and find a plant we can’t live without.”

This is one of those points that doesn’t get stressed enough; looking at the details before the larger picture is decided. A major mistake in landscape design. I like to call this starting big and working to the small.

If I am repeating myself it’s because this is the biggest mistake I see with beginning designers, amateurs, and gardeners.

Another interesting point in the Higgins article was one about outdoor sheds, and small buildings.

Hayward makes the point that many sheds in America (I would add houses) have roof pitches that are too low. A low roof makes a prefabricated shed easier to ship, but it also lacks the charm and lightness of a steeply pitched roof.

Wow; I agree, and also a loss of character with all those low pitched roofs. A chance to get away from the everyday sameness we see across American backyards.

Take a few minutes to go through the article it’s well worth your time.