2009 Pantone Color of the Year in the Garden

We all know that the Pantone Color of 2009 is Mimosa …

This beautiful color can be found all over the garden in many different flowers.  One does not have to look hard to find it in just about any garden, especially at this time of year!

Dahlia:

  NiinaC at flickr

Lantana:

 jpc101 at flickr

Nasturtium:

Bettendorf Photography at flickr

Marigold:

michael's photos at flickr

Canna Lily:

Mrs. Ramsay at flickr

Daylily:

agdenza at flickr

Lantana:

Gaetan Lee at flickr

Gazania:

Sam Howzit at flickr

Yellow Trumpet Vine:

Mohamad~ at flickr

In late summer, this color can be found front and center!  Many of these flowers are in full bloom now!

This week, I’m hooked on Mimosa, the 2009 Pantone Color of the year.  To find out what others are hooked on this Friday, visit Hooked on House's Friday Blog Party or The Inspired Room's Beautiful Life Party today!

Modern Classics for the Masses

Any one who knows furniture will think of these three chairs first when considering the modern classics.

The Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman, Charles and Ray Eames, 1956

 

The Barcelona Chair, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, 1920

The LC2 Armchair, Le Corbusier, 1928

 

Now, here is something else to consider.

Who knew that someone would have the brilliant idea to turn these expensive timeless classics into cheap outdoor plastic stackables?

For his final thesis project at the Royal College of Art in London, Design Student Dirk Winkel came up with “A Stacking Hommage” offering a new take on these mid-Century Modern Classics.  By turning the Eames Lounge Chair, the Barcelona Chair and the Corbusier LC2 Chair into lightweight plastic stackables, Winkel has made them affordable to the masses!   We can only hope that one day, these lightweight classics will make their way into the aisles of  Walmart, Target or Ikea and into the hearts of the masses, eventually replacing these beauties, or should I say uglies, across porches and patios everywhere.

This week, I’m hooked on reproducing modern classic furniture into affordable plastic stackables for use outdoors!  To see what others are hooked on, please visit Hooked on Houses’ Friday Blog Party HERE or The Inspired Room’s Beautiful Life Friday HERE. 

Tree Houses

Pete Nelson is a builder and designer of treehouses.  He has traveled the world photographing them and now brings them to us in his book entitled New TREEHOUSES of the WORLD. 

Get it Here.

Here are some of his own as well as others.

Imagine, living in the trees!  Pete also has a blog called The Treehouse Guy.  Check it out!

Consume less, Share more

 

I saw this bumper sticker on a car today …

 

 

… and it made me think. 

So, when I got home, I googled it and found this …

 

The Global Warming Survival Guide:  51 Ways to Save the Environment

Number 51:  Consume less, share more, live simply. 

Here is the Full List:

Turn Food Into Fuel

Get Blueprints For a Green House

Change Your Lightbulbs

Light Up Your City

Pay the Carbon Tax

Ditch the Mansion

Hang Up a Clothes Line

Give New Life to Your Old Fleece

Build a Skyscraper

Turn Up the Geothermal Heat

Take Another Look at Vintage Clothes

Capture the Carbon

Let Employees Work Close to Home

Ride the Bus

Move to a High-Rise

Pay Your Bills Online

Open a Window

Ask the Experts For An Energy Audit of Your Home

Buy Green Power, At Home or Away

Check the Label

Cozy Up to Your Water Heater

Skip the Steak

Copy California

Just Say No to Plastic Bags

Support your local farmer

Plant a bamboo fence

Straighten up and fly right

Have a green wedding

Remove the tie

Shut off your computer

Wear green eye shadow

Kill the Lights At Quitting Time

Rearrange the Heavens and the Earth

Rake in the Fall Colors

End the Paper Chase

Play the Market

Think Outside the Packaging

Trade Carbon for Capital

Make Your Garden Grow

Get a Carbon Budget

Fill'er Up With Passengers

Pay For Your Carbon Sins

Move to London's New Green Zone

Check Your Tires

Make One Right Turn After Another

Plant a Tree in the Tropics

If You Must Burn Coal, Do it Right

Drive Green on the Scenic Route

Set a Higher Standard

Be aggressive about passive

Consume Less, Share More, Live Simply

Who knew?

To get the bumper sticker, go Here or Here.

Zen View

According to Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language, a zen view  is to

be found within the home or garden in an unexpected place which he calls the  transition zone.  It provides a

glimpse of something truly beautiful.

 

Griffin Enright Architects

Where is your zen view? 

Porch Rails. They’ve come a long way, baby.

Last week, my friend Maya at Completely Coastal wrote about Adirondack Chairs.  In her post she showed the following photograph of an image we all think of when we think of the adirondack chair.  When I saw this image, I saw the lovely chair, but I also thought to myself, “whoever sits there will surely have no view of the water beyond as the porch rails will certainly obstruct that magnificent view.”   And this was the inspiration for this post.  Read on.

If you are lucky enough to have a view from your porch, consider this.

Traditional rails made of wood.  Good.

 

 

Stainless Steel Cable Railing systems.  Better.

 

 

Glass railing system.  Best!

 

 

If you’re lucky enough to have a view, don’t obstruct it with the wrong type of railing system!

As always, Friday’s mean it is “Hooked on Fridays” time over at Hooked on Houses.  Take a peak over there to see what others are hooked on today!  Also visit The Inspired Room’s Beautiful Life Friday Blog Party.  Enjoy!

Objects in the Landscape

There are several schools of thought when it comes to siting a house in the landscape.  First, we build a house and then create a landscape to go “with” the house.  It has always been my belief that a home and landscape go together – that one would never imagine the house in any other context. 

Another school of thought is just as valid, however.  The house or architecture becomes “art” in the landscape or an object in the landscape.  In this context, the landscape is so perfect that the house fits right in and needs no manmade landscape at all. 

Here are some fine examples of objects in the landscape.  This is what we would label as Design with Nature.  Click on the captions to see and learn more about the houses.

 Neal Creek Residence by Paul McKean Architecture, Hood River, OR

 Hong Luo Club House / MAD Office, Beijing, China

"Bridge House" by Max Pritchard, Architect, near Adelaide, Australia

Less is more.

Now there is a trend called Cargo Container Architecture where used cargo or shipping containers are being recycled as basic building units for residential housing.  Take a look.

Kit Home by Adam Kalkin

Cargo Container House, Designer Unknown

 

Redondo Beach Cargo Container Residence by DeMaria Design

A clean and green way to live?   In this economy, will less truly become more?  Will we see Americans giving up square footage for a simpler life style?  Building sustainable homes with native and natural landscapes instead of exotic ones that require an unending flow of water and chemicals to be kept alive?

Maybe one day, my friend Julia over at Hooked on Houses will feature an in depth look at some of these homes.

It’s been a while since I participated in her “Hooked on Houses” Friday Blog Party, but I feel social today and I’m hoping you do to.  To see what she and others are hooked on this week, visit Julia's Hooked on Houses Friday Blog Party and then stop by Melissa's The Inspired Room Blog Party.

 

Invasion of the Purple Pixies

You heard it here first.  The Purple Pixies are coming!  Just watch how fast this plant takes over the residential and commercial landscape in the next few years!

Photo from Heinz Nurseries

At long last, here is a plant that we will be seeing a lot more of in the future as it will find a spot in almost any garden in Zones 7 to 10! The plant is Loropetalum chinensis ‘Shang-lo’ commonly known as Purple Pixie Loropetalum.

Like other loropetalums, Purple Pixie is evergreen and has beautiful burgundy foliage combined with showy pink blossoms that almost always repeat bloom. Loropetalums do well in both sun and shade, but bloom best with more sun. So far, the loropetalums appear to be resistant to both disease and insect damage. What more could you ask for in a plant? I’ll tell you. Unlike the other Chinese loropetalums, Purple Pixie is dwarf and has a weeping and cascading habit.  This plant grows only one to two feet in height by four to five feet wide! What a great choice for ground covers for sun or container gardening!

With it’s burgandy color and cascading habit, Purple Pixie Loropetalum will make a striking addition to any planter!

The strong points of the loropetalums for me have been their ability to form a dense architectural hedge. Also, their deep burgundy foliage adds year-round color to the garden and contrasts nicely with other evergreens. Their dense foliage also complements other evergreen plants such as boxwoods and hollies. The downside of the plant is that too many landscapers have planted it without paying any regard to the size this plant wants to grow, sometimes as large as 20-feet tall and wide! Because of this, often times these plants are the victim of the wrong plant in the wrong place. For this reason, I have always specified the “Ruby” variety that only grows three to six feet tall and wide.

 Other Loropetalums grow very large – sometimes up to 20-feet!

With Purple Pixie, this will change. Now we’ve got a beautiful dense groundcover for sun that won’t overtake the garden! My prediction is that this plant will catch on like wildfire!

Furniture

Sorry, I’ve been away. I’ve been on holiday.

Here’s some eye candy for you to enjoy.

It’s furniture from Henry Pilcher and it is cardboard.

Stairways to Heaven

Wooden.

Concave/Convex.

Curvilinear.

Convex.

Retaining.

Married to a Wall.

Concave.

Geometric.

Short-cut.

Natural.

Elegant.

Pershing Park, Washington, DC

Form follows function.