“Tulipomania”

ESPatch Mar 22, 2015 2 comments

Artist: Philippe de Champaigne

Tulip mania or tulipomania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed.

At the peak of tulip mania, in March 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble).

Jan_Brueghel_the_Younger,_Satire_on_Tulip_Mania,_c._1640

A Satire of Tulip Mania by Jan Brueghel the Younger (ca. 1640) depicts speculators as brainless monkeys in contemporary upper-class dress. In a commentary on the economic folly, one cheeky monkey urinates on the previously valuable plants, others appear in debtor’s court and one is carried to the grave.

220px-Semper_Augustus_Tulip_17th_century

Anonymous 17th-century watercolor of the Semper Augustus,

famous for being the most expensive tulip sold during tulip mania. (10,000 guilders.)

(From Wikipedia)

We have had a little slice of mania pie ourselves..

We have them growing in containers:

We have them growing in the ground:

This should surely put the “Dad why don’t you ever grow flowers” conversation to rest once and for all.

(Thanks for the bulbs JJ.)

The green berries on this Fatsia Japonica have now turned black.

There is so much fruit the stems are under strain.

Surprisingly the birds so far have left them alone.

Another great naturalizing bulb with a really ‘cool’ color are the Spring Starflowers:

Ipheion ‘Rolf Fiedler’

is an electric blue color which really pops against a dark background and looks particularly psychedelic reflected in the Cactusman’s eyeglasses.

What is really odd is how his eyes have come to fit his facial expression.

Moving along to my Largus Bug Infestation:

This plague has been around the Patch for a few months now with no intervention from me, well until recently.

I have been kicking this ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave’s butt for weeks now, attempting to dislodge the critters every time I walked past it, a futile activity but it was fun to watch the bugs get airborne.

This is the only plant/agave that has sustained damage from the Largus, here is a group of them slurping away on their favorite tall mocha.

I decided I would add something a little extra ahem ‘topping’ to their favorite beverage in the form of some Diatomaceous earth…feeling thirsty now?…

…I just bet you are.

A few days later the bugs were mostly gone and to my surprise a flower stalk was on the rise,

a rather curvacious one.

The only time I go under this sabal major in my hell-strip is to cut off the occasional low hanging limb. Some time ago I tucked a handful of sedum in at the base of the palm and totally forgot about it.

“Spread well has the sedum”

While I was in here I decided to check up on the inebriated cactus who was still looking, well…

…totally inebriated.

Stay Tuned For:

“Bridge Over the River Why?”

All material © 2015 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“The Normandy Phase”

ESPatch Jun 20, 2014 5 comments

Here is a front garden in South Austin I spent a few days beating into shape and these are the visuals I generated to communicate the design to the client.

The first one incorporates pavers for a more formal look:

This one introduced flagstone for a preferred meandering, organic look.

Both designs called for the existing linear sidewalk to be removed.

And removed it was, expanding exponentially with every tooth rattling blow from the 18lb sledge hammers.

This concrete expansion phenomenon is explained in detail in…

The concrete expanded so rapidly it had filled a dumpster up in the time it took to say “why did my design have to call for the removal of the sidewalk?”

I refer to this part of the installation process as the ‘Normandy’ phase and it can be a little unnerving for the home owner should they come home in the middle of it.

Next came turf removal, grade reduction, flattening and sprinkler capping.

Here is the area almost prepped.

The hedge in front of the porch was removed to open up the view from the front porch. Removal of the sidewalk made the space feel much larger.

Final Implementation:

Grey Tejas black aggregate, Mexican beach pebbles and Silvermist flagstone blend up to the grey lower story of the house.

No more sprinklers or lawn cutting required here.

A solar powered art installation by Melissa Borrell

http://www.melissaborrell.com/

called Glowave is designated for the rectangular area to the left of the front porch.

The existing spineless prickly pear cactus and agave were pruned up and a couple of large limestone boulders were brought in to pull down the white of the house.

Three sculptural whales tongue agave are given plenty of space to spread their spiny wings.

And spread they will.

The rest of the plantings combine rosemary, basket grass, compact sage, gopher plant and a few muhly grasses that will fill in and soften the scene over time.

It is very rewarding to see a space transform like this one. The final result is almost enough to mentally fade away the ‘storming of the sidewalk’ and the battered nerves of the Normandy phase…

…almost.

Back in the Patch:

Talking of transformations,

it seems like only yesterday that he was a small man trapped in a box,

and she was only a few feet shorter than the first cypresses that I planted in the Patch.

Nothing gives you a better appreciation of the passage of time than children and Arizona ‘blue ice’ cypress trees.

Plants and trees have matured over the years, the neighboring house has now receded behind a tall wall of foliage yet

battles rage on and on in the Patch…

…like the stand of Bermuda grass that insists on growing in the safe haven around the base of my barrel cacti

urgh,

and this huge vitex that constantly strains and leans to scrape the roof of my front porch.

The dollop of silver in the middle is ‘Silver King’ artemisia,

Artemisia ludoviciana

a rapid spreader.

I keep mine in check by surrounding it with five rosemary bouncers.

It pairs well with Gregg’s mist flower.

Finally:

The cone flowers have apparently liked the deep soakings we have received this spring.

Stay Tuned For:

“A Change of Scenery”

All material © 2014 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.