Hoja Santa

“Deep Breath”

ESPatch Nov 14, 2013 11 comments

Here is a new 360 plan I generated for a property in north Austin,

and here are the renderings that I used to communicate the design intent to the client. I superimposed the new design onto the black and white images.

The homeowners wanted to significantly reduce the amount of lawn without alienating the rest of the predominately turfed neighborhood, an interesting challenge.

The back patio was an assortment of plants and different mediums that made the space feel cramped and claustrophobic. I wanted to open this space up and create an extension to the patio that would lead naturally into pathways on both sides of the property.

The property lacked any real flow from the front to the back, my goal was to introduce pathways that would encompass and direct foot traffic on all sides of the house, but first a lot of tear-out had to happen. About 5 dumpsters worth to be precise.

Lots of overgrown shrubbery had to be removed up against the house and as for the 2ft Asiatic jasmine filled ‘flan’ brick-circle around the oak?

Well, you all know my bias thoughts on this demonic ground cover.

Oh yes, there was a lot more of this going on as the underworld critters living in the jasmine darted around our ankles. The flan actually ended up more like a pizza, it was cut and removed in six horrible slices. The bricks performed their usual trick of exponential expansion after being demolished with a sledge hammer.

Here is the front yard stripped back to its bare-bones. The trunk-flare on the oak is now visible and the tree, being free from the clutches of the dark Trachelospermum, can once again breathe freely.

This had to be one of the longest hell-strips I have taken out. The turf here was mounded and the grade had to be taken down significantly for fresh aggregate to be reintroduced.

Here is the back all cleared out, and here it is,

in its darkest hour,

with a new sprinkler and drip irrigation system being installed (not by me).

The front also received a good pummeling.

Contours were defined, materials brought in, the installation was underway.

Here are some before and after shots of the completed design:

What was once an overgrown planting bed became a wide entryway into the garden from the driveway and front door.

The wrap-round strip of grass in front of the boulders naturalizes the scheme street-side into the neighborhood aesthetic.

The removal of this wall opened up the view and allowed room for this side pathway to run behind the leaning oak.

A paved side courtyard continues

around to expand the back patio. Ornamental grasses and rosemary have been planted to soften the corners and hardscaping over time.

This back area was 12ft deep in nandina – which is never a good thing. (another potential botanical rant could most certainly be inserted here).

EXORIST, I.V.

I cast you out, invasive nandina!

An exorcism was performed along with some sage smudging and cleansing (you have to do this with nandina or it will come back) making the whole back garden feel significantly larger.

A new metal mailbox was installed which works perfectly with the color of the moss boulders and decomposed granite. Here is a link to Urban Mettle, the company that designs and makes these mailboxes…and a whole lot more:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/UrbanMettle

Now to wait a couple of years until the plants fill-in.

Back in the Patch:

This is my favorite time of the year, right before the first frosts start hitting hard.

Hoja Santa is the first plant to complain when the first real freeze arrives,

but for now they are still standing tall even though it got very cold the last few nights.

Cooler temperatures trigger the desert trumpets into action,

and the Mexican bush sage keeps on going at the back,

and front of the Patch.

In preparation for Christmas…

plumosa fern is always first to break out the decorations.

My Christmas present arrived at my door early, I had been looking forward to this moment for months…the wait was finally over.

Was I going to wait to open it?

Oh no…zip, zip…

zip.

It was a brand new set of…

David Naill highland bagpipes complete with blackwood mounts and nickel slides…snort.

My neighbors and Kumo (who, with the first squawk shot under the bed) are going to be so happy!

I will subject you to a wee tune next week if you would like.

Any requests?

Except that one.

Inspirational Images of the Week:

Cacoon Hanging Chair

http://www.hang-in-out.com/home/ca

Stay Tuned for:

“Up In Flames”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Brains”…Case Closed!

ESPatch May 2, 2013 13 comments

Welcome to what I hope is a leaner and meaner ESPatch website.

I have reduced the size, consolidated the sidebar and tried everything I could to speed up the load time (including waxing and greasing the inter-webs, naturally).

Tell me you no longer have time, while it is loading, to make an entire cup of tea…Annie?

Now, onto those brains:

I am happy to announce that I finally have closure to the “floating brain” anomalies that have been showing up in my pond for countless years.

“Aye, since I was a whipper snapper those brain anomalies have been showing up in his pond.”

And this is it in a word:

“Viviparous”

A reader who was conducting research on waterlilies kept coming across this word and subsequently searched it on Google and low and behold my “floating brain” mystery was solved…thanks for solving this brain teasing puzzle Max P, and for informing me.

Here is the definition of being viviparous:

1. Producing living young instead of eggs from within the body in the manner of nearly all mammals, many reptiles, and a few fishes.
2. Germinating while still attached to the parent plant (or) producing plantlets.

It turns out that my Madam Ganna Walska tropical water lily happens to be one on the list of the most popular viviparous tropical lilies on the market today.

The brains start life as gelatinous looking growths in the center of a lily pads. The brain grows until the original lily pad decays and completely disintegrates, leaving only a floating ‘brain’.

Ack, ack, ack, ack!

The brain eventually gets large enough and heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the pond where it can take root and start growing in the organic sludge…ingenious.

Talking about things that look like other things.

Here is another rather strange video from the director (ahem) that gave you the internationally (ahem) acclaimed short: “Looks Like..1”

Moving along:

You can wipe your butt with its soft fuzzy leaves.

You can make a medicinal tea out of it to treat coughs, sore throats and bronchitis.

You can even extract oil from the plant’s flowers to relieve pain from earaches and infections, hemorrhoids, inflammations, rashes, sunburns, and bruises.

Mullein,

Verbascum thapsus L.

also called Wooly Mullein, Velvet-leaf, Flannel-leaf, Jacob’s Staff and Quaker Rouge, a most versatile plant indeed.

Pick it after a heavy dew to achieve that extra ‘fresh’ feeling…

What?!

The plant is often called “cowboy toilet paper,”

but beware, overuse of the plant externally can irritate the skin and if you harvest the plant from the roadside there is always the risk of pollutants, and you most certainly do not want any of those anywhere…

down there.

Quakers were not allowed to use makeup way back when, but rubbing wooly mullein leaves on their cheeks (facial) resulted in a desirable ruby blush…hence “Quaker Rouge.”

Finally:

I found this fledgling Blue Jay huddled against my back deck, its mother was up in an adjacent pecan tree beckoning to it.

It was not at all afraid of me as I took a couple of pictures, I took this one a few inches away from it, just before it let out the most unearthly scream…so much volume for such a small bird. Then it blundered to the relative safety and cover of my Hoja Santa plants.

Luckily for it, this current cold snap has all the local cats hunkered down in much warmer places…

…Fly Mr Blue Jay…Fly.