An update from Berkeley

26 Apr '07 2:26 am

I've seen some pictures in magazines like you describe and I would prefer to make the bed more open and part of the main garden. Around here though with all those vermin I don't know. Maybe in the future I can come up with a better location. One good thing about its location now is that it is just up from the creek so that one can hear it as they drift off. I just wish it had views of the garden. Once I clear and develope the area past the dutch gate, perhaps I can incorporate views specifically for the garden bed.

Buried under all the vines now is the first aviary I built on the west side of the garden shed. I'm hoping to develope it into an outdoor shower and toilet. We'll see.

26 Apr '07 3:41 am

Is this in case Lia kicks you out of the house; or will she be sharing the amentities alfresco? Sounds really cool and a lot of fun. Who says we old(or maybe just a little older) guys don't know how to have fun?

26 Apr '07 6:51 am

The next time she works in the studio after I've gone to bed maybe she'll be staying out there, but probably not. I just like the idea of having the options of letting guests use a bathroom which doesn't require going upstairs and through the house. (Good for me too when I'm really muddy.) The shower I would make open but sheilded by plants. That will be fun.

26 Apr '07 3:51 pm

You have so many interesting nooks and crannies at your place.
Any time you want to emigrate over here and work on my garden, just feel free. Very Happy

27 Apr '07 4:17 am

Interesting reading and seeing what's going on in your garden, as well as your future plans, Mark! I like that begonia wall and shade structure, very inventive and creative - you built it yourself? Great job, like our dear Christopher, the garden gnome! Smile

29 Apr '07 5:54 pm

yes I built the faux rock wall. A first and only such project built with a bunch of junk, the right concrete and intuition. I used some 1/2 inch rebar to rough out the shape, tied it to the wooden fence in the area with baling wire. Then I used burlap and plaster of paris to get a surface to build up from and to form the planting pockets. There is a kind of concrete made with fiberglass to give it more strength. I added red coloring to this and put it onto the burlap a handful at a time. Some of the surfaces are overhung so I had to build it up over a period of time.

The shade structure is built very simply with treated wood and construction grade redwood lattice. It is built against the east side of the garden shed, seven feet wide, 8 feet high and 10 feet long like the shed. Everything likes to grow in this, unlike my attempt at a greenhouse.

Thanks for stopping by, always good to have you over.

30 Apr '07 3:36 am

I couldn't get this one down to size when I posted the other rose pictures. This one is a very popular pillar rose, 'Altissimo'. It is nearly single, something I and the local bees like.

3 May '07 2:16 am

Dear Mark! I had the chance to look at all your recent photos here, read all the comments I had lost these last days! I loved the private corners and the structures of your garden! But most of all I loved this blue/red corner with one of my mostly and dearly loved climbing Roses! Altissimo!

This is a strongly built, healthy, and non-stop blooming happy creature, created in 1967! In my garden it covers the one side of the compost screen and even higher! Its stems seem to fly up into the sky by the end of September..It is single, but the saucer-like,large, brilliant-red blooms, are an attraction even from afar! Here he is again!

3 May '07 3:05 am

Sure is a great rose, prolific and popular around here. As your photos show it is very clear, vibrant red. For my nose, it has nothing but it is a bloom machine.

On the other side of the gate into the garden I have the old rose 'Golden Showers' whose time to go is over due. That is one of the most disease ridden roses I've ever seen and its bloom form isn't my favorite. I'm thinking of maybe replacing it with another Altissimo, letting them handle both sides of the entrance.

3 May '07 3:19 am

A great ...very Altissimo (!)thought!

An update from Berkeley

Outdoor shower and toilet?

Hi Jacqueline,

One more rose doing its thing.

Altissimo!!

Ahh, Altissimo.