Garden Structures: Shed Design Inspiration

I would love to have a stone chimney on my shed.  It would probably be easier to use a prefabricated stone like they use in home building today, but I love the implementation of natural stone on this old cabin.

Click here to see other cabins like this from a fellow blogger.

Weekend recipe: Lemon Layered Loaf

I want to reach through the monitor right now and pull a piece of this off to eat with a tall glass of skim milk.  Then repeat, until the loaf is 2/3 gone.

Lemon Layered Loaf

Inspiring Landscape: Repetition

I love looking at well-designed landscapes.  A well designed landscape is one that is thought out based on design principles.

This landscape clearly shows the principle of Repetition.  Repeating a component in a landscape gives a feeling of rest, feeling like you have figured out the order of a landscape.  When there is no order in a landscape one is left feeling uneasy and not comfortable.

The way that this picture shows  repetition is by using the same plants, or types of plants in different areas of the landscape.  In the lower right corner of the photo here there is what looks to be ornamental rhubarb, and farther back in the landscape a little to the left there is another.

Towards the back on the left there looks to be some Cat-tails at the edge of the pond, and behind there to the left there is Agapanthus and to the right of that are some Irises.  Though these are not the same plants, they have similar form with long, strap like leaves.  Even though that with a trained eye one can tell there are different species, the similarity of plant structure is enough to give the feeling of rest to the mind.

Click here for more pictures from this landscape designer.

Plant of the Week: Bergenia cordifolia - Bergenia/Elephant Ears

Bergenia is such an easy plant to grow, and very easy to get a hold of because once it gets planted it can be ignored and it will grow fine, so you can dig them out of a friends garden to get your own start.

One of the reasons why I like this is because of its large, coarse textured leaves that makes a great focal point; the flowers are pretty but that's not why I choose to plant Bergenia.  Once these are established they don't require much water, and are paired well next to a large stone.

Another reason why I like Bergenia is because the leaves tend to be evergreen and change to a beautiful red during the winter.  When we get chinooks in the Calgary region and the snow melts Bergenias are well placed in a visible location by sidewalks or your driveway.

Weekend Recipe: Salmon Ring with Cheese Sauce

Does this not look heavenly?  I'm not sure when I will get around to making this Salmon Ring with Cheese Sauce, but I can tell you that it wouldn't last very long!

Garden Structures: Shed Design Inspiration

I love this building, and knowing that I want to build a really cool shed one day, I am filing this away and hopefully will be able to come up with a way to implement some characteristics of this residence into my shed design.

Mail-Order Wish List: Heliopsis scabra

Summer Sun False Sunflower - I have seen this in full bloom in another horticulturist's garden and have fallen in love with the prolific blooms and how large of plant it was.  When they told me they grew it from seed I was amazed.  I haven't tried it yet, that is why it is on my wish list.  :)

This variety grows 3 feet, but the one that I saw growing was 5 feet tall.  I'm not sure which variety grows to that height, but I will see if I can find out.