Plant Talk

Rainbarrel? Nope, Watering Can

I spotted these ingenious pieces of artwork that function as water catchment while visiting the Anacortes Arts and Crafts Fair weekend before last. Believe me, we could see that they work beautifully, for it was raining like crazy all afternoon. It's a surprise to come on huge, crayon-colored watering cans attached to the sides of a warehouse on Commercial Avenue near the water...they dribble water down into freshly planted rain gardens all around the building...

Out & About - Planted Piers

I'm sure I'm not the only driver on East Harbor Road (south Whidbey Island) who has pulled over to check out the succulents and self-seeding flowers growing atop a series of old stone piers. For several hundred feet along this scenic road, passersby are treated to the site of these handsome old piers sprouting weird and wonderful plantings, obviously thriving on their own out there, without supplemental water. There's something self-sufficiently modern yet curiously hobbit-like about the display... have you ever seen lustier hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum tectorum)? 

A snapdragon managed to seed itself amid the hens-and-chicks colonizing top and sides of the pier.

A single willowy foxglove gives a Dr. Seuss-like feel to the scene

I love how the plants creep down the sides of the pier and cluster around the wood railing

Out & About - Woolly Pockets

Containers are going soft, like these Woolly Pockets made of mostly recycled plastic. They're hanging along a sidewalk railing outside of the restaurant  Anchovies and Olives on 15th Avenue just north of Madison. This style is called "islands", they also come in wall systems, and can be used indoors and out (there's more rubber lining inside the pockets to be used indoors).

 

I appreciate that these are convenient, light weight, drain well and we probably wouldn't have any plants along this very urban sidewalk if it wasn't for the ease of Woolly Pockets. Still, don't they look a little slug-like? Here's a close up...Sedum, hebes, strawberries and heather all seem to be thriving...

 

I guess they open all kinds of possibilities for vertical walls and living screens....check out the video on Woolly Pockets website. Or you can see for yourself, for they're sold right next door at a very cool little urban plant store called Envy - 1546 15th Ave., 588-2498.