I was designing a garden for an ex-boyfriend who moved out west and proposed an Ocotillo fence for a garden to be inhabited mostly by his dashschund. Nothing ever happened of it (as far as I know), and I shelved the idea for a couple of years. With the prospect of doing work in Texas, I'm ready to revisit the idea. It's a pretty neat little plant. Cacti fences, like the one at the Kahlo/Rivera residence in Mexico City, sometimes look a little, well, flaccid, though there are some gorgeous ones.
They say there are few natural lakes in Texas - some say none, but I'm not in the business of lake counting. . . The Texas Highland Lakes are undisputedly manmade, created as the Lower Colorado River authority (LCRA) slung a series of dams down the Colorado River (no, not THAT Colorado River)...
http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/0512/Ghana_Post_Office.mp3
Just got back from Panama. The Panama Canal blew my fucking mind. I guess the funny thing about sublime experiences is that they, well, really depend on experience. . . Sometimes artists attempt to approach a certain kind of psychological or perceptual immensity. I can remember the first times I...
Starlings: Introduced as part of a plan by the American Acclimatization Society to introduce to the U.S. all birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare (via Mason White: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mc_white/172912245/) "The year was 1890 when an eccentric drug...
STARLINGS: Introduced as part of a plan to introduce to the U.S. all birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare
from: http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/phenology/2006/arbo2006_rhutypSequenceAug16_oct18.jpg
Invasive species. Usually defined as something like a non-native plant (or animal) that outcompetes its native counterparts. There are your native plant hardliners, who not only promote the use of native species, but advocate for the active removal and eradication of non-natives. The majority of...
OK, so you don't need to be in color to be amazing
Hey
Pop Group
Color. It took a while for me to begin to see and understand color in the landscape. Part of it was a bias against "garden-y" landscapes, which seemed somehow inferior - less urgent, less important, harder to conceptualize - to the BIG infrastructural projects that are still the current...
Also, please ask all the questions you've ever wanted to ask a landscaper and were too afraid to ask. Is it REALLY called a "tight crotch?" What's the difference between form and habit? How do I get things to grow on my folded parametric crumple planes? Think Sheldon Brown meets Dear Abby...
It's funny, there are a lot of sharp architects out there who, despite exquisite sensitivity to matters of form and function, couldn't describe a tree to save their lives. I will admit that I am completely ignorant to matters of mullions and scuppers, but I also don't care. In other words, I...
Early 21st C. design pedagogy and practice privilege the blurring of landscape architecture, building architecture, and urbanism. While the integration of environmental and built systems holds great promise for designers, the generalist impulse can obscure the value of specialization and experience, especially when working in the medium of living systems. This blog seeks to demystify landscape architecture, working not to reinforce differences in title, but foster mutual understanding.
