Display Garden--Final update before the pictures

17 years ago

ItÂs five days until the set up of the display garden for the flower show. Many things have mutated since my last postÂ

Today, in the frigid weather I went to two nurseries for last minute plants. I found some wonderful thingsÂin the middle of FebruaryÂand spent too much money. Some of what I bought today includes three Prunus mume ÂPeggy ClarkeÂ with tight buds that were yummy and a Chamaecyparis nookatensis ÂGreen ArrowÂ that was just funny. I focused on evergreens to fill in gaps. Boy was it cold.

My fake mushrooms arrived. TheyÂll look okay when theyÂre installed and people are not too closeÂthe stems are made from pvc pipe. My son said they look like Smurf Shrooms so thatÂs good.

The side support walls that will be built out of upright logs are challenging. We need to have some kind of ÂdeadmanÂ that will go into to sand to keep them from splaying out at the top. Speaking of sand, we decided to build a substructure of pallets to reduce the sand by 50%. It is likely to be frozen and when it thaws in the hall there will be water where we donÂt want it.

Now for tales from the dark side. No one can cut sod in this weather and itÂs way too expensive to truck it up from the south soooooo weÂre going to use synthetic. I have a collegue who installs high end synthetic golf greens, so heÂs agreed to help out with our lawn.

We werenÂt able to find the right size cedar for our bridge, so weÂre harvesting some hardwood from client properties and a local sawmill is making the boards for the bridge itself. I posted the drawings for that a while ago.

Last and not leastÂthe tornados in Florida eliminated that as a possibility for water plants so theyÂre being shipped from Texas.

Mahonias and Corylopsis are happily pushing bloom in my studio. Photos and promo materials have been ordered. Next week IÂll post some pix.

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Comments (10)

catkim
17 years ago
Tornados, self-harvested, custum-sawn lumber, frozen sand and sod, wow. I am so impressed! You are tenacious. The artificial turf is a brilliant solution. I can't wait to see the finished product!
mjsee
17 years ago
Miss R--I think Synthlawn is a perfect solution--particularly for a FANTASY garden. Peggy Clarks will be stunning as they open. What (if anything) are you including for wafting scent?

Grocery store hyacinths are usually cheap and readily awailble! I'm kidding, of course. Or am I? :P
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birdly... makes total sense that you had to redo stuff if it were that one employee - you should have heard the subcontractors complain about that employees work :) The nice thing is Mark had them redo stuff without argument - a friends contractor fought him and tried to charge him on every little thing that he asked to be redone (and we are talking some obvious things) If you want I can let him know that my glowing review of his work was slightly tainted by a deck that took too long - he won't like that! Its sad that he was late for yours becuase both the person at international kitchens and the person I got the sink from commented on how hes on time. For me he was about 1 month late but given the circumstances that was not bad. Its surprising about the communication - he was great for me. It does sound like he was putting all his effort into my project - did you let him know that you were doing a kitchen and becuase he didn't handle the small project well he misses out on the bigger one? (FYI the contractor that was awful for my friend was Chermak construction - it was a 100k+ project and they tried to charge him when the electrician put in a 3 bank switch that only needed 2 switches so the electrician left a switch that did nothing - they told my friend that a "do nothing" switch was an "acceptable solution" - that was the worst example but there were tons of things like that). I am 95% sure Mark got the doors through PCS Millwork. They were WAY cheaper (talking less than 1/2) the cost of the equivalent doors through the lumber yard he normally uses. gwent, nightowl was asking about the dining lights - if you search (ctrl+f) the thread for "nightowl" and read those posts you should get all the details on the lights. For the pulls, believe it or not we got them at Loews. I went to all the fancy shops for a couple weeks stressing about hardware and finally stumbled on them at Loews of all places.
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mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
17 years ago
Synthlawn with glitter?

Against my will, I am becoming somewhat of an expert on fairies. I live with an 8 year old girl.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
17 years ago
These last minute changes seem to be nature of the beast :-) Although my garden show entry is only a container display rather than a fantasy garden, it still suffers from the same 11th hour alterations. Just moments before the truck was to be loaded with this and the materials for two other vignette displays, we had to make a plant substitution. A mature Corokia cotoneaster (wire bush) that was the focal point of one container because of its very stark, architectural presence was deemed to look a little too "dead". If one is at all familiar with this shrub, that's pretty much its normal winter appearance but it was felt that the general gardening public may not realize this and wonder why we would include a dead plant as part of our competition display!

And we elected to use Irish moss for the carpet that grounded the 5 various sized containers. The 20 flats were grown on for us by a local wholesaler with heat to encourage some rich, lush growth in winter. They got just a little too "hairy" with this process and we had to mow them all with scissors to get the right look. The good news is the Edgeworthia that anchors one of the other containers is at just the perfect bloom stage and the fragrance is enchanting! The show opens here this Wednesday.
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Nell Jean
17 years ago
Lots of searching, but I found a photo. It's a newspaper article, so it may not be a valid link for long.

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: Susan's Garden
mjsee
17 years ago
Thanks Nell!

Susan--looks like you pulled it off again! I can't wait to see YOUR pictures. Hard to tell from the linked photo, but the bloomers look to be blooming their fool heads off. And your full moon is awesome.

I want a better pic of the fiber-optic 'shrooms...

melanie
inkognito
17 years ago
It's like a drug that I get a shot of only once a year, I drag my weary body through acres of mundanity, mundanism is everywhere man. I gotta get my fix. A kid with his head through that rustic bridge fence with the moon in the background and I believe in faeries. I have my fix. We want to see your pictures girl, from a step ladder 'member.
miss_rumphius_rules
Original Author
17 years ago
Wow you all amaze me. Thanks for your suppot. The paper photo is pretty good. Sorry. I'm sick with a horrendous cold. I will post pix tommorrow or Monday. I will tell you that we won 3 first place ribbons for concept, environmentally friendly garden & best educational garden. We also won 3 second places for the water feature, creativity (they hated the synth lawn) and design excellence. The money prizes will be awarded tommorrow.

Our water feature has leaked every single day...Michelle once told me that water and show gardens don't mix...had to learn that the hard way.

Pix to come--have to sleep now one more 12 hour day and lots of cold medicine to go...

Thanks again. In cyber friendship, Susan.
gottagarden
17 years ago
Every time I go to one of these shows I'm amazed at how wonderful they are, and can't even imagine the work involved. Your posting have illuminated me as to the work involved, it's incredible. Looking forward to photos.

Congrats!! You've really earned your bed rest.
mjsee
17 years ago
Susan--

Hope you feel better SOONEST. Get some "Emergen-C"--the raspeberry flavor tastes the best. It may only be a placebo reaction--but I SWEAR I got over my last cold faster because of it.

OR--Hot water, whiskey and honey. (Grandma's recipe!)

Hope you won some big money. I'm sorry they didn't appreciate the synthlawn. Honestly, I'd have thought that kind of last minute substitution was the very definition of "creativity"...

boo hiss to the judges.

melanie

Display Garden--Final update before the pictures

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Display Garden--Final update before the pictures

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