For
the longest time I’ve browsed garden themed coffee table books with
their
slick, glossy photos of wealthy peoples gardens. I’ve thought to
myself: why
do these people deserve recognition? Very few of them have done the
work
themselves, they hire designers to place the plants and laborers to do
the dirty work. Why should those gardens, "created" by people that
never really put their actual hands on them, be the only ones in books?
They have the money to buy recognition and good taste. But
what about the real gardeners? The ones that creatively use limited
amounts of
space and materials to create an oasis in a small parcel of land?
Lincoln
Heights is luckily home to many such gardens, bits of green spaces in
the
ever
growing concrete. Wild gardens, practical mini farms, pots of every
type: clay,
recycled cans, old tires. All created, designed and cultivated by their
caretakers. These are the muddied fingered gardeners that deserve
props
for their hard work and their ability to make gardens more complex,
more alive
than their glossy paged brethren.
This
page is a long time coming. Don’t try and look for some of these
gardens
because they might not be around anymore. Such is the fleeting beauty
of
gardens, here one season gone the next. In a constant state of flux and
chaos.
If my landlords hadn’t banished me from the garden, I'd still be out
there contributing my own creations. They prefer the sterile
landscaping of
business
parks, all orderly, all the time. They couldn’t
stand
my "eccentric and wild tastes" such as having some leaves or branches
breach the chain link fence, Heaven Forbid!
The
most amazing thing is that the role of the front yard is not strictly
relegated to
lawns and roses but a little of everything.
recycled materials made red roses, palm, bamboo maiz growing towards the sun
UN AGAVE
a
bird must drink, even in your garden
a dahlia
i guess you can use crates for more than records bucket brigade various herbs, chives, dahlia, aloe
roman... ice plants, palm trees ruins?
A peaceful front yard can rival
the
Vatican's! sword fern,
coleus, night
blooming jasmine, chilipitin, peach tree, la virgen
homemade squash trellis with gladiolus in foreground spider web trellis
practical uses of space front yard/urban farms
is it mayberry?
no it's
lincoln
heights! geranium
oh deer! the only place you'll see one of these round these
parts! basil
tienes un nopal en la frente... succulent display lantana, jade plant, banana, canna lily
TIREd of the same old thing? crown of throns, old tire staghorn fern, bird of paradise, citrus tree
interested in trading succulents, plants, seeds or have a garden to recommend?
Drop me a note to say hello...