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Three cheers for the red, white and blue!
I’m a gardener on vacation – which is a special opportunity to reconnect with dirt, buds and beauty. And weeds. I used my push-pull loop hoe along the driveway bed (80 feet) to clear several years’ of embedded weeds. This is an awesome hoe that makes weeding, if not fun, at least productive.
This year’s hydrangeas look so, so blue. Roses in the Betty Garden spill profusely over the stone wall. Family and friends gathered for our almost annual July 3rd party, celebrating summer and fireworks on Humarock Beach. Scituate police enforced a bonfire ban this year but mobs of people and fireworks attended the traditional fest nevertheless.
Our house is literally abuzz outside with painting preparation. We recently reshingled and re-roofed, the next step will conclude a major exterior renovation long in the works. The carpenter who was prepping the trim discovered (how fitting) carpenter ants on the back wing of the house. Bummer. We’re waiting for the exterminator.
End of vacation – tomorrow we’ll see Cirque du Soleil (“Totem”) perform at Boston Marine Terminal.
Posted in Inspiration, Mind, Summer | 
Tags: astilbe, bee balm, Betty Garden, crocosmia, daphne, daylilies, echinacea, evening primrose, exterminator, gardening, gayfeather, hoe, honeysuckle, Humarock Beach, humming birds, hydrangea, liatris spicata, oenothera, perennials, summer, summer blooms, sundrop | 
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It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
(inspired by the best spring day of 2011; with apologies to Andy Williams’ version)
It's the most wonderful time of the year! The buds are all popping There's nothing that's stopping, It's finally here!!! It's the most wonderful time of the year! It's the hap - happiest time of them all! With the soil full of soiling And ants gladly toiling On peonies tall! It's the hap- happiest time of them all!
Greening shrubs that need pruning, The warblers returning, And breezes no longer so cold. Humming birds begin tuning And daphne's scent looming Like gardens awakening of old It's the most wonderful time of the year! When the bleeding heart's bleeding And dandelion weeding Brings backaches severe! It's the most wonderful time of the year!
I've got shrubs that need pruning, The warblers returning, And breezes no longer so cold. Humming birds' perfect tuning And blossoms ballooning Like gardens awakening of old It's the most wonderful time of the year! It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Posted in Inspiration, Mind, Soil | Tags: Andy Williams, ants, Bleeding Heart, breezes, buds, dandelion, daphne, garden, Goldfinches, humming birds, peonies, pruning, scent, soil, spring day, weekend gardener | 3 Comments »
Sarabande: Kinetic Garden Art
Sarabande is a mobile – kinetic art made from copper, bronze and aluminum, standing six feet tall with a six foot radius. She was conceived to replace a withered dwarf maple that once stood in the center of the garden. Whimsical wind mobiles, like garden sculptures, provide vertical and horizontal contrast — plus movement — to the surrounding perennials.
A Garden Dancer Comes to Life
Named for the courtly dance and musical movement from the Baroque era, Sarabande is the work of kinetic artist, Vladimir Barsukov (Perpetual Mobiles) from whom I took a mobile-making class in November, 2009. You might think of Alexander Calder, an American mobile artist whose work is in the Guggenheim Museum (NYC).
Sarabande was almost a year in the making because Barsukov had to experiment with ideas and materials that would scale to larger proportions and perform well outdoors – wind mobiles can have a rougher life. Barsukov invented a sturdy pivot to give the mobile the needed “degrees of freedom.”
Besides freedom of movement, a mobile requires precisely balanced elements that communicate with each other, and sensitivity to slight, animating air movements.
Outdoors, a mobile must maintain its responsiveness while coping with extremes of wind, weather and elements; it must float on gentle breezes and ride out coastal gales. And do it all gracefully.
sarabande-in-snow-4
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Sarabande In Snow 2Installing the Mobile
I saw the first prototype at Barsukov’s Cambridge studio in July, 2010. While the artist completed the final design, I had to figure out how to keep a mobile garden sculpture permanently straight and plumb. Googling
The dwarf maple stood leafless in its last years. Stark and twiggy, it became a favorite perch for small birds. Chickadees and humming birds would alight on the end of a tiny dead branch to rest; it was our snag tree. It toppled of its own accord just before Sarabande’s installation on October 30, 2010. Sarabande was too broad for that spot so we installed her farther back, overhanging the dwarf mountain laurel (kalmia latifolia v. ‘Elf’), Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’) and daphne. Originally a backyard patio idea, Sarabande moves gently and more subtly far away, where her long arm and large sweep complement her surroundings.
Reflections on Sarabande
Posted in Art, Kinetic, Sculpture | Tags: Alexander Calder, aluminum, art, artist, bronze, Calder, chickadees, dance, daphne, degrees of freedom, design, dwarf maple, freedom of movement, garden, garden sculpture, garden statue, humming birds, kinetic, kinetic art, kinetic artist, maple, mobile, mobiles, mountain laurel, patio ideas, perennials, post hole digger, Sarabande, sculpture, Vladimir Barsukov, wind, wind mobiles | 10 Comments »