Furniture September 22, 2009

Sometimes, a garden needs one final touch to bring it together. When that final element can be a functional table, bench or chair, all the better…. We have designed custom furniture for a few of our gardens, a feat that inevitably requires more time, effort and head scratching than we could imagine. Those big stone benches require a little sweat equity, as well. Somehow, the results are always enough to make us willing to dive in again.

Cantilevered ipe and steel bench (photo by Robin Bachtler Cushman)

Steel bench with perforated top

Steel table with perforated top (chairs by Henry Hall)

Sandstone bench

Sandstone bench with rusting steel wall

Steel table with perforated top and our first (and only?) chairs

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The Ruth Bancroft Garden September 17, 2009

CA succulents and friends in our garden

The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA is a wonderland of textures and colors, and a stunning example of why we would move to Northern CA, if we could only convince a few million people to move away. How lucky that one of the best collections of succulents anywhere would be so beautifully curated…. We hope you’ll find time to visit when you’re in the Bay Area. It’s one of our favorite places, and it may become one of yours, as well. Be sure to check out their photo pages!

WARNING: Visiting the Bancroft Garden can be a thorny proposition for those of us with an affection for spiky, spiny, sculptural plants. They have a nursery, and if you are like us, there is always room for one (or twelve) more little containers…. Serious succulent addicts should be sure to avoid the Dry Garden in Oakland, unless they are prepared to build a cold frame.

Just a thought…. The Bancroft Garden is one of the Garden Conservancy’s Preservation Projects, and one very good reason to join the Conservancy (or give/request a gift membership).

windows and doors September 11, 2009

The view through our front door this morning.

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Design thought: most of us spend more time in our house than in our gardens.  Taking the time to create beautiful scenes through important doors and windows will reward you dozens of times a day.  We often center features or hardscape elements on the primary views form the house, but a less formal, thoughtful organization of space can capture your attention just as well.