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The Garden Hose

My most intimate conversations with my garden take place over the watering. Proper watering takes patience, and even more time. Time to really see what is going on. Time to shed the babble of the day, and concentrate on what is in front of my face. What I see while I am watering, and make note to attend to-makes my garden better. I resent being tied down to one spot and one task-but once I get over that resentment, I relax and tune in. I have an irrigation system, but it does not handle every watering issue I have. Were I able to design an irrigation system that could sense on its own when each individual plant needed water, deliver that water, and regroup for tomorrow or next month-I would be able to retire, afford houses with gardens all over southeastern Michigan and have a life casually looking after all of them in turn. Should I ever devise a method by which to intelligently install and maintain such a superior watering system, I would be able buy every photograph that Lynn Geesaman ever took of a landscape or garden. Since the chances of either of these scenarios coming to fruition are poor to none-I am left holding the hose. The garden hose. Since hand watering is a job, a good tool helps.

Michigan is surrounded by the Great Lakes-Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron are the biggest. Michigan is furthermore laced with inland lakes. We have an embarassment of treasure in water. I have been watering a bed of newly transplanted ferns by hand with the hose every other day this week-watching those drops drip off the fern fronds and into the soil says everything about the life that clean water affords all living things. Keeping all that water clean, a matter of pride and concern to everyone. The challenge lies in the delivery of that water. New cities, new neighborhoods, expanding populations-this is as much about the delivery of water as anything. It would be interesting to see a map showing where my water comes from, and how it is delivered and ready for me to use. Once in in the garden, my delivery system is the hose.

Does it not seem that given the long history of gardening, and the necessity of easily transporting water from a source to a plant, that a perfectly designed and executed hose would be available to me? My shop, and my home have no end of spigots, to which are attached 75 foot hoses. I hate each and every one of them. These heavy duty commercial grade rubber hoses weigh a ton-before they are full of water. They need to be long to reach the outlying districts needing water; dragging them, rolling them back up, and storing them is a colossal pain. They do not coil up easily; Buck says new hoses are directional hoses- meaning they roll up one way, and one way only. You must twist as you roll. The lightweight hoses (my preference) twist, kink, tangle and are otherwise unsatisfactory. They fail in the blink of an eye; the material splits if you look at it too long. A truck tire will crush the fittings. Dropping the hose on the pavement will put a fitting out of round just enough to leak all over you. New hoses-who chose that nuclear green for a hose color? All I want is a hose in an unobtrusive color that winds up effortlessly in the twinkle of an eye, that weighs next to nothing, dwith strong well made fittings that do not leak-am I asking too much?

I am not particularly adept given a discussion of mechanics. Clients who cannot sleep at night unless they have a licensed landscape architect on their project-I try to explain that engineering is vastly different than design. The design and manufacture of durable and serviceable hose fittings-who does this? Like a hairdresser needing the perfect scissors, the chef that needs a perfect knife-I need good hose fittings. Most I have tried leak instantly, or within a week or month. The hose stop valves are the devil to turn on and off. Even if I were to forgo any fitting with a plastic part, the metal ones perform poorly too. I despise having water leak all over me when I am trying to get water to a plant. A great hose-I have been after this Grail my entire gardening life.

Plants need water; no gardener disputes this. When the shop is busy, and I have a little less than an acre to water, the design of the hoses matter to me, and more so to Rob. The watering cannot be left to an amateur-there is too much at stake. A little less than an acre to keep watered is a big job; knowing when and how to water is a skill, and an art. Rob doesn’t mind the fire hoses, as they deliver lots of water in a short time. He is able to drag them, and he knows at what pressure to deliver the drink. Clients ask me-why do your gardens look so good? Rob waters. Would that we could find a better hose, with excellent fittings-and a proper wand.

Every season I try the new watering wands. In my dreams, I would want a wand that delivers an enormous amount of water, gently. Watering wands-I fall prey to all of them. This one has so many plastic parts, I am sure something will go wrong soon. For the moment, I like being able to turn the pressure up and down with my thumb-as I am watering. I am able to turn the water off with this feature-no need for a leaking stop valve. I’ll give it a try. Buck lectures me regularly about proper fittings. Fittings-who knew that a serious discussion of landscape work would involve little parts.

A hose reel is a big part. This one-our second, as the first version came apart and fell of the wall, holds 150 feet of hose. I have no need of such an apparatus at home, but at work, it is a necessity. Rolling up the hose is a workout, as the mechanism is not particularly smooth or well balanced.

My 2010 attempt to find a hose and wand suitable for my home garden is pictured above. I can hold all 75 feet of it with 2 fingers-this I like. The narrow diameter means it takes more time to water thoroughly; I am happy to put up with that, given that I don’t perspire heavily getting it from one place to another. It seems like the wand will be good-the metal fittings are substantial. This hose must have a giant metal spring inside-it has a life of its own. I am twisting as I roll it up. We’ll see if I fall for it-our hot and dry season is just about here.

Posted on: July 5, 2010 2 Comments
Filed Under: Landscape Design Tagged With: , ,

At A Glance: The End Of Buck Week

the tapered Hudson planters

oak garden bench

Steel table in four sections

Pergola

Breakform V-pot and sphere

event tents

bus stop pergola with oak bench

conservatory table

spheres

sculpture/fountain

steel and concrete bench

oak and Valders stone garden table

firebowl

Posted on: July 5, 2010 9 Comments
Filed Under: The Branch Studio, Garden Ornament, Picture This

The Solver Boxes

I have no idea whether you are enjoying the Buck week posts-but I know he is.  It is tough when you make things, and never see what becomes of them. The finish of a box is not really the finish.  The placement in a garden, the plants-there is a whole other melody to come once they leave Branch.  Any garden box asks for planted material-he is seeing that relationship in some cases for the first time.  Some boxes are one of a kind, but have no name-as they are much more about what gets planted inside, than their aesthetic appeal as objects.  These galvanized and painted sheet metal boxes are a vehicle for a planted expression.  Sturdily made, and held by substantial steel brackets, they are a forum for a planted discussion on a garage wall. The garage wall-not so prominent now. 

This giant box at the end of this driveway has a purpose.  Drive an additional three feet-you and your car would be presented with the prospect of a steep ravine.  This box is a not only a stop sign, it will stop you should you be coming down the drive on icy pavement. The boxes and plants are so much window dressing-who would guess they are more importantly a substantial safety feature.    This home is paved right up to the front of the garage and house-not much opportunity for landscape to soften all this hard surface. These boxes on the second story are galvanized sheet metal-with a sanded and painted finish antique like finish.  The color is much more punchy up close-at a distance the color is soft and unobtrusive.  This makes the view much more about plants, than about boxes.  They also make the house look warm.

A corner sun porch just 3 feet from the lot line makes an in ground garden all but impossible.  The wall hung boxes permit a garden to be viewed from inside, and do not obstruct traffic from the front yard to the back. The square footage of soil is considerable; my first complaint about most boxes like this is that they are too small.  It is not long before the planting virtually obscures any mention of the word box.

This box I did name-but Buck only made four, and they are gone now.  I call this the Charisse box, as in Cyd Charisse.  A dancer whose long legs were a legend in the entertainment business; this box has legs I like.  The flared bell flower shapes on those legs-a beautifully decorative detail.  The scroll arms and handles were time consuming to make; I never hear Buck ask when we are making them again.  But I  have not forgotten them.  They went to homes not known to me-I have never seen them planted. They do indeed make me smile-they are so light on their feet.  Not every space asks for a handsome box-some spaces call for pretty. 

These massive boxes are also contructed of galvanized sheet metal-this is a much less expensive material than 18 inch or 1/4 inch steel.  A second story balcony terrace was completely exposed to view from neighboring buildings; this client needed big boxes, and lots of them.  The first year, we planted them as a meadow.  In recent years, they have done a good job of providing a permanent home to a hedge of arborvitae.  The trick to maintaining evergreens year round, above ground-as big a soil mass as you can manage.  This minimizes the effects of freezing and thawing that ejects plants from pots, and exposing their roots to the air.  This client has a completely private outdoor terrace, thanks to this wall of boxes.

Some less than visually thoughtful builder installed a giant downspout dead center in an alcove on this client’s rear balcony terrace-unsightly. One of our two extra balcony boxes was modified and placed here.  Buck made a steel stand for the box, which includes an armature on the back which bears most of the burden of supporting this substantial decorative iron panel.  A morning glory, and a pair of cherry tomatoes will help to obscure the drain pipe from view.   

The last of the balcony boxes landed on the ground-in a bed.  I like this unexpected treatment; flowers at the bottom of the box look great.  The bed is too narrow for any garden of size; the wall behind it is very tall.  A little change of level provides some interest in a tight space. In retrospect,  I probably should call these boxes the Solver boxes.

Posted on: July 2, 2010 3 Comments
Filed Under: Garden Ornament, The Branch Studio

The Hudson Box

It helps me to define something, should I be able to give it a name. I could write a book about places, landscapes and their names.  Detroit Garden Works-I named the shop by making a list of all those words that I thought best described what I had in mind.  My city, my love of what goes on locally, the garden-of course, and works-as in works of art, in the works, working garden, work it out-you get the idea.  My garden-Rob named it Corgi Run.  It is a perfectly apt description of a landscape designed to accomodate two boisterous dogs of very short stature without looking like a dog run with decoration.  The flowers are up high-as in roses, or containers, and the boxwood has corgi doors carved in their favorite entrance and exit spots.  I have grass-and only the most rugged groundcover on the ground plane. My beloved beech ferns are on an intermediate level; the hellebores are outside the fence. Corgi Run-the name says it all. I wanted to design a handsome box with rugged good looks that would be equally at home in a contemporary landscape as a more traditional one. Subtle, stately, engaging.  Naming it after Rock Hudson seemed just right.  The Hudson River landscape paintings-handsome, and distinctly American paintings.  OK, so I have an active imagination.  Hudson-what does that word suggest to you? Try naming the place before you design and plant it-who knows where that might take you.   

The Hudson box has but a few details-a generously large molding at the top ordinarily used in the construction of iron handrails, and two smaller and simpler moldings, my obscure nod to a classic Italian terra cotta double rolled rim pot. The simplicity of the design lends itself to the construction of lots of different shapes.  This particular rectangle fits the spot in a satisfying way.  Spots that need square containers, or rectangular containers seem to need just the right size-not just any size.  For years I had two round matching Italian terra cotta pots in this spot.  The round worked fine,I like the fitted Hudson box better in this space.

These squares were made to fit a specific space on a flight of cypress stairs.  The boxes are in lieu of a handrail-a simple be careful on the stairs.  The box in the background is home to an espaliered apple tree.  We lined the box with styrofoam insulating sheeting; the tree has lived over the winter in the box for three seasons now.  In this case, a very large box, capable of holding a considerable soil mass, seemed like a good idea for the health of the tree. The cypress deck is large and sparingly furnished-a big box works just fine here.

I rarely buy window boxes for the shop-what size would I pick?  No two windows are the same.  I like window boxes that go wide of the windows, so it looks like the window has something substantial to sit on.  This variation on the Hudson box with associated brackets were made for this specific window-and they look like it.  There are actually three separate boxes.  Part of this has to do with not placing too much stress on the wall when we hang them, but part has to do with the galvanzing process.  A zinc bath of some 800 degrees can warp steel that is not adequately captured by a frame.  Long boxes are particularly subject to damage.  Now we build long or large boxes from a thicker steel. 

This Hudson box was outfitted with plumbing, and makes a fine fountain. The box has legs, so the boxwood skirt does not obscure too much of the detail of the bottom of the box.  This year the boxwood covers the legs altogether.  Hudson boxes make beautiful fountain cisterns.   

Not every design looks so great in a very large size; this box is still graceful when it is large.  It anchors this side door entrance garden with ease.  My client plants for all four seasons; there is always something interesting going on. Driving up, she has a seasonal garden going on-dead ahead. The driveway garden-I have written before about the importance of the landscape that marks your arrival home.  I may not get to every garden every day-but I do indeed drive up every day. I want to like what I see, when I come home.        

The largest of my Hudson boxes to date-a cistern 4′ by 8′.  It was designed to be placed in an overscaled drivecourt.  Without going into any detail, my client shares a driveway with two other homes; a big drivecourt was needed to handle family and friends. The size of this cistern breaks up a giant paved space, with a garden object of interest.  

This big red SUV has nothing on this Hudson box cistern -does it? Exactly my intention.  Stately, handsome, graceful, bigger than life-this is how I remember Rock Hudson.  Buck’s construction is true, square, level. This cistern, though the planting is yet to come, shows no signs of him wrestling this 1800 pound object as he welded it. It is a garden ornament of grace and dignity-I cannot wait to see the three fountain jets, representing.      


This Hudson box is set in concert with a long and low window.  It features an ever so slight bow front.  Pictures of the summer planting to come.  The Hudson box-I am pleased with it.  Every one of these Hudson boxes were fabricated by Buck.  A Buck week-he deserves it.

Posted on: June 30, 2010 4 Comments
Filed Under: Detroit Garden Works, The Branch Studio, Garden Ornament Tagged With: , , , ,