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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Wednesday Vignette

Wednesday Vignette is hosted each week by Anna at Flutter and Hum.  Click here to see more WV's!

Long beds stuffed with a variety of annuals seen outside of Tsugawa Nursery remind me of the way many of the beds looked in my Alaska garden. I don't grow many annuals these days mostly because my garden space has been taken over by interesting foliage.  Let's not discuss running bamboos planted without barriers.

Bright, colorful, cheerful, abundant.  A Persian rug of floral delight. Municipal plantings used to look like this in many towns.

Ah nostalgia...   What do you think of such vibrant annual displays?  In my own journey of gardening, it was the flowers that got me hooked but now, although I still enjoy blooms, foliage form, texture, and color motivate me even more. Of course, this could also have a lot to do with the climatic differences in the places where I've gardened.  With the exception of  a few conifers, winter foliage in Alaska was non-existent. 

Reminds me of a favorite poem by Robert Lax.

A Problem in Design

               what if
               you like
               to draw
               big flowers,

               but what
               if some
               sage has
               told you
               that
               there is
               nothing
               more
               beautiful
             
               nothing
               more
               beautiful

               than a
               straight
               line
               ?

               What should
               you draw:
               big flowers?
               straight lines?

               i think
               you should
               draw

               big flowers
               big flowers

               big flowers
               big flowers

               big flowers
               big flowers

               big flowers
               big flowers

               until
               they become
               a straight
               line.
             

8 comments:

  1. I still love flowers. I have to be honest, I pay lip service to foliage, because it's trendy. I'll always love flowers. I need at least one bed that I can devote to something like this annual display. Maybe next year.

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  2. Although I like flowers, I'm fairly squarely in the foliage appreciation camp. I have figured out that my usual disdain for annuals is not so much for the annuals themselves, but for how they are often thrown together without much consideration of either color or texture. A friend nailed it when he said about one of those run of the mill flower baskets, that it looked like something that might be called "Mattel's My First Garden". So, my answer is that although I'm not a fan of the Mattel-look, I have learned to appreciate their floriferous abundance in curated situations like mixed planters, or to enhance color-coordinated foliage vignettes. In fact, I employ quite a few this year in my garden. I'm surprised at my own development! :)

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  3. The flower bed does remind me of my one (and heretofore only) trip to Alaska. I love color and will always adore flowers but I've come to appreciate the visual breaks and accents foliage can provide. I also prefer masses of the same color to the tapestry effect, not that that would be evident to anyone viewing my garden...

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  4. I need the flowers and the foliage - perhaps also because I garden somewhere considerably greyer in winter than the Pacific Northwest. The poem is lovely!

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  5. No, let's DO talk about the running bamboo without barriers... :) Love the poem!

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  6. I still love flowers but like you, get much more excited by the texture and form of foliage. Love the poem, is it yours?

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  7. I still love flowers but like you, get much more excited by the texture and form of foliage. Love the poem, is it yours?

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  8. I love, love, love the bright chaotic mix of colors! As I get older and more experienced, though, I am coming to appreciate foliage and grasses, much in the way one comes to appreciate broccoli as one grows up! But still, all that color! Happy, happy, happy!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.