Summer Garden

I've done very little in the studio this week, other than reading email and favorite blogs, in favor of spending my days in the garden. My son is doing the heavy work of digging and lifting and hauling. I sure do appreciate his expertise.

My job was cleaning moss off teak furniture and applying a sealer to try to get another year or two out of it. Our high humidity causes furniture left in the yard to rot from the ground up. But roses thrive here in Portland, The City of Roses, as you see above. That's my only rose and I'll take care of it as long as it rewards me with blooms like this.

I had a few of these broken concrete test blocks left over from another project and my son surprised me one day with a short edging made by sinking the blocks halfway into the soil:

He's hauled and placed 1 1/2 units of garden compost to mulch the beds and 3 yards of gravel to dress the paths as you see here on both sides of this flat stone that bridges the water feature at the top:

My favorite chair has its own place at the bottom of the garden next to a little pond, and no, I don't really spend much time sitting there, not as much as I'd like. I stay too busy to sit still very long.

These red cedars give us privacy at the top of the yard. I know someone will ask about the blue things... Last winter when our maples were pruned I salvaged some of the larger branches and spray painted them and placed them in several places here and there to add some color to the winter garden. People smile. Maybe they like them or just maybe they think I'm a bit wacky.

The triangular structure (center right) is the balcony outside my studio door, one of my favorite features of our home. Thanks Ted.