Shadow and Light

"We are but dust and shadow."

                                   --Horace

We rode our bikes this afternoon because the day was sunny and bright.

When we ride, we always head toward the river first

then we always get off our bikes and lean over the railing

to look for raccoon foot prints or sandcrabs or nesting geese or waterbirds.

aboutbirds.org

The tide was out, so there was only a sunlit puddle of clear water,

but it was teeming with hundreds of minnows.

And just for fun,

we took turns making shadows over the water.

Every pass of our hands or arms caused the minnows to dart and scatter.

Dust, shadow, and a little mischief.

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Garden Walls for Today

Yesterday I shared some photos of old stone and brick garden walls.

I would love to have a walled garden,

but that's probably unlikely in suburbia--

at least the suburbia I live in.

But it's possible to have a modern version, I've found.

Even if you love the romance and charm of brick and stone,

how could you say no to this modern garden wall?

embracethepretty.blogspot.com

Here's something you don't often see.

This is the wall of a Whole Foods in Kailua:

ourkailuatown.com

This next one is pretty amazing. It's a garden wall of annuals.

Dazzling in its excess!

Shaffa Dinsa. http://www.charminghomedecoratingideas.com/2013/07/

contemporary-vertical-garden-ideas.html

Tomorrow: secret gardens and outdoor rooms!

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Garden Walls

When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls ...

                                                  --Mitchell Parish

In Surry County, Virginia there is an historic house called Bacon's Castle. 

I had always heard of garden walls 

and had some romantic notions about drifting shadows and soft ivy,

 but I never understood a garden wall's functionality 

until I saw the one there at the Castle. 

The wall's primary purpose back then was to collect the warmth of the sun

so plants could get an earlier start in the spring.

You might say garden walls are the perfect marriage of beauty and functionality.

Following are a few images of garden walls I found online.

This one is at Sissinghurst in the United Kingdom.

I love the blue gate:

http://gardeninacity.wordpress.com/category/travel/page/2/

This next one is a low wall, not as fancy as the one at Sissinghurst, 

but I love the way the foliage drapes over the side 

and softens the hard edge of the stone:

seattletimes.com

My favorite garden walls 

are the old ones built in England over its long history.

This one is at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home.

http://travelingpages.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/english-countryside/

Tomorrow, a look at the more modern versions of sleepy garden walls.

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