Supercool: Steel Boulders

Steel boulders from wyattellison on Etsy.

Garden Inspiration: Jinny Blom in Garden Design Magazine

A Jinny Blom garden at Corrours Estate in Scotland.  Seriously, I want to be there right now.  That grey sky reflected in the glass wall?  The Wegner loveseat and Eames spool table?  Tuck up your feet, lean back and stare out the window at those grasses undulating in the wind.  You can just imagine it perfectly can't you?

This image is in the current Garden Design Magazine. March/April edition?  It's one of the best things in there, and I was happy to see it.  Garden Design used to be one of my favorite magazines, but it had gotten pretty terrible over the last few years.  Lots of really uninspiring gardens in between those totally staged "parties" where all of the shots were just product placement details and outrageously expensive outdoor kitchens.  Or so it seemed.  Don't want lame entertaining stories in my garden magazines.  It seems as though there is now a new editor, and the magazine is taking a turn back towards an audience of designers and gardeners.  I think I'll start reading again and hope the trend continues.

Favorite Books: La Foce A Garden and Landscape in Tuscany

This is the second to last book that I'm going to feature for October's National Book Month.  I ordered this book online, sight unseen and was very happy when it arrived.  It was written as part of the Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture, from the University of Pennsylvania Press.  Penn has one of the best known departments of Landscape Architecture in the country, with faculty who are well known for both their scholarship and professional practices.  (i.e. Peter Latz whose firm designed Duisberg Nord, James Corner whose firm Field Operations is {partially} responsible for the internet's current favorite park, the High Line in New York, and more).

This book is composed of four parts, a historical overview, one hundred photographs, field notes and  study drawings taken from the notebook of Laurie Olin, and a history of the garden designed by Cecil Pinsent.  Additionally it includes a poster sized rendered site plan of the gardens.  For someone trained in landscape architecture such as myself, my favorite part are the pages from the sketchbook of landscape architect Laurie Olin.  Looking through artistic people's journals and sketchbooks is always fascinating, but especially so when they detail construction elements or planting details.  Any gardener or lover of Italy would enjoy this book.

La Foce: A Garden and Landscape in Tuscany, by Benedetta Origo, Morna Livingston, Laurie Olin and John Dixon Hunt.  © 2001, University of Pennsylvania Press; Philadelphia.

Outdoor Inspiration

I like this indoor/outdoor barbeque space at the Estancia Vik José Ignacio. (Careful, site plays tango music upon loading, so mute those speakers if you are at work). Sort of a grunge/glam shed for dining and cooking over an open fire. Found via the New York Times T Magazine blog, in an article about the St. Tropez of South America-- on the Uruguayn coast.

On another note, blogger is driving me crazy with its editor!  Why is it so tedious to get bigger pictures on the blog?  I'm not a moron, I used to code websites using pure html, and I'm the first to admit that it was years ago and I'm super rusty at all things web site related, but I just can't see why this isn't more intuitive.  I think I should be able to upload several pictures at once and choose the x-large option and have it apply to all the photos.  Am I using an incompatible browser? I use Safari.  Ugh, driving me nuts.  But the larger pictures are better right?  No need to click on them to see details?