landscapes | MATTER

A library of incidents in urban and rural landscapes, incorporating views and details to amuse and stimulate discussion. From a London based landscape architect and urban designer who likes to travel around the world, especially by train...

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Per E. Rundquist - Kalla mig Ismael! (by Book Cover Lover)
28 Mar 2013
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For me, drawing is a meditation on the beauty in our natural world—
the arc of a stem bowed by the fullness of its flower
the juxtaposition of sharp thorns and soft leaves on a single plant
illusions of weight embodied in bulbous oak galls
ribbons of light tracing a petal’s edge
the mathematical precision of spiraling patterns on a pine cone

 —

SUZANNE OLIVE: botanical artist

CALIFORNIA BLACK OAK  Quercus kelloggii  1990

Original sold

Image 8.5” x 13” / Matted 14” x 19.5”

Ranging from southern Oregon to southern California and reaching heights of 80 feet, these impressive deciduous oaks produce plump acorns once considered to be the best-tasting acorns by California’s indigenous peoples.
28 Mar 2013
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27 Mar 2012
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TRANSITORY GARDENS | UPROOTED LIVES The transitory lives of the rarely noticed: Jimmy’s garden on the Lower East Side of Manhattan - an assortment of stones and garbage bags, five tires, a chair, a skid, a refrigerator shelf, some ailanthus trees and goldfish, a wooden fence, and a pond with water carried by hand from a nearby fire hydrant - was recently bulldozed by the city. Jimmy then disappeared. Anna’s garden is surrounded by a tall chainlink fence and filled with a menagerie of dolls and stuffed animals. The animals are whole, the dolls are maimed. Anna is a recluse who speaks to no one. The neighbors say she was in a concentration camp as a child. Gardens have always been associated with wealth and leisure, viewed as an addition to home. In this remarkable book a landscape architect and a photographer show us, in word and pictures, gardens built by homeless or impoverished New York City inhabitants. Like traditional gardens, these spaces are designed for pleasure, social activity, or private retreat. Unlike traditional gardens, they are connected to an active and ephemeral use of the land. Transitory gardens speak the language of our times: here we find the reuse of nearly everything discarded, a sparing use of water and plant materials, an economical treatment of space, and a penchant for icons, toys, flags, and symbols of freedom and nationality. The gardens expand our definition of what makes a garden and what its design means for its creator. Diana Balmori’s commentary and Margaret Morton’s photographs combine with the gardenmakers’ own descriptions to encourage us to take note of gardens grown in unlikely places, on abandoned, littered lots, bounded by debris. By focusing on what homeless people make not for material comfort but from social andspiritual need, the book offers insight into both the meaning of landscape and the place of a garden in the life of an individual under duress. Let’s notice and treat with respect those who live differently to the majority, often they are closer to humanity’s inherent needs than those of us who are more affluent.  See the story of Josef Stawinoga who lived for many years until his death in 2007 in a tent on the Wolverhampton ring road. (via Yale University Press)
2 Dec 2011
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Instead of merely livable, I think we need to start thinking about how we make our cities more lovable. When we love something, we cherish it; we protect it; we do extraordinary things for it.

 — Peter Kageyama, For the Love of Cities: The Love Affair Between People and their Places  (via lifeonfoot)
30 Nov 2011
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25 Nov 2011
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Moses Bridge, Brabant By RO&AD Architecten The bridge can’t be seen from a distance because the ground and the water come all the way up to its edge. When you get closer, the fortress opens up to you through a narrow trench. You can then walk up to its gates like Moses and the tribes of Israel during the great rescue known as the Exodus.  Exodus 14:21-22 (NIV)  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. This is such a great way of adding a bit of romance to historical fortifications - I can just imagine children running up an down with water at eye level and really enjoying seeing the moat from a ducks perspective. Even us more mature adults must be enchanted with the concept behind this, it goes to show that with a bit of concrete help it is possible to hold back the waves.  Of course you have to ask yourself where do the skills and the talents that brought this into fruition come from, I’d say the Lord but then I would, the more prosaic amongst you will cite education and social and cultural reasons but for me faith is the answer.
21 Nov 2011
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L I O N  D O G  I N  L E A V E S This is why these little pooches are called lion dogs!  I’ve never put an animal picture on this blog and I don’t intend to again but the joie de vivre in this image is inspiring and should make us all want to get up and go this fine autumn morning.. Go, borrow some kids and a dog and scuffle around in the leaves today, you know you want to and I hereby give you permission!
17 Nov 2011
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17 Nov 2011
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8 Nov 2011
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L O S T B O O T I N K E W A new kind of fruit on the trees of Kew this autumn, season of mellow mists and fruitfulness.
31 Oct 2011
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WE LIKE…. Not one of my usual offerings but I thought that this was so evocative of the autumnal garden on a crisp sunny morning after an early frost that I had to share it, thanks to who-ever first put it up!
28 Oct 2011
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F I R S T    F R U I T S    F R O M    A N   U R B A N   G A R D E N Figs (Ficus carica) are surprisingly easy to grow, all you need is a sunny wall and a restricted root zone. Mine is a Brown Turkey about a metre tall, it’s roots are restricted to a small pot that was only about 4cm larger than the original pot it came in.  This means that I have to water it nearly every day when it is sunny and dry. I also feed it lots of nourishing food in the form of a proprietary slow release fertiliser.  It has responded kindly and has produced the two goodies featured above and there are about 30 more to come! The brown turkey fig is self fertile so is ideally suited to town gardens. They have a really great large textured foliage which can simulate a jungle like backdrop if you are feeling so inclined. I have espaliered mine into a fan shape so that it can maximise the sun, you can buy them like this.  It might be a bit more expensive to buy it pre-espaliered but for a small town garden it is better than having to trim back a large tree or spend ages training a new one. The best urban fig tree that I have seen recently is outside Toynbee Hall just off Commercial Street. It’s on the right hand side of the image behind the direction sign, I saw it in late July 2011 and it was full of lovely ripe figs, which were just out of reach and looked as though they would make amazing eating.  You can see from the image how restricted the roots zone is for this fig, it is fallacy to say that they need plenty of space, in their natural habitat they are found clinging to rock surfaces with their roots dug into tiny crevices.  In fact if you give them too much space they will be prolific in foliage and growth but somewhat lacking in fruits, sorry but there it is. With regard to training and pruning a fig tree, it is best to do this in early summer (June) before the fruits set.  Mostly fruits will begin to develop from July onwards, come the autumn there may be some that have not ripened, if so then remove them or cover your tree in a fleece to protect them till the next season. Anyway you will be pleased to hear that the first fig was delicious and I am thinking of freezing the others as they ripen so that I can make fig jam in the autumn. I’m hoping that they will not all ripen next week when I am away. 
11 Aug 2011
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S W I T Z E R L A N D  From January 2012 adventure sports operators will need to be licensed… Until then there is a voluntary system of safety conduct in place. 
10 Aug 2011
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C H E S H I R E   P L A I N S   |||   U K The view from my childhood bedroom window was just like this, not the same depth of colour but the Cheshire Plains with the telescope at Jodrell Bank at the centre and the Derbyshire HIlls behind. Thanks to Adam Palmer (palmerama)
10 Aug 2011
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