gardensinunexpectedplaces: Students from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam designed “brick biotopes,” made from plaster and sand, which serve dual functions:  1) as bricks, and 2) as a home for house sparrows, which often nest in cracks. During the past 20 or so years, sparrow populations have declined in many European urban environments. The hand-crafted bricks’ design allows plants and wildlife to “co-exist with architecture.” This video shows how they’re made. (via Brick Biotopes at Milan Design Week | Design Milk) This is such a cool idea! I only wish it came in something other than … well… white. But still, a very cool concept!

gardensinunexpectedplaces:

Students from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam designed “brick biotopes,” made from plaster and sand, which serve dual functions: 

1) as bricks, and 2) as a home for house sparrows, which often nest in cracks.

During the past 20 or so years, sparrow populations have declined in many European urban environments. The hand-crafted bricks’ design allows plants and wildlife to “co-exist with architecture.”

This video shows how they’re made.

(via Brick Biotopes at Milan Design Week | Design Milk)

This is such a cool idea! I only wish it came in something other than … well… white. But still, a very cool concept!

brians-whimsies:

This is the soaker I made for the spinach gutter.

What a fantastically simple way to

1) catch rainwater

2) use greywater without having to pull permits and undergo major plumbing rerouting

3) irrigate tiny shallow beds without flooding them

Tags | gardening | spinach | gutter | soaker | urn | patio |
Outside the demonstration garden of course… lay the growing fields. 

Outside the demonstration garden of course… lay the growing fields. 

And every once in a while, an anomaly would pop up.  

Pheasants Eye daffodils, easy to overlook because of their comparatively plain appearance, but given a closer look at their namesake, they’re one of the most interesting daffodils at the demonstration garden. 

Pheasants Eye daffodils, easy to overlook because of their comparatively plain appearance, but given a closer look at their namesake, they’re one of the most interesting daffodils at the demonstration garden. 

Hey Hey Did you know tulips can grow on living tree branches? Cuz I didn’t.

Hey

Hey

Did you know tulips can grow on living tree branches?

Cuz I didn’t.

Abu Hassan, another tulip variety I’ve determined belongs in my garden. 

Abu Hassan, another tulip variety I’ve determined belongs in my garden. 

Even when the bulbs hadn’t opened all the way, the patterns they’d been planted in were already visible. The purple bulbs looked especially beautiful as they began to emerge. 

Salmon Parrot tulips made my jaw drop. I tried my best to get a photo that did them justice, but it pales in comparison to actually seeing one in person. If there was ever a real world approximation for what painting into three dimensional space would look like, this is it. They seriously look like a collection of brush strokes just painted midair. So gorgeous. 

Salmon Parrot tulips made my jaw drop. I tried my best to get a photo that did them justice, but it pales in comparison to actually seeing one in person. If there was ever a real world approximation for what painting into three dimensional space would look like, this is it. They seriously look like a collection of brush strokes just painted midair. So gorgeous. 

Part of the delight in the spring flowers is how exquisitely detailed every little petal is, how every tiny vein is visible, framed in in mindblowingly bright color.

Mt. Hood Muscari (grape hyacinth) - a flower with all of my favorite characteristics, gradation, texture, and intense colors. Definitely planting this in my own garden.  

Mt. Hood Muscari (grape hyacinth) - a flower with all of my favorite characteristics, gradation, texture, and intense colors. Definitely planting this in my own garden.  

The awesomest part of the demonstration gardens at Roozengaarde was the utilization of bands and waves of bright, gorgeous color. 

So guess who just got back from the Skagit Valley Tulip festival? Guess who took gratuitous amounts of photos of the rainbow delights? Guess who should be Tumblr Savioring ”#skagit valley tulip festival if they don’t want to see these? I will be queuing to spare the dashes, promise. 

So guess who just got back from the Skagit Valley Tulip festival?

Guess who took gratuitous amounts of photos of the rainbow delights?

Guess who should be Tumblr Savioring ”#skagit valley tulip festival if they don’t want to see these?

I will be queuing to spare the dashes, promise. 

architizer:

Gardening outside the apartment window.

This is brilliant for those who don’t have even a balcony to their name. And once the plants are fully grown, this makes an awesome alternative to curtains/blinds.

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