It was 74 degrees and sunny here today in Southern California, but I have wintry visions dancing in my head.

To get into the holiday spirit (even though the leftover turkey and stuffing is still packed in the fridge), I picked up the December issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine, out on newsstands now. That’s where my pal Susan Appleget Hurst serves as the talented senior associate editor for gardens and outdoor living. She blogs as The Everyday Gardener (with colleague Eric Liskey).

When we were last together in September, Susan mentioned that she had worked on a wintry design for iced botanical containers to hold votive candles. (Photo at right: Mary Ann Newcomer aka Idahogardener.com; Susan, and me, taken while gallivanting around Portland in September).

The idea Susan described sounded gorgeous and sparkly, a creative new way to use favorite ingredients from the garden — leaves, berries, colorful branches and conifer sprays — for holiday decorations. Her twist on the traditional luminaria even found a new use for poinsettias, which are rarely successful as cut flowers.

I spoke with Susan today and congratulated her on the alluring designs, which are splashed across five pages of the magazine. She sent me a web link to a BH&G video demonstration, which makes the project easy-to-understand and replicate.

All you need are a few ingredients and space in the freezer to transform a watery concoction into frozen floral luminarias. Susan’s article begins on page 58 of BH&G. It’s titled “Icy Hot: Bright flowers, twigs, and berries suspended in sparkling ice make naturally beautiful luminarias.”

Susan has a culinary and herb-gardening background, so it didn’t come as a surprise to learn that she has used a similar technique to freeze blooms and herbs into ice rings to float in punch bowls. That handy trick, combined with the editorial challenge of showing readers new ideas for using their garden during the depths of winter, added up to the holiday-on-ice project. The frozen floral ring, best employed for a summery brunch, also taught her that distilled (rather than tap) water is preferred because it freezes clear rather than cloudy.

Susan first captured ruby red poinsettia bracts in a flexible plastic container, arranging each leaf so it’s evenly spaced (see finished project, above). Pour in a little bit of water, say 1/2-way to the top. Then insert a smaller plastic cup, sinking it with a few stones. Pop the entire vessel into the freezer until it’s frozen solid. There are tips in Susan’s article for choosing the right containers and for slightly thawing your creation in order to remove the finished product from the plastic molds.

The poinsettia votive holder was so successful that Susan experimented with colorful cut branches, arranged to stick out around the top of a luminaria like a beautiful nest for an exotic winged creature.

“How on earth did you fit that into the freezer?” I asked.

She laughed and pointed out that the water-and-branch-filled mold (actually a big plastic cake carrier) froze in the outdoor environment of her Des Moines, Iowa, backyard.

“I just needed sustained, freezing temperatures,” she added (assuring me that these conditions do not occur every winter in Des Moines, but they did last year when Susan played around with this project).

Um, okay. Well, since we don’t have an open-air freezer here in my SoCal yard, perhaps I’ll stick to Susan’s smaller projects. Like the ones that use 1-litre and 2-litre pop bottles with the tops cut off.

The Icy Hot story illustrates Susan’s gifted floral design skills. She’s got more tricks up her sleeve and you can find them in future editions of Better Homes & Gardens. Here’s what I managed to get out of her: The February 2009 issue will feature Susan’s inspired new way to design with forced branches and fresh flowers. In April 2009, look for her egg story. I don’t want to give away the details, but suffice it to say she is NOT cooking an omelet or quiche with her eggs!

Happy December. I hope it’s filled with joy and peace for everyone.

If you’re following my ongoing Glossary of Garden Architecture, check out this just-added “definition” of a Ramada. [photo source: Arid Lands Newsletter, 1989]

Part arbor-trellis, part pavilion, the open-air structure protects and shelters its occupants from the high-noon sun and also invites breezes to cool and comfort.

According to Allwords.com, the word ramada appears in at least two citations of American literature – in 1909 (Vanished Arizona, by Martha Summerhayes) and 1992 (All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy).

1992: “They sat in the shade of the pole and brush ramada in front of the place and sipped their drinks and looked out at the desolate stillness of the little crossroads at noon. ” Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

1909: (footnote) “A sort of rude awning made of brush and supported by cottonwood poles.” Martha Summerhayes, Vanished Arizona

Read further to discover why it’s important to learn and understand regional influences and cultural origins of architectural terms like ramada.

Couldn’t resist sharing this wacky invention called The Walking House, which appeared in the New York Times’ House & Home section two days ago.

Apparently, the design of this jet-black structure, which looks like a giant, six-sided building-block with “windows” on each end, was inspired by 18th and 19th century Gypsy carriages.

A Danish art collective called N55 created it during a residency at the Wysing Arts Center in Cambridge, England (The Walking House photo is from this web site).

Envisioned as a “high-tech form of nomadic living,” The Walking House measures 60-square-feet. Inside: a bed, a kitchen, a toilet, a shower, and a wood burning stove.

The computer-controlled legs were created by a M.I.T. engineer. You can watch a little video of The Walking House’s snail-like movements here:

httpv://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CvxIB83Y0PA

There are some pretty funny comments – hundreds of them, actually – on the YouTube post. I’ll paraphrase three that caught my attention:

What happened to using good, old-fashioned wheels?

What about just walking – you could move a lot faster!

This looks like it was designed for obese people to transport themselves to McDonald’s for a Big Mac

Uh-huh. I dunno, it seems like a lot of work to get this behemoth on six legs to s-l-o-w-l-y meander at the speed of 196 feet per hour.

All I know is that the real Gypsy carriage I visited in Sun Valley this past summer seemed quite a bit more sensible – and it has four old-fashioned wheels.

Inside, there is a full-sized bed, a little cooking area, charming lace curtains, and lots of appeal! Imagine sleeping here, with the canvas roof overhead like a big canopy.

Throw open the door and watch nature’s display; or, perch on the steps with a mug o’ coffee and admire the sunrise. Glorious!

This green-and-red Basque sheep wagon was restored by a craftsman named Cotton Riley (how’s that for authentic?) for Cindy Hamlin, a passionate garden designer and friend of Mary Ann Newcomer’s. I felt very lucky that Cindy shared her hideaway-on-wheels with me!

Cindy’s abode may not be high tech, but it’s got a whole lotta character – and I bet it’s more comfy than The Walking House, too. Vive le difference!

I’m the kind of person who may be vaguely aware of a trend but I don’t have a clue what it’s actually called.

Case in point: the hip blogging term “MEME.” I kept hearing about this word, but didn’t know its meaning. I thought perhaps it was an acronym (as in multi-electronic-marketing-expression – huh?).

When I moderated the “Blogging Success Stories” panel at the Garden Writers Association annual symposium in September, Dee Nash of Red Dirt Ramblings made a comment about “meme” this and “meme” that. I just smiled and nodded, as if to say: Oh, I am in the know. I really get what you’re talking about.

Except I didn’t. That’s how non-technical I am.

Then last week, my friend Lorene Edwards Forkner sent me a “tag” challenge, one that she received from another Internet girlfriend, “Flowergardengirl” (aka Anna). I received Lorene’s nudge, but I’ve been so swamped that my follow-through has been belated for seven days.

I looked up the word MEME, which I thought might apply to Lorene’s “what are you reading right now?” tag, and discovered the following:

Meme:

(Noun) A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

Okay, tonight is the night. I’m down to one kid (the other kid is performing in a play and has informed me he is going to the midnight opening of teen-vampire flick “Twilight” after his show – who cares about first period choir tomorrow anyway? And husband Bruce is conveniently away at a 2-day graduate school commitment), so I can finally sit down and “play” with Lorene. She understands the delay and distractions. I know she does!

The challenge is as follows: Grab the nearest book at hand (no fair looking for something intellectual, just what’s within arm’s reach of your keyboard). Turn to page 56, go to the 5th sentence and post your results – include the 2-3 sentences that follow to provide some sort of context. Then turn around and “tag” 5 or more blogging friends to do the same.

READ MORE…

The month of November seems to generate an abundance of magazine articles about being “thankful.” For many of us, the notion of giving thanks is top of mind this season. Not only am I hugely grateful for my family, friends, home, garden and writing career, I’m so often reminded how rare these gifts truly are.

When it was time to write my “In the Garden” column for the November issue of my local magazine, 805 Living, my editor Lynne Andujar mentioned choosing Volunteerism as the month’s theme. You can see how nicely this idea is communicated on the cover, which reads: “Give Thanks, Give Back.”

The assignment made me think of Master Gardeners, some of the most volunteer-minded souls in the gardening world. I first learned about the MG program in the early 1990s, when my friend Jean Zaputil trained as a Master Gardener in King County, the local Seattle area program. I was always so impressed that Jean did this, especially when she managed the herb department for the local MG plant sales. That experience, combined with her BFA in Interior Design, soon led Jean to start her successful landscape design business.

Wanting to expand my own horticultural knowledge about the time I was trying to switch from business writing to home and garden feature writing, I applied to enroll in the 1998 Master Gardener class (also in King County). I spent many enjoyable years actively involved with the organization, including three years as PR chair for our annual plant sale.

When I moved to Southern California, I thought I’d re-apply and get in on the excellent training that comes directly from local horticultural experts. That’s when I discovered the Ventura County MGs require trainees to volunteer (“give back”) 80 hours of community service in their first year. The math just didn’t add up for me, at least at this time in my life. But the application and interview process introduced me to my local MG group, and piqued my interest in learning more.

What better way to get to know the Master Gardeners in my own back yard than by writing about them? (I always say that “I write in order to learn,” so it makes sense!).

READ MORE…

Alerted by my British shed-pal Alex Johnson, of www.shedworking.co.uk,  to news that a village of tree houses had sprung up in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park, I was determined to see the spectacle with my own eyes. While in NYC for a brief 48 hour visit last weekend, I added a stop at this midtown Manhattan public exhibit of sheds-in-trees.

My son, Ben, and I spent 2 days in New York, en route home from a not-so-happy occasion (my mother-in-law’s funeral). The exposure to theater and art was a welcome respite. Last Sunday, before departing to take the train out to JFK Airport, we squeezed in a subway ride on the Downtown R train to 23rd Street & Fifth Avenue.

Emerging from underground into the beautiful autumn weather, we crossed the street and entered a verdant, 6.2-acre patch in the heart of urban hustle. Looking up, built around the trunks and suspended amid branches of six or seven tall shade trees, we spied the underneath sides of the Tree Huts. While quite humble, constructed with an apparent lack of precision from 2-by-4s and nails, each little hut seems perfect in its imperfection. The mere essentials of shelter are provided: roof overhead; floor beneath; walls to protect; window or doorway for access and light. All that is missing is a rope ladder or steps made by pieces of lumber nailed up the tree trunks. I was eager to scramble the heights and enter one of these engaging structures!

READ MORE…

Welcome to my 101st post on Shed Style. I guess it’s a bit of a milestone, and I have been wanting to do something special to mark the accomplishment. For bloggers who post constantly, finally passing the one hundredth installment may not be that significant (some of my pals could do that in a month or two!). But for me, a relative newbie to blogging, reaching Number 101 is an exciting benchmark.

By moving into the triple digits as I document my little corner of the blogosphere, I realize how much I enjoy this writing venue. There’s a lot of freedom when a writer can sit down and compose her thoughts unhindered by another’s deadlines, tone, or style. No editor, no word-count restrictions. Sure, there’s no pay, and the circulation (readership) is certainly a lot smaller than the traditional print media that usually publishes my words. But even still, the presence of this blog in my life fills a personal and creative need that my other outlets don’t always satisfy.

A BIT OF BACKGROUND

I originally started this blog in March 2007 to document the creation of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, the book that photographer Bill Wright and I produced and published this past April. The early morning, “on-location” photo at right is from our year-long odyssey to discover and document the stories of the most creative and inspiring shed designs around the country (not to mention their inspiring owners).

[As an aside, the idea of writing a book-in-progress blog didn’t really take off until AFTER the photography and manuscript finished in the fall of 2007 . . . best-laid plans, and all that!]

Bill and I talked about this book for a long time (we’ve worked together since 2000). But by the summer of 2005, we got serious. Bill had just started to taste the sweet and satisfying flavors of the book world by collaborating with interior design writer Brian Coleman on a book called “Window Dressings” (Gibbs-Smith Publishers). I had worked on four previous books and in June 2005 I traveled to NYC to meet Sarah Jane Freymann, with whom we signed on to represent us as agent.

We began with a fairly decent catalog of shed photography, images Bill and I produced earlier for my articles in Seattle Homes & Lifestyles and Romantic Homes magazines. We created a book outline, gathering up bits and pieces of ideas, including some concepts I played around with in 2002 when Gary Luke at Sasquatch Books and I briefly toyed with ideas for a shed book.

Bill and I sat at the island in the kitchen of our (former) Seattle home, joined by our friend Marcy Stamper. A talented writer, editor, and photographer in her own right, Marcy introduced the two of us when she was art director at Seattle Homes and assigned Bill to photograph my first shed design piece for the magazine in 2001. Now freelancing and living in eastern Washington, Marcy was back in Seattle for a few days. We asked her to meet with us and come up with a design concept that we could use to “sell” our book to a publisher. We called our project “Shed Style.” The resulting 12-page mini-book she designed was called a BLAD (which stands for: book-layout-and-design).

Our meeting took place mid-day in early August. The conversation was punctuated (interrupted) with the screaming, ear-splitting, sounds of the Blue Angels flying overhead. It was a few days before Seattle’s popular Seafair Festival and the Navy jets were in town to perform. Their practice runs and actual performances occur over Lake Washington in Seattle.

Um, yes, right over the rooftops of my former neighborhood in Seward Park. We could barely hear ourselves speak and eventually, we gave up and went out front to witness the spectacle. (Well, Bill and I did. I think Marcy was hiding under the table, reminding herself that it was noise like this that drove her over the Cascades to the solitude of the town of Twisp.) Bill took a great photo of the jets flying by (seen at left).

ON THE ROAD WITH BILL AND DEBRA

With the book successfully sold to Clarkson Potter/Random House, we began this journey. Although we had a few sheds “in the can” when we started this project a summer later, in July 2006, Bill and I had no idea what kind of momentum we’d soon experience. That same month, even before the contract was actually signed, we photographed five chapters (five shed locations) all around Washington state.

I still remember the euphoria I felt on July 5, 2006 when we came back to Seattle on the last ferry from Vashon Island where we’d photographed Edgar Lee’s magical little chapel-shed, fully lit with votive candles from his former business Votivo (see Bill’s photo, right).

I laid awake half the night replaying the thrill of the setting and the joy I felt looking through the lens of Bill’s camera as it framed the scene we’d created.

The following month, in August 2006, I moved with my children and dog to join my husband in Southern California (he preceded us by a few months). A week or so later, Bill and his wife Pauline welcomed their brand new baby Ella into the world. How many more life-altering things could we manage in such a short period of time?

We got back on the road by November ’06 when Bill flew down to Burbank to spend a few days before Thanksgiving photographing San Diego area locations with me. After the holidays, we started on an intense marathon of travel to scout and photograph sheds, sheds and more sheds.

FAST FORWARD

Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways was published in late April. Since then, Bill and I have pursued our own projects, but we continued to scheme about how/when we could again collaborate.

In the six months since our book’s release, we’ve had some great adventures – together and individually. Bill continues to photograph GREAT projects and I continue to write design pieces for national and regional magazines and Southern California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune. Recently, Bill nailed two great covers, which I want to share here:

Left: Fall 2008 cover of Arts & Crafts Homes (for a Brian Coleman story); Right: Cover of Rejuvenation Lighting’s Fall catalogue. [William Wright photography]

LAST WEEK

Our work has appeared together in several recent magazines, including stories for the October 08 issue of Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air magazines, the November 08 issue of Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, and others, but since completing the G-R-I-N-D of our “year of the book,” Bill and I had not been able to find the time to create any new stories together.

That opportunity finally came last week, when Bill flew from Seattle to Southern California. We drove up to Ojai, the historically famous town located east of Santa Barbara near the Topatopa Bluff, to photograph a 1908 bungalow, its grounds and interiors, for Arts & Crafts Homes. See Bill at work, right.

We enjoyed two days of hard but gratifying work, thanks to owner Kathy Couterie (an ace stylist in her own right!).

The article about the home she owns with her husband, Emmy-winning director and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Bill Couterie, will appear in 2009, but until then, here is a preview of our photo shoot:

 Lights, camera, action….the Couterie dining room, styled, lit, and ready to photograph.

 Kathy Couterie (foreground), followed by Bill Wright, as we finalize the garden shot for Arts & Crafts Homes.

 The sun is about to set, we’ve photographed the garden, and we’re ready to call it a day.

Our friend Linda Lehmusvirta, producer of the very popular Central Texas Gardener, has begun to post her segments on You Tube. Bill Wright and I appeared on the show a few months ago with host Tom Spencer and we had a lively conversation about our favorite subject: Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways.

Here is the segment:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMpbg8Cg2dg

An early morning scene outside the guest room window at Mary-Kate Mackey’s in Eugene

October in Oregon – you can’t beat it. Earlier this month, I traveled there to lecture to the Hardy Plant Group of Willamette Valley.

Returning to my beloved roots, in the Pacific Northwest, was such a treat, especially since it is still wickedly hot down here in LA and I am desperate for some moist, cool autumnal weather.

And oh, the gardens!

Mary-Kate Mackey, fellow garden writer and a gifted journalism educator, met me at the airport. It was fun to fly into this sleek, modern, small airport and arrive via Horizon Airlines (they serve complimentary Pacific Northwest ale on board and, oh, by the way, one of my articles appears in the October issue of Horizon/Alaska’s in-flight magazine, so I was able to grab lots of extra copies from the seat-pocket in front of me, etc.!).

Upon disembarking in Eugene, I was impressed by the changing autumn light and saturated foliage palette. Oh, it’s autumn in Oregon! It took away my breath and captured my heart.

The evening began with drinks at a nifty bistro with Mary-Kate, followed by dinner with my dear friend Jennifer (we were editors together at “Seattle Woman” magazine in the 80s).

On Tuesday, after a restful overnight in Jenny and her husband Tim’s comfortable home, I met up again with Mary-Kate.

Since I missed out on the one-day garden tour in Eugene that followed last month’s Garden Writers Association’s annual symposium, I had a special request for Mary-Kate: Can I have my own mini-tour of the best of the best Eugene has to offer? [Above: Mary-Kate inspects the craftsmanship of a stunning stone wall hand-built by Allen Bosworth (right) of Bosworth Landscaping.]

READ MORE…