Design

UNCA Rain garden (with Umbrella leaf magnolia) I've been thinking about rain garden projects lately. We'd like to be able to demonstrate a rain garden (along with our rain barrel and cistern) adjacent to the education building (at the botanical garden where I work). We've definitely had water challenges over the years in this space. The metal "Butler" building that comprises our education center (adults above and Nature Center below) initially had no gutters, leading to moisture issues on the ground level. River birch and cinnamon fern (UNCA) When I first started at the Garden, the volunteers and I were faced with periodically flooded conditions in what was the 'work' area at the time.  Not pleasant at all. So now we've diverted the roof water to a very large cistern on one side, and a rain water/landscape drain on another side, and we have a final open gutter downspout to divert to a rain garden, hopefully, that we'll install in the fall. another ...

I've been admiring vegetable gardens lately. Mine is looking quite nice enough, but is showing the stresses of drought and (excessive) woodchuck herbivory, not to mention dry weather-induced powdery mildew on (non-predated) squash leaves. This lovely garden is tucked into a second lot behind a renovated house in Asheville, NC. They've created a studio/shed/office (?) behind their house that frames the vegetable garden. It's delightfully laid out with green metal edges, and Southerners will appreciated the tobacco plants next to the asparagus. And isn't this rainbarrel cool, screened by an attractive wall of tumbled stone?

After the downpours associated with Tropical Storm Fay, interesting mushrooms (in all shapes and sizes) appeared here locally. Up in the mountains this weekend, I saw even more. It's so remarkable to consider that most of a fungus is below ground; what we see is the reproductive structure, whether it's a 'mushroom' or one of the others. I also saw some great rain garden plantings -- this Joe Pye relative is glorious next to a parking lot.