Almost done

Done except for some cleanup and the planting. Cool shadow.

Walls done, patio almost. You can see how I break the bluestone into smaller and smaller pieces to make the patio look like cracked porcelain. jc

Semi-circle

My first new work of the year. I will fill the space with flowers. It matches the one behind it, but I incorporated the huge boulder that was already there. jc
It is raining/snowing. Lovely spring on the Cape so far.

cat in the circle

I was having some trouble with photos so I wasn't posting for a while. I'm back. I've shown this before but I put new stones down yesterday and it is all bright and shiny.jc

January 2010

I missed December 1st in all the excitement of rehearsals and whatnot, But these are quite nice. It hasn't been the year I expected, but the next one begins. jc

Fall colors

The last of the fall colors. Bittersweet berries (a terrible invasive, but beautiful now), two Bloodgoods and a Seiryu Japanese maple. jc

November 1

Not too bad, but almost time to clean everything up. jc

October 1

I moved some of the big hydrangeas that had failed to flower this year as I had pruned them late to try and keep them short, and replaced them with shorter varieties. (penny mac in the front, and glowing ember in the back.)
There should be one more month of flowering, and then suddenly all brown. jc

Fall in Wellfleet

I have posted these before, but I went up today to close up the fountain (which is turned off), and it was so pretty and elegant I had to take some shots. I didn't do anything to it. This is how it looked when I got there.
The owner of this writes me the nicest emails about how much pleasure this space gives her. It is feels good to be appreciated. jc

One year

A bit late this month as I was away on the 1st, and busy enough on the 31st that I forgot. Nice hibiscus by the front door. jc

August 1

Finally the flowers have appeared. The oriental lilies are not out yet, so I will just have to put them into separate posts. The petunias in the front gardens are climbing right through the roses. The hydrangeas did not flower this year. I cut them back too far I guess. I may put in a shorter variety. jc

Happy Fourth of July.
I know the weather can't be used as an excuse, but we had the fourth least amount of sun for one month on record. Not excessive rain; just cloudy. And four and a half degrees below average temp. There should be far more flowers. I guess it means all the more for later. Still pretty where the flowers appear, and the forms work. jc

June 1

Not quite as much color as I expected for June 1. The last two weeks have been a bit cool, but things are healthy. It will make July 1 all that more impressive. jc

Early flowering circles

In the sculpture garden I have iris cristata flowering. The circle also shows some ferns and dwarf hosta. The iris have spread a lot and I will remove some after flowering. In the circle with the birch I have sea thrift and perennial verbena. The verbena don't necessarily survive the winter, but here they have flourished and are seeding themselves. jc

April 1

Aaah, spring on Cape Cod. There is a tiny bit of activity. The lilies are showing some green. The big changes start now. (The photos are a bit dull as I had to take them with my Blackberry. My luggage, with my camera, didn't join me when I got back from Charleston.) jc

Circles and Curves

Here is yet another circle. The waterfall at the left is one of my most elegant I think. I'll post a photo of it later. This may be the first time I got to control the whole composition. I wasn't just adding to an existing space. The people who own this home stayed at PBV for years, and wanted me to create that quality in their yard. The gravel in the foreground comes right off their driveway. That is another thing I do quite often. I use the gravel drive as part of the composition; exemplifying, as it does, water. jc

March 1

A lovely cold, raw, late winter day on Cape Cod. This is the Cape at its least pleasant. The greens will begin to appear in the April photos, and by May the changes come quickly. The stone rectangles above the wall are the vegetable and herb gardens. jc

Fountain in Wellfleet

I had this stone drilled to make the small fountain. I got to design the entire space on this project. It's a two level deck with steps to a gravel garden, and than a stepping stone path to another sitting platform. I used three circles in this composition (see previous post). I'll show more of this work in later posts. jc

Granite sculpture

I often create gravel circles and put stones and plants in them. I was looking for natural stones, but found these that had been salvaged from the debris of the Charles Street jail renovation in Boston. It was serendipitous in that the client had been in the jail (professionally) as a young lawyer, and remembered it well. I set them in place with a bobcat. Three and a half tons total, I think. I'm quite pleased with the composition. Sort of Noguchi like. There's a young acer palmatum Ukigumo in the left foreground. jc

February 1

The gardens and stonework take their shapes from the curves and eddies of moving water. They are best seen from the deck, from which one also has the best view of the water beyond the fence. jc

Naturalized falls

A waterfall can naturalize pretty quickly if given the appropriate plant material. This little grotto is only two years old. jc