Austin owner Julie Blakeslee keeps founder Selena Souders up to date with the Austin office...
March 17, 2012 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- How can you miss all this?
i should have added, please don't pee on my new garden. You know i loves me my SXSW. We taught the new girl Kate to play hipster homeless rockstar to enhance her first experience with the parade outside our windows. I did have a wee freakout on the guy who was sleeping in his van for a few days along side the building. Justin went all organic on him like any other pest. first with sea weed spray on the garden, then a bit of composted manure. none of which really didn't seem to budge him. A friend last night pointed out that perhaps he smelled worse than anything we could throw at him.
mercy sakes alive-the whole thing makes me bolt. It was good timing because I needed to get up to see the NYC apartment one last time as it is under contract. I can't remember if I told you that it was published late last year in NEW YORK Rooftop Gardens by Charles de Vaivre. Ooh la la. It's a big old phat spread- and it's nice to have it documented before another girl gets to have her way with it. It's hard to leave an established garden. Terraces are a little more instant gratification than in ground gardens- but still they take time. And the patience is worth it- but i've such a hard time getting our clients to chill with the fact that construction is messy and takes time. And sometimes things have to go backwards to go forwards.
Below is what the terrace looked like before this girl got her hands on it.
you know i can't resist a little fake grass.
then the discouraging backwards to go forwards….
imperative to install a perfect new roof membrane. it took forever to make sure everyone one came by to inspect it- but this is the foundation on your house- what's underground is the most important of all. And of course it's what keeps rain off your neighbor below-lawsuit city in NYC- so wait to get it right.
beginning to lay the marble custom cut tiles. no grout for drainage. lots of tips for the freight elevator guy.
custom planters from brooklyn.
finally, the uppity fake grass.
Scented geraniums for the inaugural season's annuals.
then finally 8 months later, move in day. (i should have kept the pink on that vintage couch)
and 4 years growth gets perfect hedges (the remnants of a dinner party visible there)
Clearly, i'm feeling all nostalgic. I had some fancy photographer come and take pix of the inside- if he ever gets them back to me, i'll put them up so you can see them.
well- as long as we are imbibing in some real estate porn- check this listing out that we went to go see when we were there. gorgeous right? i begin to get obsessed all anew because there's always a new garden to be made…xojb
March 8, 2012 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S - quick update from the Hades planting. The garden is beginning to hang together, and I'm much perkier- probably because my roses came in the mail.
The wingthorns are just a stick- I always really adore a plant that can travel like that- look at those thorns! But the green and dame de coeur roses are already setting bud and roses make everything better.
I put those voodoo lilies in the ground and they are kind of rotting out and falling over real drama like 1 by 1 which is rather sad of them. I left their bulbs in the ground- there's a chance that the nursery forced them or whatever? I've never grown them. They will be quite a surprise if they come back next year. They are also called Viagra Lily so…
I guess I ordered some more plants because when I came in to the office this am there were several angel trumpets (antique lace variety), black euphorbias, a voodoo flowering maple (see her above?) and a dutchman's pipe. So ah, i kind of scrambled around and found spots for them. It's becoming "that" kind of a garden-you know when you go on site to a client's and you're all like- wow- one of everything. eek.
Revisionist history: now a collector's garden. Not super smart to grow a bunch of experimental things as your exhibition garden- if things crap out, clients are going to think we have a black thumb. Everyone knows gardeners kill way more than we grow. right space right plant right client.
Justin started an "anime" garden in the front- everything's super sized. We'll see how that progresses- his plants look like something that people are going to steal and there is an office pool to see how long they last out there. xoxojb
February 29, 2012 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- look at this scraggly ass start.
I mean, i'm probably hormonal- but-for heavens sake- does this look pathetic or what. It's February 29th and I'm sweating through my shirt direct planting seeds into the ground, simultaneously thrilled that there has been no winter and petrified of what this summer might bring because there has been no winter. dig bitch dig grumble.
Clearly I'm super pissy- so i already yanked out a giant coral bean tree from last year that was supposed to be an anchor. It just looked too messy (had JT pull it up in exchange for a cupcake). And the one at the back is also on my list too unless i'm in a better mood tomorrow. Normally i'd all be happy that black sunflower seedlings were volunteering from last year
but Justin drove up at the end of his day and was pissy too.
And I'm all- should they live?
And he's like nah- they bloomed last year we took a picture and then they crapped out fast from the bottom up.
So they are out. I've nuked the red hot pokers I special ordered in toffee brown. They looked too strappy with the oxblood lilies which i know will work better and i'll be desperate for a fresh bloom in the fall.
I opened up my pack of lime green nicotina seeds and they are freaking microscopic.
WTF am i supposed to do with this? just sprinkle and hope for the best advises Justin. I open the coleus seed and there are solomente 10 in there- really? So i just kind of dust them under the black pomegranate tree and in front of the nicotina. Now the black pomegranate stick in a 6" pot has already sprouted out a few leaves so we looove her. Good girl.
I decided we needed something more meaty by the BRS sign so popped in an agave weberi- and i've got this idea that i want to grow the red pumpkin underneath it- which made Justin's eyes roll back in his head- until he got his game on and was all like- yeah. WE can DO that. rearrange the irrigation to drip, mound the agave. Now I'm all thinking the pumpkin vine will be ugly or take over the sidewalk. but SO cool to have a big red pumpkin doing it's thing there all summer.
I did decide on my linking colors- chartreuse and silver. So I popped in a few Artemesia -i thought it could help disguise the icky bottoms of the black cannas and love the whole absinthe link to the hades garden.
But there are a few things that aren't here yet because- ahem, it IS still February (as I keep telling our clients) and it's hard to be patient and not fill the holes because of course I ordered too many plants for the amount of space. I mean, why do we do this every year? Whatever- tomorrow's another day and we've still over 1/2 the border to plant. I'm sure it will all pull together. And look at this AWESOME jump we get on it planting it on leap year day. That has to be good luck non? xoxojb
February 20, 2012 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- now this is what winter is all about right? In spite of not having time to go over plant catalogues with Mr. Gosling this January- which is a complete rip off- I was able to put a bit of thinking towards our side garden. The castor beans were pretty nuts last year- but as they are annuals, we've got a clean slate again. Yay!
Thursday, Jenn unpacked our first flush of plants for the….. Hades Garden. Oui, I decided upon a theme of plants that kill. or maim. or smell like rotting flesh. or have the word voodoo, or blood in their names. I think this came about from trying to think about black and red plants. Or rather, I hope. Look at these pathetic little things that came in the mail this week.
Those tall things on the left- are voodoo lilies. Who could resist this explanation- and these photos?
This unusual tuberous plant has one giant divided leaf on top of a 5-6' tall, green and purple mottled, fleshy stalk (petiole). When old enough, the tuber produces a fascinating 6' flower (early May, before the leaf emerges), resembling a giant vase made from the purple vinyl used for cheap '70s car seats. The vase (spathe) is home to a 3' purple spadix that sits atop a 2' speckled petiole...gather your neighbors for the flowering ritual. After flowering, the plant may rest for a couple of months before the leaf emergesin late June. The mother tuber will form offsets, eventually making a giant clump...STRANGE!
"when it's old enough". I guess I'm set to wait- because that stick to their right is the largest black pomegranate I could find.
Better if Eve is eating a black pomegranate. hmm- maybe this is how we got to a Hades Garden.
anyhoo- Also ordered a Mangave "bloodspot". An accidental cross between an agave and a manfreda that may bloom without dying like an agave, which doesn't strictly fit the theme (not dying), but we'll give her a spot because of her good thorns and good name.
And this neat "Kniphofia toffee nosed" - I still haven't gotten a poker to be happy for me here through the summer but that's really no reason not to try again. right?
This wonderful 1980s introduction was selected by John Metcalf of Four Seasons Nursery in the UK. Compared to the larger pokers, the narrow green leaves on this winner of the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Award of Garden Merit make a smallish, 2' wide clump. Starting in June (NC), the 3' tall, narrow flower stalks end in ivory flowers with an orange top...a very unusual color combination in pokers...elegantly stunning and a hummingbird magnet. Be sure to stick one of these pokers up your...I mean, IN your garden!
The nursery that we ordered these plants from kind of cracks me up.
When Jenn read the literature that came with the plants it said " please do not ingest, snort or smoke" these plants.
We've also got carrion plants coming.
Blooms smell like rotting meat to attract flies.
ooh and a wing thorn rose. Look at those ornamental thorns! We had a booger of a time finding it. Had to order from canada. Which doesn't bode well- but whatever.
And what else? some black coleus for filler, oxblood lilies and Australian black cannas. And from seed a "rouge" pumpkin for some fall pizzaz,
"black currant swirl" datura 
for a dark trip. Oh and some elephant head amaranth.
.
I mean I know I shouldn't plant amaranth- it's a self seeding fool but i have to. it looks like a big ole ...well… that or someone shooting the finger. tee hee- i'll be spreading big purple cocks all over lower Cesar Chavez. la-ti-da.
Holding over from last season, we've got a black smoke tree rescued half dead from a client's garden last year. Thanks Gardens. and those black ornamental peppers that are still completely leafed out in February. Thanks Home Depot.
But now mama's got to weave all this shit together. In ballet we call that "enchainment"- the linking steps that knit dance together. Enchainment is the difference between dance and Cirque De Soleil. Cirque is just trick trick trick. No one wants their garden to be wow wow wow. The eye and soul needs some quiet places to rest before the next surprise.
But ahem, my work is cut out for me. These colors all look like ca-ca together and my eyes may be bigger than my border. We'll see what transgresses. I remember reading about James David's beautiful garden in a picture book and he's all- oh heavens, i'd never plant all this difficult pouty stuff in a client's garden. That's what I'm saying! more soon- xoxojb
February 2, 2012 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
Hello. January. was it good for you? Because like I don't really remember. Our clients have been fantastic. Just like we all wish it would go people started calling in November to begin planning for spring work. So like a good little firm we've been designing like fiends- right on schedule.
We have been sojourning to Johnson City for a project. It's only an hour and a half away but it makes me feel all city folk.
Justin and I popped out of the truck to open the fence to the property and felt like we needed safety orange. Justin just giggled- don't be ridiculous. It's important to round out any trip to the Hill Country with BBQ- and we deemed Ronnie's appropriate after seeing his parking lot.
But at the table I looked to my right and saw the christmas raffle and I reassessed my safety orange needs. planting begins in the spring- should be safer.
anyhoo- a little of January went to my time on the Waller Creek Conservancy board.
It's a public private conservancy a la the Central Park Conservancy that is helping to fund a juried competition to design the newly available land along Waller Creek here in Austin. The CoA got bond money to make a tunnel that will control the creek's flooding. This opens up 28 acres of new land- along the 1.5 mile of creek. It's 11% of downtown- including palm park on Cesar Chavez and 1-35 and Waterloo park. They are building the giant tunnel thing at Waterloo park. Incredible opportunity to design right in the middle of Austin. The Jury was in town 2 weeks or so ago to narrow the submissions to 9 teams. Check it:
Stage II Teams
Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos and Miró Rivera Architects
Civitas and BIG New York City
CMG and Public Architecture
James Corner Field Operations and SHoP
!melk and Page Southerland Page
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and Thomas Phifer & Partners
Stoss Landscape Urbanism and Saucier & Perrotte
Turenscape and Lake | Flato Architects
Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape Architect
Ten Eyck Landscape Architects and Rogers Marvel Architects
The jury dinner was held at a friend and client's house downtown. I was looking forward to the dinner because the jury of course is populated with superstars in the garden design world. But the afternoon before the dinner, the host called, bless her heart- she was at the end of 3 huge dinners in 3 days in a row- and asked ever so sweetly if we had anything hanging around the office that would suffice as table decor for the dinner for 50. I had to turn to Justin and say, well ah, can we just whip up something well freaking extraordinary for some of the top garden design people in the country ah by tomorrow @ 4pm? ever resourceful Justin dug around in our valentine's day stash and came up with this last minute effort:
I was lucky enough to sit by juror Darrel Morrison. He's famous around here for designing the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center. But he's Mr. Native incarnate- hails from NYC. We had a great discussion about the Johnson City project which is several acres that will not be irrigated. And no latin was spoken well until my second glass of wine where you know those plant names just roll off your tongue and onto the table. I tease, but you know it's nice to sit next to a landscape architect who's into plants. A lot of times they like to leave the touchy feely plant parts to the garden design team. Which of course is good by us right?!
Next stage of the competition is for each of the firms to present concepts and the field will be narrowed to four teams who will receive 100k stipend to fully develop their plans. They will be presented in the fall (smart to have all these people here in the blistering summer thinking about our parks) and the jury will choose the team who will receive the commission. It's pretty fascinating to think about and an honor to be involved in such an historic undertaking. just that. more later. xoxojb
November 19, 2011 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- another day in paradise. a favorite client asked if we could clear a few branches out of the lake while we were doing a bit of planting on the property. roger that. Chucho began whacking away and JT began pushing and pulling on the limbs in the water while I, as usual got on the phone.
A few minutes later, JT snuck up and made some motions like we’re going to pull it out of the water. yes yes. fine fine. A bit later- i turn around and they’ve got the truck hooked up to something and are making whooping noises. Perhaps time to wrap up my call and pay a modicum of attention – we were not strictly on our client’s property at this point. Why do you need a chainsaw? And where did Chucho find a boat? and HOLY SHIT what is that?
Chucho’s caught himself a whale.The guys were giggling like horrid teenagers. Our options were somewhat limited at this point. As tempted as we were to try and drag it out to the middle of the lake- we did have it most of the way on shore so I called for the chainsaw- and ah bring an extra chain mmkay- and I scuttled back to the office hoping for the best. An hour and a half later I receive this text. that’s our boys. Happy weekend. xxojb
November 18, 2011 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S-
Do you remember me talking about our client with the Paula Hayes planters? We are fortunate to have been able to do a bit of planting in and and around them and it’s fun. fun. fun. Although the texas heat has cooked a few roots- we’re getting the hang of them. And it’s been an honor to have the opportunity.
I’m a bit too interested in her though i admit. Not only does she form these spectacular vessel shapes for the plants- importantly she designs entire gardens. and this is her art. fully accepted in the art world. as it should be right? The idea that her gardens are commissioned as art installations is genius. This woman is living the dream. Below is a photo i found on the web of the same client’s garden in Santa Fe- Ms. Hayes worked on the plantings for this garden as well as the vessels and I can tell you- it’s stupendous.
So yesterday i pop open my NY observer to read:
Coral, palm trees and a saltwater aquarium alight at Lever House
and rather than a stab of oh man why don’t we ever get to do anything good (tee hee- i’m joking! but does put our little window works install into perspective non?) i feel a huge power to the sister moment. I’ve seen some groovy wacky stuff through the windows at the lever house. But it looks like she’s really holding her own. I’m up there week after next and I’ll try and pop through and see for myself.
November 12, 2011 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- it is the night before East Austin Studio Tour and east siders are in a tidying tizzy. We finally got our window farms hydroponic system up and running last week.
You know it’s a project that was facilitated by eye beam in NYC by artists Rebecca Bray and Britta Riley in 2009. Part of the project is to create a community of these farmers who can learn and improve the basic model via the website. http://www.windowfarms.org/ We did rely on the community and also Texas Hydroponics and Organics were fantastic. We will be posting JT’s participation next week on the site. But for now- take a peek- you can see why it falls under the category of art.
In other news- Chucho finished the veggie display wall and I planted it up. And the squirrels immediately dug it up. I came back to the office one day to have Aaron ask if he could get a whisper 3000. What’s that sugar? It’s to shoot the squirrels from inside the office. ah. yes. well. um. It is the east side but i’m going say let’s wait and see if Major and Dinah can help. So they are on terrier patrol daily. And it seems to be working- but there is still talk of sling shots…. i’ve resorted to hiding glass in the chard. is this bad? i guess our theme is homesteading and guerrilla gardening. devolve. discuss.
We also got Nathan Nordstrom a.k.a. Sloke One to bedazzle some planters for the front of the nursery in honor of E.A.S.T. He asked if i had a theme in mind- and after seeing his old school style work in places all over the country via his Flickr site , I had complete confidence that he was all over it. We talked a bit about one of the artists I collect- Gajin Fujita. You know I am obsessed with his work. He’s first generation Japanese American who grew up in LA. He’s a member of 2 crews in LA and they work on his paintings with him. I talked with Nate about Gajin’s first layer on panel which is either gold or platinum leaf. I’m not sure you’ve seen these 2 newer pieces in our collection. But I do think you remember seeing the first super nasty one I purchased way back when. I swear I think his first gallery Kravetz/Wehby in NY (He’s now with the big guns at LA Louver- whom i also adore) but i think that Mark Wehby wanted clients to prove they could take the porn before they would sell you a non porn one- let’s be uptown and call it shunga. So i have that tiny little River Imp with the river imp screwing a geisha. And I love it but it’s weird. But oddly the Blanton was thrilled when I picked the one below to bequeth upon my demise. go figure.
But then I’ve got non shunga ones too. Got this one below in honor of my divorce.
Anyhoo- Nate and I had a good discussion and off he went.
When he dropped off the finished containers to us last week- he told Tessa that he hoped they were ok. He said he was thinking on it and thinking on it and then just went “urban on it”. but i noticed a distinct silver underlay to the work. very nice. 
We are still fussing w trying to divide the design office between our design office and the retail. So we are trying a Lace Fence to help divide the back of the house. OK well honestly- we have just been dying to see this stuff in person and made up a reason to get it here. We are told we are the only showroom in the US to have it. I’m not sure what that says. But whatever it says- it’s certainly consistent. xojb
November 3, 2011 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- KRLU sent us the dvd of Justin’s CTG episode that is airing this weekend. Major, who spends quality time with Justin playing angry birds, sent a shout out. xojb
October 27, 2011 :: Posted by Julie Blakeslee
S- We have been uber busy with fall planting season- and @ day i’m going home dirty dirty dirty. But a civilizing element to these 11 hour days is coming at bath time- i’m just obsessed with all my new Hamam inspired accoutrement of course acquired on honeymoon trip. On our last day in Marrakech, we decided to redeem our “free hamam” via our hotel at the Royal Monsour. All during our stay we heard hamam this and hamam that and the only thing we could discern about hamam was that it had something to with a bath. A bath that lasts an hour and a half. So we decided to make it end of the day after a sweaty garden visit to the gardens of La Mamounia -a grande dame hotel from the 20′s that had just undergone a 2 year renovation by Jacques Garcia. The hotel gets it’s name from the gardens in which it was built so hopes were high.
More on this later- but i love these riad gardens with out plants. It’s pretty effective. This was the only riad i saw using this fantastic color of black grey on the stucco. The lanterns had to be designed by Mr. Garcia.
So now we were good and gritty as we trudged back to our hotel for our hamam. or whatever. mama is dirty. and tired.
We were met at the door of our spa that btw looks like a giant birdcage. beautiful. but still.
um so as promised- here’s how it goes down. you go into the locker room and they give you this tee tiny bathing suit bottom that ties around your nethers. then a girl who is sporting kind of a Morman underwear thing comes and gets you and brings you to this underground lair and tells you to take your tiny bathing suit bottom off and lay on this slab of marble. and umm. there’s no one around even though there’re a few more slabs of marble stations in the room so i kind of just did it. So you lay there face down on the heated marble- which is weird but kind of nice and all the sudden she just starts pouring buckets and buckets of warm water all over you from a copper bucket. and it’s going everywhere. and she mumbles something about “this is the black soap” and starts scooping some black goo out and rubbing it all over me and then has me flip over like a greasy fish and lubes up the front. then in a few she comes back with a mitt and says “this is the scrubbing” and begins to rub me rather aggressively. then buckets and buckets and buckets of water thrown all over us again. i mean this is a desert right? where is all this water coming from even? then she kind of heaves you up- and you’re super naked and all hot and slippery and she walks you to the next little room where there is another heated slab of marble and she says “this is the mud” and it all starts over again but has a lot to do with your hair- and i must confess it’s all feeling pretty good. i’m feeling like an arabian princessa. but then after the final rinse off she mumbles something about “essence and stretching”. hmm. wha? soon she’s slathering me all up with orange blossom smelling oil and then we are both pretty lubed up and she begins to get a grip on my limbs one by one and starts pulling me around. And i’m pretty slick and skinny and bony so i’m all sliding around and thinking shit sister if you go down it’s going to look like a fucking horror scene in this white marble cell. but amazingly we both live through it. and afterwards i feel goooood. and my skin is super soft and i identify a wrinkle free visage in the dressing room. As i’m wandering back into the lobby contemplating seeing if there’s some one at home to wash me once a week i run into my completely befuddled husband emerging from his hamam experience. tee hee.
Back stateside- i’m beyond enamored with all the accouterments and find this chic French Moroccan company Tadé to order the necessaries.The black soap, savon noir is made of black olives, and the oils are amazing and there are candles that are super botanical so it all smells like morocco instead of stinky boys in the office/boutique. At least for a bit.
Tadé also makes these DIVINE planter things made of old tires. chic. chic. chic. I’m feeling quelle noir- just in time for dias de los muertas. more soon- xoxojb
