Category: Musings & Thoughts

S- back from honeymoon. more on that soon- but check out what the crew whipped out while i was galavanting across the pond. Our buddies from the Dogwood, Dizzy Rooster, Chuggin’ Monkey and Molotov called for a refresh @ Molotov in honor of their 5th anniversary.

They just needed a bit of flair to soften the upstair deck and also grab some attention off of west 6th street. And we can’t say no to these guys- they are really just the sweetest most polite bunch of guys we’ve run across. Their mamas did it RIGHT. And boy howdy, they are super cute all. We do love that in a client right? Anyhoo- we pounced on a theme that riffed on our mexican barb wire X molotov cocktail and ran with it. Alejandro popped a dish way up high and we distracted our insurance company while

the boys dragged a monster agave up with their asses hovering over 6th street. It was quelle charming to see the crew chugging cases of Ty Nant sparkling water on job sites so JT could cut their tops off. We lit up the bottles for slavic drama at night. Added some planters along the front and another dish in the back to echo et voila.

Project completed 3 weeks early. The Womack boys are thrilled. The bar is refreshed. sixth street may party on. more soon. xojb

S- loverly to see you in ATX this weekend. I just got back from NYC- where it rained so much my annuals may not recover and did a little work replenishing my fall closet. Which now consists of me shopping for dark linen sale items for work wear. vey. But what up with the fact that I can always find room for fall fashion in my closet. But here in the nursery, (which of course is smaller than yours was down the street) when i want to go shopping for more plants for fall installs I don’t have a place to put them? Ah… now i understand the idea behind a sale. But- it’s killing me that there are still fantastic orange trees here dripping with fruit- cold hardy! taste great!

Tried to place them with a client this week, but she preferred to wait for the fall lemon trees, which i also love, but hers are dead b/c they froze last winter- freezing. Hah. seems rather far off right now, but still something to be aware of. Why not plant hardy mandarins?

And the beautiful agave medio pictas?! drought hardy, cold hardy and beautiful. I love you my girls… why aren’t you gracing someone’s urns?

We don’t have many of our cedar/juniper order left. They are so freaky cool and weird- they should be planted as sculpture. and heaven knows, they are fully climate adjusted now.

But listen to this- i’ve got the urge to buy for fall- O great hopes for FALL hurricane rains because a friend of mine who was running Newton’s has left and get this is setting up a wholesale nursery on Tillery. We are in hog heaven. One of the best buyers in the state- up the street and best friends with mon new husband. Sweeeet. Mama needs to make room. So, first sale starts this weekend until end of August. talk to you soon. xoxojb

S- i love that you are on vacation~ every 7 years whether you need it or not right? Look how your east austin is leeching into Tarrytown? this sign was out front off of westover this am.

Chicken Coops are the new west austin dream vehicle. I remember, my neighbor Melanie in old enfield used to keep a hen that would roost in the bushes by her front door and invariably would scare the shit out of you when you were coming to their house for dinner. I have yet to see a coop in Tarrytown, Pemberton or Old west enfield though….maybe too many little dogs? Maybe it was my terrorista terriers? we are all moved to our new abode as of this weekend so 78703 is safe for chickens- let the designing begin! I’ll shoot some pix of the state of the garden- room for improvement indeed. Off to NY this afternoon. All hail cooler weather. xooxjb

S- we were asked to fluff a patio at a new Scott+Cooner model condo at the Four Seasons. They asked last friday and were hoping pretty pretty please if we might be able to have it completed in time for a party wed night. to which we said… bien sur.

These condos are really swank a rama- and you know that i know some swank when i swee it. And here’s my new swank-o-meter:: they have an air-conditioned loading dock. Michael Graves designed all the patios to be extra living rooms- which many places say, but here it actually works. We’re looking forward to visiting again very soon. xoxojb

Yawn. We cut down our sunflowers and got tagged the next day. A stylish olive green color but really not much effort put behind it. I might just white out the letters so we don’t lose the ghost behind it. I was thinking we should go ahead and start a real garden out there – but it’s a scorcher site- so it was going to be all cactus anyway. I guess now it’s going to be really aggressive cactus garden. Hmm. Maybe our mexican barb wire +

a vicious cactus garden would be a nice Pemberton Heights marketing piece. We are having quite a little crime wave over in west austin. Big Red Sun offering natural crime deterrents. Good for frisky escape prone teen agers as well. and a nice bonus is that broken glass and agave are about all we want to plant right now. I think we need a lexicon change here in Austin- all people are saying is “this summer is brutal”. But i mean the last 2-3 summers have been pretty intense. So maybe just accede: “our austin summer is brutal” and deal with it plant wise you know? and just deal with it. plant wise. miss us? xoxojb

um. these have been really popular. I’ll save one for you. xojb

S- check it. Justin did a little segment on the news this afternoon. He’s a total natural….and how about that logo placement huh?

There’s un peau de drama when the interviewer asked if one can dig up wilting plants from the garden and bring them inside? We’ve got a policy to always say “yes” here at BRS Austin. Just how will he do it and keep his squeaky clean conscious in tact….? link below. xoxojb

Dr. Kasulka LIVE

S- since we were talking about maybe maybe maybe sneaking back into interior work here and there, I was wondering if you had seen the project I did at ArtPace summer before last? ArtPace is an artist residency program and the artists’ flats needed an overhaul. The director asked that the spaces be very flexible work live space. The artists asked that it be clean. The artists have studios to use during their 6 week stint, but many like to work in their rooms. 3 flats: 1 for an international artist, 1 for a national artist, and 1 for a Texas artist. Lake Flato did the initial fit out 15 years ago. One flat had an earlier life as an giant car lift elevator area and they had built a sleeping loft into this flat. The climb up was so treacherous, that Artpace had habitually given this flat to the Texas artists b/c “they handle their alcohol better”.

But even strong Texas boys and girls most times ended up sleeping on the couch.

So we had to make the big decision to take out the flat- losing square footage but lengthening their lives. These are the life and death decorating issues we work with down here in Texas.

For all 3 flats, we devised ink stained, DIY flavored murphy beds. (i call this shot below- artists trusting artists)

The requested touch of Tejas evidenced as the pull down handle for the beds…

As for the whiff of S.A., Riley- who basically has run ArtPace for the last 16 years, introduced me to super cool custom low rider shop called Get It Up. yes. please. The main guy there, Josh, called me “mama” and told me my wish was his desire. My first wish was for him to customize my Ikea Vent-a-hoods. yes.

but when i became enamored of a custom low rider truck and needed to have it immediately to drive back to west austin. The answer was “those are only for special occasions mama”.

You know i try to sneak camo into every project no matter what Target is selling. So was thrilled to finally be able to use the Bisazza tile pattern of my dreams.

Well hell, i guess this is all the air conditioned time I can manufacture this morning while doing my nursery stint on the 4th of July weekend… i’m going back out in it. Have a good holiday. xoxojb

S- hmm- wonder why i’m thinking about igloos? Check out these living bamboo igloo things I saw in the Villa Carlotta gardens in Como a couple of years ago. Let’s get someone to allow us to do this in their yard. For the patient client, at Big Red Sun we offer living forts. Or super chic woven living fences…schwing!

Have you been reading about American artists Mike and Doug Starn who are recreating the Big Bambu by the Guggenheim at the Venice Biennale? We saw it towards the beginning of it’s iteration on roof of the Met last spring. It’s really rather startling that the bamboo poles were directly on the balcony pavers. just sitting there.

You had to give your first born and commit some serious fashion crimes (sneakers, fanny packs only) to be allowed up on the structure in NY so we didn’t climb aboard.

But in Venice, you know those Euros, they’ve always been a bit more Darwinian and you can just get all up in it.

thus the peeps have created a little lounge….

and an hibachi area…with cup holders (go america! always a place for your frappuccino)

You know the how they work right? It starts out as a scaffolding or whatnot at the beginning of the exhibition and then they add to it over the course of the show. The NY Times had a good story about it at the opening a few weeks ago.

NYT BIG BAMBU

stream of conscious analysis: I guess i’m wishing I were in an igloo of living bamboo on the grand canal. drinking. yes. xoxojb