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Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings In Coleus-beration with: Kathy Lawler — Guest Blogger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In our college days no dorm room or apartment was complete without one or more potted specimens of: Boston Fern, Schefflera, Spider Plant, and, of course, Coleus. Back then our collective taste in houseplants was about on a par with our taste in beer; we’d happily drink brands now consider un-palatable, and we’d keep our houseplants no matter how raggedy, misshapen, or bug-ridden they were. We’ve all come a long way since then, and so has our friend, Coleus. Having recently re-ignited an appreciation in all things gardening, there was still one plant we just couldn’t wrap our heads around wanting in our yard. It was Coleus. It wasn’t until we built our Uber-Fun Yard Pots that we had a reason to even explore Coleus.  Coleus in a yard setting Back then, it seemed Coleus had just one look: “normal” leaves, green with a dab of color in the middle, and trailing stems. Now, OMGoodness! There are now about a billion new cultivars of Coleus. Curly leaves. Small leaves. Big leaves. Purple. Red. Maroon. Yellow. Some leaves don’t even have any green at all! We’ve got stand-up varieties. Trailing ones. Shade-preferring and full-sun-tolerant choices. Seems there are now Coleus varieties available to satisfy any, and every, gardening need — indoors and out. We had great luck growing them last year, so this season we added several more varieties. We purchased Burgundy Wedding Train, Electric Coral, El Brighto, and several more they are doing really well.  Purple Coleus in a yard setting The variety and color of this annual wins big for us! We love the constant color of the foliage and what they bring to a yard — you don’t have to wait for blooms to have color. Another interesting think about Coleus is that depending on the conditions they are grown in — perhaps the soil or the sunlight vs. shade, or maybe the day/night temperature — their colors change making them all the more enjoyable.  How 'bout that curly leaf of Coleus?! One thing about Coleus that hasn’t changed though, is its ability to grow from cuttings. We’ve rooted them in a glass of water and we’ve rooted them by simply sticking new cuttings into consistently moist potting soil. Planting them directly in soil has won for us, but you have to be able to bear that they will look horrible for a week or two after doing this. They look like they are going to die any minute but then one day — they perk up and start going crazy.
To root in soil, you need cut off stalks 2-3 inches longer than you want to have protruding out of the soil. Choose stalks where you have leaves at the bottom that you can cut off so the node will be the source of your new roots. Poke a hole in the dirt (I use a nail, a huge 40d one) and then gently insert the stem and carefully and pack soil around it. Using cuttings is a great way to experiment with pairing up different looks in the same pot. Try a stand-up variety like Eruption with a trailing type such as Trailing Green Olives. Or mix a bunch of them in a planter. Or mix a bunch of them with several other different species. Coleus with Fountain Grass, Sweet Potato Vine, and Variegated Trailing Viola, perhaps. The possibilities are wide open! So, go through your old yearbooks. Look up your old friend, Coleus. Invite Coleus into your home for a visit. You’ll be happily surprised with what you discover! Thank You for visiting, — Chris and Kathy P.s. What unusual pairings have you tried in either your yard in your houseplants? Do you have a favorite combination? Let’s share stories and try each other’s combos!
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Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings Kathy Lawler — Guest Blogger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  The "Good Times Day Spa" for birds! We have had so much rain in Virginia this year. Saturday was our first day to get outside and finish the yard projects we had been trying to do this year. This was not only our first chance to enjoy the Spring — due to the crazy number of rainy days — it was also our last chance to enjoy a bit of Spring — before we get into a long hot summer! This year, to add to our Artsy Fartsy plant containers we made last year, we decided to build a birdbath (or bird spa as I like to call it) to add to the fun aesthetics and to enhance our variety and number of visitors! I built this using terra cotta pots that I spray-painted and stacked. The finished birdbath stands about 3 1/2 feet and is made up of 5 different sized pots. Two upside down terra cotta saucers make up the birdbath part of the piece. Birds do like a shallow-water bath so these saucers worked out quite well. If you do an internet search for terra cotta birdbaths you will find a surprising number of great ideas and different looks for your pending creation. Be sure to read about how to finish the terra cotta pots before you begin.  Come On, Birds.This is what you'll be looking for. I also did a bit of reading about what birds like best in a birdbath — unfortunately I read this after I had planned, painted, and constructed my birdbath. So here are the do’s and don’ts for you to consider when you build a birdbath for your yard.
You will need to change the water and clean your birdbath often — apparently birds aren’t opposed to pooping on, or in, art. We are still waiting for our birds to discover their new spa. I’m thinking that they are as tired of all the water falling from the sky as we are. Of course, we’re hoping for some great photo ops coming soon and we will share them with you when they happen! Thank You for visiting,
— Kathy, Guest Blogger P.s. Have you added a birdbath to your yard? How did you get the birds to start using it? Do you have any great suggestions you would like to share? We would love to hear your ideas and compare notes! Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gardening is how I relax. It’s another form of creating and playing with colors. — Oscar de la Renta One of our local botanic gardens — Green Spring Gardens, in Alexandria, VA — has a really fun element incorporated into their vegetable garden. An element so fun we decided to incorporate it into our own yard at home. In a nutshell, it involves short sections of corrugated drain pipe of various diameters, painted fun, bright colors, and ‘planted’ in the ground as plant pots with fun plant specimens growing in them.  A Section Of Our Yard With Our Fun Colorful Planters  Our Pots Of Various Sizes And Colors This was a really fun project to do. The planning and visualization. The painting of the pipe sections. The actual installation and planting. My Inner-Scavenger even enjoyed the finding of the pipe scraps we could get for free. I got some — about 40 feet worth! — from a neighbor who was doing a complete yard re-do. I got some larger diameters from the superintendent overseeing a huge highway project in town. So fear not. Get out there and scav some materials! Cut them into various lengths using a regular hand saw. Use a coarse file, rasp, or very coarse sandpaper to smooth out the cut on one end; never mind the other end, it will be buried about 2-3 inches. I would suggest having lengths of about 6, 8, 10, 12 inches, intending for 2-3 inches of each to be buried.  Our Pots Of Various Sizes And Colors To clean these, wash them in detergent to remove any soil or other obvious gradoo. Then you might scrub the outside with medium sandpaper or steel wool to roughen the surface for better paint adhesion. We didn’t do this and we have a few small areas where the paint is scratched off. Now wash them in a solvent such as denatured alcohol or paint thinner to remove any residual oils or grease.  Spray Painting The Garden Planter Pots And they’re ready for paint! Use a spray paint that is intended for plastic; we used Rust-oleum. Spray inside the top lip an inch or so and over the outside, being sure to get up and down in the ‘inside’ parts of the outside corrugation. Mix it up. Be random. Paint various colors of various diameter pieces and various lengths.  Don't Forget The Top View! Now the really fun part begins! Arrange them in your yard. Try to be as random as possible while still keeping in mind that taller plants — probably in the larger diameter pots — will be in back and yet pot sizes and colors still need to be mixed up. If you have an upper deck or balcony overlooking your planter bed, consider the view from above also, when arranging your pots.  Dig A Hole To Secure Your Pot In When you plant them, dig a hole twice as wide as your pot and twice as deep as you intend to plant it. Fill the hole half way with very coarse yard bark, mulch, or bark chips for drainage. Settle the pot in, paying attention to its natural curve, then top off the hole around the pot with dirt and pack it — very well. After all your pots are planted, take a general picture showing the overall layout including any relationships to structures, existing plants, borders, points of view, or any other factor that will affect the overall visual. You’ll use this (these) photo(s) when you go to the nursery to get plants. Get plants in sizes much smaller than your pots for ease in planting them. I suggest 2” pony packs for the 4” pots, 4” plants for the 6” and larger pots. Do the math to know how much potting mix you’ll need to fill all your pots. V = π (r 2 ) Volume = pi times (radius squared). Total up the sum for all your pots. Now, plant ‘em! Be sure to plant them down a bit from the top to allow for watering. And be sure when you fill the pots that you smoosh the potting mix into all the inside nooks and crannies of the corrugation.  Another Finished View Of Our Back Patio Area Wasn’t that FUN?!
Thank You for visiting, — Chris P.s. How’d your project come out? What unique features did you incorporate? Where did you find sources of scrap drain pipe that others might also search out? What fun, unique plants did you use to make your garden project scream “YOU”!? Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Orchids and Eagles -- both rare, both beautiful. Last spring we had a bird build a nest in the underside of our second floor deck that stands over our ground floor patio. I think we had been out of town while the nest building was going on, as the bird didn’t seem to know how much daily activity there was going to be on the patio below, and the deck above, her nest. Our cat routinely dines on the second floor deck and then spends time on the ground floor where she wanders about on her leash or lounges in the patio chair that sits right below the nest. And we do plenty of clomping around on the deck during nice weather. Once the bird figured this out the nest was abandoned. After many weeks of watching just to be sure no one was using the nest, we decided to remove it and put it to good use.  Birth of an Orchid This winter as I was looking for new ways to create some great studio shots, I pulled the nest out of the box I had it stored in and went to work. This image, “Birth of an Orchid”, is the beginning of my experimentation with something new and different. I thought I’d try to find a way to capture the stunning attributes of orchids in unique ways and in unusual settings. So far I’ve developed a half dozen images of orchids — each displaying a unique aspect of The Orchid. What better way to Feathering Your Nest than with these unusual orchid images. As I was setting up the photo shoot, I finally examined the nest up close and was fascinated by not only the material but the amount of work that went into this very sturdy nest. It was also heavier than I thought it would be. I believe it’s a Robin’s nest and it’s about 7” across by 3” deep and made with assorted twigs, branches, grasses, leaves, pine needles, and oddly enough, plastic bits. Apparently the Robin also adds mud — made from earthworm poop — to the nest as she is building it to make it sturdy. I’m going to ignore the poop-thing, and still be fascinated by the construction. Birds are amazing nest builders. Some birds use spider silk as threads for their nests. Some build giant colonies of nests like apartment buildings. A bald eagle builds a nest that is 4-6 feet in diameter and may be just as deep. Imagine what kind of crazy studio set up we could do with that! Look out Anne Geddes!  The Eagle Cam at our National Arboretum in DC We live along a highly-trafficked bird migratory route, so we see a huge number of different birds and are continually spotting new species flying near our house. In Huntley Meadows, just a few miles from where we live, over 200 species of birds have been identified frequenting the park. It is a great place to visit, view birds, and see a few nests. Another really exciting development is at the National Arboretum. The Arboretum has a pair of hatchling Bald Eagles this spring for the first time in nearly 70 years! It is a wild eagle pair who are nesting on the grounds, and you can view them on the DC Eagle cam. Hurry, though, before the kids leave home!
Thank You for visiting, — Chris P.s. What unusual pairing of objects not usually associated with each other have you photographed? What have you imagined in your mind’s eye and are looking forward to shooting? Have you seen someone’s work you really admire for its juxtaposition? Share with us in the comments; we’ll trade ideas. |
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About Chris
I am a Virginia-based photographer and gather my images while hiking in parks and natural areas here at home and in the locations I travel to. I also love to visit arboretums and botanic gardens to find unusual and exotic subjects. Archives
March 2017
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