An all-green refuge in the city

Here’s some eye candy for a late summer afternoon. There are several gardens I admire that have little or no flowers in them and this is one.

The owner, Brad Wales, is an architect who is the middle of renovating a house immediately in front of the garden and also owns the storefront and loft immediately in front of the house. So this little space, behind the two buildings, provides a cool breather in a very urban setting.

Wales planned the garden to include only herbs and other useful plants, though he has kept two large old-fashioned climbing roses (white). They bloom once in early summer. (I have to research them next time they’re in bloom; it’s impossible to tell now.) Wales has added a creeping thyme bed, some holly, some sweet woodruff and a variety of other plants as well as placed paving stones, built a stone wall (unfortunately not visible here), and designed and built the fence. We are discussing what he should grow on the fence; he’d prefer something edible.

I really admire what Wales has done with this tiny space; I will never be able to restrict myself in this way, but it’s interesting to see what happens when a minimalist is loose in the garden.

Comments

[Gloria]

That is a great looking garden. Urban gardens contending with lots of shade often have this kind of cool green oasis feel.
Since I refuse to live in a home without a least a couple of large old trees (all else is secondary) open sunny areas are at a premium.
So I have first hand knowledge of how much cooler and more calm this sort of garden can be along a city street.
This site has
http://www.treelink.org/linx/factoid.php
Information and links to studies about possible energy savings .
excerpt...

Several investigators have
documented dramatic (30 - 50%)
differences in cooling-energy use
between houses on landscaped
and un-landscaped sites (Akbari, 2002).

The ambient air temperature difference
between an urban heat island and
a vegetated area can be as much as
2-10 degrees F.

The temperature measured directly
above man-made surfaces can be as
much as 25 degrees F hotter than
the air temperature beneath
a forested area
(Akbari et. al., 1992; Simpson and McPherson, 1996).

Research reports savings of between
10 and 15 per cent on winter heating
costs thanks to trees acting as
windbreaks, and cooling cost reductions
of between 20 and 50 per cent in
summer due to shade and cooling through
evapotranspiration (Heisler, 1986).

[Michael]

This is my kind of garden: simple, green, and useful. It looks like a nice place for a nap.

[Kim]

At this time of the year, I would love to have just one little area of my garden like this to use as a retreat. So restful and calming and cool.

[layanee]

Serene and green. Who says there needs to be bright colors.