Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

At this time of year, evergreen holly with it’s prickly leaves and bright red berries is front and center!

Romans gifted Christmas holly to their friends during Saturnalia as a sign of good luck charms and safety against evil.

How did it come to be associated with Christmas you ask?  Well, long, long ago Christians believed that Holly helped in driving away the evil spirits as it was endowed with magical powers. During Christmas time, the Holly was  hung on doors and windows to prevent the entry of witches and evil spirits. 

We continue to this day, to hang evergreen wreaths on our doors and windows at Christmastime.

 Southern Living

Holly also became associated with the Christmas festival.  Christmas festival was a time to celebrate and enjoy. The entire month of December was utilized to prepare for the Christmas festival.

Because of its evergreen foliage, it was believed that the Christmas holly plant was sanctified.  According to Christians, one winter night, the holly amazingly grew leaves in off-season to hide the Holy Family from Herod's armed forces. Since then, it has been an evergreen Christmas plant indicative of Christ's gratefulness. Christmas Holly is also said to be the tree of Christ's cross.

Germans believed that its twigs were woven into an agonizing crown and placed on Christ's skull and its berries were white until Christ's blood left them with a permanent red color.

Holly came to symbolize the crown of thorns Jesus was forced to wear on his head.  While the leaves of the  plant represented the crown of thorns, the red berries symbolized  the blood that he shed in this world.

 Martha Stewart Living

 

 Photo by Laurey W. Glenn, Article by Madeline Crawford, Southern Living

Holiday wreaths have long been made by twisting or bending evergreen branches into a circular shape.   In Christianity, the holiday wreath represents the circle, a symbol of eternity. When made of evergreen leaves and branches, the wreaths symbolize everlasting life with the green color symbolizing hope and new life. During the 15th century,  the wreath began to be used as a hanging decoration.

 Photo by Laurey W. Glenn, Article by Madeline Crawford, Southern Living

Evergreen plants, such as holly, ivy, pine, and even magnolia, have long been used to create holiday wreaths.  

Traditional Christmas wreaths are a symbol of faith.  There circular form symbolizes God's eternity and mercy during the Christmas season. When decorated with evergreen leaves and branches they also represent everlasting life and God's everlasting love.

 

Martha Stewart Living

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Beach Cottage Love

I normally don’t go into the interiors of homes and post about them, but I have made an exception in this case.  Last weekend I sat in this beach cottage in Wrightsville Beach and fell in love with it!

My camera does not do it justice, but I’ll share my photographs any way.

Upon walking in to this beautiful beach cottage on Harbor Island in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, you are greeted with the colors of the sea.  The front room on the ground floor is a sitting room with four identical chairs gathered around a round glass table.

 

The adjoining space  is a small desk and nook area.

There are two bedrooms on the ground floor, a bathroom and a large laundry closet.

The first bedroom had a large closet, a chest of drawers and two single beds.

The second bedroom was larger and had a double bed,

benches that also doubled as storage, and

 

a window seat sandwiched between two closets.

I loved this vase in the bathroom.

 

The stairs from first to second floor were painted in a shiny black lacquer.  Once upstairs you enter into this room.

The  large front room has a fireplace in it and adjoins a very wide front porch, which runs the length of the house and is highly usable for outdoor living.

The dining table is made of glass and is supported by twin urns painted black.

Each chair had a pillow.

The fireplace is not used for wood any more, so the owner decorated it using the coastal theme.

 

A detail from the fireplace mantle featuring the wood trim and mosaic tile.

A chandelier hangs over the dining table and is reflected in a mirror over the fireplace mantle.

 

There is plenty of light in this room with many double hung windows overlooking the very wide 2nd story porch.  

The porch is accessed through a door in the front room and is essentially, an outdoor living room.  What a great place to be 3 months out of the year in Wrightsville Beach!

Photo from Wilmington MLS (Thanks Terry!)

Another front window looks out at the neighbor’s house.  I love the sheer drapes.

The 2nd floor has a very open floor plan.  The front room adjoins the kitchen area.

I love how the kitchen island and cupboard are both painted in the shiny black laquer paint that matches the stairs in the front room.  The kitchen counter is a shiny black granite and the cabinets are white.  The interior of the tall black built-in cupboard is painted sky blue.

The owner used the wall space beneath a high window to create this little area between the kitchen and the front room.  The small table consists of a cart with a glass table.  The burlap runner matches the burlap runner used on the dining room table.

 

Here are some of the goodies displayed on the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above this little table was a window with a shutter awning.

Here is the view out of this window …

And the view looking toward the front room from the kitchen. 

 

The kitchen sink and countertop are classic.  The owner was wise enough to make that sink large enough to accommodate a large pot of crabs, that can be caught in Banks Channel right across the street!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family room behind the kitchen was added on.  There is an opening between the two rooms where there once was a window.

 

This is a spacious and light family room with a fireplace.

 

The back of this room is all glass and opens up to a spacious back deck that leads down to the back yard area.  There were large evergreens planted on the other side of the deck, giving this room both privacy and a “tree house” feel.

The master bedroom was stunning.  The bed had a built-in headboard.  Can you see the palm trees on the sheer curtain fabric?

The room had a large walk-in closet on one end and adjoined a luxurious bath and large walk-in shower  on the other end.  That shower can be entered from either side.

There were his and her sinks on opposite sides of the master bath room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, there was one more bedroom upstairs as well as another full bath.  Here is the bedroom.

A painted desk in this room is sandwiched between two closets.

 

Can you believe I was so taken with the interior of this house, that I didn’t even take one photo of the outside?!   However, I did go out there.  The back yard was completely private and fenced in and featured a lovely sitting area and garden courtyard.

This home is situated on Harbor Island in Wrightsville Beach, NC within walking distance to the ocean!  It is currently for sale at a price of $879,900 and is listed by Debbie Mitchell at Intracoastal Realty Corp.  It has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and is 2601-square feet.  Please contact me directly if you would like more information!

This, in my opinion, is the epitome of coastal living!

Spotlight on Philip Nixon Design

Awesome firm!  Note the use of solids and voids.  An excellent display of plants used for traffic control and circulation. 

I also love the use of the planters and water elements throughout the design.

 Chelsea, London

It is also very well illuminated.

This project is a residential one.  The fence is a nice backdrop for the outdoor living spaces and doubles as wood storage for a firepit.

These trees look espaliered to me.  They serve as a high privacy screen.  I would love to see them in winter without their leaves.

 Berkley House, Gloustershire, England

   Want more?  Visit Philip Nixon Design.

Blog Award Redux

* Gush *  My blog has been given the Kreativ Blogger Award  from Leah at Who Moved My Cheese Straw? 

I am so flattered and truly honored that she would think of my blog for this wonderful award!  Leah’s blog is fabulous and so much fun to follow! 

Check it out Here.

Now, there are tasks I must perform in order to wear this badge. 

First, I must tell Seven things about myself that you don’t know. 

Second, I must pass this little trophy

on to seven other blogs/bloggers.

First, here are some things you may not know about me. 

1.  I have an identical twin sister who is as passionate about plants and gardens as I am.

Twin sister and her lovely daughter  (holding Stormy)

2.  I am absolutely mad for tennis!  I love to play it and I love to watch it!  So disappointing to hear about Andre Agassi’s hatred for the game he excelled at.  Read all about this in his new book Open.

Dinara Safina at the Western & Southern Tennis Tournament, Cincinnati, OH 2009

3.  I love weiner dogs!

Weiner Dog Costume Contest, Oktoberfest, Wilmington, NC 2009 

4.  I am a huge fan of Survivor!  It invented the genre of Reality TV, and it is the only reality tv show that I watch.

Rupert Boneham, Jenna Lewis, Boston Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, Survivor All Stars

5.  I do have a bucket list.  Do you?

6.  I am a Scorpio and recently celebrated my birthday.   I have also just learned that my colorstrology color is Jester Red. *

7.  I once met David Bowie.  He was absolutely fascinating!

 David Bowie and wife, Iman

* To learn what your Colorstrology is, go HERE.

Now that you’ve gotten to know me better, the second task I must do is pass along this award to seven other blogs/bloggers.  So here goes--

1.  Sisters Julie Hoylen and Kate Smith do a fabulous job with Live in Full Color, a wonderful blog all about the world of color!

2.  Michelle Morelan at A Schematic Life is so talented as an artist and a designer.  I would just die for one of her beautiful paintings!  You’ll love what she shares with us each day!

3.  You’ll also love, love, love tagging along with Tamara and The Big Guy from The Greenhouse Diaries as they manage their very talented family and very large business, Darvonda Nurseries, as well as travel the world.

4.  Linda at :: Lime in the Coconut :: will enchant you with her words and colorful life in south Florida.  A great blog!

5.  Design Ties is a joint venture between two designing women, Kelly James and Victoria Lambert.  Both are so talented and so much fun to follow!  Grab their button here:

6.  Maya at Completely Coastal and A Beach Lover's Place is a Swiss Miss who loves living on the American coast as well as all things coastal!  Her two blogs are fabulous and very inspirational!  We are so lucky to have her here in our Blog World!   Grab her buttons here:

 

     

7.  Finally, Fifi Flowers is one of the most creative bloggers I know!  Follow her on her travels to Paris and beyond each day!  She is very talented and prolific too!  Grab her button here.

 

Thank you, my friends, for all the hours of entertainment and education!  You have enriched my life so much this year!

Oh, and I have a button too.  Here it is for the taking!  Thanks for stopping by!

White on White

 

White house, white garden.  Very cute!

Halloween Plants

Happy Halloween Blog World people! 

What image do we think of first when we think of Halloween?  I’ll give you a clue … it comes from a PLANT.

 yaguargod at flickr

Pumpkins are the universal symbol for Halloween, at least in North America.  Here are some other plants that might also compliment the day and season.

Spooky-looking trees also do their part in haunting us each Halloween.  However, did you know that there are some real plant monsters out there too?  Here are a few.

Bat Plant or “Devil Flower”

Tacca chantrieri is native to Southeast Asia where it grows in the shady understory of a tropical forest.  It’s bloom resembles a flying bat or even a black cat with whiskers.  You can also find it growing in the shade in south Florida.  Imagine running into this creature on a dark and scary Halloween night?

  Venus Flytrap

The finger-like cilia of the carnivorous Venus Flytrap or Dionaea muscipula  actually resemble teeth.  These cilia help trap insects inside the two leaves, where they are soon digested by the plant.   This plant actually grows within a 100 to 200-mile radius of my hometown, Wilmington, NC.

Happy Halloween everyone.  I hope you have a SPOOKtacular one!

The High Line

Recently, I visited New York City and the first place I chose to visit was the High Line.

For those of you who don’t know what it is, the High Line website describes it best:  The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.

Entry/Exit to the High Line

In November, 2005, the City of New York took over the ownership of the High Line from the CSX Transportation, Inc.

The park was designed by Landscape Architects  James Corner Field Operations and Architects  Diller Scofidio + Renfro, as well as various other experts in horticulture, engineering, security, maintenance, public art, and so forth.   Construction began in the Spring of 2006 with the demolition of the old rail tracks and the first section (1.45 miles between Gansevoort Street and 20th Street) opened to the public in June of this year.

Basically, the High Line is a linear park suspended above the streets of New York City. 

The Walking Paths vary in size between 6 and 8-feet in width with larger gathering spaces at regular intervals.  They are constructed using a system of long linear and narrow concrete panels. 

 

The joints between some of the concrete panels widen to provide negative space for planting media and plants. 

To keep the masses of pedestrians from walking into or trampling over the planting areas, the designers used changes in elevation – a subtle, but effective form of traffic control. 

It was a beautiful and unified approach that was very effective.  As you can see from this photograph, the High Line was quite crowded on this beautiful day and I would imagine, that will be typical in the warmer months.

The details were lovely.  The designers included benches using the same dimensional concrete forms rising up in a vertical manner. 

Larger areas containing wood decking and wood benches marked gathering places that invited the user to stop and stay, as opposed to the linear areas that suggested movement and flow.  A great place to sit and watch the world go by!

 

This place was a terraced viewing area with wood benches that terraced down to a lower level closer to the street.  This allowed people the opportunity to sit and view the traffic and street life below.

 

The whole park is suspended above the New York City streetscape providing a different perspective of the city.

The Planting Design was done by Piet Oudolf, renowned Dutch Garden Designer and author, famous for his bold use of grasses and other herbaceous perennials en masse.  The plants used in the design are mainly xeriscape meadow-type plants, all hardy to the area, many of which were natives found growing and prospering on the abandoned rails for many years prior to the park’s design.  All in all, there are 210 species of plants used in the design of Section 1.  They were chosen for their hardiness and their diversity in bloom time from late January through mid-November.

Some of the plants that I saw growing there included grasses and sedges as well as perennials such as Black-eyed Susans, asters and Purple Cone flower and shrubs such as viburnums.  The overall effect was soft and meadowlike.  If you are interested, here is the Plant List used in Section 1.  Because of that harsh environment, it will be survival of the fittest.  I would be surprised if all of the plants specified will make it.  Time will tell!

Regardless, this is an outstanding pedestrian experience and a shining example of urban reclamation of a dead and dying eye sore.  It serves as a great inspiration for other cities to follow suit!  Next time you’re in New York City, you must visit the High Line!  For more information, visit their website.

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi was a Japanese American artist, sculptor and landscape architect known worldwide for his public works.  Born in Los Angeles in 1904, his long career spanned six decades.  Here are a few of his most famous pieces:

 

“Red Cube,” HSBC Building, New York, NY, 1968

Japanese Garden at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France,  Travel Pod

Dodge Fountain and Phillip A. Hart Plaza, Detroit, MI, 1975

(Metro Jacksonville)

“California Scenario,” Costa Mesa, CA, 1980-82 (Alisa Ochoa)

In 1948, Noguchi collaborated with the Herman Miller furniture company to produce a catalog of modern furniture.  Perhaps his most famous piece from this catalog was his Noguchi table.  This table still remains popular today.

“Noguchi Table” for Herman Miller , 1948

Noguchi also designed playgrounds for children.  He saw them as the perfect way to integrate sculpture into modern life.  Here are some of his playgrounds:

 

Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA

 

Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA (mikehipp at flickr)

 

The slide was recently renovated at Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA (Reid2008 at flickr)

Late in his life, Noguchi designed several “Slide Mantras” made from stone.  The Slide Manta in Sapporo was constructed of black stone so that it could be viewed even in the snow-covered winter months there.  These Slides were not constructed however, until after his death. 

  Black Slide Mantra, Odori Park, Sapporo, Japan

 

Black Slide Mantra, Odori Park, Sapporo, Japan

 Model for Slide Mantra 1, Noguchi Museum

 Bayfront Park, Miami, FL

Noguchi died on November 30, 1988 at the age of 84 after a very long and prolific artistic career.  To learn more about his life and work, visit Wikipedia or The Noguchi Museum.

It’s Friday, so it’s time to see what other bloggers are up to at The Inspired Room's Beautiful Life Friday.

Perfect mates

 

Black-eyed Susans and Russian Sage

White Purple Cone Flower and Bent Grass

Japanese Hakoni Grass and water

 Feather grass and White foxglove.

Asiatic lilies and ferns

Finding just the right plant combination is much harder than you might think.  Water, soil and other cultural requirements play a huge role.  Knowing where a plant is found in nature helps immensely.  Being able to identify and recreate plant communities will often lead to success in the garden!

What’s in your backyard?

It all started with a rope, a tire and a tree.  Add a kid and it spelled FUN.

  

There is nothing like a swing for fun!  This is something we begin to enjoy as infants …

Can you recall the sound of your child’s laughter while swinging?

 

Music to our ears!

When was the last time you heard this song? 

How inviting, this destination.

What’s in your backyard?

 

This week I’m hooked on Swings.  To see what others are hooked on, visit Julia’s Hooked on Houses Friday Blog Party and Melissa’s The Inspired Rooms Beautiful Life Friday.