Spring, finally!
 |
| Happy lavender |
Enfin, we had a few lovely warm sunny days, though we appear to be back to cool and cloudy weather again today. Very busy weekend chez femme! There was a picnic/birthday party for the five-year-old son of some good friends, a shoe-shopping expedition for le monsieur who needed new walking shoes for our upcoming trip, a major trip to the grocery store to restock shelves and fridge, a lovely piece of salmon cooked on an alder wood plank on the grill, many loads of laundry, the premiere of Game of Thrones….all of this as my excuse for not getting the post I’d planned for today written.
But the weather was lovely, and I made time to clean out the fountain and start back up for the season.
 |
Last year we were advised to add a little salt to the water to prevent algae. Not only did that not work, but also caused some discoloration to the fountain. Oh well, live and learn. I’m going to check at a nearby aquarium store to see if they can recommend an algicide.
We’ve had considerable problems with the fancy irrigation system installed last year. Apparently our water supply is very high in minerals that quickly clogged the drip irrigation tubes. So many of the plants in the front have died, and we’re in the process of replacing and manually watering until we can find someone to fix/replace the irrigation. 🙁 The architect/designer who installed it can’t be bothered with us now, so he gets two thumbs down. We did plant a lot of lavender which is thriving both in the front and back yards.
Coming up this week, some maquillage, another installment of Traveling in Style, and more about shoes.
~
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
Stay in touch
Sign up to be notified of new posts and updates from une femme d’un certain âge.
Bon Matin, Pseu-
Good luck with the fountain- I agree that the new “patina” is a nice touch, even if unplanned.
On the maquillage front, I have recently discovered and now love Bobbi Brown’s Luminous Moisture Foundation. Have you tried it? It is vastly different from previous formulas from her line. Great coverage, moist without being greasy, fab.
While I’m sorry to hear about the problems you’re having with your irrigation system, I have to say that your garden reno is looking wonderful!
We once exchanged homes with a family in Blois (in the Loire Valley) — their sole nod to landscaping, besides their lawn, was a wide swathe of lavender, and I have to say we have often remembered that very effective simplicity. You could do worse!
Boo to the architect, boo-yah to lavender. Gardens do take time to get comfortable, in my experience. Stuff dies for no reason. Not that that’s what has happened here, just that even if everything had been done correctly, still might have had the same outcome. If that helps.
BTW, I used fancy guys to design first time, but now call the local small gardening guy for all cleanups and repairs. To him I’m a big fish. Much better:).
Why does summer seem to be taking SO LONG to get here this year?
Oh I think your garden has really grown fast!
I love the fountain…water sounds are so relaxing.
Bad form on the part of your designer…there should be a guarantee on the installation of the irrigation system…
I’d try some drought tolerant plants..perhaps some osteospernum as they come in a wide variety of colors.
Lavender is a hardy plant here and the bees love it, I like the fragrance. Yours is thriving Deja!
Our weather has been slow to warm and everyone I speak with is so over the rain and grey gloom here.
Enjoy your week,
Hostess
Shame on your designer for not taking responsibility. I agree with another post, if he lives in the area, he should know the water. Even if he doesn’t, he should have asked questions to find out what type of system would work for you. Hiss….
Your backyard garden and unintended discoloration of the fountain are beautiful. Yea for you!!
Your weekend sounded perfect – party, shoe shopping, and alder planked salmon, which in my opinion is the best way to cook it. Yum.
CS
As I read your words and look out at SLEET on April 18, arrrrgh.
Hello:
Correct irrigation for plants can be a very tricky business. Our own experience of watering systems would be that they are often very expensive and seldom reliable. The Lavender looks very happy and perhaps, more plants that thrive in arid conditions would be a better solution to your problem. Whatever, never give plants only small amounts of water since that encourages their roots to come to the surface, thus making them more vulnerable in hotter weather.
Your fountain is most attractive!
Au revoir, Femme, as we are off to Amsterdam tonight, then on to Paris for Easter weekend. We had a fountain in our previous home. It was somewhat high maintenance, but was a real source of pleasure. We miss it greatly. Our irrigation system is on the blink as well. I actually enjoy watering our small landscaped area. Kind of therapeutic! Your garden is gorgeous.
I love the discoloration on the fountain. Gives it a lovely, ancient patina. Maybe not what you intended, but I think it looks beautiful.
One would think that if the contractor works in your area he would know about the high mineral content of your water. Boo hiss.
Sadly, South Texas is in a severe drought…fountains are ceasing to flow…wildfires are ravaging homes and land…I would take an algae ridden fountain at this point. We started water restrictions last week….and BTW, I love Lavender..is there no better scent!!
Being in SoCal I enjoyed the summer weather but don’t want to get out from under the blanket today! I too have a lovely fountain and all the birds and bees in the neighborhood love me, but algae! What a problem! I don’t want to use chemicals for fear of harming my little friends, so have an ongoing maintenance problem. This recent warm weather was havoc! If you find something SAFE that works, please let us know! Merci!
Oh! Should have read the comments first! Will try bleach. Merci to all!
I do so hate it when I pay good money and (naively) expect a service that not only ensures everything is properly executed but in case there is a problem a follow up is selbstverständlich along with a sincere apolgy for the inconvenience.
I agree with others: your lavender is spectacular.
I can smell the lavender and the fountain is beautiful. We don’t worry about algicide, just scrub out the fountains now and then.
What a bummer to have irrigation issues so soon after installation and no one to call back to fix them! You shouldn’t have to pay someone else to fix the other contractor’s work.
Jane and Lance Hattatt – the plants originally installed were supposed to be low water species, but either the soil or the lack of water “done them in.” Thanks, we love this fountain!
Marguerite – oh, I’m so excited for you!! Have a marvelous time! The fountain isn’t too bad for maintenance, but we do need to check it every couple of days and add water to keep the motor from burning out.
kathy peck – thanks! It certainly does give it a more aged look.
Couture Allure – I think he had a lot less experience with landscaping (as opposed to landscape architecture) than he let on. The design element was great, the execution not so much.
Pam – I love lavender too! I’m so glad I gave explicit instructions for LOTS of lavender! This fountain actually recycles water, so doesn’t use much. I’ve heard about your wildfires, how awful!
caffelatte – thanks! I have not tried the Bobbi Brown foundation, but now that you’ve recommended will definitely have a look. I’ve found so many great products recommended by commenters here and on other blogs!
materfamilias – I agree, we could do worse than a few patches of lavender. I’m almost tempted to just get some large rocks and maybe another kinetic sculpture and just leave it at that!
LPC – thanks, and yes one always expects some plants just won’t “take.” Around here, it’s hard to find gardeners who aren’t “mow & blow” guys, who actually have some knowledge about plants. I haven’t given up. We didn’t get summer last year until late September, but when it came, it came with a vengeance.
coffeeaddict – thanks. I think the designer now has so many architecture jobs that he doesn’t care so much about us as a reference. I have to believe stuff like that comes back to bite you.
hostess – we do love this fountain. It’s right outside our bedroom so we keep the window open a crack at night for the relaxing burble. This and the lighting are the parts of the redesign I’ve enjoyed the most so far. The plants initially installed were supposed to be drought tolerant, but so far only the lavender has lived up to that designation.
CS – the smoke coming off the grill from the alder plank was so wonderfully fragrant. And the salmon was *delicious!* I think the designer was so into doing everything “green” that he didn’t take the water into account. You all have convinced me about the fountain and the “patina.”
Susan Tiner – I think I may just go that route…empty it out every few weeks, scrub and let it dry out for a day, then refill. Yeah, we’re pretty peeved too about having to spend more on this. It’s turning out not to be the “low maintenance” arrangement we were promised.
Duchesse – sleet….Sheeet!! Bummer.
Leslie Thompson Scott – I actually asked about that when we bought the fountain, but the people we bought from said no, that the bleach would ruin the stain/color of the surfaces. Too bad, that would be a simple and effective solution!
la fourchette – I’m so glad to live in a climate that makes lavender happy! Maybe I’ll try just a drop or two of bleach and see what happens. What is it with irrigations systems?!? This isn’t rocket science, but might as well be.
MarlaD – bleach seems to be the consensus. Yes, all it takes is a few warm days to turn the water green!
A simple solution to your algae problem from years of experience with fountains and water features in my landscape: put a shot glass of common household bleach in the water- the algae will be gone and the water clear within a very short time. Your lovely fountain is a good subject for this as it does not seem to have adjacent plants (the bleach water if dumped often on soil in garden beds can upset the mycorrhiza.) I only clean out my water features once a year- I try to think of them as tiny swimming pools and this is similar to shocking a pool. I have never had a problem with wildlife being harmed by this and I have one pond in which papyrus grows successfully despite periodic bleach input. I hope this saves you the trip for the fancy solution.
Oh I’d forgotten that the lavender season in SoCal is *now*! Enjoy.
A couple of notes:
1) on the fountain…I had the same algae problem and I think I remember using a drop of bleach every now and again to beat it. Didn’t seem to hurt the fountain or the inner workings. Just a drop, mind you.
2) on the landscape architect: When still in SoCal I had a similar problem with the fellow that had done my garden structure design and put in the irrigation system to give it all a drink. When I called to report a problem shortly after installation, no response…ever. I was spitting and fuming about his lack of professionalism when I remembered the bumper sticker on his truck: “My other car is up my nose”
‘Nuff said.
Happy spring!
Your lavender garden looks like a lovely place to sit and relax.
Once you have your irrigation system opened up again, you may want to put a Reverse Osmosis water filter on the water spigot. This type of filter system is small and usually installed under a kitchen sink. In So Cal, you should be able to have one outside.
OMG – love the Martin books. Hope the adaptation is faithful to the books (I am, unfortunately, not a subscriber of the premium channels and will have to wait for DVD release). Glad you had a lovely weekend.
Sorry to hear about the botched irrigation and crappy service in response to the problem.
I saw the photo before I read the text and thought how well things had filled in, so you fooled me!
Luckily for us all lavender is very forgiving and smells wonderful to boot.
If you want to troubleshoot more yourself, the Gardenweb forums are region specific as well as “type specific” (xeriscape, Mediterranean, rose, cottage etc) and full of both experts and “expert amateurs.”
Enjoy what you have now and may it be more what you want later!