We just got back from a few days at the beach, sharing a condo with lifelong friends that we rarely get to see. It was a gorgeous spot, as you can see. This shot was taken from the deck overlooking the ocean in Neskowin.
While others went golfing (not my thing), I took my camera on a walk around the town. There were giant phormiums everywhere.
While hydrangeas in town are doing the fading act, turning shades of russet, at the coast they are still in full swing.
The gunneras seem to thrive in a coastal climate.
I especially love the flights of fancy in coastal gardens. People here seem to take themselves less seriously and just let it all hang out.
Using materials at hand, this homeowner crafted a stone wall with a driftwood gate and large stone post caps.
This colorful cottage was only the beginning.
Its entry was a mosaic fashioned of colorful bottles. In a conversation with a neighbor we learned that each bottle was filled with sand, and yes, the whole area had been dug to a depth to accommodate the entire bottle, placed upside-down and then filled in with sand so that only the bottoms appear at the surface.
Here’s another view. Pretty neat, huh?
The bright red and blue paint job on this house looked right at home in this setting. Adirondak chairs on the porch were painted the same bright red.
A more restrained approach can exist cheek by jowl without looking out of place. Moral of story: at the beach, anything goes.
Love the bottles in the sand, but it exhausts me just thinking about it…
The sea air and temperate climate seems to be perfect for phormiums. We were in Astoria a few weekends ago and I was overwhelmed by numbers of huge, perfect phormiums in many of the gardens.
The bottle mosaic is just beautiful. That’s just the kind of thing I could get into doing to feed my compulsive streak! But wait, what do you do when one of them breaks?
Wendy and Loree: According to the neighbor, the maker of the mosaic is fond of tequila (the square bottles) so that might account for the patience to sit there with a funnel, filling bottles with sand (of which, of course, she had an endless supply).
Jane: I’m thinking that is why she filled the bottles with sand first…to make them less liable to break (?)