Birmingham is a swanky little suburb outside Detroit. The city is known for its shopping and style. On the weekends, you can find people jogging and chatting over expensive lattes. It’s a fun place to visit on Saturday morning.
I love the fact that the merchants take the time to decorate their shops with container gardens, window boxes and topiary. Here are some photographs of the topiary designs I passed last Saturday morning.
This is a great evergreen pom pon topiary that sits on one side of a store entrance. The other entrance has a similar topiary. The patina copper pot is the perfect container.
Talk about effectively using space. This topiary is trimmed in half to fit flush with the wall and the container has been put on a serious diet. That pot is only about 5 inches wide, but the topiary appears full size. It fits perfectly into this narrow patch of sidewalk.
This boxwood topiary adds height to the container design and balances the length of the urn. The red geraniums look fantastic against the black cast iron. This is simple, classic topiary design at its best (and no, I don’t care that the top has two branches).
I love this look. A simple, weathered clay pot with a tall Bay topiary. This is what I call clean, simple design.
This purple flower topiary surrounded by petunias and licorice plant looks great. These beautiful concrete planters are found throughout the city of Birmingham and were created by Debra Silver. You can read about their creation on Debra’s amazing blog, Dirt Simple. The article in the link has some amazing images of the container plantings from years past.
Another great example of simple, clean design. I am not 100% certain what plant is in this container. I think it is a willow tree. It looks great in this tall, slender “made to look like lead” container. The moss growing at the base of the trunk looks beautiful. The container of boxwood next to the topiary completes this lovely vignette.
Although this is officially not a topiary, I have included it because it’s a nice example of using small evergreen shrubs to great effect. Here a small juniper is surrounded by purple and white petunias. The design looks quite stylish.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
http://casselsbrewery.com/node/159
It’s perfect! I was afraid to click on the other link (for obvious reasons!)
JERRY & GINGER Cocktail Ingredients
1 SHOT sailor jerry
2 WEDGES lime
Ice
ginger ale
Instructions
fill a glass with ice and squeeze in the lime. Leaving the wedges in the glass add the shot of Sailor Jerry and finish the drink by adding as much Ginger Ale as you want!
WHADDAUTHINK?
I think Ginger should be told you are surfing the internet unsupervised. I’ll let her know!
Susie
This one too!
I tried to post the above 13 characters, and The Man said my comment was a bit too short and wouldn’t let me post it. Careful what you ask for. I mean, if my comment only merits 13 characters, I think I would be the best person to determine that. I don’t appreciate someone arbitrarily pronouncing by fiat that I need to either say more, or have deeper thoughts. Sometimes I just like to keep it simple. Sometimes I just want to have a bubble bath. Who’s to say what’s right? Well I should know better than to ask that. Obviously the omniscient moderator (a/k/a “The Man”) knows all and I’m just starting to feel guilty now that I was critical of him. I’m actually regretting this post. I’m not quite sad yet, but the more I write the closer I get to putting on a Jewel CD and sipping a nice Chardonnay by candlelight. Don’t you just love Jewel? I can’t believe she’s married to that rodeo-guy. I guess that love knows no bounds so we should just be happy for them.
So there.
Oh boy Jerry. Did they start serving alcohol at your local Starbucks? Does Ginger know you are out alone…ha ha?
By the way, this Starbucks rocks!
I demand new content.
Hi Susan – I just added your blog to my blog list….did it twice. Anyhow, there seems to be a problem. The link does not work, and your blog is appearing at the bottom of my list which is sorted by latest post. Not sure why this is happening….are you aware?
Loi
Thank you for adding me to your list. I am honored because you have some absolutely stunning links on your site. I am not sure what could be wrong with my posting. I wonder if it is the template I am using. Thanks for letting me know. I had better look into that to understand the issue. I appreciate you taking the time to alert me.
Looks like something went wacky with my Feedburner feed. I had to create a new feed. Sorry for the inconvenience Loi. You may need to add it again (my apologies…).
Wonderful post! That first pot is divine! Neoclassical fabulous-ness!! Here in DC someone would steal it (sad to say). And I had to do a double take on that tiny pot (second photo). How can that plant survive? It must get watered and fertilized frequently…..like a bonsai, perhaps.
Cheers!
Loi
Thanks for the kind words Loi. I was just amazed at that tiny little pot. Whatever they are doing, it most definitely works. That topiary looks great!