Reclaimed and salvaged materials make this garden

The Brooklyn-based Future Green Studio designed this urban garden featuring the creative re-use of salvaged materials like wood from shipping palettes, tin ceiling tiles (see the bottom two images for how these patina over time as their steel backing rusts), mirrors (wrapped in chicken wire so that even if they break they still work in the space), and used cobblestones. The space is a central courtyard in what was once a pillow factory, but is now a hip shopping mall. They call the project "The Loom" and make sure to visit their website and blog to learn more about it and see a few before photos. 

© Kate Wiseman 2010. Want your own waterwise landscape design? Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

Trendy succulent vertical gardens and living pictures

Okay, yes, this is trendy. And I don't usually do trendy, but I'm not exactly immune either, and every once in a while something trendy catches my eye and I just have to share it.

These are called Living Pictures by the guys at Succulent Gardens Plants (who sell a nice user friendly kit), but I have also heard them called living walls or vertical gardens. They can be mounted on a wall once the succulents have got an established root system, and they need minimal watering. They are perfect for that really narrow side yard with a nice big kitchen window looking out onto nothing. Now you can have something, and something pretty darn interesting. And trendy. Yah, that, too.

© Kate Wiseman 2010.