the vertical garden in this courtyard needed new plants for spring and has lost a lot of the original potting mix over the years. I have some vintage stockings from the 60’s and they make the perfect plant burritos!
the old nylon is so fine yet strong, it will last for quite some time!
filling the knotted stocking with a bit of potting mix and a viola
easing the plant burrito into place
it works, will add more plants along the top next month now that I know how to to it!
a red Belgian hybrid Clivea
Neomarica aka Brazilian Walking Iris
the deconstructed kid gloves are becoming a new pair with thoughts of Honesty being fragile and in need of being handled with care
It's Crow Time 
Such a yummy burrito! A very good idea Mo. The Clivea is so pretty…but that Iris is the most unique one I’ve ever seen! Gorgeous.
(((Nancy))) Neomarica is not a true iris and does best here in Sydney in a shady position with a bit of morning sun, we grew it for years as an indoor plant spilling out of 4 tall pots around a dragon painted column in an inner city tattoo studio.
This is great inspiration for a spot in my yard /fence needing a bit of a redo. Nylon stocking is perfect. Thanks Mo!
(((Glennis))) wall gardens look fabulous when first installed but problems arise over time, the watering system doesn’t give perfect coverage so some of the plants have dried out and died taking the dried out potting mix with them. Over the last few years we have tried planting succulents along the top edge but even they have dried out in our hot summers.These plant burritos will make it a lot easier to keep the soil moist and replace the plants when necessary, just wish I had put my thinking cap on earlier!
Great!
(((Jude))) made with that line from Joni Mitchell’s “Song for Sharon” singing through;
“Chasing dreams
Mama’s nylons underneath my cowgirl jeans”
Such a wildly creative way to plant in the gaps…I live in the land of burritos (New Mexico) but this is an incredible “organic” burrito…well done Mo. The color of the Clivea is so stunning. As much as I love the color green and wear a lot of it, I would love a dress made of the Clivea color, a long dress with a flouncy skirt and I would twirl and dance in honor of our season here, the harvest time, autumn, my favorite season. .. and may I say you look fetching in your hat.
(((Marti))) I can see you dancing in the firelight under the Full Moon celebrating the Equinox next week! I was given that Akubra hat a few years ago, it’s starting to get some character
I think you look fetching, too. It’s so nice to see a garden how-to from a pro. Re: honesty and anatomy: it is about, sometimes anyway, being willing to expose our tender parts.
(((Dee))) am thinking about stitching honesty into the gloves, not sure if it will be the dried plant material or embroidered and perhaps some wide white ribbon stitched with red Fragile and Handle With Care signs as well as the need for a moral compass and a talisman for focus in these strange times influenced by this paragraph in Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Page’ from Murder in the Dark Coach House Press 1983;
“4. If you decide to enter the page, take a knife and some matches, and something that will float. Take something you can hold onto, and a prism to split the light and a talisman that works, which should be hung on a chain around your neck; that’s for getting back. It doesn’t matter what kind of shoes, but your hands should be bare.You should never go into the page with gloves on. Such decisions, needless to say, should not be made lightly.”
reflecting that sometimes bare handed is too hard on the truly fragile things that need to be handled tenderly and ever so gently with kid gloves!
I’ll be using that Atwood quote for writing class! Just fabulous, as you would expect. I love the idea of white ribbons with cautionary words in red. It makes me think (the white ribbon) of the symbol of surrender, too — the white flag. And all that might mean.
and how places of violation are taped off with striped ribbon
Oh yes!
(((Dee))) there’s a few hours left to watch Part One: The River of Laurie Anderson’s Spending the War Without You: Virtual Backgrounds. The River is the first in a series of six Norton Lectures, looking at the challenges we face as artists and citizens, as we reinvent our culture with ambiguity and beauty.
PS here’s the link to the Norton Lectures
the next two episodes are coming up for 24 hours each on Sept 22nd at 5pm & Sept 29th at 5pm will share their links then!
Mo you are a real sorceress…………..
(((Martine))) as the dark clouds gather we need to make powerful work to tell the stories
MC – very creative way of creating the plant burritos; and love the colours of that Mexican Walking Iris – I saw some for free on the side of the road on my Friday walk but did not know what they were – hope some are still there so I can get a couple. Go well. B
(((Barry))) Neomaricas are the best plant for those dry shade spots where nothing else will grow, I love how they throw out long stems with plantlets on the end to keep moving!
the courage it takes to make your Art….the confidence in the Vision
(((Grace))) where else can we put all the hopes and sadness and wonder and feeling so out there in these weirdly wild and surreal times but into the art?
love seeing you in your element … and yes, how inspiration strikes, but often not quite as soon as we might have wished
Don’s first question as I described this (we were driving to get plants for his new garden beds) was “how do they water it?” And now I’m wondering if a drip irrigation system could work (we’ve used $30 Raindrip systems with timers in both the vegetable garden and the patio containers … https://www.raindrip.com/drip-kits)
(((Liz & Don))) there is a brown line drip irrigation system with a timer but it was installed nearly ten years ago & has never worked well. All the moisture ends up moving downwards with gravity so the top sections dry out needing hand watering most days in summer. My preferred option would be misters that could be seen and repaired as some of the pipes are blocked in this system. I made it a rule nearly 30 years ago when we started MeMo Garden Services that we are not plumbers and don’t repair irrigation systems or install wall gardens more recently as they are so problematic. We ask all our customers to find a decent irrigation specialist who will do yearly maintenance but they are rare as hen’s teeth and most folk don’t bother as Rod will do a few repairs when necessary. Personally, I prefer hand watering as it gets people out in their gardens connecting with their plants & gardens.
and of course you would know all about drip irrigation systems … silly me
misters attached to fans are quite the thing on restaurant patios in our neck of the woods … more for the customers than the plants, they definitely provide relief through our six-month long summers
what a good idea for restaurants in summer! when I worked at the Sydney Botanic Gardens in summer I would work overtime hand watering the glasshouses on the weekends, even with misters & fans hand watering is always needed on the hot days!
I always love a good solution. 🙂 Lovely to see you gardening…
(((Deb))) this wall has been an ongoing high maintenance project, a friend of the owner built with a lot of major design flaws, it looked fabulous for the first year but really needs to be taken apart and put back together with replaceable pots!
Having read the comments and replies, it seems like the garden’s an ongoing, evolving artistic problem to be solved! Wouldn’t it be great if the burrito was the answer to that top layer!?!?! The clivea has such powerful and wonderful energy! And I really like the thought of Honesty for the gloves with all its associations…In politics today it almost seems as old-fashioned as the gloves! So glad you can be out and about making beauty with you hands.
(((Fiona))) we are so lucky to be able to work through the lockdown with getting out of house to look after all our gardens and making the art and music at home. Tomorrow we are going to picnic in a small local park with two of our best friends who we haven’t seen since for months, the big parks are way too crowded for comfort and we do enjoy having a table these days!
Love the wall garden! I recognize geraniums and ferns (or something with a fernlike structure) and sedum. Don’t know (or recognize) the blue flower. I knew about old nylons being good for making ties, but not about your burritos. My mom used them to tie her tomatoes.
I love to go out to hand water my garden, but we’re so dry in summer it takes me 3-5 hours to get everything watered. My poor garden suffered this year because i didn’t go out every single day. Next summer I will create a drip system, which may or may not be on a timer.
(((Faith))) a drip system will help keep a garden alive but to keep plants really happy moving a good sprinkler (or more depending on the size of your garden) around with a timer delivers the water where it’s needed most & cools the plants and mulch down on the really hot days when the temperature soars over 100 degrees by creating a moister atmosphere for them. On the very hot days here in Sydney I hand water both morning and evening.
Definitely going to give this a try
(((Lana))) so happy it works!