November 18, 2009 – 6:29 pm
Sprouted in the patio behind the Art League Houston building at 1953 Montrose, home of the Inversion Coffee House: 3 giant mushrooms, built out of rebar, soil, and moss by artists Nicola Parente and Divya Murthy.
And how are they doing? Not so well, reports the Chronicle’s Molly Glentzer:
One is planted with herbs; one is planted with Texas natives; and the third is planted with non-native ornamentals. They’ve pretty much been left to survive or thrive on their own through next year, and the artists are perhaps expecting that only the native-planted mushroom will survive.
Just one catch. When we looked on Saturday, they all needed water.
Nothing lives in a black plastic pot for long without a little help from the gardener. And biodegradable brown pots would’ve been more environmentally friendly — not to mention better-looking.
Inside the Art League building: the second part of the installation, which Parente and Murthy put together from debris they collected from the surrounding eight-block area.
Photos: Nicola Parente (top); Aaron Courtland (bottom)
Read more about: 77006, Art, Gardening, Landscape, Montrose
November 16, 2009 – 8:56 pm
“My grandfather, Milton Brucker - designer of the capsule, passed away in 2007 at the age of 94. He would have been delighted to see your innovative use for it!” [Michael Brucker, commenting on CLUI in Houston: Attack of the Pod People]
Read more about: Art, Comments, Landscape
October 13, 2009 – 11:49 pm
“Look at all of those parking lots! I always get so depressed when I look at views of Houston from above…..” [Merrie, commenting on Four New Houston Metro Rail Routes, As Seen from Above]
Read more about: Comments, Landscape, Parking, Parking-Lots
September 23, 2009 – 5:23 pm
How heavy are those pieces in Plodes Studio’s new collection of outdoor furniture? At least light enough to tote down to White Oak Bayou off Studewood for this photo shoot. Houston designer John Paul Plauché — who often evokes aspects of the local landscape in his interior furnishings — calls this new line “Float.”
And it looks like each piece just might. The extruded lounge, couch, chaise, and side table are made of foam coated with hard rubber, and are available in 6 colors.
The line’s official launch takes place this Thursday night at Montrose’s Peel Gallery.
Photos: Plodes Studio
Read more about: 77007, Furniture, Home Decor, Houston Architects, Houston Heights, Landscape, Modern Design
September 18, 2009 – 3:35 pm
“One of the things I love about this city is how much of it is downright rural, just a few miles from downtown. Huge lots with little houses, people keeping horses and riding them along the bayous.” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: All’s Well on That Tidwell]
Read more about: Comments, Landscape
August 31, 2009 – 2:18 pm
“Looks like someone’s getting ready to build,” reports a Swamplot reader about this lot on the corner of Westheimer and Helena, at the very lowest end of Lower Westheimer:
All of the brown earth you see in the photo was formerly a tree or bush of some type. See the steel gate I’m taking the picture through? Just on the other side of it (about 3 yards from the steel gate), there was a chain link fence that provided shade, shelter and ‘hideability’ to local bums. If I had taken that photo the day before, you would have seen a lot of brush, bums and beer cans.
Even the bushes in the ’sidewalk’ area (the sidewalk stops at this lot) were removed.
It could just be a beautification or bum-preventative project, but due to the midtown/downtown/Montrose location, I’m guessing that someone plans to construct a business there.
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77006, Avondale, Landscape, Lots, Lower Westheimer, Montrose
August 25, 2009 – 9:52 am
That 1916 house on Teas Nursery property at 4400 Bellaire Blvd. — now home to the company’s landscaping business — was his birthplace. He died yesterday. “His grandfather, Edward ‘Papa’ Teas, Sr., whose family had been in the nursery business since 1843 starting in Indiana, moved his family to Bellaire from Missouri in 1910 to grow and sell produce, but turned to landscaping when a freeze in 1913 wiped out his business. He was responsible for introducing azaleas and crepe myrtle to the area, so legend goes, and for planting some of Houston’s enduring natural beauty, including Rice University’s oaks. John Teas helped plant the oaks along the Rice campus on Fannin Street as a boy. The family’s nursery businesses extended from Fort Bend County through Conroe, but the roots were sunk the deepest in Bellaire, where the nursery and landscaping business continue to this day.” [Bellaire Examiner]
Read more about: Bellaire, Gardening, Houston History, Landscape, Oak, Trees
August 14, 2009 – 7:23 pm
“Also, over the past 50 years, high-impact building and roadway development have reduced the amount of permeable surface to accept stormwater, increasing flooding and pollution. Stream flow speeds in Houston, for example, have increased from under 5,000 cu ft per second in 1930 to about 27,500 cfs in 2000, says the U.S. Geological Survey. With stream-flow increases come a greater potential for flooding. The actual stream flow from 2001’s Tropical Storm Allison in Houston’s Brays Bayou peaked sharply at about 34,000 cfs, 20 hours from the start of runoff. This compares to a more gradual stream flow in 1915, before development. . . . Allison, which caused $5 billion of damage in Houston, would have been a nonevent even 50 years ago because the natural landscape would have absorbed the water, say sources.” [GreenSource]
Read more about: Flooding, Houston History, Land Development, Landscape
“. . . We by far are not paving our wilderness in concrete. The Katy Prairie represents and extremely small portion of area getting developed. The land you see in the Katy Prairie exists throughout south central Louisiana were it’ll likely never be developed. The Texas Coastal plains is quite undeveloped also. All this crying over really nothing. Wildlife is quite more adaptable than we give them credit for and they’ll move easily where they have to. I’m more and more convinced that people that live in Houston that go after developers for building the outer suburbs don’t realized how much is not developed when they leave the city. I guess they fly everywhere versus drive. The drive from Houston to Dallas alone should demonstrate how uninhabited this state is. Better yet, drive US 59 in either direction from Houston.” [kjb434, commenting on Investing in the Grand Parkway]
Read more about: Comments, Development Strategies, Katy Prairie, Landscape, Wildlife
Sure, “immersive landscapes” — where visitors are supposed to feel like they’re just hanging out with the chimps and rhinos and giraffes in the wild — are the latest craze in zoo design. But what’s really the most innovative aspect of the new 13-acre African Forest the Houston Zoo is planning for its southernmost quadrant, at the intersection of North MacGregor and Golf Course Dr. in Hermann Park?
The project
. . . will feature closed-circuit TV connections with area hospitals, allowing patients to view animal keeper presentations or simply to watch animals in their near-natural habitats.
[Houston Zoo President Deborah] Cannon said the programs first will be made available to children’s hospitals, then expanded. Ultimately, they may be made available to local schools, she said.
At last, an effort to capture some of that technological synergy swirling around the Houston Zoo-Med Center nexus! Best of all is the Chronicle’s own map identifying the project’s location, which is a gift to the city all by itself:
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Read more about: 77030, Attractions, Hermann Park, Houston Zoo, Landscape, Proposed Developments, Texas Medical Center
Reader Jeromy Murphy sends in this photo he took this morning along the banks of Buffalo Bayou, from the jogging path in Buffalo Bayou Park under I-45. What’s going on over there across the water?
While walking back to my office from a downtown meeting, I noticed workers installing new sod along the Bayou. I wonder how long this will last considering the weather report? Anyone along the ship channel need some new sod? It’s probably headed their way.
What’s wrong with a little sod freshening?
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Read more about: 77002, Buffalo Bayou, Buffalo Bayou Park, Downtown, Flooding, Gardening, Landscaping, Lawn Care
Inspired by a visit to a South Florida demonstration farm that emphasizes resourcefulness — “they’ve built things like a well pump from simple bicycle parts, irrigation systems from cinder blocks, and terraces from old tires,” he notes — summer resident James M. Harrison begins “to notice similar ways that people in Houston’s Fifth Ward are harvesting their own backyard crops. Just up the block, one of my neighbors is growing banana trees on his driveway. He’s been able to do it by building a raised bed from cinder blocks against a fence, and using soil that he composts in his backyard. A couple of days ago, we collected basil leaves from the neighbors herb garden, and used them to make pesto. It went great with the tomatoes from our own back yard. And over the weekend, I snacked on figs, cucumbers, and citrus in a Community Garden on Houston’s south side with some friends.” [Neighborhood //#5]
Read more about: 77020, 77026, Fifth Ward, Gardening, Landscape
“Kids don’t need yards- not grassy ones anyway. For a 2 year old, concrete is complete perfection. He practices his tricycle riding. He pushes Tonka trucks at near warp speed. We inflate ‘the pool’ with no worries of it killing the grass underneath. Balls bounce and bubbles pop and sidewalk chalk art covers every inch of visible ground. We just had another baby- another boy. Like our 1st, the new one will lay on a blanket on the deck. He’ll be shaded by the car port and we’ll have no fear of accidentally laying him down in a bed of fire ants. We bought our older son a giant playhouse to help occupy him while we are attending to the demands of a newborn. It has a gas station on one side and his little scooter can easily glide down his ‘road.’ The basketball hoop on the other side benefits from a hard bouncing surface.” [The Heights Life]
Read more about: 77009, Gardening, Landscape, North-Norhill
Shadow Creek Ranch residents worried that the Blue Ridge Landfill just across FM 521 would turn into a 170-ft.-tall mountain of smelly garbage can breathe deeply again, now that the City of Pearland has reached a settlement agreement with the landfill’s operator, Republic Services (formerly Allied Waste).
Among the most important changes: the landfill will be limited to its current height of 60 ft. for 12 more years. Will that be enough time for Shadow Creek Ranch’s homebuilders and Las Vegas developers to sell off whatever remaining inventory they own in the master-planned community? After that, the pile of trash will be restricted to hillock status, at 130 ft. tall — “for an additional 8 years.”
Also good for home sales: Garbage trucks will be banned from using Shadow Creek Parkway west of FM 521!
More details of the agreement from City Attorney Darrin Coker, quoted in The Journal of Pearland:
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Read more about: 77584, Fort Bend County, Fresno, Landfill, Landfills, Pearland, Shadow-Creek-Ranch, Toxic Sites
Spotting the first bloom of the season on the crape myrtle she and her husband planted way back when at their Meyerland home brings up fond memories for homeowner Annie Sitton:
When we planted this tree, it was about ten feet tall with a large root ball. We’ve all seen bad guys in movies digging graves. They make it look so easy. Well, let me tell you…digging even a small hole in the earth is difficult work. When it was my turn at the shovel, I couldn’t believe the energy it took. After about ten minutes into my digging career, my shovel hit something hard…clunk. I screamed, “Buried treasure!” I had always said there was something special about this piece of land.
Oh . . . there was!
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Read more about: 77096, Gardening, Hazards, Landscape, Meyerland
Comment of the Day: Landing the Brucker Survivor Capsule
“My grandfather, Milton Brucker - designer of the capsule, passed away in 2007 at the age of 94. He would have been delighted to see your innovative use for it!” [Michael Brucker, commenting on CLUI in Houston: Attack of the Pod People]