Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Lola Stanton
We featured Lola’s great wall and pond yesterday, but today we see a view of a different part of her property, the arbor that signals the transition between her yard and the wilder areas beyond.
Lola says, “The round bed in front of the arbor came first. I saw something similar in a magazine and I built it with rocks from our property. I tried different plants but the mint in the foreground and the lamb’s ears behind it took over and they look pretty together. Then came the gate. Originally I wanted a red Japanese Shinto gate, but I love that blue and chose it instead. I stained it with watered-down outdoor latex paint so that it would not peel. It still looks good after two years. The gate leads to the back of the property and my husband always mows a path going through it. The cats tend to use it when they go out wandering.”
Simple and beautiful. Thanks again, Lola! **the second photo is of a painting that Lola created of this area. Again, beautiful!**
Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Lola Stanton
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Comments
watered down latex paint won't peel?? why not?
nice colored arch!
Such simple plants, and it all looks great.
Lola is certainly multi dimensional in her array of talents...her gardening is done with an artist's eye and her painting is done with a gardener's eye. Both are lovely.
Lovely, dimensional painting. I can't wait to see your interpretation of the new rock wall and perennials!
That's a lovely wildflower meadow, surrounded with what appears to be an abandoned Christmas tree farm of white pine, a great wildlife refuge. I suggest rough mowing that meadow in late summer/early fall to maintain its health and encourage a greater profusion of wildflowers. And I like the mowed path, I'd mow the entire perimeter for winter snowshoeing.
The watered down latex paint becomes a stain, which will not peel, rather than a shell of paint, which will peel. This is really useful with pressure treated wood structures, where regular paint can be a peeling disaster.
I have used this idea on on outdoor deck flooring and outdoor wooden furniture.
Absolutely gorgeous
WWROSS: you are correct, diluting water based paint enables it to better penetrate. It is also beneficial to throughly wet the lumber, a few times so that it's more saturated, and then paint. As the moisture in the wood evaporates it will pull the pigments in deeper by hydrolic action... then the paint may not need thinning unless one wants a more subdued tone (it's a good idea to make tests on scrap lumber or in an inconspicuous area. The same works with painting masonary. It's also important to not do this in direct sun, the longer the drying time the deeper the pigments will penetrate.
Your garden is lovely and the blue gate suits the plants in the garden. It would be nice to know what medium was used in the painting. It's hard to tell on the computer screen.
One further comment, on my first visit to Japan, I believe that I was told by our guide that Shinto temples, shrines, and gates are more simple (similar to the gate above). They are left mostly unpainted. You may sometimes see some white trim in the shrines and on parts of the gate but they are mostly bare wood. I was told that the red gates are Chinese in origin. You see them at Buddhist temples which are more ornate and painted. The temple pillars are often red or have red trim. Red gates mark the entrance to China Town in Yokohama.
It's nice that you chose to use a color that compliments your garden. The blue seems to be the right choice.
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