Scheider Garden Part IV

We will finish up Paul and Dot's garden today. It was a long tour but there was just so much to see. Pictures sometimes do not convey the feel of a garden. Though I sure wish they could since you know the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words." I wonder where that saying came from because with garden blogging it does not seem to work that way. 

Can you see the metal artwork hanging in a tree? It is red and looks somewhat like a ship Christopher Columbus would have sailed.

This artwork was one of my favorites. It is an orb filled with what looks like broken windshield glass. It was a beauty. The glass almost looks like gems.

I took this picture to show one of my favorite conifers. This is a Japanese cedar. It is called 'Yoshino', Cryptomeria japonica. I plan to plant one on the new land once the house is built. In the meantime Paul was very kind to give me a seedling Japanese plume cedar. I am very, VERY excited about it.

This was a nicely colored bottle tree made from rebar.

Farmer Fix-it, aka the driver on this day, enjoyed the garden tour and making new friends. He was quite impressed with Paul's garden, though I think his garden style leans more towards the formal. The artwork throughout the whole garden was really something we both liked a whole lot.

This bamboo sculpture reminded me of a teepee.

This abstract art was quite interesting and made a large presence in the garden.

How about a hanging urn with its own bowling ball? What a great idea!

A garden shed fit right into the shade garden. The rock wall and textures Paul used in this area were very interesting and looked great. Considering this tour took place in mid-September when most plants are on their way out I was quite impressed with all of the happy plants in Paul's garden.

Another great piece made from old tree limbs. As many trees and limbs we are cutting on the property I think I should get going on doing something like this too!

Finally, a rock cairn. I've always loved these but have never had enough rocks or creativity to come up with one for my garden. That is changing. Our land has TONS of rocks, mainly in the form of red chert but I think I may be able to find a few large rocks with which I can create a cairn on the property. Look for that to be an upcoming project. 

I hope you enjoyed my views of Paul and Dot's garden in Portland Tennessee. I took 157 photos and have only published about 40 on these four blog posts. The garden was truly a work of art....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Schneider Garden Part III

As we continue around Paul and Dot's very large and beautifully maintained art and plant garden we come upon another sculpture using trees. It is quite an artful poise of the big pieces of a tree trunk don't you think?

Back behind the house there was a beautiful patio with a neat staircase surrounded by tons of touchable and architectural plants and sculptures. The above picture is of a spikey thing (Opuntia sp) and a soft thing ( the crytomeria and spruce?). The sunlight reflected off from the vignette nicely.

Paul is known for his collections. He has several collections but one that is extra special is those of his plants that need really good drainage. To ensure the good drainage Paul made several hypertufa pots. And wow on the pots! Some were really REALLY large. I can't even imagine the work it took to make all the pots, then to fill them with soil and plant. Ouch on planting cacti! I hope Paul wears gloves.

Here is that lovely staircase I was talking about. As you come around the left side of the home you encounter this easily traversed staircase up to a raised patio. I just loved the sculpture on the left. How clever is it? Just paint some pots, and stack them with some cement rounds and there you have it!

Stepping back from the patio and staircase we see a long view of the area. Again, this area is raised and was surrounded by many specimen plants.

Here is another scree garden (raised bed with good sharp draining soil or mixture of rocks) complete with a beautiful egg like sculpture. The colors are some of my favorite colors-RED/WHITE AND BLUE!

And here is Paul himself. Paul is a fun loving guy who is most passionate about gardening and loves to share it all with others. This trait is priceless for folks like me who like to learn from experts in their fields. There are many great gardeners out there who don't share a thing:( Paul is not one of them. The fun loving comes in with the beer in the hand. I took several pictures of Paul and when I told him the one I selected showed him with a beer in his hand, he said "Good!" If the truth were told though, I could not get a shot of him without a beer in his hand:)

Since Paul grows a lot of bamboo in his garden you can expect it to be the subject of some sculptures and garden art such as this fanciful arrangement in a barrel painted blue.

This sculpture is one of several metal sculptures and I think a departure from the majority of Paul's sculptures that I have shown in that does not contain a natural element from the garden, such as tree branches or stone. It is a very large sculpture and I loved it. It is hard to see it with the background but in person it is quite a presence....

in the garden....

There is one more post showcasing Paul and Dot's garden so come back Wednesday to be sure to check it out. I think I even have a picture of my 'driver' (the 'Mr. Tina' as some folks call him) in that post....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Schneider Garden Part II

We shall continue our tour of Paul and Dot's wonderful garden with some views of a colorful blue bottle tree.

This tree was at one time a growing toothache tree, also sometimes called the prickly ash tree. This tree was killed by voles. Voles kill a lot of trees and are awful garden pests. Just had to add that part. Once the tree died Paul painted it and left it as a sculpture in the garden. It is festooned with flags, which you will see two pictures down.

Bamboo is the word of the day in the garden. There were several types of bamboos growing here in their own special little mini forests. It was astounding just how dense the shade was under the bamboo.

Here is a long shot of the toothache tree and blue bottle tree.

This shot shows a few of the bamboo forests. There were large comfortable paths through the forests.

Once you come out on the other side of the path you run into a garden that was delightfully edged with large wine bottles and which contained the other bowling ball pyramid. Looking at the below picture you can see the long shot of the wine bottle edged garden.

Of course you must first get past the blue hanging tree.

In a back corner there was a very neat garden shed/solar greenhouse. This greenhouse was awesome!

It came complete with a heater, shelves, a fan, and a gravel floor. I can see it being a delightful place to hang out on a cold sunny winter day because of all the many plants Paul stores in it....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

A Visit to a Special Garden in Portland Tennessee: The Schneider Garden

 Driveway leading you to the house.
Boy do I have a treat for readers of this blog! A wonderful garden tour in the garden of both an artist, and a plant collector. The combination is quite a unique combination and can, at times, become overwhelming. Then at other times (such as this one), can be so amazing you just want to take 157 pictures and try to post them all. Yup, that is what I did this past Saturday when Farmer Fix-it and I traveled all the way from our northwest Middle Tennessee home to Portland Tennessee. The trip was worth it as the day was wonderfully cool with bright sunshine, and the company found at Paul and Dot Schneider's garden was even better!

 The plantings alongside a busy highway.
Being a member of the Perennial Plant Society of Middle Tennessee (PPSMT) has its benefits. I have been a member of this wonderful society for about eight years now and not only am I a member, I am the editor of the quarterly ten page newsletter, administrator of their FaceBook page, and have even been privileged to speak to this esteemed plant society just this past year! Speaking to them was never ever on my agenda and wow, was I honored because sometimes local plant people can wait ten years to speak to our group! Another little known benefit of being a member of the PPSMT is the fact that we members get the opportunity to tour fabulous gardens in the Middle Tennessee area. I must confess, this was only my second garden tour and I know I miss an awful lot of great garden tours. I really wish I could see them all but the travel time and distance is a bit much for me. 

A xeric garden with specimen plants growing in scree. 
 It just so happened that I have known Paul for several years having met him at the PPSMT meetings. Paul is a plant collector of several kinds of plants. Included in his collection are: xeric plants, conifers, and bamboo! You shall see some of them in this post and the following three posts I have prepared to showcase this garden. So, Farmer Fix-it and I took the day off from working on our land to go on a date day-garden touring! We had an awesome day too. Many thanks to Paul and Dot for opening their home and garden to the members of the PPSMT. And as a side note, many thanks to all people who open their gardens to tours. This is not always an easy or desirable thing to do and takes a lot of work!

A very unique feature of Paul and Dot's garden is the number of sculptures throughout the garden. Sculptures start right outside along the roadside and lead on up to the house and all around the house. Sculptures are made from not only natural elements such as the above rock sculpture, but from many man made items. It is clear Paul has a great eye for art and beauty.

This particular sculpture contains no less than 92 bowling balls! It was one of two bowling ball pyramids to be found in this garden. You'll see the other one in a later post. These pictures are in no particular order--they were mainly uploaded as we saw the views in the garden. I like to think I could be organized and group pictures of sculptures together in one post, the bamboo in another, and so on, but there were just so many things to see and so many pictures to sort that I gave up sorting photographs.

Here is another bowling ball sculpture. Note the natural and man made elements in this joining of earth, wood, and stone.

Yet another beautiful sculpture. The artwork in this garden was SO amazing! It was amazing not only for its beauty but for how it all fit into the garden. The artwork was one with the garden. This is a rare thing in many gardens where artwork can overwhelm a garden. Not so in the Schneider garden. 

Earth, wood, and stone again. How cool is this?? The brilliant use of the dead trees on the property was quite clever. It was almost as if Paul had planned it all out ahead of time.

I had to show the winterberries. Everyone was taken with these and I asked Farmer Fix-it what they were. That is another note, most all of the plants were labeled in an easy to read fashion. Farmer Fix-it (the non gardener) said holly. How smart was he? This was before he looked at the sign and let me tell you, knowing any plants was a change for Farmer Fix-it. This particular winterberry was 'Red Sprite' with a pollinator of 'Jim Dandy' in the center of the grouping. It was a brilliant display.

We finish up this post with another tree trunk that is sprouting some plant pots containing some unique specimens. Paul and Dot's garden is a mixture of sun and shade. Can you see the large windmill palm in the background to the right? This fella likes the sun and is in a sheltered spot on the southern side of the house. It is quite a large specimen for a palm--in Middle Tennessee!

There are three more posts on this wonderful garden so come on back and check them out!

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden