Flat Tire Decor Review

My friend and garden blog guru, MrBrownThumb, asked me to join a group of garden bloggers reviewing products from Flat Tire Decor. I would receive one of their products for no charge, and provide a blog post of my experience and opinion. Other than receiving the product, I was not compensated for this review, and these are my honest opinions.

Flat Tire Decor is a Milwaukee (West Allis) based company that recycles/reuses old tires by turning them into footwear and other products.  Milwaukee company and keeping tires out of landfills, how great is that? I received their largest basket, the 'Newport', a two handled trug-type shape that's about 8"high with an 8" base and 12" top opening. (Milwaukee folks - you can get these at any of the 4 Elliott's Ace Hardware stores)

Kiddo suggested I use the Newport to chill drinks. This is a great use. We like serving food buffet style, and are always looking for different ways to present guests with self serve options for many different beers, wines or soda. I know, I have one smart Kiddo, thanks for noticing. He earned a pack of his fav Sprecher Cream Soda as a reward for coming up with the idea.

 My other favorite use was on the back of my bike. The stiff nature of the tires, allowed the sides to hold up to the bungee cords. The open top allowed me to safely carry plants and other farmer's market finds which could get damaged in the pannier or messenger bags.

Ironically, the most obvious use of the Newport was my least favorite. I am a huge fan of using trugs in the garden, and already own three. I mix dirt and fertilizer in them, fill them with weeds, use them to tote tools, plants and other things around the garden. However, for this purpose, I wasn't overly fond of the Newport. A bit too small, handles felt a bit clunky in my hands.

However, I so liked the idea of using the Flat Tire Decor items with my bike, that I exchanged several tweets with the owner (their twitter account is @flattiredecor) suggesting they make a bike basket version. An oval similar in size to the Newport with a way to attach to handlebars would be great. Even better with an easy on off feature to allow the user to carry it around while shopping and then quickly put on the bike. Something about using waste from an auto while using my bike as transportation makes me smile.

San Antonio Botanic Garden

I'm a huge fan of garden touring, be it private gardens, urban gardens or official Botanic gardens. I work this into my travels whenever and wherever possible. On my late March trip to San Antonio, I spent the afternoon at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. When I left Milwaukee we still had snow on the ground, so spending a few hours wandering around plants with flowers and trees with leaves was a much needed tonic for my soul.

The Botanical Garden is laid out on 38 acres with the most formal areas closest to the entrance. You enter through a carriage house, which includes an interesting looking restaurant and a nice gift shop. Restrooms are in the carriage house and in locations around the gardens.

Looking at the garden map, I decided on a clockwise circle around the garden, allowing me to explore all areas. Immediately on entering I was wowed by a stand of poppies in full bloom. I am a huge fan of poppies, but have never been successful in establishing them or growing them from seed in the masses I saw here.

Past the poppies were the formal gardens and the rose garden. Early roses were blooming, but I'd guess I was about a month early for peak spring bloom. I was quite taken with one unmarked rose with multi hued flowers (changing from a red bud through multi to yellow mature flower). Reading the label on  'Zephrine Drouhin' (in bud, not flower) I was reminded of how much I loved this nearly thornless, sweet scented beauty in my old garden.

 Just past the formal garden was an area called the Watersaver Lane. An exhibit of 6 small "houses" each landscaped in a theme with notes about water and fertilizer required to maintain these. I loved the concept, but wish the wording on the waste of water and chemical need of a typical American lawn was spelled out even stronger.

Continuing around the path were more wild, natural areas planted in natives designed to mimic the East Texas piney woods and the South Texas hill country. Once past this area was the Childrens Vegetable Garden. This was one impressive teaching garden.

 The Botanical Garden has a series of conservatories which surround a sunken garden area. 

 Next up was the fountain area and the Japanese Garden. I smiled at the rubber duckies in the fountain, but was told by an employee there were only there for spring break. In fact, she was removing them while I was there.

Interesting sculpture was doted all through the gardens, the most memorable being the chair tree.

The Botanical Garden is about 4 miles from the downtown/Alamo area. Timing forced me to take a cab out to the gardens ($18), however, the garden is easily accessible via the number 7 bus which runs hourly to and from the Alamo area. I was able to take advantage of the bus ($1.50) for the ride home. So glad I made it to the garden, and hope to visit again in another season.

This is the second part of my San Antonio trip report. The first part focuses on the Riverwalk area. It can be found here.

Rocky Mountain High, part 2....taking time to smell the flowers

The Saturday departure date of my recent trip to Denver allowed me to sneak in a little garden time amid all the beer, breweries and Great American Beer festival. Part one of this trip report focused on all that, this part is all about the Denver Botanic Garden.

I've followed (and purchased) the books by Lauren Springer for some time - beginning with The Undaunted Garden. (And find it fitting that she married another one of my favorite garden authors, Scott Ogden, and together have a company called Plant Driven Design). The interest in Lauren's writing introduced me to the Denver Botanic Garden, which has held a spot on my must visit list for far too long.

Really far too long. What a delightful and inspiring garden. The current special exhibit is an installation of Henry Moore sculptures placed throughout the space. (Click on any of these images to bring them up in a larger format)

Shortly after entering the garden, I was wow-ed by the long double perennial/mixed border allee. Just stunned.

I could have spent hours in just this area, which made even more special by the sound of music flowing from the private event (looked and sounded like an Indian wedding)  in the formal garden just past this area.

This wasn't the only spot within the gardens set up for a private event. The South African Plaza was set with chairs, and had signs warning it would be closed later in the day. Tho' it was the containers that caught my eye here.

Another intriguing aspect of the gardens is the use of water, often combined with sculpture. The water forms a mirror like surface, reflecting the sculpture, adding depth to the space.

Additional areas highlighted more perennials, annuals, edibles, woodland/shade plants, roses, water-wise plants, a Japanese garden, and in the Asian garden a flowing pebble walkway echoing the small stream which ran next to it. 

And of course, the flowers....beckoning both the bees and me. A great garden one I hope to visit again soon, to explore further.