On the Celtic Altar
It’s another atypical day here on the hilltop. I have a very clear sense that the weather has been off for several months now. It just doesn’t feel much like Southern California, at least not as I know it. What keeps me from saying that more definitively is that this is only my third Spring living here, so I’m not sure I can speak so comprehensible about the weather patterns. My brother-in-law Bennett tells me there is nothing unusual about the weather and he has lived here for thirty-five years, so he must know. I’ve looked out over the next fifteen days of weather and even though that takes us into mid-April, I only see three warm days with the rest still in the mid-60’s, which is about five degrees cooler than normal. It still falls into the “comfortable” zone according to the Almanac, but I must be getting soft because it feels less comfortable than I am comfortable with.
The slightly cooler weather doesn’t seem to have slowed down the growing cycle. Spring has definitely sprung and the colors all around the yard are getting more and more vibrant every day. The flat-leaf aloes in the back are covered with rust red flowers that nicely complement all the yellow and orange ice plants spread around the hillside not mention the random smattering of wildflowers that are also mostly yellow and orange. The roadsides are currently covered with those yellow and orange wildflowers, so I shouldn’t be surprised by the color palette. What really pops nicely on the front hillside are the Pride of Madeira that have sprouted a range of blue to purple stalks that range from six inches to a foot in height. I don’t think I realized how many Pride of Madeira plants I had in the front until they made themselves so conspicuous with their lovely blue flowers.
While red, yellow and orange flowers all seem at home on this chaparral landscape, the blue flowers always look both out of place and more special for their vibrancy. That is one of the reasons why I have become partial to cobalt blue for the ceramic pots I have strategically placed all around the property to mix things up. I probably have a dozen of them of various sizes now and I try to mix them in with the plantings to create some added visual interest. Every time I try to find another color of pot, I gravitate back to the cobalt blue because it stands out in the landscape so well. The pots are only one of the things I have chosen to spread around the garden and along the paths. I have discussed in other posts the metal yard art that I have placed here and there. It all began with the Desert Steel ten-foot high Joshua Tree statue on the northwest corner of the property, out on the ridge line point that marks the end of one of my new paths. Then came the massive Bison Boulder at the bottom of the hill, followed by the leaping ram. You will recall that I found an eight-foot Mexican rooster for the southwest corner. I’ve placed a dozen benches all around the property, placed at logical view points and path-ends. Then there are the nine wind sculptures, mostly on the back hillside, but two of which are in the Cecil Garden, where they advise me of the prevailing wind direction, one that shows the coastal breeze and the other that warns me of the Santa Ana winds that blow in from the mountains to the east. I’ve also spoken of the boulder art with which I have adorned the hillside. It started with the giant agave and the zebra plant. I’ve added a howling coyote, lizards, Kokopellis, sunbursts, a moon rise, several hawks and a big California bear.
I’ve planted seven trees, four Palo Verdes, a Crepe Myrtle, and Irish Strawberry tree and an Indian Fig tree. They are all doing fine, though I often wonder whether the Crepe Myrtle will come back in the spring. Between the hundreds of plants and the six dozen flats of ice plants that I’ve put in, I’ve also laid down over a hundred yards of mulch and several yards of decomposed granite paths. I’ve installed several sets of steps with matching railings and put in several trellises. I even recently installed tow metal screens on which I placed a number of adornments of a southwestern nature to act as a backdrop to one of my beds of windflowers. I think I’ve put in at least twenty-five pounds of wildflower seeds in three or four places. And just when I think I nowhere else to go with my garden whimsy, I spot a place that I thought was beyond my area of interest only to find that it now looks barren and in need of something. This cannot continue forever, but it is still ongoing now.
One of the lonely spots was a rocky corner where the Hobbit House now sits with all the affectations and adornments you can imagine. It has wall paintings, boulder carvings, planters and so much more including a fully-planted 150 square-foot planted roof with about thirty flats of ice plants. The other lonely spot below and north of the Bison Boulder suddenly looked more an more empty, so i went out on a mission to find something of interest to fill the spot. The first thought was a large colorful sculpture, but I have scoured the internet for metal yard art and feel that I have found what there is to find that is not much more expensive than I care to spend. I know where I can find three more large copper finials, but they are both too expensive for my taste and don’t strike me as the right thing for what is a relatively wild spot.
So I went out to my favorite nursery in search of another large piece of driftwood. I have already placed nine pieces here and there across the hillside, but I feel they complement the plantings so well that another would fit right in. The folks at Waterwise Botanicals have almost run out of driftwood inventory other than smaller pieces. They say they have only one supplier (I’m guessing someone who digs up old dead roots and dries and sandblasts them), and he hasn’t been around for a while. But there was one large piece left and I bought it. I then had the inspiration to buy a large cobalt blue shallow put to set it in to combine two of my favorite elements. When I got it home and set it out on the driveway, it looked great, but I began to worry that at a distance, it might disappear into the hillside. Some time ago I had bought a half dozen long pieces of driftwood to use for railings and chose not to use them. The idea suddenly occurred to me that placing the new potted driftwood piece up on a tripod made of three of the driftwood rails might be a nice look with the potted artwork offered up to the heavens. Making a stable tripod is no easy feat, but with enough stainless bolts and a fourth piece to brace two of the legs, I managed to get it done and strong enough to hold the new potted driftwood.
When I hauled the elements down to the spot, which is the least accessible place on y property, I set it up and filled the cobalt bowl with native rocks as ballast. That added weight really dug the legs into the soft dirt of the hillside and made the whole installation feel very stable. As I stood back I suddenly realized that this looked different from the other things I had done on the hillside. It looked very primitive and almost religious. It had a sort of Druid look to it much like a rock cairn might. I have a small cairn in the Cecil Garden, but it is small enough to blend in. This Celtic Altar, as I have come to think of it, stands out. Rather than my concern that it would dissolve into the hillside, the tripod elevation makes this statue jump off the hillside. I have bought an array of colorful metal flowers that look exactly like those Pride of Madeira blooms only in various colors including cobalt blue. I will find a way to incorporate them on the Celtic Altar to soften the look and make it look less serious and Druidic.