mexico

Olla irrigation, from clay pot to garden habit

January 27, 2022

An olla is a humble irrigation device: an unglazed clay vessel buried in soil, filled with water, and covered. Its usefulness comes from the material. Water can pass slowly through the pores of unglazed clay, entering the soil close to roots instead of wetting paths, leaves, and every empty patch between plants. The method is old, low-tech, and still sensible…

Dream gardens unearthed

January 17, 2022

A surrealist garden is not simply a weird garden. It is a garden where the familiar becomes unstable. A staircase rises into leaves and stops. A doorway frames nothing but sky. A clipped shrub looks too deliberate beside a plant that seems to have arrived from a dream. The effect can be playful, uneasy, beautiful, or all three at once.…