Simple Tips to Bring Autumn to your Front Door this Season

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Wreaths or Swag

Wreaths or swags are possibly the most common elements that are used to décor the front door during autumn. What you have to take care is if the front door wreath is complementing to the design and color of your porch and entryway. Traditional harvest, autumn foliages, artificial or natural fruits and flowers, peacock feathers, acorns, pinecones, etc. are common materials used for making such wreaths. You can either buy or custom-make such a wreath and hang on your front door.

Instead of wreaths, you can go for buckets full of fall flowers too. Attach a hook to your door and hang one or two rustic-style bucket filled with fall blooms like small sized flowers and red-colored berries. Swag wreaths offer a gorgeous way to display rustic elements like this Autumn Wreath Swag are nice additions to welcome guests. Visit our fall wreaths on How to Make a Burlap Wreath!

Use Fall Harvest & Plants

Gourds and pumpkins are common fall harvest and are essential part of fall décor. Line the front steps of your home with metallic or wooden gourds and pumpkins and pots of fall flowers like asters, mums, heuchera, verbena, oxalis, etc. Hang a door-framing garland made of black feathers. This garland and pumpkins will bring an early Halloween feel into your porch.

Weekend Gardening: Edibles to Grow This Spring

How to Grow Container Herbs

Herbs are ideal for container gardens. They are easy to plant and thrive and they are low-maintenance. Having your fresh, favorite herbs ready to be used is the ultimate key to creating delightful dishes. Some of the herbs like mint are better to be grown in containers since they can grow easily and take up a lot of space if planted in a garden. Some ideas for herbs to be planted are oregano, parsley, thyme, and cilantro, all of which can be harvested and dried if needed. Other ideas are to plant basil, lemongrass, and rosemary. Those herbs require larger containers if not planted in a garden. Here are some herbs we love to grow.

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Weekend Gardening: Learn to Grow Strawberries in a Container

Strawberries are great to be grown in containers or a garden. They can be harvested and turned into delicious marmalades, desserts, sauces or ice cream and even be frozen to be used at a later time. Containers are ideal for growing strawberries because they will grow over the edges and not get in touch with the soil, making them easy to thrive and eat. Hanging containers can also add to any balcony’s appeal. Just make sure to plant a lot of strawberry plants, since you will want to have many of those aromatic fruits to enjoy.

How about a yummy Citrus Plant for your Weekend Gardening?

Although many think citrus trees grow only in warm climates, you can succeed in growing your own lemon, lime or orange tree even in colder areas. Just plant the tree in a large pot and move it into a warmer place – even inside – in the cold months. They may not produce very big citrus fruits, but they will be for sure filled with taste, juice, and fragrance.

These are just some ideas of many edibles you could plant that are easy to grow and to maintain without much effort. The effect, though, of having your own oranges or basil to use is so much greater than the effort it takes. Just go ahead and plant your favorite edible to enjoy them throughout spring, summer and even fall!

For more gardening ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Happy DIY Saturday! Now that late-summer is set upon us – don’t think you can forget about your garden and landscaping. From trees and shrubs to simple themes to adding decorative outdoor handcrafted products to your late-summer home.  Watch a video on choosing the right trees and shrubs for your home and then look at these creative trends for your outdoor home.

Image via: Lori Scott Landscape

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Video – Choosing trees and shrubs for landscaping

Link to Video –> Choosing trees and shrubs for landscaping

Late summer ideas for your outdoor home

Late summer is probably the best  season to work on your landscaping. The abundance of sunlight makes it favorable for plants to grow. It is also the time when the climate is so vibrant that you can showcase your landscape to your guests. Well, summer won’t be known for outdoor season for nothing.

Image via: Mary Prince

Enhancing your outdoor landscape isn’t an easy task. You can’t do it overnight. Landscaping needs thorough planning to have a desirable output. You have to know which one works for your area.

Outdoor Late Summer Landscaping Tips

To help you out on your landscape, check out these 3 outdoor trends for your summer landscaping:

• Go for energy efficient automation

Almost everything today are automated. So, why not try it in your landscape. You can install an automated lighting system, water sprinklers and  many more. Automation doesn’t only take your routine tasks but also save your power consumption. For instance, you don’t have to worry about not turning your lights off when you wake up late, automation can do it for you. Isn’t that cool?

Image via: Autumn Skies Landscapes

• Work on themes

A theme design works perfectly in any home setting. This idea works in various ways. You can setup your outdoor landscape way ahead of your planned summer party.  You can work on a theme that complements your party like a fairy tale, superheroes or any theme that  you think of. But even if you will not host a party, themed design is a perfect choice.

Image via: Autumn Skies Landscapes

• Choose handcrafted products

If you’re looking for unique designs and eco-friendly, this one is perfect for you. Handcrafted decorations are typically made of recycled or eco-friendly materials. The majority of the process in making these products are by hand. You can be sure that each product is designed and made by skilled craftsmen. You will be amazed at how these products transform your landscape into a natural work of art.

Any of these landscape ideas will definitely turn your outdoor landscape into a picturesque view. It’s just a matter of implementing  the summer landscape that fits your preference.

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, & Stagetecture’s YouTube Channel, click here.

As winter is coming towards an end, more and more homeowners are starting to pay attention to their gardens.  Get a head start this year by tackling your landscaping and tree trimming goals today!  Planting flowers, shrubs, and plants may seem like an easy task.  After all, how hard can it be to take a plant out of the pot and find an open area to plant it in?  For landscaping beginners, much of landscaping is the preparation and the planning.  Without a good plan, it is hard to achieve the garden of your dreams.  Here’s some quick pointers for you beginners:

Image via: Houzz

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1. Start with an Image Board:

To give you a better idea of how you would like your final product to look like, gather some inspiration from the internet or from gardening magazines.  Take note of flowers or plants that you see on your daily morning drive.  Envision how these flowers and plants will look like in your yard.

2. Create a Mapped Plan:

Once you have a general gist of how you would like your garden to look, you are ready to move onto actually planning.  Things to ask yourself and consider: how big is your yard, how much money are you willing to spend, do you want your garden to be plant heavy or garden heavy.  You may not know what kind of plants you plan on getting, but you should have a general idea of what type of plants go where.

Image via: Sunset

3. Pick out Your Plants:

Now comes the best part of gardening: picking out the plants!  A few tips and pointers to keep in mind: color, growth cycle, how well the plants work together, and basic care instructions.  For landscaping, you want to pick out plants that work with each other.  There should be some uniformity when picking out plants.  After all it would be silly to plant a cactus in the middle of a bed of daisies.

4. Layer Plants:

Layering plants is an important, yet often overlooked technique in landscaping.  The general idea of layering is to have shorter plants in the front and taller plants in the back.  Just like taking group photos, you want the shortest people in the front and the tallest in the back, so you can clearly see everyone.  This should be taken into consideration when you are purchasing your plants.  It is always good to have a variety of plants.

Image via: Providence Ltd Design

5. Maintain it Year Round:

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to creating your own garden and landscaping is letting your plants roam free after a landscape project.  Your garden will not tend itself and your plants probably won’t grow the way you want them to grow.  Just because you are done with landscaping, doesn’t mean you are done tending and maintaining your plants.  Having a great yard and garden takes constant work, but it’s well worth it!

Emilie is a writer living in Cincinnati.  In her free time she enjoys blogging about nature.  She maintains a blog with topics related to Cincinnati tree removal.  Hopefully you found this article helpful and get started on your landscaping plans today!

For more outdoor ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago, I sat at my desk at my architectural job, and remembered hearing screams at the end of the hall. At first, it sounded like someone had played a silly joke on a co-worker, and then the entire office froze. As the hours went on, the rumors became reality, and all of our worlds were changed for a lifetime.

September 11, 2001 – The day will forever change all of our worlds

Image courtesy of Henry Wagner Photography

On this day, I ask you to remember why we inhabit this Earth. Why we all enjoy conversing with each other worldwide, every minute of the day. Embrace our differences, and celebrate our commonalities.

Enjoy your family, your friends, your opportunities, and the possibilities that come with each day. For tomorrow isn’t promised, but right now is.

To the world, take this moment of silence for those that are not here. For every second is valuable…

… Be Blessed

-Ronique

]]> https://stagetecture.com/world-rememberance-silence-for-911-10th-anniversary/feed/ 0 18069 https://stagetecture.com/awe-inspiring-design-look-at-911-national-memorial-nyc-10th-anniversary/ https://stagetecture.com/awe-inspiring-design-look-at-911-national-memorial-nyc-10th-anniversary/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:54:06 +0000 https://stagetecture.com/?p=18022 Entry #650, September 9, 2011

The National September 11th Memorial in New York City, New York

Image via: Kcoy

The National September 11 Memorial

is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.

The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.

Source – 911 Memorial

Names on the Memorials

THE NEARLY 3,000 names of the men, women, and children killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 will be inscribed on bronze parapets surrounding the twin Memorial pools.

The display of these names is the very heart of the Memorial. The design of the names parapet provides a direct relationship between the visitor, the names, and the water, allowing for a feeling of quiet reverence between the visitor and the Memorial.

Names will be stencil-cut into the parapets, allowing visitors to look through the names at the water, and to create paper impressions or rubbings of individual names. At night, light will shine up through the voids created by each letter of a name.

Source – 911 Memorial/Names

Sustainable Design

The Memorial plaza has been created as one of the most sustainable, green plazas ever constructed. Its irrigation, storm water and pest management systems will conserve energy, water and other resources.

Rainwater will be collected in storage tanks below the plaza surface. A majority of the daily and monthly irrigation requirements will be met by the harvested water.

The project is pursuing the Gold certification in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for New Construction program. LEED is a third party certification program for green building, design and construction. The plaza is also built to meet requirements of New York State Executive Order 11 and the WTC Sustainable Design Guidelines, which both promote environment-friendly practices.

This urban forest will flourish near adjacent green spaces, including Battery Park City, City Hall Park, Liberty Plaza, the churchyards at Liberty Church and St. Paul’s Chapel as well as the planned Liberty Park just south of the Memorial.

Source – 911 Memorial/Sustainable Design

Selecting Trees

Crews selected and harvested trees from within a 500-mile radius of the World Trade Center site, with additional ones coming from locations in Pennsylvania and near Washington, D.C. (Maryland), areas impacted on September 11, 2001.

Swamp white oaks (Quercus bicolor) were picked because of their durability and leaf color. In fall, the leaf color ranges from amber to a golden brown – and sometimes pink. The trees can grow to reach heights as tall as 60 feet in conditions similar to those on the plaza. The trees will never be identical, growing at different heights and changing leaves at different times, a physical reminder that they are living individuals.

Source – 911 Memorial/Selecting Trees

Plaza Details

With its grove of trees, the Memorial’s plaza is an actual green roof for the structure housing the 9/11 Memorial Museum, a train station and other facilities 70 feet below street level. Landscape architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners designed the plaza and a “suspended paving system” to support the swamp white oak trees growing on the plaza.

All Renderings – Squared Design Lab

The paving of the plaza sits on a series of concrete tables that suspend the plaza over troughs of nutrient-rich soil for the planted trees. The system’s design allows for stable pavement on which people can walk, while providing a space for uncompacted, or loose soil, for healthy tree growth. Many times urban trees live in stressful conditions because they are planted underneath pavements with compacted soil, potentially chocking off the nutrient and water supply to roots.

What a beautiful tribute to a horrific event. May all the families, coworkers, and friends worldwide be touched by the addition of the September 11th National Monument, on the 10th Anniversary – September 11, 2011

For more architecture ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Every year I’m excited when the camelia’s start to bloom in our yard, because that means spring is only moments away. Then I look at the rest of the yard and realize, “oh no, spring is on its way!” From the grass to the shrubs and flower beds, it is time to start thinking about how to cut down costs that will be help save you money, time, and energy!

In This Old House, I found a good article on how to help save on precious Earth resources – and your own! See these  11 ways to save money on your landscaping:

Lawn

1. Limit the expanse of yard devoted to perpetually thirsty turf grass.

2. Cut back on fertilizer, mow high, and leave mulched clippings on the lawn to shade the soil and reduce evaporation. When you set up the sprinklers, make sure water is being absorbed; if you see runoff or puddles, you’re adding water too fast.

3. Here’s a simple test to determine when your lawn needs water: Walk on the grass. If the blades spring back, hold off on watering. If you see your footprints, switch on the sprinklers—unless rain is in the forecast.

Flower Beds and Borders

4. Water just the roots of your perennials, annuals, and shrubs—don’t shower the leaves. This cuts the risk of fungal disease and reduces evaporation.

5. Choose drought-tolerant plants adapted to your site’s climate, soil type, and sun exposure.

Containers

6. Plants in pots are especially vulnerable to drying out in hot weather because their roots are confined to a small area and can’t extend deeper in search of moisture.

Trees

7. Plant at least one tree in your yard—for shade, for beauty, and for posterity.

8. To water transplants efficiently, shovel soil and mulch into a donut-shaped berm as wide as the tree branches. Fill the berm with water, using a hose or buckets; then let it percolate into the soil slowly.

Gear

9. Keep your drip irrigation systems running efficiently by checking for leaks, cracked pipes, or plugged emitters. And watch for spray that drifts away as mist, a sign that water pressure is too high. Bigger droplets won’t get carried away in the wind.

10. Inexpensive soaker hoses ooze water through thousands of tiny pores all along the length of ruber tubing. Snaked through shrubbery and hooked up to a timer set for early morning watering, they can cut water use by up to 70 percent over conventional sprinklers.

11. Drip systems consist of plastic tubing with tiny, targeted emitters that drip water at a set rate. These systems target just the plants you are trying to encourage, not the spaces in between, so you wind up using less water and nurturing fewer weeds.

For more green living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.