Succulents and More™

Remember the upcycled metal pieces in landscape designer Mat McGrath's Berkeley Hills garden ( read post here )? Many of them came from Urban Ore, a salvage and recycling yard/warehouse in Berkeley. Opened in 1981, it's become a beloved institution: a year-round flea market, vintage store, and treasure trove for artists and homeowners alike. As this 2017 article says, "[the owners are] probably singlehandedly responsible for much of the boho chic, eclectic and worn aesthetic that pervades thousands of homes around the East Bay." I decided to check it out myself last Saturday, focusing on the outside area to see what I might find for the garden. I was hoping to unearth some rusty pipe sections tall and wide enough to plant in. No such luck, but I did buy a few things. Read on to find out what. I could (and should) do an entire post about all the stuff waiting to be discovered at Urban Ore, but today I want to focus something unexpected: the plantings outside ...

It's no secret I like the look of rusted metal in the garden. Weathering steel (Corten) planters , however, are not cheap. In the spring I converted a few old chimney flue liners into faux metal planters  using oxidizing iron paint; the result surprised even me. In my ongoing quest to find low- or no-cost metal accents, I've decided to try something I've avoided so far: use a rusty tin can: Hechtia epygina What do you think? The first time I looked at the final product from a few feet away, I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not.