New blue tuteur doubles as bee B&B
The sea of green that is my deer-resistant sedge lawn and grassy borders now has a welcome shot of color. When I heard that TerraTrellis, a woman-owned, original-garden-art studio in Los Angeles, was running an online sale, I splurged on their Akoris Jr. tuteur with a bee bungalow finial. I just love it!
It stands tall amid the Berkeley sedge and offers a hip habitat for solitary mason bees, which are beneficial pollinators. The bungalow on top is stuffed with bamboo and sticks with drilled holes, which, to a mason bee, looks like home sweet home. (If you’d like to construct a DIY bee hotel, check out my fellow Austinites’ blog posts: Vicki, Sheryl, and Meredith. You can really get creative while helping your pollinators.)
Last night an older gentleman walking his dog asked if I’d put up a video camera. Confused, I asked, “What?” He pointed at the tuteur, and I said, “Oh! No, it’s a garden tuteur with a bug hotel.” He looked completely baffled, or maybe like he thought I was nuts.
I am definitely nuts for the designs of TerraTrellis and their sister operation TerraSculpture. They’re nice people too. Case in point — along with my order they sent me a free gift: their beautifully sculptural Bird Cafe finial, which they suggested I might want to switch out with the bee bungalow during the winter.
Thank you, TerraTrellis! It’s too pretty to hide away for half the year, plus Austin, ahem, has a lot of rats, and they love birdfeeders (as do deer). So instead I plan to come up with some way of showcasing the Bird Cafe as a sculptural object year-round. Stay tuned!
All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Cool! Gives a pop of color out there.
I agree about the feeder. This looks like it’s too low, to keep the deer out.
They’d assume it was a deer feeder, the way they do about everything else — ha! —Pam
Oh, they have the most wonderfully mod garden accoutrements! That tuteur was a great choice.
I’ve lusted after one of their modern garden sculptures for years, Alison, but the prices, while reasonable for sculpture, are just not in my budget. The TerraTrellis line, however, is more affordable and has the benefit of being practical and sculptural. —Pam
Pam! I love the blue tuteur! It’s so perfect where you placed it and it has a practical use too. Also, it’s fun to see how the plants in your front yard have matured and the fence has added just the perfect design finish. Now I’m off to check out TerraTrellis for myself! Thanks for sharing a great company.
It’s my pleasure, Melody. Enjoy your browsing!
If you don’t mind, I’ll take this opportunity to tell all my readers that TerraTrellis in no way asked me to post or make my original purchase — i.e., I’m posting about them simply because I love their stuff enough to make a purchase for my own garden. —Pam
That looks awesome! I love their stuff, it is so fun. You brought your signature cobalt to the front garden, is there more blue to come?
Yes, actually! I recently added three colored ceramic spheres to my front garden also. I just haven’t taken a photo yet. —Pam
Great choices for your spaces – looking forward to seeing what you do with your alternate finial. It took me several days to figure out who(what!) was messing with one of our more recently installed bird feeders out front. It is installed slightly lower for various reasons because I had no idea the deer would be so persistent in trying to eat from it. Honestly! Those deer!
That poor confused man. Perhaps you should have simply suggested the dog walker be sure to clean up after his pooch and smile as he’s walking by each day. It would be enlightening to see how long it took for the rumor that you’d put up a camera to make the neighborhood rounds.
I’m almost afraid to check out the links – those pieces look right up my alley and who doesn’t love a sale!
I saw your post about the deer eating your bird food, and that’s a concern for me, although honestly my bigger concern with feeders is the rats. I don’t want to do anything to encourage them. Sorry, birds! You’ll have to eat the Turk’s cap berries and other goodies I planted.
I’m afraid the TerraTrellis sale is over. I squeezed my order in just before it ended, before our family road trip. But follow them on FB if you like their stuff. That’s where I saw mention of the sale. Of course, one might also hack a similar design out of a painted wooden tuteur… —Pam
I would let the neighborhood think you have a camera up. The smart ones will know better and the people who might be up to no good might give your house a wide berth. Sorry. Lived in the city too long.
LOVE this garden ornament.
Security cameras are always a good idea, and pretty easy to install these days. —Pam
This is a nice shot of color. I think it is fun talking to non-gardening neighbors. They are always so surprised at what I am doing. They often have no clue so it is educational. 😉
Mostly they think we’re crazy, don’t they? 🙂 —Pam
Bee, bug and critter hotels are the garden enhancement this year! I’ve got an all-purpose critter hotel going up in our garden. (Don’t ask how they’re all supposed to get along?)
Glad to be back in the blog flow. The Denver Botanic Garden was something special. Sad that Austin has comparatively little to offer at present.
Denver Botanic Garden is a really nice garden. I’m so glad you got to visit. And yes, bug hotels are the garden trend of the year! —Pam
Yeah, I can see why the neighbor thought it was a camera. I’d say the same thing. Like someone was trying to catch prowlers in the neighborhood. Ha. Or do a time lapse. That or a surveryor stand. The color also makes it stick out against all the nice greens.
I guess you don’t care for it, huh, Caroline? 🙂 That’s OK. Art is and should always be a personal expression. I kind of like that this piece may also serve to keep neighbors on their best behavior. —Pam
I saw it and thought you were doing a surveying project at the house and my second thought was “I thought she was only doing an interior remodel…”
Ha! I guess if I were to grow a vine on it, it would be more obviously garden art. But I’m going to leave it unadorned. —Pam