Monday, June 6, 2011

Snake Puzzle, a/k/a ??



Last weekend my next door neighbor told me about some great yard art she saw near White Rock Lake.  This weekend we loaded up in her car with morning coffee and set out to find it again so that she could show me.

We found it, and it was in a great front yard -- so many artsy things!  The piece she wanted to show me was pieces of tree bark that had been threaded to hang on vertical pieces of wire like a wind chime.  As we idled at the curb, the owner saw us and came out.  He said he called the wind chime, "Barking Up the Wrong Tree."  Clever.  He also had a huge globe hanging high up in a tree, and a tiny plane on a string orbiting.  In the parkway, which was huge, he had some miniature figurines of cattle in a stampede of sorts.  He said at first he and his wife were worried that they would be stolen, but instead, to their surprise, people starting adding to it.  He said they now do morning garden walks to see what is new each day.  That's sort of fun.

He had a lot of a plant that I grew up with, that we called Snake Puzzle, because for entertainment we'd take it apart, and then assemble it back together.  I asked him what it was and he knew the real name (which I can't remember!) and then asked me if I wanted some!  Heck yeah!  He started pulling up chunks of it -- and put them all in a big ziploc for me.  He also gave me a few slips of a groundcover that has purple flowers on it.  I planted that outside my pedestrian gate.  (And forgot to take a photo...)

Here is the "Snake Puzzle" planted in front of my back steps:

He says it will spread, too, so that will be cool.  If you know the real name of this plant, please let me know in the comments!  Normally they stand completely vertical, but these got a little droopy during the transplant.  This plant really reminds me of my childhood and makes me realize how easily we were amused.

He offered me a full garden tour, front and back, but I didn't feel like I had time, plus we had a dog in the car and it was hot.  I'll probably stop by there again, though..

June 11, 2012:  It's called Horsetail, among other things...

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