Clarkia rubicunda 'Shamini' with Agastache cana last JULY.
I'm attracted to opinionated people. Opinionated gardeners, all the better. Perhaps this is why Teza and I get along famously. His mantra is something akin to, "It's my blog and I'll rant if I want to." Case in point: a no-holds-barred constern-atious diatribe on garden magazines that foolishly waste precious space on outdoor living accouterments such as BBQs, patio furniture, etc. Yep. I agree.
Admittedly, I'm not always so brave in revealing my opinions to the entire world. For one thing I don't want to get fired from my money-making writing-gig. I'm not really interested in offending you, my beloved blog readers either so hopefully none of this is taken too seriously. That said, when I read Christine's Last Frontier Garden blog post on "tarp-itis" I knew I had to add my two bits.
Yes, tarps are all the rage here in western Oregon. Abundant rainfall seems to be the only required justification for employing these tacky pseudo-fabric eyesores. As Christine pointed out, the ubiquitous neon blue, [easily recognizable from an airplane window at 35,000, and I daresay the space station] is not a color found in nature. What executive sitting behind some desk in some high rise in, say, New York City, [in other words, completely out of touch with the outdoors] had the color say?
Last Sunday, in the pursuit of blog post fodder, I went drive-by shooting. I thought the photo below was nice. I've admired this little street-side oasis from its inception a few years ago. But with eyes [and ears] immune by familiarity, I didn't catch wind of the alien megalomaniac with its head peaking over the fence silently screaming, "get me in your shot!"
You know the old saying, "when you point a finger at someone, remember that three fingers are pointing back at you"? Well, yeah. Maybe green isn't quite as grotesque as neon blue. [Perhaps the NYC dweller was listening after all.] Still, isn't my compost heap's wrapper not just as tacky? I fear I too have a case of tarp-itis. Sorry Christine.
Admittedly, I'm not always so brave in revealing my opinions to the entire world. For one thing I don't want to get fired from my money-making writing-gig. I'm not really interested in offending you, my beloved blog readers either so hopefully none of this is taken too seriously. That said, when I read Christine's Last Frontier Garden blog post on "tarp-itis" I knew I had to add my two bits.
Yes, tarps are all the rage here in western Oregon. Abundant rainfall seems to be the only required justification for employing these tacky pseudo-fabric eyesores. As Christine pointed out, the ubiquitous neon blue, [easily recognizable from an airplane window at 35,000, and I daresay the space station] is not a color found in nature. What executive sitting behind some desk in some high rise in, say, New York City, [in other words, completely out of touch with the outdoors] had the color say?
Last Sunday, in the pursuit of blog post fodder, I went drive-by shooting. I thought the photo below was nice. I've admired this little street-side oasis from its inception a few years ago. But with eyes [and ears] immune by familiarity, I didn't catch wind of the alien megalomaniac with its head peaking over the fence silently screaming, "get me in your shot!"
You know the old saying, "when you point a finger at someone, remember that three fingers are pointing back at you"? Well, yeah. Maybe green isn't quite as grotesque as neon blue. [Perhaps the NYC dweller was listening after all.] Still, isn't my compost heap's wrapper not just as tacky? I fear I too have a case of tarp-itis. Sorry Christine.
Okay, I can admit my faults. This makes the ranting okay, doesn't it? Christine has devised a unique new monthly feature. I would like to be a regional representative. Look for hers and then my TARP OF THE MONTH feature. Anyone else game?
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41 COMMENTS, Click here to add yours:
Much to my embarrassment my parents put several of the blue ones over their RV one winter. Thank god they live in a different city. Of course I still felt like I should go around and apologize to their neighbors. Thank you for calling attention to this sad sad condition.
Better than hunter orange, I say. But since we live in the state of Big Orange, you are likely to find every conceivable product in that day glo color. But I am with you on the blue. We have used an old swimming pool cover for myriad jobs, it was cut into large pieces and is indestructible. It is black, disappears in the landscape nicely.
Frances
Well, green is a little better than neon blue. At least it is slightly camouflaged. I think we own at least 2 of those beautiful, blue items in our garage.
Why thank you for the wonderful plug my dear kindred spirit! Offensive? Never really gave that much thought. Guess GI might be the only mag that I should consider sending said article to?!? LOL!!
Luckily my yard is too small to contain even the smallest of tarps, but there is something to be said that when I painted the interior of a new apartment many years ago, I insisted on that ubiquitous blue tarp. Truly it has burned itself into the consciousness of a generation! Yours is easily forgivable Grace! And speaking of that black gold compost..... got a bag or two to spare?
Dear Grace, I too support outspoken comment, flamboyant gesture and expansive thinking. Not for me nor, I suspect, you, the easy compromise, the ill-informed voice or narrow mindedness. For these reasons alone it is easy to see how one is drawn to the writing in 'Teza's Garden'.
However, what sets lively debate apart from prejudice is a sound rationale upon which opinion should be based. I feel it is important that this is always borne in mind when making judgments. Too often a garden, for example, is described as 'lovely' or, far less frequently, 'ghastly', but without reference to a body of knowledge to support that view. For me this is unhelpful in firmly establishing gardens as art forms which I truly believe they are.
Whatever, neon blue tarpaulins, or their English equivalent, ice-white caravans, should be outlawed from sight!!
I shall look forward to reading your future postings.
We have a gardening festival here every year and my only criteria about vendor tents is that they are not blue, because they look like those tacky tarps. Natural colors only, please.
I can live with brown and dark green tarps because they aren't so visible. I would prefer though, something made out of hemp or canvas. Plastic is so bad for the environment.
Cindee
Well, I rarely use tarps unless in the back of the car when hauling plants. However, there are times I wish I had, so as to save every ounce of compost, as you demonstrated. Necessary evils they are. Great post. The clarkia is gorgeous. Is that seriously blooming now in your garden?
Grace,
It makes me feel a little better that Alaska isn't the only place with the blue tarp love. We can all have tarp-itis together. If I were an enterprising little blogger, I would get a hold of some tarp exec (is there such a thing?) and ask why oh why is blue the go-to color?! Don't feel bad about the green tarp at your place, at least you have brown stuff on it...I've got the brown, green, blue, and (the hubby informs me) in the garage, gray tarp. It's like Christmas every time I see one.
Christine in Alaska
Hi Grace,
I love your opinions, mostly because I share many of them :^) In regards to your tarp, at least it is green...
Right now I have my vegetable bed, which had become overgrown with weeds, covered with a tarp. This was my husband's idea. i didn't ask him to do it. Certainly the weeds will be dead when it's time to plant. Meanwhile, everyone gets to look at - not a blue- but a bright orange tarp! I think it's suppose to be used for covering dead bodies after a horrible accident or something. I can't wait to get rids of it.
As I mentioned on Christine's post, I thought it was a 'northern' phenom. But now it seems they're much more prevalent in other parts than I thought.
Yes, I agree that the blue tarp should be banned from public view - only marginally less so, perhaps, than what I think it replaced: the international orange 'dayglow' color.
Great post!
I try not to share deliberate pics of UGLY, especially not the uglies of others. It's hard enough to find attractive this time of year to adorn my blog.
I will share this tip: old shower curtains make good temporary tarps for compost and transplants and the like. You can have designer colors and patterns of your choice.
I do agree that perhaps one doesn't want to see a non-natural tarp in a landscape... too bad about the photo above. However, it's probably not Always there (I hope!)
I did just recently read that the color red does something good for veggies. Too bad I didn't read more carefully. At any rate, one blogger posted, Last Spring, about her husband's red tarps around the base of their veggies... for a good reason, I guess.
Our tarps are blue. They come outdoors in the Fall and are used for lugging fallen leaves to the ravine in the "Way Back." I don't really care what color they are, as long as they do their job! ;-)
Like yourself, I am reluctant to reveal all of my opinions to the world. However, the more I read Teza, the more forthcoming I become.
Honest is infectious.
Uh oh. What do you think is the first thing you'd see if you rounded the corner of my driveway? :)
It's supposed to keep the shavings for the horses' stalls dry but doesn't do a very good job even when brand new.
Being a person with a highly developed color sense, I hate that blue, and let's not get started on that green, I am always wondering why they can't just make them in better colors?
Jen
Your post made me laugh because it reminds me of my wise husband's prediction - thousands of years from now we will probably be referred to as the "blue tarp people."
And I agree about the recent rants re "outdoor rooms." Rooms are great, but they have walls!
Grace, you always make me laugh when I read your posts. You have a way of saying what you think but in a non offending way that is comical. And your gardens are so pretty. Truly an inspiration to my somewhat blank slate. Have a great weekend!
My husband thinks he can fix anything with a blue tarp and some duct tape. I fear what I'll find when I come home some days!
Great post - kept me laughing!
It's hard to hide the fact that you have construction problems when you drape those tarps on your home/buildings...we see them here too! YUCK! ( now, here's praying I don't need one)
We have blue tarp syndrome here in the UK, Grace. My sister, who lives in Oxfordshire, has spent years planting and nurturing trees and shrubs at the end of her garden to mask a blue-tarp covered shed, which also boasts a huge reel of some kind of blue water piping. Why don't they make them with flowers on, like those covers you get for rotary washing lines? (Because people who can live with an enormous blue tarp in their garden don't really care, I guess.)
OK Grace .. I might have to post a case of Tarpitis phopa from my garden .. BUT .. the logical excuse was our deck and shed were torn down to make way for new ones .. and taking into account the Spring rain .. well, what can I say .. we just HAD to do IT ? LOL
But it does seem to be a fast growing virus among western civilizations ? ;-)
PS .. I would never do it again .. I promise .. it is a "guy thing" ?
PPSS .. I love seeing all of this pink .. it just makes me happy : )
LOL. As people who live by the sea, we value tarps for a variety of things. Protecting boats overwinter. Protecting woodpiles from the ravages of precipitation. Keeping wind and wet out of a construction/reno site. Keeping the tractor warm and dry so husband doesn't have a wet butt when he goes to the woodlot every morning. And we use an old one around the back of the house, screwed to the shingles down to the foundation, where we put straw bales every winter to keep draughts out from around our rock-wall foundation and keep the house warmer. They sure aren't pretty, but they sure do make life easier in the rural landscape.
Well, there are quite a few months in Ohio where the tarp is the only color to be seen in the winter landscape! haha I didn't KNOW they came in colors other than blue! My horizons have been expanded thanks to your blog!
Hi Grace, too funny! I think gardeners have a bit of artist in them and blue tarps are not art!
tee hee. Thanks for the giggle today Grace. I own one of those blue tarps too but it's folded neatly in my garage because now I can't remember why I bought it. Maybe you could start lobbying the manufacturers to use less offensive colors ~ or start a petition ~ looks like there are people who would sign it!
I can't get over how green it is there. Looks like another planet compared to what's outside my window right now.
Your clarkia (??) photo is gorgeous. I wish that were blooming here at the moment.
There were a lot of blue tarps around the area from damages to rooftops from Hurricane Wilma. Now you don't see as many. You are right, they should be a different color, but what color?
I love the picture in this post. What a cheerful, bright color scheme.
FlowerLady
We see quite a few of those blue tarps around here. I mentioned in my comment to Christine that after the windstorm of 2006 we lost many shingles and ended up with leaks. My husband decided that using those blue tarps would be the thing to use until the roof was replaced that spring. He didn't get what I was so embarrassed about. We live on the street that all the parents drive down to drop off and pick up their kids from school each day. I wanted to put a sign up to say "We're not leaving these up and it was my husband's idea"
I have NO idea why they have to be soooo blue. Maybe so people don't accidentally run into giant wood piles, or boats, or whatever people are trying to hide. No offense but your green tarp...it doesn't exactly fade into the landscape! ha ha! :)
Oh, Grace, you are so funny. I just love the 'drive by shooting' comment. :))
I like the way you write and look upon you as a good role model in garden writing.
I bet you would have a pink tarp if you could.
Hilarious stuff... about the funniest blog post I have read in while. :)
Rosey
Love this post~and the photo of the clarkia is so lovely on this gray day! I have several giant blue tarps that help me move leaves to their decomposing ground. Although I prefer old bed sheets~~which do double duty in the early spring to cover tender flowers when a late frost is forecast. gail
Grace it was never an issue with me, but now that you have pointed it out I must have a talk with my neighbor about his blue tarp covering an old broken down car in the drive way.
Grace, you have identified what my father refers to as the "state cover" in Virginia: they were everywhere in the rural areas - impossible to ignore.
I have a theory that the intense cyan color of the tarps is because it is so fade-proof. Think of the number of aged advertising posters in sunny shop windows: all that remains is the cyan colors - everything else has faded out.
Anyway, I like your green tarp just fine where tarps are needed!
aloha, i do love your new photo on the blot, its great...and as your posting shows tarps are everywhere including your garden....but, i do think your using it is acceptable in its application, it is an effective tool when used appropriately and not like actual tent homes here all over hawaii...ack!
When we moved to the country, my one request was that we refrain from tarp-covered piles of stuff all over the place (knowing we were unlikely to succumb to the minimum eight beater cars in the front yard). Well, I had failed to take into consideration the requisite three or four wood piles in varying degrees of curing. At least they are tucked under low-hanging branches and the tarps are brownish.
OMG Grace! One of my biggest pet peeves are electric blue tarps! My hubby always seems to have one draped over or under something. We argue over them and I asked (told) him politely (ok...not so politely) to stop using them or at very least buy a dark green one so it's not so darn noticeable.
Go with a brown tarit looks better then blue.It's not really a brown you would find in nature, its all glossy, but its better then blue. I admit i have tarps in blue, green, brown and silver. each is a differen size. we mainly use them to cover the 10 yards of sweet peet we get every spring. Fun blog. jim
I have a bit of tarpitis Grace! I have a much worse case than you do ... why yours is nothing. A green tarp covers a two hundred plus year old shed ... very sad little building that is patiently waiting for me to do the right and necessary thing... restore it! I love the snow as it clings and covers it. I now have a blue one too... lol but that is just because I was caught before I could get my composted manure spread about the garden and I just had to do it... i had to cover it and that is what I found ... oh yes and then there is the one that is covering part of my wood, for the nice metal roof panels were not quite wide enough... all these are covered with snow. So I am safe from more discerning critical eyes (including mine own!) When the snow disappears so the tarps go ... except for the sad shed... I can blame it on the economy! ;>(
Tarps or not? They do make clean up easier at times.
I like the Clarksia photo...not a plant I see often, though they are always in seed mixes. Beautiful.
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