~fountain thoughts~

After my Mother's death, a group of kind friends and colleagues gave me a generous gift certificate to Hyam's Garden and Accent store on Folly Road - so that I could purchase a water fountain in honor of my Mom.  The store carries fountains from two main suppliers:  Campania International, Inc. and Al's Garden Art.   

Last Friday, the lab (aka instigators of the whole fountain idea) and I went to Hyam's to look at fountains.  There were many nice ones present - some small and inconspicious, some with little sound but that were beautiful with respect to how the water flowed over a particular surface.  There were short ones, some that were quite tall - there were fountains that were designed to be up against a wall, and those with matching benches - and of course those with small boys clutching a cluster of grapes in all of the right places - and women pouring water from a tall, lean pitcher.  In other words, there were choices - and in addition, they could order other fountains from the catalogues of their suppliers.

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Now, might I admit that I've often thought that something like this would be delightful in Pamdanistan?  Subtle.  Green.  Minimalistic really.  Except that it would require a bit of regular maintenance I'd imagine. 

In leiu of a giant green head - I do think the fountain above might be my choice.  My thoughts:  (1)  my garden is not one of small spaces, it is not intimate - which are the spaces that many fountains might be best for - but since this one is a bit taller, it would hold it's own in various places around my garden, (2)  as for where those various spaces are, I'm leaning toward placing it on a flat surface (something constructed) off-center somewhere under the circle of live oaks - an area also surrounded by dogwoods, azaleas, camellias, daphne, gardenias and hydrangeas - it's an area that gets about as formal as my garden gets, (3) this fountain sounded nice, and the color was warm - not cold, and (4) interestingly, as we were walking around on Friday, assessing the different fountains - this was the one that we all congregated around at the end - and soon a few people were sitting down and we were just watching the water and listening to the water fall - and it was nice.

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It could have been the location of this fountain - it's proximity to places to sit or whatever - but I can't help but think that it would be a nice fountain to be near.  It might be the kind of fountain that you want to sit next to, alone or with a friend - for a few hours on a warm summer afternoon.  I also imagine that the birds might like this one too.

Your thoughts?

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(But the giant head is really nice, isn't it?  With that fountain, you could imagine skinny dipping below the falling water on a warm summer afternoon.  That sounds nice too, doesn't it?)

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Late Sunday Evening (and here's another one):

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Even Later on Sunday Evening (here's two more):

 

Comments

[Les]

The giant head reminds me of an episode of the original Star Trek or a scene from The Time Machine. If I were you, I would go for more subtle.

[Pam]

Les, more subtle that the GIANT green head - or more subtle than the two tiered thing? There were a few shorter ones - but my fear is that it would get lost in my garden.

I don't know, but I'm definitely being fickle about this whole fountain decision. I just can't decide.

[Benjamin]

Take your time, it's a big decision. I sure do like that small grey one, though--but it's not dramatic, more zen. Still, all in all I'd probably go with the giant head. That is pretty sweet. Looks like one of my students, actually, after I told him he'd be failing my class. I just put in a fountain, so "head" on over to my blog and read all about it, why don't you? C'mon....

[Pat]

Pesonally, I like the stacked bowls, but the one in the photo at the top reminds me more of old Virginia (traditional) and yet modern too. Nice color! It would be beautiful in (my mental picture of) your garden.

[Pam]

Benjamin, I have seen your fountain - impressive! I left you a comment - a bit part of my fountain 'problem' is one of scale. I really don't know where I'd put a smaller (aka shorter) fountain. I think that it would get swallowed up.

But as I mentioned in my comment to you, I'm still rather stuck on the giant green head!

Pat - there was another one, that was shaped like the lowest tier of the stacked bowl - but it was on a pedestal, and on the top of the bowl was a textured ball and the water was coming out of the top of the bowl, and flowing over the ball and into the bowl. I liked that one too.

I do like the color of the top one - it's warm I think.

[Christopher C NC]

Without seeing your garden in person it is a bit hard to know which one will be most at home there.

The first one with the two square basins and round headress is very southern gothic. It says southern garden of oaks, camellia and dogwood.

The three round bowls, second from last is a more modern version of southern gothic.

Now how can I fit the giant head in at my place? That would work for my garden.

[Pam]

Christopher C, I'd love someone that I know ('know' being a relative term here) have a giant green head fountain at their place. You have hillsides - couldn't you work it in?

I'm still leaning towards the top one. It's warm, a bit rough around the edges - it does say 'live oak' a bit more than many of the others. I'll have to dig up an image of the area where I'm thinking about putting it.

[Layanee]

Pam: Did you know that I do sell lawn and garden products and I know that Campania is a much better product than the other named supplier. (I do NOT sell either of these)! Anyway, I agree with Christopher that it is hard to tell without seeing the space. I do like Benjamin's over at Deep Middle. His jar is sublime. Whichever you choose, you will create a lovely space with it.

[Pam]

Layanee, I had guessed that - just from looking at the two products (and the two websites). But thanks for validating that observation.

[John B.]

I've been away from here, you may have noticed. It's really good to be able to visit and not feel guilty about it.

A fountain's appearance matters, of course, but something that I learned while I lived in Mexico is that a fountain's sound can compensate for some pretty ugly concrete. You seem to be aware of this already, but it's my lot in life to restate the bleedin' obvious. I personally like round fountains, whether traditional or contemporary or Zen in their styling.

Frost's statement that a poem is as much sound as sense would seem to be true of fountains as well.

[Pam]

Hey John...I'm quite obviously having a difficult fountain decision-making process. It feels a bit silly really - square vs round, tall fountains on a pedestal or those that aren't - sometimes I think I just need to turn the hose on, and let it flow down the stairs - and that might be just fine.

[Annie in Austin]

Maybe you just haven't seen the right one, Pam. Once I'd seen a Lueders stone fountain I had no doubts or even backup choices for our small patio.

But with a different kind of space I could be tempted by those three stacked bowls!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose