These are all from the first day I was in Seattle when I met up with Andrea of Grow Where You're Planted. Having both heard about Gas Works Park when we were studying landscape architecture, we both wanted to stop off there for a look. Gas Works Park was designed by Landscape Architect Richard Haag, created from the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company. I lot of the machinery and buildings remain and being a fan of rusty things, I thought it would be fun to check out.
Of course the most interesting and decadently decaying industrial structures are off limits. Even up close a chain-link fence keeps you from getting a good look at it. I could get a few shots using my zoom lens and shooting over the fence.
I'd love to be able to visit Duisburg Nord Park in Germany where visitors are allowed to explore the old factories, litigation lawyers be damned.
There are some areas where you can get close and touch things but they are rather sanitized in their immovable parts and fresh coats of paint.
The children's play area is down-right depressing.
The only fun thing to climb has a Keep Off sign on it.
I suppose the best feature is the tall, king-of-the-hill vantage point one can't help but climb.
The view is great and there was kind of a weird sundial/pool/topographical map? thing at the top of the hill. It was a little dank and I kind of wondered if it would be better if kids didn't play in the water sitting in it, but I suppose it is pretty useful for keeping time on all those sunny Seattle days.
I guess overall it's a pretty gritty park, not too sanitized. Even with lots of people walking through, it still felt abandoned.
Walking along the pedestrian path, passing under bridges, we came across lots of handmade art left here and there. Here are some of my favorite we came across:
Ok, on to the garden peeping. Seattle, with all its grey weather, can pull off some intense colors. I wish I could grow acidic chartreuse plants as beautifully as they can.
The raspberries seem quite happy growing here. This house had them just falling on the sidewalk so I didn't feel bad helping myself to a few.
Then we stumbled upon this very ambitious vertical wall in front of someone's house. A poured concrete wall that must have been 8' tall and 20' long with plantings on both sides and around the corner with window cutouts. Pretty fancy.
Here is a close-up of the fabric pocket structure and how the irrigation gets through the wall.
I always get worried about what will happen in a few years when the owners get tired of taking care of a wall like this because let's face it, it's not low maintenance keeping plants happy and full in little pockets like that.
We came across a beautifully landscaped Japanese-style garden.
I loved this stair railing made to look like one of those huge pieces of seaweed.
I was taken with the huge boulders they use in Seattle for building retaining walls.
And of course you can always spot the control freak in every neighborhood.
