My left foot

I've looked everywhere for a supplier of these pavers. I saw these on 17th between Park Ave. South and Irving Place, just across from Union Square Park. For scale, I put my left foot (shoe, actually) into the picture. About four and a half inches across. Squarish cobble stones, used in historic areas throughout New York City. If you know where I can buy these, let me know. Please.

It's all about scale. Like my foot defines the scale of the stone surface around it, measuring the extension of the paved surface, giving rough dimensions of 6 by 8 feet in abstract measure, but more significantly, a feeling for the space in human terms, relating the space to the human body, my body.

The more I think about how to design my new city garden, the more I find myself wrestling with the concept of scale. In memory, things seem larger than they really are. My 20- by 40-foot space is smaller than I think. Much smaller. I look at similar spaces, and see the need to cut back, edit, make choices, simplify.

So I need to start with my foot, then my height, my body, how I move in the space. I need to walk the garden space more. Sit out there. Get the feel of the space, the objects around it.

I like the scale of these stones, their elegant patterns, the way their small size can play off larger slabs of stone, contrast with gravel, I like their texture; they break up the space and carry the eye toward detail.

Garden Diary: Linear motif

Peter Holt, friend and garden designer near Halifax, Nova Scotia, suggested I add a new garden feature to extend the visual line made by my long, thin pond near the house, and continued by a long stone-wall raised planting bed. My first thought was to make another stone-wall planter, but the labor and cost were just too much.

So this is the result, a roughly crescent-shaped "resting" area, a clean void in the midst of the garden, constructed roughly in line with the other two linear elements. Well, not actually in line, but in "curve," as a river curves. Picture this out in the middle of the garden. I need to add a few more concrete pavers (16 by 16 inches) then an infill of gravel, and it's finished.

This new feature is located off to the right of this photo, behind the Miscanthus giganteus.

Here is the unfinished approach from the other side.

Now that I've placed it here, amid all the grasses, I see the need to plant bolder plants for more solidity, shape, form. I need large leaves, interesting foliage, pattern, repetition--plants and objects that want to be viewed close up, that help define the space and its qualities.

The view is back toward the house side of the garden, hidden behind the giant Miscanthus at the back on the right ...

I think the grid works well to subdue the wildness of the plantings, as a counterpoint to the swaying verticals and swirling foliage ...

I'm reminded of grid patterns Mien Ruys used in some of her gardens.