bannersbyricki.com

Having been looking forward to Local 14 for months, I must count it a success: not in terms of sales (will get into the strikes against us on that count further on) but meeting and working with outstanding women. Each of them was generous with advice based on long experience, and was genuinely interested in showing everything off to best advantage.

It was also an opportunity to experiment with displaying banners under adverse conditions. The Oregonian has many ways of predicting rain: everything from occasional showers to spotty rainfall. This was the first time I can remember them calling for “pouring rain”. They weren’t kidding! The banners are impervious to any amount of rain, but hang tags are another story. I thought the problem was solved by putting plastic zip lock bags over the tags. Oops! They filled up like little water balloons and dropped to the ground…I call this on-the-ground training.

The Gala Grand Opening of the show fell on none other than the night of the Palin/Biden debate. Not many potential attendees (engaged citizens, all) were about to miss that piece of theater. Then there was the freshly crashing economy…well, you get the idea.

I did get to connect with some long-lost friends who responded to the mailer and came to look and to visit…what could be better than that?

This is a sight we never want to see:

In the four years we have lived here, there has never been a problem with birds flying into our windows. Somehow, two days in a row, the fates aligned to invite disaster. I heard a whump, and when I went to investigate, there was this sweet little fellow, neck broken from the impact.

Several years ago, I did some research on this very subject. It seems there are several explanations for this kind of bird behavior. If they can see right through to the other side of the house, they think it is a corridor. If they see a reflection, they may read it as a rival bird. In either case, the instinct is to fly smack into the window. People have come up with all sorts of solutions, most of which involve some sort of “danglies” in front of the window, with assurances that their affront to one’s inner decorator need only stay in place through the mating season. But wait! This is not the mating season…meaning our window camouflage might need to stay in place indefinitely.

pennants by ricki to the rescue! This pair of pennants, complete with streamers, fills the bill without getting in the way of the view out the kitchen window. They are decorative enough that I won’t mind leaving them up. I am sure that this is a seasonal phenomenon having to do with the angle of the light, but with lives at stake, we don’t want to take any chances.

…or at least protect your banners!

UV rays will destroy any fabric, given enough time. The first banners I made are Spinnakers, and I have purposely left them out in all kinds of weather so I can tell customers what to expect in the way of longevity. It has been nearly three years now, and they have faded in what I consider a rather charming way. Commercial banners are usually given a three to five year life expectancy. Now along comes a product that promises to extend that span almost indefinitely.

We took a drive to the coast to escape inland heat. A huge kite shop had this product on hand, so we picked some up to try it out. The jury is still out (guess it will take three years before we can make our own comparison), but testimonials on their web site are pretty convincing. The site offers a search to find vendors carrying their products, or you can order directly…so who says space exploration is of no earthly use?

I love the way these zinnias pick up the colors in the banner and seem to shout a cheerful “Hello!” to anyone leaving the car park in back and approaching the house via the path to the right. These are Benary’s Giant Mix from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. I started them indoors in early March and set them out after the tulips in this bed had died back. Zinnias are satisfying to start from seed, because green shoots appear in a matter of days and progress is noticeable from then on. An ample application of slug bait protects the small plants when they first venture into the garden. After they reach about a foot in height, they seem able to fend for themselves. Next year, I plan to add some of the Profusion series, which are shorter, at the outer edges of the bed to help with the transition from flat to tall.

The tree on the left is Cupresseus macrocarpus ‘Citrodora’. At the back is Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ just working up to its burst of glory. That’s the great thing about these zinnias: as long as I keep picking and/or deadheading, they will keep popping out fresh blossoms, partnering with whatever temperamental perennial comes along, until a hard frost stops them in their tracks.

I made the red, white and blue spinnakers for a friend with a shop with a French theme. I got them back when Lulu went into temporary hibernation. These are not colors that I am normally drawn to, but what fun to trot them out for the Fourth of July and Bastille Day.

We will be going to my ex-husband and his wife’s condo on the river for BBQ and fireworks. Din (son) will be there, and Nancy (son’s wife)’s dad, who just moved to Portland…yet a new twist to the malleable family we enjoy. When I first met the “in-laws”, lo these many years ago, they were all staunch Republicans (understandably, in the age of Tom McCall, et.al.) and talk of politics was off the table if we were to get along at all. Over the years, and especially the last seven +, they have come around. Tonight, it will be safe to mention that I have high hopes, this Independence Day, for a new direction for our country.

Budding_© was the first pictorial banner I made. Next to Spinnaker_© it has been the most popular. One client bought one of these and then wanted three more to go with it and a series was born.

I decided to carry over some of the colors from banner to banner, and stick with the abstracted floral imagery. This one, I call FloraFly_©.

Upsy Daisy_© introduces yellow to the mix. I think I will also offer it with pink replacing the yellow. What do you think?

If you got here through my home page, you have already seen Pistil_©, but I will include it here just in case.

When I started making banners, I did so with the intent of getting as far away as possible from the bunny and duckie genre of garden banners. The early pieces were very geometrical, with the exception of the occasional wavy edge. The sewing techniques I developed early on have been adapted here, and play a role in how the images evolve. As a gardening nut, I had a great time dreaming up flowers suggested by nature, but never found there.

So…what happens when you open your garden (for the first time, mind you) and nobody shows up?

I can hardly blame the Hardy Planters, as the day was bleak. Early in the week, we were promised a day of at least partial sunshine. The day dawned, we flipped on the TV to catch the weather guy, and were served up visions of wind, rain, hail, lightning and thunder…all of which duly put in appearances. To be honest, I appreciated the chance for a “dry run” (so to speak) to test out signage, banner placement, etc.

I had expected the cherry trees to be in full blossom, but they were running late. The only plant life really putting on a show was the Clematis armandii, a batch of daffodils, and Euphorbia wulfenii. What came off really well was the way banners can spark things up when Mother Nature refuses to cooperate.

The garden will be open one day of each month through October, so there will be plenty more opportunities for it to strut its stuff. The schedule, as listed in the HPSO Open Gardens book, is as follows: May 4, June 7, July 13, Aug 10 and Sept 7, all from 11am to 5pm, and June 9 from 4 to 9pm. If you would like directions, or to make an appointment for some other time, please call: 503 248 9670.

The Linnton Condominiums had flag poles across the roof line, left over from the days when it was a schoolhouse. When Ellie bought two Spinnakers from me to put in her front planter, she feared that the condo association would ask her to remove them for the sake of consistency. Instead, they decided to utilize the abandoned flag poles to express themselves in some way. There are pirate flags, Canadian flags…you name it. Ellie and Brad decided to commission me to design theirs. The fine old building looks out over the river toward the sunrise, and I know Ellie is fond of Color with a capital C, so I took that as my theme. Here it is, caught in motion, and below is a shot I took of it tacked up on my deck to show the full design.

I sent a banner to my cousin Shirley for Christmas. She writes, “During these stark days in the garden it’s so fun to see the bright colors and the gentle movement where everything else is dormant. Soon all the bulbs I have planted will begin to brighten the landscape. The additional high colors of the banner will be a focal point among my daffodils and primroses.”

So many folks think of the banners as strictly summertime indulgences, but it is the dark days of winter when I enjoy them the most.

An evergreen clematis is threatening to engulf the front deck. It must be a cousin to the triffid. When spring comes and it explodes with fragrant white blossoms, it is a sight to behold. Now I have found another reason to forgive its aggressive campaign to take over ever more territory. I glanced up while doing KP duty: a slight breeze was stirring the leaves, the light was just right, and I snapped this shot. Wish it was a video clip, so you could experience the kinetic effect. Sorry, but my web skills have yet to reach that level of sophistication. I think you can extrapolate, though, and appreciate my delight at having nature interacting with one of my pennants in such a delightful way.