design-phan

Really, what's not to love about Terrain at Styers, the garden center in Glen Mills that's brought to us by the folks who run Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters? Maybe the prices. They can be a bit steep, but the plants and merch here is usually special enough and of such good quality that those numbers are justified (or, at least, we can easily justify them to ourselves). No justification is needed this week, though, since Terrain is running a rare and excellent sale--nearly everything's 30%-50% off.

I had the good fortune of visiting today with my friend, Melissa, who's a manager there and is very knowledgeable about everything to do with plants. She even won the 2008 window-box design contest in her neighborhood, which prompted a blogger to blog about her impressive urban garden. She's amazing, and she leads the book-club discussions at Terrain--the next one is July 21st.

Without further ado, some Terrain porn:

So Terrain: ceramic containers; succulents; weathered wooden table; colorful folding chairs just like the ones in Paris at the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Gorgeous tableau of ball and tear-drop lanterns, woven baskets, and other goodies. I love the tree-stump table base.

The terrarrium fixins' bar.

Baskets of Fog Linen Work products: The servers at the Café at Terrain at Styers wear Fog linen aprons, and they look so comfy.

And, the most exciting part of my visit to Terrain: I bought this wooden grape-crate planter (just under $20 on sale), and Matt Muscarella, one of the talented designers on-staff at Terrain's Design Services department, agreed to put it together and to plant it for me. (He kindly offered to do so after I started asking really stupid questions like, "Will I need much soil?")

It was so fun to watch Matt at work. My only input was that I like the Carex grass (the grass that looks like hair). He took that and ran with it, dashing from annuals to perennials before bringing the booty to the Container Services shed to put it all together. 

The "after" pic, on my patio. Here's what's in the box, from R to L: sweet potato vine; Carex grass; a maidenhair fern; Leycesteria golden lantern; geranium ivy; and silver fog euphorbia. I am so in love with my grape crate, and will definitely consult Matt whenever I'm at Terrain. If only I had the $$ to have him come to my house and Terrainify my backyard, but alas I'll have to figure it out myself. C'mon, thumb: Get green.