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While visiting family in Alameda, I happened onto this sweet community garden in Emeryville.
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Titled ‘Big Daddy’s Complete Rejuvenating Community Garden, City of Emeryville’, this place really puts a smile on your face. The founder who is an artist and professional welder, placed many colorful and whimsical structures throughout the garden, adding a fresh and funny twist to this wonderful garden.
They grow huge sunflowers in this garden bed.
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All the flowers and vegetable beds are built up on beds with amended soil placed in, irrigation lines are placed for daily unsupervised watering of the beds.
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This beautiful tulip pagoda, caught my eye immediately, I loved the color combination and whimsy of this piece, wish I could take this home with me to put in my garden.
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Flowers and vegetables are placed into the mixed beds and create colorful arrangements.
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A combination of follies and imaginative towers create height and whimsy in this garden.
![_MG_5703 _MG_5703](http://lh6.ggpht.com/-K4etRxcbmcE/T9Z5FKNXGEI/AAAAAAAAG24/7NETvmUbkUs/_MG_5703_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800)
Sculpture add modern elements to this section of the garden, the red gate type structure behind has a string of butterflies placed into the design.
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Wildflowers like these naturtiums, salvias and catmint bloom in planters and other beds throughout the garden.
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This poultry prison filled with plastic hens, made me chuckle – I loved seeing humor sprinkled throughout the garden.
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A side detail of the foul prison and the caged birdies.
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I love these metal sculpture pieces, creating another graphic element to this section of the garden.
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Fresh vegetables ready to be harvested, the beautiful colors add all the art in the garden.
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Interesting shadows spill onto the concrete next to these nasturtiums and gazania.
![_MG_5713 _MG_5713](http://lh4.ggpht.com/--ctIstjoY0A/T9Z5V6vWGPI/AAAAAAAAG4s/mtGed6Aah2M/_MG_5713_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800)
There used to be an auto body shop located on this spot called ‘Big Daddy’, hence the name of this zany garden.
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Certain areas are cordoned off in chicken wire to prevent domestic animals and other wildlife from entering.
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A wall of these beautiful black eyed susans line this wall and adding a punch of orange.
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This was a fun visit. I’m sure it must be wonderful place for the community to join in, trade or share their harvest and stories. I would have loved to meet more of the gardeners enjoy talking about their love of gardening.
3 comments:
A quirky photologue! So many fun and unusual structures there :)
Small world! We lived in Alameda for 10 years before moving further down the coast. I honestly had no idea this garden existed. It looks like fun! Next time I'm heading past Emeryville, I'll be sure to stop by!
This really is a happy place. Very creative and colorful too. My husband is a welder and I could never get him to do something like this.
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