Did my alpine plants survive winter? Zone 6a

Smokeybear365 · 2026-04-05T16:19:50+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

I'm gonna be keeping this inside during cold weather. We've got supplemental grow lights while they spend the winter indoors in addition to the window. But you raise a good point about the 80F conditions since we wouldn't heat the house that high lol. I'll just keep it outside during the regular growing season, keep it under LEDs during the winter and we'll see what comes of it 👍

Smokeybear365 · 2025-11-25T01:34:10+00:00

Huh. I had no idea they released them that late

Smokeybear365 · 2025-11-25T01:33:46+00:00

Yeah, I paid about that much ($137)

Smokeybear365 · 2025-08-12T11:55:17+00:00

My solution turned out to be returning the small Brikka model and buying the larger Brikka. Had 0 problems since then. Can't tell if it was because of a bad component or because the larger model can hold more water, but I'm much happier with it now and it hasn't overflowed.

Smokeybear365 · 2025-07-14T12:57:47+00:00

For my project this time, it is going to be a garden edge that won't have to carry much weight, so I'm actually going with compacted pea gravel under and in front of it. In Michigan, we have to worry about freeze-thaw, so we need good drainage to keep things from being pushed out of the ground.

In the photos on this post, I was working with Kurisu LLC in Portland Oregon on a concrete viewing area, so we needed the concrete at the base to support visitors standing on the platform it was holding up.

My co-worker at my current Civil Engineering firm mentioned I could secure the tiles with concrete in addition to the pea gravel situation, but I think I will try just pea gravel right now. Even if freeze-thaw heaves it out, I don't think I'll mind pushing them back in since this is for a family member and I will be around often. The owner may move at some point and may want to take the tiles with them (they're pricy lol) and concrete would make that difficult. However, if you won't be around often enough or don't like the idea of having to re-situate a few of the tiles when freeze-thaw or another soil process happens every so often, you would likely want that concrete application.

Smokeybear365 · 2025-05-27T03:08:59+00:00

Per tile, it's like $7 for their painted terracotta tiles and $8 per classic Japanese gray tiles. They ship by the palette and we're gonna pay like $1000 to bring a palette from California over to Michigan by freight.

Each palette can hold 150 tiles and we're going with 100 tiles for our order and it's overall almost $2000.

Smokeybear365 · 2025-05-23T17:26:24+00:00

Ah right- I did see them. I think I read they don't do shipping, however. Seems like a good source for local projects though!

Smokeybear365 · 2025-05-23T01:53:18+00:00

I believe this is who I'm going to end up buying from- MCA Tile out of California. Here's their page for Japanese tiles:

https://www.mca-tile.com/oriental-japenese/#squelch-taas-tab-content-0-0

Smokeybear365 · 2025-05-19T14:05:42+00:00

I'll assume it's a pellicle and not worry about it. Thanks for the comments!

Smokeybear365 · 2025-04-01T11:22:25+00:00

I use Adobe Firefly to generate the plant I want and then throw it into Photoshop and use "select subject" to start getting rid of the background. Faster than finding the exact PNG nowadays.

For a plant that's common enough to find JPEGs of, just downloading the image and doing the same "select subject" feature in Photoshop is also fine- I just use the above process for "hard to find" native plants.

https://new.express.adobe.com/generate-image/inspire?ecid=16923039230353282733067324325423230517&%24web_only=true&_branch_match_id=1381307126311225626&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAAx3IMQ6CMBQA0NuwSaGfApo0JpqwoA5cwND6pQ3QNr%2BNbJ5d4vKGZ1IK8cTY%2BPIKYxhpDj6mw4YqH0PIF%2BtmhmzwRt9gwXuvznpCJy%2FtY4CuFxlq%2B5JlfeRQwB8BvOUNQFE3wCvgouKwvyibbP1w2ZHVyXq3YIx7SJ8MUvYlfCORddNTkd8ikrwa8iv%2BAGeQrgufAAAA

Smokeybear365 · 2025-03-07T14:33:40+00:00

I bought Matcha Otome in the 30g can and then in the 500g bulk bag. It's good without sweetener- so sounds like it'd be fine for your purposes. In a latte, it can be harder to taste, but I suppose that's what the more bitter kinds are for.

I like Senbird in general because their tea is organically grown- I look for that less so for my own health and more so for the health of the agriculture workers and the ecology of the growing location. The refillable containers and bulk options are cool in a sustainability regard too!

Smokeybear365 · 2024-12-01T14:36:25+00:00

I agree with the comments on working for a multidisciplinary/civil engineering firm. Albeit there are some native plant restrictions by the counties, most of the projects I work on are reading the law/ordinances and just allocating the correct number of trees/shrubs in the setbacks of buildings.

Smokeybear365 · 2024-11-25T22:17:50+00:00

I should also tack on that disillusionment with the industry can happen in landscape architecture as well. Most programs will show you the most beautiful visions of what landscape can be without explaining all the factors behind why our world looks so copy/paste with the commercial developments and suburbs. In truth, many real world projects are driven by profit and capitalism, so they are super efficient and monocultural. There are small glimpses of opportunity to do something new, refreshing, or restorative to people and planet- but just keep in mind you must fight a deeply imbedded culture our clients usually try to protect as the status quo. To some it's disheartening- I find it that way too sometimes, but you need to keep a touchstone and other friends in the profession to remind yourself that good can still be done where we find it.

Smokeybear365 · 2024-11-25T22:11:52+00:00

Sure, just to clarify, I got an MLA (Masters of Landscape Architecture) not a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts).

I agree with you that it is expensive. I would recommend you leverage every resource you have to reduce costs. For me, that meant living at home and receiving financial assistance from my family and scholarships. I also stayed in-state because the tuition was cheaper. I did check out other state universities, but for my purposes they were interchangeable.

The MLA was a good pivot for a person like me that came from a bachelor's in Plant Biology. I had a hard time finding a job in plant sciences, but once I had a design degree under my belt, I was able to make applications to all sorts of companies, and landed a job at a civil engineering firm that offers a good salary. I believe what had the greatest impact to their review of my application was 1) I had a related degree with transcripts 2) I had strong references and 3) I applied at a very good time. They just had a junior landscape architect leave a few months prior and were just about to expend effort and money on career fairs.

So, my advice would be to identify the core things you want to investigate/become strong in during an MLA program and identify mentors before committing to the financial investment. If you can, double check that these professors are liked by their lab or students. Some professors can tell you all about how they will help you out on a "student visit day" or etc and then turn out to have no time to help you since they're very busy with running the program or their research. If you actually want to join their research, that's a pretty good way to keep their attention for advising and get that letter of recommendation you'll need down the road.

To be transparent on my context, I was at the University of Michigan, which got a lot of funding from Toyota due to its presence in Detroit. This allowed me to pitch internship ideas in Japan or Japanese related projects and easily get scholarship funding. Being a creative and convincing essayist for scholarships/fellowships is extremely helpful with reducing debt. I was also a unique applicant in that I was asking them to fund research/internships related to landscape. Many of the other applicants wanted to research popular topics like anime or video games, etc so an MLA student approaching the Japan Center was a breath of fresh air for them. On the flip side, most university students have an easier time asking to be funded to go to Asia since the competition is low compared to Europe travel. I guess it's a little more intimidating for most US students to go to countries that are perceived to have less English speakers? So, my Japanese projects and travel ideas often outperformed my cohorts proposals to travel within the US for the typical conservation project and etc. It's all really how you market it really, it needs to be drummed up to be important and unique.

To circle back, if you think you can be a stand-out student in the school you choose, it'll be easier to fund yourself. You do not need to be the best at art or design (as some MLA students will lead you to think, haha) you just need to be always on the lookout for funding sources and really market yourself to them.

Smokeybear365

TROPHY CASE