the junk I keep




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I’m starting to see my old friend, the pipestand, in decidedly more upscale places than the louche environs of my backyard. (e.g. West Elm here)

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I still find a pipestand endlessly useful for framing pots and hanging essential stuff that has temporarily lost its purpose.
A girl’s gotta have a place to hang her tractor lights, right?

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It’s like having a dusty barn full of block and tackle, chains, come-alongs, all manner of potentially useful stuff…without the barn or the spiderwebs.

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The only rule for inclusion is that the object be of a simple, basic shape. These make the best shadows.
The shadows all this junk casts are a big part of the attraction. I wish I had a photograph to demonstrate but I don’t.
Some days the shadows can remind me of the work of Olivia Parker.

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These tongs we found at a flea market in Oregon seem to be the only permanent member of the piperack, which changes up frequently.
They are simply the most expressive tongs I have ever seen. Almost insect-like.

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And the pipestand holds assorted eye hooks and S hooks for hanging planters that I’d never be able to find in Marty’s garage when I need them.

I mean those tractor lights could come in handy some day as … well, I have no idea at the moment.
But if I move them into deep storage, there’s not much chance that I’ll ever figure it out, is there?

Just a testimonial to the humble pipestand. It’s on my mind this time of year as I contemplate building shelving for — what else? — a few more plants.


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12 Responses to the junk I keep

  1. Alan @ It's Not Work, It's Gardening! says:

    This has given me so many ideas… great stuff hanging there currently!

  2. Have we seen that last planter before? Love it. Oh and the lanky Aeonium…perfection in placement.

  3. Renee says:

    How lovely. I like the big rusty chains you have too. I would probably fill the stand with hanging pots, and then wonder why I couldn’t find the things/tractor lights…

  4. Denise says:

    @Alan, it’s so great to hear you see potential too!
    @Loree, that aenoium toppled over in the wind, and I had this pipe laying around…you know how that goes. I think I’ve posted on the last planter, if you mean the hanging dish. That had to be rehung after the wind too, but no plant breakage. Bromeliads, rhipsalis love being shallow!
    @Renee, I do want to fill it with more hanging pots, and I happen to have a friend that makes nice ones out of concrete. I’ll have to clear space for those.

  5. ks says:

    I had those tongs for years , but found others that seemed more secure when turning a fire-involved log. How much nicer have a pipestand than a random pile of crapola in the garage !

  6. Kris P says:

    I think you have a wonderful eye. You’d have made a great set decorator had your interests led you in that direction.

  7. Amy says:

    I love it – did you make it yourself? It would come in so handy. I don’t have many hanging pots, but finding places to hang them was hard. They’ve ended up scattered around because that was my only option. This would be much cooler.

  8. Denise says:

    @Kathy, outdoor fires are a rarity here now, maybe once a year. And no worries, we’ve got lots of random piles of crapola in the garage, in the attic…
    @Kris, my eye knows what it likes but as far as what other eyes like, that’s often a mystery!
    @Amy, I think Marty made this one. There’s several around that he uses to hang his clothes on, including an all-black one that I’ve been coveting for the garden. I do like it for the reasons you mentioned, to congregrate stuff to see the relationships between the different shapes.

  9. Your Olivia Parker reference warms my heart. I’ve been a fan of her work for 20+ years.

    I love your pipe stand. I would never have thought of creating something like that. It’s your personal equivalent of a painter’s canvas, isn’t it?

  10. hoov says:

    Nice rack. Way better than a pile of stuff. The chains look particularly cool hanging, like curtains.

    No spiderwebs? Spiderwebs everywhere here, on everything outdoors, not to mention indoors. I like to think the spiders are eating “bad” bugs but likely mostly they eat eachother.

  11. Tim says:

    Spectacular collection of objets d’art.

  12. Sarah Maxwell says:

    So loving your blog & especially digging the posts about container gardening, because it’s giving me tons of inspiration. We’re here in central Tx, where water is an issue. Have you had any luck with clay irrigation pot, or ollas, & can you point me in the right direction or even write about your experience? So curious!

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