One day, a couple of years ago, I asked someone to build me a shed to store the generator in. We worked out all the specs but one, the height. When I got home one day, this is what I found. Looked more like a double wide outhouse than a shed to me. That's why I put the moon on the side.
Now, it only hit me today: I should plant some lilacs nearby. It'd only be fitting.
What's traditionally planted around outhouses in your neck of the woods?
Toiletpaperbark Birch...
As you can see from the carnage at the base of the shed, they have already come and gone...........
Chuckle...here's a thread I started last year, asking for ideas...sounds like I need your builder to come build my shed: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/603168/
Well, a thread like that begs the question, so, what'd you end up doing? I'd love to get that Hosta 'Outhouse Delight". Might as well go to the grocery store and buy some apples so that the deer'd have a well balanced snack, though.
Per Martha Stewart - Hollyhocks were always used around outhouses.
My husband said Honeysuckle was always used for obvious reasons.
a double wide outhouse
Also known as a "two seater".
Intersting, I never thought of Martha Stewart as a habitue of outhouses, much less an authority on their ornamentation. She really is far more complex than I thought.
Hollyhocks..........I wonder what the connection is.
Comptonia/ Sweet Fern is a popular choice up there. I bet the 'Felon of Somes Sound' has some too.
I was surprised when she said it, too. I think the height of the Hollyhocks helped to disguise it but according to her you'd look for the Hollyhocks so you wouldn't have to ask your host/hostess where it was.
No Hollyhocks or Honeysuckle at the outhouse at Saint Alexis-de-Matapedia, Quebec.
Actually, Comptonia would do better there than Syringa would. It's all sand around there and there's a great stand of it about 30 ft. away.
And, of course, it would be a great choice for the outhouse.
Now, along those lines, I heard someone tell that the old timers used to take Spruce switches and run them under their armpits before they went out for a night on the town. Thus, "gettin' all spruced up".
Now, by the "Felon of Somes Sound" I hope you're not refering to me. I have nothing more than misdemeanors to my discredit. Others, who live in Seal Harbor, have a broader experience with the penal system than I.
As for being able to see hollyhocks more easily than the building behind them.............well, I guess it's the thought that counts.
I think Martha's message was using the Hollyhocks to hide the outhouse.
Yeah, Hollyhock foliage is raspy!
Scott
Certainly not Charmin quality.
Maackia:
You need an upgrade to a classier 4 star outhouse.
Toiletpaperbark maple (Acer griseum Mr. Whipple™).
Ha! Good one. VV, you're the master at coming up with clever cultivar names. Isn't there an opportunity to do some consulting work along this line?
"If I've got the time, you've got the beer."
I love your outhouse. heheheh remind s me of my childhood and my great grandmothers house . 50 years and that little old hous e neve r ha d indoor plumbing.
Can't remember what was planted around it. Only remember what ever it was wa s not enough to disquise the mal-oderous smells that came that way. Was always more intereste d in makign sure I didn't fall down the hole. : )
I first saw one when I was five years old. What a shocker for a kid.
I went digging for a photo to post, but couldn't find one. Our outhouse is only a one-seater, but is wide, about 7ft, to accomodate the picture window that looks out over the lake. Except for the bottom1.5ft, that wall of the outhouse is floor to ceiling and wall to wall window. No need to read a magazine when you have a wild picture show happening right in front of you..
An outhouse with a picture window! That deserves the front cover of some magazine!
Yes, Martha Stewart's 'Living' I would think. She's who I meant by the 'felon of Somes Sound', in case anyone is wondering. She bought Edsel Ford's place up there in Northeast Harbor. I doubt there's an outhouse, maybe a potting shed that looks like one.
Watersedge, I'd be concerned about camouflaging electrical equipment as an outhouse, lest some unfortunate soul try to use it for it's ostensible purpose... :)
outhouses may not be permitted in some areas, since ours has been there for
so long it is OK, but a "new" one cannot be built. maybe the sanitary district
is afraid of the bacteria count in nearby water. Lake Michigan shoreline had
trouble from outhouses, so they tied everyone into the sanitary district, no
more closed beaches, then it rained too much.
I hope no one thinks our picture window outhouse is on the lake side. It's farther back than the law requires, but up on a hill - with a view.
clatpa, you lived up here; you should know better. No one's going to waste good nitrogen in an outhouse so I'm not too afraid that anyone'll get electrocuted
The few people I knew who had outhouses (3 come to mind) definitely weren't wasting any nitrogen! Now that I think about it, one was surrounded by Huckleberries, a native Azalea and a few hundred acres of Fir.
Two of the three I knew of were 'double wides'.
The optimal setting for an outhouse IMO would be under towering White Pines. It would provide shade (very important since there's nothing worse than a sweltering outhouse) and there always seems to be a cool breeze under Pines. To show you what kind of stock I come from, I had an uncle (dairy farmer) that didn't have indoor plumbing until the early 1970's, and another that temporarily converted his walk-out basement into calf pens. Talk about needing a makeover!
If you want some Hollyhocks I have them dmail me, Pat
In Ohio and Michigan it was always lilacs. Anthrpologists look for old lilac stands around abandoned farmhouses to locate the old outhouses and start a dig.
Please tell me they would dig up the flowers! I can not see any other reason to be digging any where around an out house...
lots of people dig into old out house spots..People used to throw trash in there too. Lots of great old bottles have been dug up from out house pits lol.
I seem to remember hearing that down here in the South during the Civil War, that ladies would throw their valuables - silver, etc - down the hole (outhouse) to keep the Yanks from stealing them. I think that's the reason people dig them up. Samantha
Hey everyone. Just wanted to share a picture of my genuine WPA outhouse. It has a cement stool in it...and a vent system! Pretty ingenious I thought! And I have a New Dawn rose and a Jackmanni clematis growing on it.
For those who don't know about the WPA.........it was a work program started in 1935 by president Franklin D. Roosevelt designed to put people back to work.
I will show a picture of the outhouse here...and then one of the inside vent system.
This is the vent system. As you can see...we don't use this outhouse....lol! But could if we had to!!
Check out this link about a recent archaeological outhouse find.
http://q13.trb.com/news/kcpq-060408-arlingtonouthouse,0,3489641.story
In case the link doesn't work or gets stale I copied and pasted the text here. The link has great photos.
Archaeologists Uncover A 'Treasure' In 115 Year Old Outhouse
Snapshot of history taken from outdoor bathroom
Roxeanne Vainuku and Q13 FOX Online
June 5, 2008
ARLINGTON -- Local archaeologists are excited about what they found on a recent dig, but its where they found the 115 year old artifacts that's creating the real buzz.
It's a snapshot of history found in the most unlikely place. They found the artifacts in an outhouse.
It was uncovered during construction in the city of Arlington.
Construction crews found the classic commode while making room for Arlington's new state of the art sewer treatment system.
"I was amazed when they told me they recovered 87-hundred artifacts," says Jim Kelly, Arlington's City Utilities Manager.
While unearthing a long lost latrine may not sound that exciting. There's a lot archaelogists can find from an outhouse.
"Privys are kind of historical time capsules because they're usually left in tact, for obvious reasons, and what goes in there likely isn't going to be taken back out," says Bill White, an archaeologist who worked on the site.
Familys often used outhouses as a dumping ground.
What's left behind under the five-by-five patch of land in Arlington tells the story of a late 19th century family of pharmacists. Their economic, historical and social information all found in the outhouse.
"Not only were they making medicines, but they were doing all the drug store tasks like making soda," says White.
Archaeologists found everything from seeds people back then were eating to a clay flute form the 1879 Sydney, Australia World's Fair.
The items, all cleaned and archived, are headed for their new home at the Burke Museum in Seattle.
Copyright © 2008, KCPQ
I did finally get my "outhouse" potting shed: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=5182384
Terry, that is a neat one!
We not only have a real 'live' outhouse, but a toolshed one as well. Here is a pic of it.
I know that about 10 years or so ago real outhouses were the rage for all the upper-class gardens. Not that they were to be used for what they were intended, but for little garden/tool sheds or just plain decoration. They would buy an old one and move it on to their property. I've often wondered if they realized that on a hot humid night that certain smells would waft from the wood of that old outhouse through out their gardens. :) There was a reason they we're located NOT to close to the house. :) LOL
This message was edited Jul 9, 2008 10:11 AM
Yeah, I had some offers for "authentic" vintage outhouses, but...
a) They're pretty heavy to haul;
and
b) They are likely to have a very distinctive aroma "imbedded" in the wood ;o)
