The History: The obelisk is an ancient structure used throughout history in many civilizations such as ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, Ethiopia and even pre-Inca Peru. Obelisks were thought to honor the sun god and channel positive energy. They are prominent in parks, city centers and gardens. Examples of obelisks are The Washington Monument, Vaticano in St. Peter’s Square and Cleopatra’s Needle in Central Park. Stanley Kubrick even chose the obelisk as the key symbol in his film “2001-A Space Odyssey” where it appears in the beginning as the apes make tools and the end where one is found on Jupiter.
Our garden obelisk is constructed of red cedar and is 12 feet tall. Our design is a traditional wood structure and is modeled on one we saw in the California garden of John Muir. In addition to positive energy and architectural interest our obelisk also provides a place for peas and pole beans to climb. We used some thin green cable and hidden steel stakes to keep the structure from toppling in high winds.
Bluebirds nest at the top. We used a redwood and copper bluebird house to top the pyramid. Feeling the energy, Eastern Bluebirds took up residence 3 hours after we erected it. They have been there every year since often raising multiple broods. Just last week, this year’s bluebirds raised a brood of four fledglings. The Bluebirds love to feed on ants and any carpenter ants in the firewood in our garden area have to deal with the chickens on one side and the Bluebirds everywhere else.
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| An Eastern Bluebird feeding its young atop our garden obelisk |
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| The male and female bluebird guarding their nest |
The obelisk is the center piece of our garden connecting us with ancient gardeners of the past. Can you feel the energy?
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