moving...

here's the new blog: green

Final post of the urban planter

So this is something of a bittersweet post... I am very excited to be opening my own plant nursery and lndscape design business in Brevard, North Carolina. When visiting a month ago I came across a space with amazing potential for a retail nursery, since then I have been figuring out all of the details... and I leave next week!

This is a big painting I did for my best friend, Renee... She asked me for a modernish botanical abstract... for her condo in Boston.




The very sad news is that my dog, Delilah, has been diagnosed with oral cancer, and has a month or so to live. She has been with me for 13 years and is my first true love. So I am happy to be able to bring her back down south where she can spend her final days off the leash and sidewalks, romping around in the woods, laying on the porch... Sweet, sweet girl.

Tree Pruner Certification

I have been such a lazy blogger of late that I never talked about the Citizen Pruner Certification classes I took in October...

It is a series of four classes held at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Taught by master arborist, Chris Roddick, it is obviously a rough life for a street tree! The most important aspect of street tree maintenance is actually watering! Street trees have such compromised root space that rain water is often not absorbed... So don't forget to water your trees!
When you pass the exam the NYC Parks Dept. sends you a really cool card to keep in your wallet. This way, when I'm out there messing around with some street tree and some body harasses me, I just flash the card! It's actually going to be handy for work purposes... that and watering!

foodscapes

by Australian photographer Carl Warner

Oulu

A little bar I love in Williamsburg, Oulu, on N. 4th street... The facade is an extensive greenwall! I'll be by next year to take some shots of how it takes winter.







Dwell did an article on it after it was installed & they have the facts:
The succulents are planted in 35 or so panels of soil, each less than three inches thick, which are screwed to the wall. A hidden watering system gives them a steady spritz. A living wall can easily be planted on a residential façade, Marni says, at a cost of about $50 a square foot. Interior walls are roughly $30 more per square foot because they contain tropical plants, which are more expensive.

bits and pieces

My niece, Ava, makes us wonder what holidays were before she was around! She is two and the most beautiful little cherub! One evening after work I was walking in Manhattan and happened to pass a toy store displaying the "Inchworm" in the window... I was jolted back (not going to say how many years) to my early childhood when I had an inchworm, and it turns out that this is some sort of revival toy! I went in and it said for ages 2-5 so I got it for Ava... Carrying it home on a crowded evening subway garnered many amused looks!

Needless to say, it was a huge hit! What can I say - I understand a child's mind...



Kevin reminded me that there were no shots of the love shack on my Dad's property, so here it is! And yes, we had a beautifully white Christmas! That is "the bench" knee deep in snow to the left.



This is a little nest Ben and I came across in a little tree outside of the Sherborn Inn, one of our favorite (and the only one in such a small town) watering holes. We love the micro brews on draft, bar stools on casters and big screen tv that shows sports (ok, ok, he loves the sports, I ask annoying questions about the sports!)

Another great bench

I don't know exactly why I obsess over garden benches, but I do...




This one is in front of the love shack, is rotting and missing an arm and is absolutely divine!

Nature walks in Vermont

My Dad and stepmom just built a new home in Woodstock Vermont. It's in the middle of nowhere and will be a land trust as soon as he cons one of his neighbors into letting him buy a couple more acres. We have always taken extensive family hikes, walks, adventures, so of couse, Ben and I were taken on an intensive exploration of the property line (and a lot in between).

We found a bunch of these mushrooms growing on rotting tree stumps - my guess is "Coral" Clavariaceae mushroom family. Danger: some are edible, some are NOT!


The above fern is a mini! growing out of the steps of the "Love Shack" on the property (it's an old hunting/camping structure with a heart shaped window in the door). I don't know exact species on this one... however...

Below is a killer stand of Maiden Hair Fern "Adiantim pictatum" I love I love I love this fern.





Above: Actaea pachypoda (Doll's-eyes, White Baneberry) finding these undisturbed native colonies is like pirate booty!


Someone (Ben!) knocked some lichen off a log, so I decided to transplant it somewhere else in the woods... I do not know if this is really something that can be done by simply placing the lichen on another stump... But I'd like to think it is that way! Grow lichen grow!

Happy Winter Solstice!

In my pagen heart I am all for celebrating the days getting longer! YAY! Darkness at 4:30 can be a bit much... It's also that amazing sense that everything is constantly changing and that's just how it is - and I love that - no control. The only constant is change.

"the sun rules the day,
and the moon rules the night,
and the stars bring light to the darkness"
Something I borrowed from Luke from Miss Lulu's myspace page...



Invierno (winter), 1573 
Giuseppe Arcimboldo 
Musee du Louvre

"Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year. It is from this point that the days begin slowly to become longer and longer. The sun is at its most southeastern point over the Tropic of Capricorn in the northern hemisphere and has no apparent northward or southward motion. In the time of the ancient tribes this was a time of celebration, for it meant the turning point of winter and the eventual return of spring."

Snow in the garden

Sorry I've been so slow to write lately... work and life have been taking their tolls. I am looking forward to my last week of work until March, my company goes on unemployment and those of us who have been busting our asses get to travel, indulge, get some sleep...! I had taken everything down in the garden except for this echinacea who would just not stop blooming!



We do a lot of evergreen arrangements this time of year so our clients have something to look at other than pots of dirt and bare branches! These boughs are sprayed with an anti-dessicant to keep them from drying out.

Surprise!

While cleaning out a closet recently, I came upon my Amaryllis stash... blooming! I was a little bit startled because at first I didn't recognize what it was, since it was completely chlorotic ("The yellowing or whitening of normally green plant tissue because of a decreased amount of chlorophyll, often as a result of disease or nutrient deficiency.") having been put away in a cool, dark place as is the norm for forcing these bulbs... It was creepy!

Rock gardens on a rooftop

I came across an interesting collection of rock plants on a rooftop on the Upper West Side recently... This is a co-op's community roof and it seems one of the residents is a rock gardener! Great containers!





Especially nice with this view of the park in the background!

Jon's bench

My friend Jon is an amazing artist. He can take a completely empty space and turn it into something stunning. He is a wiz with found materials... Last summer when we planted his yard in Williamsburg, he built this amazing bench out of timber *borrowed* from some street repairs... I love it! Jon is so creative, he really makes me think twice... And the bowling alley bar he built isn't so bad either...

Angelica archangelica

This Angelica was planted last year at my boyfriend's brewery, and then, as a biennial, was just a really pretty, leafy specimen... This year it bloomed! In complete shade none-the-less!


Angelica is used to flavor liquors and is taken as an herbal immune stimulant. I'll have to collect those seeds! In this picture is also Abutilon "flowering maple" on the left and Coleus "Inky Fingers" on the right...



Zinnia self seeded from last year! I think they can't help but grow at the brewery because Shane loves them so much!

Chelsea Sculpture Garden

One of my big design projects, this sculpture garden for an international art gallery network, has finally been installed! We were delayed several months by problems with the brand new building which is covered with a fancy new plastic panel product from the Netherlands... They had to go back and do a lot more water sealing!
But anyways, these are zinc coated boxes with 5'-6' Arborvitaes, 56 trees exactly! They will form a consistent green hedge which will block out all of the distracting ugliness around the terrace and be a nice backdrop to the outdoor sculpture.

Looking West

The black tubing and wires hanging out of the planters are the lines for the irrigation and lighting, which will be finished this week.


Looking East


Do you see how there is a section that pops out? This was designed to hide the utilities and massive flood lights situated in this corner of the terrace. Two of the planters are on heavy duty casters so that they may be pushed aside for any maintenance to the equipment.


The hidden utility equipment


Paulo, my coworker and dear friend!

The community garden

I really can't explain what's going on here... nature?


This is some yummy parsley





Okra! not mine, but an amazing bloom!

when good trees go bad...

uh-oh...


Who said dare!? Why is it always the furthestmost, out-of-reach bugger who has to cause a problem? Why? This Arborvitae decided he just couldn't go on... So I got to figure out how exactly to remove him from his perch over the pool (5'-6') deep. It was 3"x10's, screwed together with a bit of carpet foam underneath to keep it from slipping out from underneath us and/or, scratching the granite coping. The pool had been empty until the day before when the pool guys filled it to make sure it was properly sealed!


I think the new tree makes the middle tree look a little bit... ashy...



Japanese Maple, South/west corner, to the right of the outdoor fireplace


Magnolia, opposite Maple, in the "kitchen"

More great annual vines

Cardiospermum halicacabum ("Love-in-a Puff") is one of my all time favorite vines... It has tiny little white flowers, and makes these balloon-like seedpods. Inside is...


A round back seed with a perfect white heart! The heart is created by where the membrane of the seedpod attaches itself to the seed, and is regardless, a feat of nature!


Also blooming at the brewery is a "Cardinal Climber" Ipomoea sloteri, beautiful ferny foliage, vibrant red blooms and a delicate, climbing nature...