This Season's Charming Lavandula angustifolia

Perhaps, you recall, dear reader, that over three weeks ago (May 14th 2011), I posted an entry titled "I've NEVER seen a billboard lovely as a tree . .  " (which you may refer to by clicking here), and, you may recall that an antique sign bearing the word "SODAS", was the subject of that post, and was an item that used to be placed where I now have Lavandula angustifolia, growing in a window box placed inside an old fireplace fixture that has been located in almost every area of my terrace garden over the years, and  one  which has "housed" an array of plants, including my Ophipogon planiscapus (Black Mondo Grass), and a variety of basil that I've nicknamed Heather's Basil.
You can see how both of these plants can be seen arranged in this "fireplace fixture turned planter", by referring to a previous post, by clicking here.


A variety of Lavandula angustifolia once lived in an area of my terrace garden that is southeast of the location featured in the photograph at the top of this blog entry. At that time, both the Lavandula angustifolia and "SODAS" sign were part of my Halloween decorations, as seen in the photographs posted below which are images that you may recall from an October posting (which you may refer to by clicking  here). 

I don't miss the "SODAS" sign per se; however, I do miss the privacy it gave me from the folks who live in the building directly north of me whose picture windows face yours truly's urban terrace garden. In a sense, the "SODAS" sign provided an "urban hedge", and the importance of hedges is something which I have discussed when Juan V built me a trellis (from my bamboo stakes) for my honeysuckle vine to have a place to play and grow, as you may recall from a previous posting, "Love thy Neighbor —  but Don't Pull Down Your Hedge",  and which you can review by clicking here.


Meanwhile, as for my charming Lavandula angustifolia, it is an herb that not only attracts honeybees, but it is a culinary delight; a few facts which I discussed in a posting from last August (2010), that you will find by clicking here. It is worth losing the privacy that the removal of my "SODAS" sign may have cost me — and besides one day my Lavandula angustifolia will grow big and tall. For now, I'll just enjoy watching it grow, and as for the folks in the building north of me, I guess you could say I am performing a community service: I'm sure they'd rather see my charming Lavandula angustifolia, than the back of a metal sign.

Monday Morning Musings #1: Challenging the adage "bad things happen in threes"

My Ajuga plant (seen in the photograph posted above) located in the northwest corner of my urban terrace garden has just given birth to triplets bearing a spectacular color somewhere in between purple and blue, a color that puts RGB charts to shame. From the looks of things, my Ajuga will be giving birth again soon, but I wanted to capture her first three arrivals of the season, and to challenge the statement that bad things happen in threes, both with the subjects of the photograph posted above, and with all the subsequent ones in today's blog entry.


Exhibit "A", my Basil Triplets (pictured below), which I had in my terrace garden in 2007; not only did they provide a nice scent to my outdoor haven, but they were an asset to my Blue Coat Gin and Q Tonic cocktails infused with Basil. Moreover, they looked great in a container created from an abandoned fireplace accessory, and, most importantly, they provided somewhat of a "hedge", giving me some privacy from my neighbors who live to the west of me, and who have put up white aluminum siding over their exterior brick wall; I guess they missed the suburbs.

In any event the "hedge"that this trio of basils provided, inspired last season's "hedge" created by a Passiflora (Passion Vine), seen in full force in the photograph below:

Exhibit "B", is actually my first "hedge", created when I first began gardening towards the end of the 1990's. It was a" hedge" that consisted of three wooden window boxes (sitting on top of bamboo shelving) that I filled with different annuals as the season dictated.

This "hedge" was built out of a necessity to provide privacy from a neighbor, whose bathroom window is just to the left of the gutter in the photograph posted above, and who insisted on exposing himself whenever I had guests in the garden. I was a "baby"gardener then, and, therefore, into the instant gratification annuals bring, instead of appreciating the joy in "watching grass grow', as I do now, which is a concept I discussed this past April which you can read by clicking here.


And speaking of grass, I give you Exhibit "C", in this case of mine designed to prove that things that happen in three are not necessarily bad, as seen here in the photographs below of my Ophipogon planiscapus (Black Mondo Grass) triplets,which looked lovely in my abandoned fireplace accessory (prior to moving out to give way to the Passiflora),

but, look even more spectacular in their other location on the opposite side of my terrace garden, where they are supported by a copper wire that's been tied lovingly around their containers to secure them to the railing that surrounds my terrace garden, and where they have been thriving under my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida (Kiwi Vines), as seen in the selection of photographs posted below, which are a close-up as well as a long shot of my Ophipogon planiscapus taken a few days ago and this past fall respectively.

Exhibit "D" in my case to dispel the-bad-things-happen-in-threes adage are these Echinacea Triplets posted below, that I grew a few years ago when I replaced my "window box hedge" of annuals with the fun-looking Echinacea triplets, that would become an inspiration for a petite wrap around greeting card that I created, which can be viewed in the store-front  pages within my my web-site, where they are available for purchasing when you want to send a greeting card that is about more than communication.

Exhibit "E" features the triplets known as Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary), seen below,

the herb of remembrance, as well as the herb which represents friendship (as you may recall from a previous blog post which may reread by clicking here), and the herb that looks great in color, and black and white (due to its unique texture) as seen below.

Exhibit "F" (below) features Japanese Painted Fern triplets, who resided in my terrace garden a few years ago.

And lastly, but not least, in my challenging the adage, Bad things happen is threes, I offer you Exhibit G, as in G for girls, and in this case, the girls being my sisters and me seen in the photograph below with our grandfather,

who clearly did not seem to believe that bad things happened in threes, and who, as you may recall is where I most likely received my inclination to garden (as I indicated in one of my first blog entries, which you may refer to by clicking here).

And with that, dear reader, I rest my case in my challenge of the adage bad things happen in threes.