How My Urban Garden Grows: The Highly Probable Influence of my Grandfather, Albert Elmer Herman Louis Melahn

I have always appreciated gardens as well as the containers that provide a home for plants, and the image posted above this entry (as well as to the first "box" in the "side-bar" in the top-right section of this blog) is one I created after happening upon an abandoned greenhouse. By "demand", I have rendered this image into a limited edition of prints which are available in varying sizes. Information relating to this image (as well as other black and white photographs that I have created) can be found in the print collection pages on my web-site. This image is also available as a note-card, and the details about this (and other cards that I design) is also on my web-site — in the store-front pages.

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about being without access to a greenhouse, because at my upper-west side apartment in New York City, I've planted and maintained a lovely terrace garden that is now caked in snow, and with this final "clarification" post, I'd like to tell you a little bit of background about my gardening endeavors.

This is the first year I've allowed my herbs, plants, shrubs, and certain "baby" trees to be partially exposed to the winter elements. For the past few years, to protect my 'darlings' in the New York winter, I have shielded them by putting them in a cold-frame that I had someone construct for me. (This can be taken apart and stored in the closet in spring, summer, and fall.) The 'cold-frame' preserving method worked for a few years, and was even decorated for some Christmas seasons, as seen in the photographs posted below:

Because the plants, shrubs and trees have now been acclimated to my outdoor space, they did not require being put in a cold-frame for this 2010 winter.
A few smaller plants were brought inside my apartment, but most remained outside - wrapped lovingly in a double layer of bubble-wrap then sealed with natural burlap and tied with chocolate brown and turquoise jute as seen below:

However, on spring afternoons and summer nights, as you might imagine from this 2009 photo below taken by Jay Parker, a gardener (who photographed this long before the first snowfall of 2010 seen in the photo at the beginning of this post), my garden has the feeling of Lucca en Italia and of enjoying a glass of Rosso di Montalcino or Brunello or even their local wine, Vino Novello, at an outdoor cafe.

During the warmer seasons my friends and I  have gathered here and discussed art, literature, politics, morals, and our common love for helping others. This post is the last of the clarification on statements that I made in my 'About Me' column. In that column I have said that the lead senses that guide my green thumb endeavors are 'smell' and 'touch.' These instincts very likely came from my maternal grandfather, Albert Elmer Herman Lewis Melahn pictured below with a tree he had just planted.

The virtues  he had are too many for naming in blog format. It is because of him that I have a great love and respect for the elderly and that I enjoy doing my volunteer work which is visiting the elderly — especially those who are homebound.

"Old people. They're the survivors, they know something, The very old, they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious, like close to the beginning." This quote is from one of my favorite plays, I'm not Rappaport, written by Herb Gardener, the cartoonist turned playwright as mentioned in my first entry. Though I never gardened with my grandfather, I believe my love of gardening came from him. My urban gardening endeavors in my 'Manhattan back yard' are a tribute to him.

Reflecting On 01-01-01

Happy New Year to you and welcome to my blog, The Last Leaf Gardener. Since tomorrow is the start of not just a new year, but a new decade, I find that I look back to how the decade began. The year 2000 began with all the Y2K frenzy. The following year 2001, came in much more peacefully, as evidenced in the photo above of a snow sculpture of the Madonna with Child, which I saw in Central Park on 01-01-00, after a winter snow storm. Unfortunately, that peacefulness would ultimately be shattered within nine months and eleven days, on September 11th, 2001 when airplanes flew into the World Trade Center, murdering thousands of people.

Today as I return to this peaceful image snow sculpture image, I'm reminded of the freedom to create. Snow sculptures that often pepper Central Park after a snow storm are one result of that freedom. I imagine the snow sculptures bring joy to those who create them, and joy to those who, like myself, see them when they walk in the "winter wonderland" of Central Park. However, since snow melts, these are fleeting moments.

Fortunately, I've preserved this solemn sculpture's moment in time in the format of a photographic image which I have rendered into a note-card, and it can be seen posted at the top of this entry. I have created and produced a limited edition of these cards which can be viewed on my web-site where they can be purchased.

Meanwhile, as the year and this blog move forward, many of my post  topics will be about my work as a photo-artist and my gardening endeavors as well as other gardeners. Additionally, from time to time I may post about a current event, but at the moment you and I are just getting acquainted, so I will leave you with this thought: Now that I've gotten the setting up of my blog underway (and making my New Year's resolution to stick with a posting scedule), it seems I may be passée. I understand many people have moved on to Twittering and Tweeting. It is my life story summed up in ten words: at the airport when the ship comes into the dock. Being a reflective soul, I'll probably stick to blogging over twittering and tweeting. Besides, as it is, while some of my posts will be snippets and captions, others may border on mini essays. My temperament reminds me of Herb Gardener, whom I happened to meet while working at a theater (but that is as "they" say, another story), and he told me that before becoming a playwright, he was a cartoonist and when the "bubbles of dialogue got bigger than the cartoon-characters, it was time to be a playwright." Similarly, as opposed to tweeting and twittering, blogs let you generate more in-depth content. I see them having greater resilience in terms of perception. But they require what many people seem to consider long-term commitment today:setting aside 20-90 minutes daily, weekly or semi-weekly. Still some bloggers are providing insightful or informative blogs which I hope to do also. I am in it for the long haul, and perhaps the Charles Schultz cartoon posted below sums it up:

As for this blog, I will post my first entry on January 4th 2010 and then every other day of the first week of 2010. I do not intend to write very much about me per se  throughout this blog, other than this first week to be spent discussing a few personal topics. My hope is that by introducing you to myself in this way, I will provide a foundation that  gives insight into my orientation as a photo-artist and my endeavors as an urban gardener.

Following this first week of this every other day of posting, I will be posting regularly on Saturday mornings, beginning Saturday the ninth of January 2010 (with the exception of Saturday, March 27th and Saturday, April 3rd and two Saturdays in October; the 9th and the 16th). 

From November 2nd of 2010 - November 23rd 2010, I will post on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to my Saturday morning postings. This means that I will post three times a week: Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. Occasionally, when a special event occurs on a given day between scheduled posts, I may post on that day in addition to the scheduled postings. However, beginning the day after Thanksgiving, November 26th, 2010, I will post every day until December 1, 2010.

After December 1 2010, I will post every other day through Christmas and then post every day from Christmas through the end of the year but these posts will be around mid-morning as opposed to mu usual early morning postings due to my schedule. It sounds complicated but I want my readers to know when they can expect new postings.

My 2011 posting schedule will be announced at the beginning of next year. Now on with The Last Leaf Gardener!