REPRISE: "Love thy neighbor — but don't pull down your hedge."

The photograph posted above shows my Cardinal Climber AKA Ipomocea  multifida or "CC" thoroughly enjoying its somewhat new (six weeks) digs in my urban terrace garden. As you may recall, the Cardinal Climber was a gift from a friend, who gave me some CC Plants near the onset of the last week of July.
The photograph used to announce their arrival in my urban terrace garden can be seen below.

You may recognize this image, dear reader, because it was also included with the narrative (blog post) of the Cardinal Climber's arrival. I have included it again today to emphasize just how quickly the Cardinal Climber grows, in the event that you, or someone near and dear to you, needs a quick fix in your respective gardens.
I am not normally one who likes a quick fix — I stand corrected — I am no longer one who craves quick fixes (in the garden at least; my "other life" is another story), but, when I was given the Cardinal Climber, it was another effort to fill in my pain from having lost my beloved Honeysuckle Vine to man-made elements — and to fill in my trellis, so I could have privacy from voyeur neighbors, neighbors which I mentioned in a post titled, Love thy neighbor . . . but don't pull your hedge), as mentioned in a prior entry which you may refer to by clicking here.


In any event, whether it crawls up a trellis and gives you privacy or not, many garden lovers appreciate the small, bright crimson-colored flowers of the Cardinal Climber, because of the way they look against the green fern-like foliage, and that is why I am sharing my experiences with it with you. While I have not planted annual vines for quite some time, the Cardinal Climber is a joy to behold; and makes a great photo-op, as evidenced by the images posted below.

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back! Another Cardinal Climber (aka Ipomoea sloteri) Has Returned!

The newcomer to my urban terrace garden today is a vine which is currently "divided" into nine small planters that are sitting in a Mixed Nuts carton (given to me by the grower) on top of the marble table that I have in my terrace garden, as seen in the photograph posted above today's blog entry. They are waiting for Juan V to help me plant them into their new home. It is only 7:43:10 in the morning,  and already the temperature indicated on my little garden thermometer (a thermometer that I wrote about this past Tuesday) is quickly moving past the 80 degree mark , as seen in the photograph posted below.

The temperatures, in New York City, where I live and have my terrace garden, are predicted to pass the 100 degree mark, with a "real feel " of at least 105 degrees; and so at this point, in the summer of 2011, New York City officially joins the number of states in America, that are being plagued by prolonged periods of heat and humidity.


I realize my blog is not an NYC-Accu-Weather blog, nor am I a meteorologist, and instead I am a photo-artist, writer, as well as an urban gardener, but, the "connect" is this: gardening and weather conditions, as you are undoubtedly aware dear reader, are very much interrelated. If I didn't love the things which I grow in my terrace garden so much, I might spend a hot and humid day, like today, on the boardwalk at the Jersey shore standing under the watering can (such as the one pictured below)

and enjoy being watered; instead of hand watering my sixty plus beloved herbs, plants, flowers, vines, shrubs, and trees. For now, to cool off, instead of going to the beach, I will have to bring the beach to me, and picture myself being under the boardwalk's watering can's cool spray.
In any event, as for today's terrace garden work, Juan V and I plan to put the new arrivals into three eight-inch sized clay pots that previously provided a home for my Honeysuckle Vine, which we had to remove last week, as discussed in a prior post that you may refer to by clicking here.


Two of the three clay pots (the third is off camera) that had especially appreciated my beloved Honeysuckle Vine, as well as the bare trellis which it used to climb upon, are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the newcomers, which can be seen in the images posted below.

Today's newcomers are, acording to the grower, "a hummingbird's favorite" and are known as Cardinal Climbers (aka Ipomoea sloteri). They are very similar to the Maiden's Feather, a Cypress Vine (aka Ipomea quamoclit), and they are from the Morning Glory family. It has been a long time since I have put anything from the Morning Glory family in my garden; however, I have referred to them in a post that you may review by clicking here.


Many years ago, my aunt sent me some seeds for the Cardinal Climbers, and the seed's packaging can be seen in the photograph posted below.

The seeds did very well producing delightful, beautifully scalped, green leaves and red flowers which flourished in my garden, trailing up an exhaust pipe (which looks like a pole) in the northwest corner of my garden) where my H.F. Young Clematis has resided for a number of years. (I have written about my H.F. in a number of posts, including ones which you may find by clicking here as well as here and here.)


I confess that I did not take any photographs of my garden during those early green-thumb years because I actually did not even want to take time out from tending to what I grew to photograph them. (However I did take — as well as print — black and white as well as kaleidoscopic-color photographs of other things which you may view in the  various print collection pages on my web-site, Patricia Youngquist Photo-Art where purchase information is available.) Hence, dear reader, as for my early endeavors with the Cardinal Climbers, you will have to picture in your mind how they might have looked trailing up the pole, and perhaps the images you create in your imagination wil be better than ones I might have captured.


In any event, regarding the fate of my Cardinal Climbers, I only grew them from seed in that location for one season, because, for one thing, the following season neither my aunt nor I could find seeds for the Cardinal Climbers within our choices of gardening centers and hardware stores in the areas where we each live. This was unusual since my aunt lives in a relatively heavily populated northwest suburb of Chicago, and I live in New York City. Moreover, as for finding the Cardinal Climbers seeds on line, I was not Internet Literate during those years.


Be that as it may, at that time I also decided to plant perennial vines in "the pole location", so, in the years that followed, I  did this by planting varieties of Clematis: 'Candia' (Clematis lanuginosa) and H.F. Young Clematis respectively, and so the story of what grows in that location of my terrace garden, as they say, is history. . .  


Therefore, I was resigned to having no more Cardinal Climbers grow in my terrace garden until I met a talented man, named Jay P, who found a grower that could offer me the plants. This was in 2005 or 2006, and ultimately this vine, once again, flourished, but in another location (southeast of the pole) in my terrace garden. I still was not photographing my terrace garden at that time; however, I recall the Cardinal Climbers thriving and flourishing, as well as their beauty, in the mental slideshows within my mind. Lovely as they were, because they are an annual, I decided to put a perennial vine in the southeast location, and that is when I planted my Autumn Clematis — the one I've referred to as Donna's Legacy — which I ultimately photographed and blogged about in an entry that you may refer to by clicking here.


I realize the aforementioned is a rather lengthy back-story on how I came to know the Cardinal Climbers and so, tomorrow morning, when Juan V and I are well past the activities of today's terrace work, and If I don't melt away from the oppressive heat, I will post pictures of how the new arrivals look in their new digs.


Meanwhile, dear reader, if you live in parts of the world which are affected by a heat wave, HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!

Tree of Heaven ??????????????

Juan V took the photograph posted above (which features a partial view of my urban terrace garden) this past Thursday (July 14th 2011), when he was at my place to help me take down my short-lived Honeysuckle Vine. The lovely vine had produced beautiful flowers which I featured in a few blog entries, including one which you may refer to by clicking here. My Honeysuckle Vine enjoyed climbing up the bamboo trellis (the bamboo trellis sans my Honeysuckle Vine can be seen in the top right hand portio of the photograph) which Juan V had built for me this past May, by using bamboo stakes that I had accumulated from my gardening endeavors in by-gone years. This is a fact, dear reader, which you may recall from a previous post, and that you may refer to by clicking here.  

In any event, my lovely Honeysuckle Vine is now gone — a victim of mildewy powder — which we think was caused by the exhaust from a newly installed fan in the window of the building directly west of me, as I stated in my blog entry this past Thursday, and if you'd like, you may refer to it by clicking here. 


An advantage of container gardens, such as mine, is that while it is sad to lose anything that I grow, things can be pulled out fairly easily, and another advantage of a container garden is that the things that grow in them can be moved around to meet their changing needs (in terms of sunlight as the sun shifts throughout the season). However, the problem of man-made things, such as the neighboring buildings's exhaust fan, always makes the herbs, plants, flowers, vines, shrubs , and trees which grow in an urban garden vulnerable.
Man-made things are not the only hazard in a New York City terrace garden that present a problem. So-called gifts from Mother Nature can be just as hazardous, such as the Ailanthus tree, — a tree which is planted in all the "back yards" of the buildings that surround me, and a tree which is easy to recognize by its leaves which are pictured below. 

Sometimes, the  Ailanthus tree, is referred to as The Tree of Heaven, for reasons unapparent to yours truly. I am not alone in my aversion for the Ailanthus tree. Ms. Karen Joyce Williams, an on-line editor, wrote about this tree in terms of its relationship to Betty Smith's 1948 young adult novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In the novel, Smith (as on-line editor Williams points out), romanticizes the Ailanthus tree, making it "a symbol that floats through the novel" and using it as "a talisman in the eyes of the characters." However, Williams points out that, in fact, the Ailanthus tree is a very,"pervasive, strong-rooted interloper to the native landscape, elbowing, rooting, and edging out the hickory, sumac and ash trees" that are native to New York. (If you'd like to read Ms. William's full piece, please click here.)


Additionally — besides the Ailanthus tree's invasive nature — the web-worm pests that lurk on it build unsightly cob-like structures, which give it a sickly — even eerie —  quality, as in "Addams Family eerie", a "quality" that I discussed in a previous blog entry which I made in February of 2010, and that you may refer to by clicking here). This webby-appearance in its mild form can be seen in the photographs posted below.

However, to give it its due, at one time, the Ailanthus tree, did provide me with the inspiration for one of my kaleidoscopic photographic art prints, Trees From My Balcony, which can be seen below,

and which can be viewed more closely in the print collection pages of my web-site, Patricia Youngquist Photo-Art, where purchase information is available. I confess that I derived this inspiration from the Ailanthus tree, many, many years before I was a gardener, and I did not know about the disgusting, slimy worms that jumped from its pods, resting and nibbling on anything they could find in my beautiful garden, as evidenced in a "gotcha" photograph of one of the little worms on a leaf of my Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony).

I am not the only one who once received inspiration from the Ailanthus tree only to later find out that the tree was perhaps not worthy of my creative endeavors. The Ailanthus tree, and my aforementioned sentiment regarding it, was expressed in the Henry James novella, Washington Square, set in the West Village of Manhattan, in New York City, in the mid-nineteenth century.

James writes, "The ideal of quiet and of genteel retirement, in 1835, was found in Washington Square . . . it was here that you took your first walks abroad, following the nursery-maid with equal step and sniffing up the strange odor of the  Ailanthus-trees which at that time formed the umbrage of the Square, and diffused an aroma that you were not yet critical enough to dislike it as it deserved." 

ek-in-AY-see-uh's the name . . .

"Ek-in- AY-see-uh", my lovely and playful coneflowers (shown above), said, after the herbs, vines, plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees which I grow in my urban terrace garden wondered how the new arrivals pronounced their name. These new-comers to my terrace garden snuggled easily into their new home; however, their entrance was bittersweet. The Echinacea plants were a gift from a dear friend, who gave them to me as a form of consolation, because my Honeysuckle Vine, a vine which I have discussed in a number of posts, including ones which you may refer to by clicking here as well as here  and here, was attacked by mildew; possibly caused by an exhaust fan that was put in the window of someone who lives in the building directly west of me. There is no space in between the buildings, so it is likely that the recently installed fan blew fumes onto my Honeysuckle Vine, which was vulnerable to such an appliance. Hence, there was no way to protect my sweet Honeysuckle Vine —  such is one of the tribulations of maintaining an urban garden, where things grow in containers, making them very susceptible to the consequences of man-made things. In any event, the Honeysuckle Vine had to be pulled down immediately because, as any gardener knows, mildew, such as the variety that attacked my vine, would spread quickly and destroy other things that I grow in my garden. 

Therefore, the Echinacea plants were given to me as a way of easing the pain of losing my Honeysuckle Vine, and although they will not crawl up my recently built trellis as my Honeysuckle did — which was discussed in a blog that you may access by clicking here — the Echinacea plant's brilliant colors and fun shapes will add some much needed cheer to me and the things that I grow in my terrace garden after losing the vine.




I have always enjoyed Echinacea plants, even though the known perennial is an annual in my garden. Sometimes this perennial-as-annual-bit happens in container gardens, because certain plants just prefer to be in the ground. That being said, when I do my garden winterizing, I always include my Echinacea plants — giving them the chance to winter over with the other things that I grow in my terrace garden. My winterizing methods are successful and have been discussed in a previous post which can be found by clicking here. However, in spite of the many Echinacea plants that I have had over the years, all from different growers, and in different colors such as white, magenta, orange and pale yellow; they have not lived through the winter.




Most gardeners know that the Echinacea plant is "a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The nine species it contains are commonly called purple coneflowers." (For source and more information, please click here.) Even though the Echinacea plant is associated with its coneflower, it does not appreciate being called a cone-head. In general, the herbs, vines, plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees which I grow in my terrace garden do not go for nicknames. This fact was expressed by my Physocarpus opulifolius (Coppertina) tree, who, as you may recall, dear reader, from a posting which he authored on May 5th, 2011, expressed how weary he was of being called "Coppertone" (referring to the suntan lotion), based on his "common name", Coppertina. When it comes to nick-name calling, I must say I am in agreement with the "brood" that I grow in my terrace garden. Since my name is Patricia, folks often take it upon them selves to call me Trisha, Trish, Patsy, Patti, or Pat. I find it somewhat rude when I introduce myself as Patricia and in turn the person that I've just introduced myself to turns to me and says. "well, Pat . . . " or " and, so, Patti . . . ".




It is not the nick-name per se that I am against (in fact some people prefer to just use an abbreviated name), it's the assumption that's made by certain folks to call me by something when, in fact, I have just introduced myself as something else. I respect what people prefer to call themselves, and I extend that further by respecting the names of things which I grow in my terrace garden. In fact, I've recently had name-tags made for everything that grows in my garden, and I plan to write about this in a blog post on the networking of things which grow in a terrace garden; so, please, stay tuned to my blog for details. Each one of the sixty-plus things that I grow in my terrace garden will have a name-tag for this networking event, but, meanwhile, for a sneak preview of what their name- tags look like, I have included a couple of photographic collages, posted below of my 'Tamukeyama'  (Japanese Red Maple) and Pyracantha coccinea (Orange Charmer Firethorn), respectively with their name-tags.

Both my 'Tamukeyama' (Japanese Red Maple) and my Pyrancantha Coccinea (Orange Charmer Firethorn) are excited to be a part of the upcoming terrace garden networking event, and, dear reader, you are probably familiar with both this tree and small shrub from prior blog posts which you may refer to by clicking on the following numbers.

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

As for this past Tuesday's (July 12th 2011) newcomer to my terrace garden, my Echinacea plants: the things that grow in my garden and myself are honored that they are here. We love their "pods" which have the texture of hedge-hogs as seen in the photographs posted below.

My herbs, vines, plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs, and I are well aware that the Echinacea plants are well known for their medicinal purposes, but just looking at them and enjoying their playful personalities is medicine enough for us! 




Additionally, Echinacea plants have always provided much inspiration for me, which was cited in a blog entry that I made this past May (you may refer to by clicking here). Moreover, a photograph which was taken of Echinacea plants that I grew a number of years ago was rendered into an image used in one of my petite wrap-around cards known as Echinacea Triplets.This lovely card can be found in the store-front pages of my web-site , Patricia Youngquist Photo-Art, where purchase information is available.

Happy Half Year's Eve to You! (PART THREE May and June 2011 Follow-Ups)

As  promised, I am continuing with my follow ups in honor of the half-year.

In terms of May 2011 follow ups, as you may recall, dear reader, I spoke about The Five Boro Bike Tour, at the onset of that month (in blog posts that you may refer to by clicking here and here). In the latter of these posts, I expressed gratitude for Max Osso being able to step in that the last minute when my regular captain, Zoe Waldron, hurt her Achilles tendon, but thankfully, she graciously loaned us her tandem, so that we could participate in the event. Fortunately, she ultimately recovered for the most part, and has cycled "solo" as well as with me on a tandem on a number of occasions since that time. 




Additionally, since my May 2011 posting, I have received photographs, purchased by Achilles from Brightroom, of Max Osso and yours truly in various stages of The Five Boro Bike Tour, and I have posted one of them above today's blog entry that shows us cycling in Central Park, and one below which was taken early on in the tour.

Also in May, on May 11th, to be exact, my flowers quoted Dr, Suess saying, "Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one", and now in this  half-year follow-up, I can attest to the fact that indeed, they are having fun as evidenced by the photographs of some of my honeysuckle flowers posted below.

enjoying the trellis which, as you may recall, dear reader, was installed (to serve as a hedge) on  May 17th 2011.




In another posting, this past May, the birth of my H.F. Young Clematis's flowers was announced in an entry that you may refer to by clicking here. My H.F. Young Clematis's flowers were indeed a beautiful asset to my terrace garden; however, they have a short life. Since their departure, they have left me with beautiful, yet playful, "hairy" pods, as evidenced in the collage featuring one of them in both flower and pod which is posted below.

The follow ups for June  2011 include news on my Anethum graveolens (Dill), which I wrote about approximentaly ten days ago. (This may be referred to by clicking here.) Since that time, a change has already occurred, it is sporting little yellow flowers as seen in the image  seen below. (I am in the process of rendering this image into a note-card and will release details as soon as they are available).

Other June follow-ups in terms of my terrace garden include the flourishing of my Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium), which can be seen below. (As you may recall, dear reader, when I initially wrote — please click here to read — about the arrival of my Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium), I was a little concerned it might not do well. This is because I have have attempted to grow Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) on a number of occasions in my terrace garden, but it never fared well. Perhaps because the Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) is in a different location within my garden, or perhaps because I have now used a different soil, it seems to be thriving this time. Still, as I've mentioned before, even though I know people do it, I cannot imagine eating these beautiful flowers — no matter how good they may be in a salad. Instead, I will render images of my Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) into the selection of unusual communication materials that I create: invitations that preserve a moment in time, event program covers that enhance any occasion, and greeting cards that are about more than communication; all of which you can find information on, by going to my down-loadable brochure, as well as my on-line brochure or the store-front of my web-site; where purchase information is available.)  

  

My terrace garden was not the only urban garden mentioned this past June. As you may recall, twice in June of 2011, I blogged about the gardening endeavors of Danielle Rosa (who honed her green-thumb skills through an internship that she participated in at Riker's Island in New York), as she expanded the family's urban garden. (You may refer to those blog posts by clicking here and here.) As you can see from the most recent follow-up photographs (posted below) of the urban garden that Danielle revamped, it is thriving. My they grow up fast indeed!

And with the thought of how they grow up fast, I'll end  this follow-up posting with two more follow-up pictures of how one of my plants, my Ophipogon planiscapus (Black Mondo Grass) — that I have eluded to in blog enteries I've made this far this year which you may read by clicking here —  is doing now.

He's Blooming! Check out his awedome white flowers, beautifully contrasted with his black foliage. And now, as for my follow-ups . . .  that's all folks . . .




But , you dear reader, if you are a gardener, how has your garden evolved during this half -year? If you are not a gardener, what changes in the year thus far have you noticed in gardens or plantings you have seen in your area?

A Tribute to Juan V and The Don-Man: Great Gardening Minds Thinking Alike

Yesterday, Juan V came over to help me with some gardening work, and I told him about the D–Man’s garden, and that I had given him my left over bamboo stakes so that he could build a trellis, since the D–Man had commented on my blog about the smoking/gawking neighbors that we have in common — the neighbors who tend to invade our respective gardens, much like the ants that we both appear to have. If you’d like to reread any details regarding garden invading neighbors spurring on the need for an urban trellis, or combating garden ants, or the D–man, please click on these respective links: gawking neighbors as impetus for a trellis to train Honeysuckle Vines, pesky ants that make themselves at home on my Paeonia suffruiticosa (Tree Peony), and, of course, the D–man, a young gardener, whom I mentioned in yesterday's blog entry.





Upon hearing about the D–man’s endeavors, Juan V was as touched by his efforts as I am, and so, when Juan V photographed yesterday’s aerial view of my garden, he took one of the D–man’s garden. The resulting images have been posted at the top of today's blog entry. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Juan V and me, the D–man was apparently busy at work on his computer uploading his second video to You Tube which you can view by going to this link: My little Pumpkin Plant: Patio garden update!





It is exciting to learn of the D–man’s adventures with his garden. It is also most touching to know of the D–man’s sensitivity in expressing appreciation (as he did for the extra bamboo stakes and watering cans that I gave him for his garden) because such attention to detail will surely make his garden flourish. However, while I appreciate the D–man’s giving a “shout” out to my blog and garden, I can assure you, dear reader, as you most likely know, that in giving, we receive. Seeing the enthusiasm and excitement of D–man’s reaction to all of the nuances in his garden will surely help other gardeners to grow in their efforts to embrace the smallest pleasure one receives when he/she gardens.





It is somewhat serendipitous that evidently at the same time that I was telling Juan V about the D–man, and perhaps even while Juan V was photographing the gardens, that the D–man was inside his home posting about our mutual gardens. Indeed, proved once again, that great minds such as those of Juan V and the D–man think alike.

Thursday's Testimony: "Loving the art in yourself and not yourself in the art . . "

The image posted above shows a sideway view of the trellis that Juan V built (in May of 2011), using bamboo stakes that I had left over from 2006, when I used them to manage a tomato plant that had gotten out of control. You may recall, dear reader, that in my posting, "Love thy Neighbor — but don't pull down your hedge", I not only discussed Juan's structure, but I also wrote about a terrace on a building two doors west of me, which is used by folks whose sole reason to go outside seems to be to pull up a chair and stare at my terrace, which often makes me feel vulnerable when tending to my garden. Their behavior was my motivation to put up an "urban hedge" — a bamboo trellis which will hopefully soon be filled with flowers from the  Honeysuckle Vines that are being trained to crawl on the trellis. In any event, I have received a heartfelt comment on that blog entry from D-Man, which reads, "Very nice garden!  I wish I could get privacy from those neighbors also. They just stare at me and smoke when I tend to my garden." D-Man is a young boy who lives in the building which is in between my building and the building that has the terrace where gawkers and smokers abide. He maintains a garden on a terrace one level below mine, and he is new to gardening.
It is very exciting for me to see his earnest  efforts as it reminds me of a quote from My Life in Art, a book by Constantin Stanslavski (a "pioneer" method acting teacher), which is "you must love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art . . . ".  Stanslavski was speaking to actors who loved themselves in the field of theatre rather than finding the theatre within themselves, but I think the quote applies to so many folks involved in a variety of pursuits, including gardening. So many gardeners that I know are more concerned with the outcome of their gardens than with the the nuances that come from nurturing of them; however, this is not the case with D-Man. A refreshing example of his demure can be seen in a You Tube video that he has produced which can be seen by clicking on this link: My little Pumpkin Plant: :DDDDD: ":DDDDD"


As for D-Man's concern about his privacy, I gave him my extra bamboo stakes so he could build a trellis, which he has done, as you can see in the photograph posted below.

I look forward to D-Man's progress both with his garden and his blog, My Little Pumpkin Plant.