Coming and Going

The view looks pretty sweet to me either way. Sometimes it feels like people plant things just to delight me. 

Some Scenery From This Sunday's Sidewalk Hike

Passing a yellow Hibiscus, for a second it was as if I was transported to Hawai'i.

This summer's annuals, like purple Angelonia, were still going strong while some freshly planted fall annuals were on display in sidewalk planters.

I guess you could say I took the scenic route to my dad's Dahlias? It wasn't over a river or through the woods but there was plenty to see without leaving the pavement.

Fancy Leafed Tropical Tubers

Wikipedia says there are over 1000 named cultivars of Caladium bicolor from the original South American plant. Wow! I guess one could become an expert (and that it would take some time too) on just Caladiums.

Well I am unlikely to become an expert, but I just learned a little about the history of this plant, some early and famous breeders and about an annual festival celebrating them in Lake Placid, Fla, which apparently is the caladium capital of the world.

A Little Bit of My Dad's Garden in Late August this Year

Dahlias and caladium and eggplant.

Because the only thing better than watching your own garden grow is checking out someone else's.

What's In Your Planter™?

I can picture the commercial for some unnamed garden center called "what's in your planter™?". Gardeners would send in pictures or instragrams of the sweet "thrillers, fillers and spillers" they had chosen for this season's show.

It's day three of the first heat wave this year in New York with air so hot and thick it hurts to open your eyes fully. But mine perked up when passing by some planters filled with color in front of an office building this morning.

Planting at Lizzie's

My camera is on its last legs, but the annuals planted at Lizzie's are just beginning. The seeds that we sowed back in winter and Susan raised in her living room are beginning to turn into thriving plants in Lizzie's backyard. We were dreaming of a flower farm through the cold of winter, but we will settle for fresh flowers on Lizzie's table and then some. We're gonna have good times watching these bloom (if the aphids will let us) and we might not have to wait that much longer.

Kismet

It makes sense that on the way to Susan's (the allium lover and allium bestower) I spied my first allium blooms of the year in a sidewalk planter. Some friendships are just meant to be and sometimes in your life things fall into place and you find yourself exactly where you want to be, surrounded by the kind of people you always wanted to know. We had a bunch of flower seedlings to deliver to Lizzie's straight from the mini-growhouse that is currently Susan's living room. Brooklyn sown and grown. In a few days, we plant and then wait for the blooms.

Work

Getting your hands a little dirty at work sure beats answering a phone.

Orange Ranunculus

Spent the afternoon planting annuals at work, pretty little violas, the annuals of spring, forced bulbs and even a few Hellebores, which aren't annual, but perennial. But the biggest splash of color came from some orange Ranunculus. It isn't hard to see why the ranunculus (a cultivar of Ranunculus asiaticus most likely) is such a popular flower for wedding bouquets. Its papery petals are something else. I know at least one orange-flower loving gal who would have loved seeing these today.