neighbors being neighborly

This is long overdue.

A few weeks ago, a neighbor (in the loose sense of the word) found that post on the vandal who terrorized our stoop, and offered some planters she no longer needed. And people say that New Yorkers aren't generous. I jumped on the opportunity, and went out to Shannon Florist and gobbled up some annuals. The front yard is now amazing. I still think I need to reorganize a bit, and now even though I finally got batteries for the camera, the pictures didn't come out so great. But watch this space.

In other neighbor news, one of the women who lives next door gave Steve some cactii. And me some forget-me-not seeds, which I'll plant later for next spring.

I love Brooklyn.

tale of two hydrangeas

The flowers gracing the tables at our wedding were potted hydrangeas (blue).

Afterwards, we gave some to special guests, and planted the rest at home. The ones in the shade never came back, but the ones in the sun get bigger and better every year. Boy, do they like a lot of water.

In the front they're in a planter, and pink.

In the back, they're in the ground, and they're blue. Apparently this has to do with the acidity of the soil. I'm just happy that they're alive, and while I always thought I'd prefer them blue, the pink ones make me kind of happy too.

fence cover

How many times can I mention how much we hate the chain link fence? In 2006, the fence cover strategy, henceforth Fence Strategy One included clematis, which everyone said was a great climbing fence cover. I didn't get it until this week. Last year, it was nice, but kind of lackluster. All of a sudden this year, it's gotten thick and well, this week it bloomed. Guess it just needed to mature. Here it is, you can't even see the fence here behind the petunias bursting out of the Perch Bird Feeder. But if you look closely, you can still see some fence.


From a more "macro perspective", behold Fence Cover Strategy Two, which included akebia quinata, seeds from neighbor Debbie up the block, planted fall 2006. Akebia is a funny one. Didn't do much of anything in 2006. In 2007 shot up and it was fun to see. This year it's gotten vigorous. Grows so fast I see why it's invasive in some areas -- it's sent runners everywhere. But those little runners are easy to manipulate and send in strategic directions.


Still we need a Fence Cover Strategy Three. There is a huge gap between the flowering (or not-so-flowering) quince and the top of the fence where the clematis and akebia thrive. It's not that we don't love our neighboors and their above ground pool. Really it isn't.

Meanwhile, on another note -- borage. Argh. Last year I planted seeds, and it came up all huge and was kind of annoying snaking all over the peony bed, and then this year it came back with a vengeance. I left it there all spring since I didn't have any other plan, but now there it is with its big fat stems, totally taking over and creeping out into the "lawn". Somebody's getting pulled out soon. To be replaced with... ??? ... ???

early summer blooms

We're having a pretty intense little heat wave, all the more brutal because of a pretty chilly May. The flowers like it, when they aren't wilting. Witness Hibiscus, after looking pretty lackluster the past couple weeks, this morning it came out bright and happy.
And then there's the Astilbe. Last year it fried in the sun and the pretty flowers turned brown right away. This year it came back so bushy, I'm hoping for longer lasting blooms.
And the Icelandic Poppies? I don't think 95 degrees and humid is what they get much of in Iceland, but they decided to bloom just now. The Gerbera daisies limped in the sun, but then after a good watering and overnight rest, they popped back, uh, fresh as a daisy.

quick! peony!

Peony season doesn't last long. And our peonies are very pretty, but the as soon as the buds open, the blooms tip over, so they have to be picked immediately.

atrocity!

Just after talking about how happy the stoop made me coming home...

It was windy last night, but this wasn't wind. Enzo was barking, and we heard someone in the front yard -- the gate opening and closing. It was about 2:30 am, and we heard the sound of breaking glass (well, we thought it was glass). It wasn't. Someone tried to steal the orange planter, and dropped it on one of the others, and then Enzo was barking and so he got scared and left.

Steve's theory is that he thought it was pretty and wanted to take it home. Who could look their wife/girlfriend/mother in the eyes giving them a stolen plant? Sigh. I've cleaned up, but need to find Mr. Cleome and Mr. Dianthus a new home.

Plants I'm a little worried about

Well for one, what happened to this guy? Brown and lavender? I don't remember that. Although it's huge and really pretty cool. You can also see the "Virginia Cup Plant a bit behind -- it's behind the lavender, which I had to totally chop back because it was mighty woody and scraggly. But that's going to be a success. And then there's also the Viburnum. I got it at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden sale three weeks ago, and still haven't repotted. And it definitely likes more water than it's been getting from rain. We got a mighty cool planter for it, and hopefully it will be happier now. But now we have to get it back up the stoop. Uh, hello heavy. Last but not least, the verdant jungle of the "Bionic bed". Echinacea and Joe Pye Weed are taking over -- I planted a "mullein" plant, also from the BBG, to break it up a bit. I think it might drown. I'm not sure how happy it is. That's him, the sort of peach/pink spiky thing towards the left in the sea of green. Meanwhile, liatris, and maybe that's the chelome coming back in front of it?