Monday Morning Musings: Revisiting the Importance of Indoor Gardens

The "topic" of decorating an indoor succulent garden is something I have not addressed here on TLLG's Blogger, tumblr, or Facebook in quite some time; but even though it is the season when my outdoor (urban) garden calls for "overtime" attention, I have not neglected my wonderful indoor succulent garden, a garden of unusual succulents that, depending on the time of year, is "visited" by unique figurines. This is a fact you may recall from seeing my indoor succulent garden — here in cyber-space — when it has had very different "visitors" for Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall as well as for "off season" celebrations such as Penguin Awareness Day.

And, once in a while, as you may recall, dear reader, figurines of fruits such as apples 'n oranges, as well as pears (that all visit my succulent garden), "weighed in" on their life experience in my succulent garden.

So today, on a stormy Monday morning, when it is impossible to be tending the garden I have on my terrace, I have been given the opportunity to share the 2012 summer look in my indoor succulent garden, as evidenced by a bathing beauty figurine who is new to my succulent garden. I was given this figurine (over the weekend) by a dear friend whose husband also has an indoor succulent garden, as I described in an entry here on TLLG, which you may refer to by clicking here.

In any event, the bathing beauty figurine was welcomed by my succulents and by a little frog — who jumped on a succulent container — to get a closer look at her (as you can see in the image posted at the top of today's entry)!

I am hoping that my other bathing beauty figurine, who also visits my succulent garden, and can be seen in the image below,

will enjoy having some company, even though, like yours truly she enjoys her time alone. (The aforementioned figurine was given to me last summer by the same friend.)

The "story" of the importance of indoor gardens will be included in the series of Virtual Stories (mini movies) which I will be producing for a campaign that I launched late last week on indiegogo, a campaign whose mission is to give voice to the garden, and in doing so remind folks that "The very old, they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious like close to the beginning."

Easter Season Decor Ends (for the year) in the Indoor Succulent Garden

This past Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost, which ends the Easter Season, and, even though the Easter Season is a fifty day celebration, I am already feeling a bit unfulfilled —  despite my participation in the intense Easter observances as well as the preparation for them during Lent. 

Therefore, I was consoled to read the following comment by the blogger, Emily L. Hauser who is referring to her experience with her 2011 Passover celebrations.

Hauser writes, "It really does seem that every year, Passover goes by faster. One minute I'm hyperventilating over the inhumane amount of cleaning, the next minute I'm saying 'what, it's over?' But here we are. Tonight is the start of the second holiday, the one that closes the week, and boom — its back to bread." I realize that Passover 2011 ended quite some time ago, and that for Ms. Hauser the festival of Shavuot (which is symbolically and historically related to Pentecost) was last week, but it is aways comforting to be reminded of the fact that my emotions are hardly unique to me, and that, in fact quite often, they transcend cultures and belief systems.  

Additionally, as this Easter Season comes to a close, I am also reminded that it is probably time to remove the Easter decorations that are interspersed with my indoor garden of succulents which grow  (under a special lighting system using cold/hot bulbs) in containers that have been lovingly and strategically placed on top of humidity trays (that are laden with pebbles), which are resting on a space 

I've created for an indoor garden on top of my kitchen armoire. (Please see this past blog entry for details.) You may recall, dear reader, that I initially created this indoor garden during wintertime (a few years ago) to have a home for some of my plants that would not withstand winter temperatures and conditions. (Yes, this does happen with my outdoor plants — on rare occasions —  in spite of my attentive winterizing methods — methods that I have described in a previous blog post which can be found by clicking here.

In any event, indoor gardens are quite nice to have — even if you do have the space for an outdoor garden. You may recall that in an earlier blog entry I wrote about a neighborhood indoor garden, a garden that is a celebration of the textures of succulents; and if you'd like to reread it, you may refer to by clicking here.

As for my "armoire-top" garden, it now contains a variety of succulents found at the Greenmarket at Union Square in New York City. 

WEDNESDAY'S WISDOM for the indoor gardener (and other interested parties) . . .

In my past few blog posts, I have mentioned Halloween and I realize that I am beginning to sound a bit like Linus Van Pelt (Charlie Brown's buddy) and his constant talk of Halloween as he anticipated a visit from The Great Pumpkin! In my case, of course, I want my readers to take advantage of an opportunity to send Halloween cards that fold out into a picture which is suitable for framing designed by yours truly (to view them. please click here), but I have also wanted to share with you (using whatever wisdom I have left in me these days) my ideas on decorating your garden for this unique time of year before we roll over into the "W" word known as winter. If you'd like to refer to one of my posts regarding garden decor for Halloween, please click here.

However, since I am aware of the fact that some of my readers do not have outdoor space to use for gardens, and I don't want them to feel left out, today I will weigh in with ideas on how you might like to decorate any indoor succulent garden that you might have, such as Tony has. To read about his garden and to see related images please click here for the link to the post in which I wrote about his indoor succulent garden earlier this year.

"Life is like eating artichokes, you have got to go through so much to get so little."

One of the little succulent garden figurines who came to spend time in my indoor succulent garden (a garden that I decorate for all of the seasons, which I have written about in a number of blog entries on TLLG which you may refer to by clicking here) is Lady Artichoke (seen in the image above). 

She was featured in a post on nybg's (New York Botanical Gardens) tumblr about a week ago, and in that blog entry she is seen with her comrades in the following picture which accompanies that entry.

I return to Lady Artichoke today because of the Tad Dorgan (Thomas Aloysius Dorgan) quote, "Life is like eating artichokes, you have got to go through so much to get so little." 

It's Halloween: Eat, Drink & Be Scary!

Halloween is here, the day to EAT, DRINK, &  BE SCARY! If you've been following my cyber venues over the past fifteen days, you undoubtedly have noticed that in addition to giving voice to the flora which grows in my urban garden, as well as the array of birds that visit it, I've been reporting on the antics of characters who've come to spend time with me for Halloween.

Some of these guys and gals have been visiting me for a number of years, and their scenarios have been documented in entries here on Blogger as well as tumblr, and on hometalk, under the following titles: Boo! Halloween in Both my Urban Terrace & Indoor Gardens,  Halloween Decor Indoors (mostly), Group B Wins The Coin Toss, Group A Wins The Second Coin Toss, Group C  Wins 3rd Coin Toss, Conclusion of Follow-Up Halloween Decor, Honoring National Pumpkin Day With a Contest in My Garden, and At Halloween and Always, Make New Friends, Keep the Old 

And this year, a few newcomers have graced my home with their presence. They include a fellow who insists he's no mummy's boy, a few witches (one named Ms. Grim one who wears a yellow cape, one who calls herself Queen of The Night, one who has bat wings, and one named Annie McFanny). Additionally some newcomers have come dressed as OZ characters, one wearing a Winged-Monkey costume, the others dressed up as Glinda and Dorothy. Moreover, this past Saturday, a character dressed as a black cat stopped by with information on this type of feline's plight on Halloween.

Other newcomers here who have yet to be featured in any of my cyber-venue postings are as follows: Mr. Pinstripes, a young girl in a pumpkin cape, and some one dressed as a prisoner.  

The latter of these individuals is usually here for Valentine's Day when he claims to be a Prisoner of Love.

Another Halloween in my Succulent Garden

The photo atop this blog entry shows a number of characters who are meeting in my indoor succulent garden before Halloween. It's the fifth year that characters have come to visit my succulent garden for this particular holiday. As many of you know, I have a garden on my terrace where I grow cacti, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs as well as trees. The succulent garden that I maintain inside my home, is not only for unusual cacti, it is a place that an array of characters come to visit for various occasions.

With the exception of Humpty Dumpty, Ms. Skeptic is the one who has been visiting me the longest in honor of Halloween. I've indicated her identity (number twelve within the group image below, Humpty is number 13). I've also included Ms. Skeptic's and Humpty Dumpty's solo photo-ops.

In 2011, her first year here, Ms. Skeptic was the hostess to a small group of characters, but the group of visitors has gotten much larger over the years. In fact the numbers of whimsical visitors has gotten so big, that some of them (not seen in either of these group images) have moved beyond my garden and into my main living area; taking up residence in my armoire and making themselves at home on my shelves! 

A number of the characters featured in these group photos were discussed in posts I wrote for hometalk in 2012 and 2013 under the following titles: Boo! Halloween in Both my Urban Terrace & Indoor Gardens,  Halloween Decor Indoors (mostly), Group B Wins The Coin Toss, Group A Wins The Second Coin Toss, Group C  Wins 3rd Coin Toss, Conclusion of Follow-Up Halloween Decor, Honoring National Pumpkin Day With a Contest in My Garden, and At Halloween and Always, Make New Friends, Keep the Old

In any event, this year, those visiting my succulent garden — with the exception of the four judges (seen at the far right portion of the image atop this entry and identified by white arrows in the second image above) as well as Humpty Dumpty (who is actually a permanent resident) — are here rehearsing in hopes of being the witch that is chosen to appear on America's Got Talent! 

All of the judges here are trying emulate Howie Mandel in order to prepare the hopefuls for a best American witch win.

Wednesday's Wisdom: There's NO Place Like Home for the Halloween Holiday

Halloween is six days away (including today), and the characters who are visiting me for the upcoming holiday, continue to impress me with their costumes and the personal stories associated with them. Those who read entries within this blog know that I have an annual ritual of writing about the characters who visit my home for the Halloween holidays. This began about five years ago when a few stragglers came to visit my succulent garden which is indoors, atop a pantry-style cabinet in my kitchen. Over the years, more and more characters have heard about my place and have come to spend time here in honor of Halloween.

A similar scenario happened in my terrace garden which is on a roof extension in NYC. It is a place where I have grown an array of cacti, flowers, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs, trees and vines. 

In the case of my rooftop garden, Cam, a female cardinal began visiting it during the year of 2012.

When word got out about the flora I grow in my garden as well as the bird feeders I have here, more and more birds came to visit. To date, nearly twenty different types of birds have visited my place. 

Cam did not appreciate this fact for it meant she had some competition at my bird feeders, which is something she confesses in her book, Words In Our Beak, Volume One. 

Cam's story is set in my rooftop garden. But I've digressed! My intended topic for today is not covering the antics of birds who visit my urban garden, rather, my intention is to cover the antics of a few of the characters who are visiting me for Halloween.

"It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information."

According to Oscar Wilde, "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information," and, with that in mind, my blog post today is designed to right that wrong, and to provide you, dear reader, with what might be some useless information, as I may have done in some of my previous posts, in the guise of having you think you could apply it to your own endeavors. For example, both this past April 2011 and December 2010, in blog entries which you may refer to by clicking here and here respectively, I shared with you some thoughts and images on how I enhanced my indoor succulent garden.

My Visiting Apple has Agenda (And I have another guest post to announce!)

Who's that lady? As you can see in the photograph above, I have another newcomer to my indoor succulent garden! And she calls herself Ms. Apple of Your Eye. (If you follow my blog, you know that figurines always add seasonal amibence to my succulent garden – please click here to see related posts on TLLG, and you may also be aware that recently I guest posted on My Square Foot Garden about indoor succulent gardens).

In any event, Ms. Apple of Your Eye, resembles Lady Prickly Pear in "body color" only, and, moreover, she has told me that, like Lady Prickly Pear, she will be with my succulents until spring when other figurines are due to return! 

Additionally, Ms. Apple of Your Eye, informed me that, although she will share my "succulent garden space" with my orange (as in the fruit) figurine, who was featured yesterday on TLLG's Facebook Page (and also on nybg's — New York Botanical Gardens — tumblr), with a narrative accompanying the following image,

she detests the expression, "comparing apples and oranges" . 

When I asked Ms. Apple of Your Eye why she was so adamant in her opinion regarding the apples and oranges expression, she brought up an old childhood wound, that she experienced when she was not cast in a school play, and she pointed out other apples have experienced this also, as indicated in the following image from Wiki:

I understand Ms. Apple of Your Eye's attachment to childhood wounds. I, like most others, have plenty of those, but, I seldom look back after having the following insight.

Every time I ride the train, I always make an attempt to choose a seat that is facing the direction the train is traveling, because riding backwards and looking where I have been makes me physically ill. This should be a warning to me, as I have a tendency (although not nearly as bad as it once was), to analyze the past, and the physical nausea I experience from riding on trains — when facing the opposite direction of which I am heading – is a good indicator that it is much better for me to always face the direction I am going.

Tuesday's Truths WK 15: Info on the WINGED MONKEYS (seen in OZ)

With Halloween being less than a week away, there is a lot of activity going on in my home. Most of the action taking place is occurring among the cast of characters (dressed in unique Halloween costumes) who visit me on an annual basis during this time period. When they first started coming to my place, they confined their antics within the constraints of the succulent garden that I have atop a pantry-style cabinet that I have in my kitchen. 

The image atop this entry was taken a few years ago. It features a set of triplets who visited my succulent garden dressed as The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and The Cowardly Lion, who as you may know, are the characters featured in The Wizard of Oz.

My Hens And Chicks Give A Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutation)

The beautiful, sweet flowers seen in the images posted above are from my wonderful succulent known as Hens and Chicks. I have spoken about succulents in prior posts discussing how folks use them in indoor gardens which you may read by clicking here as well as here to read about them. 

As for my Hens and Chicks, they live outside (although they make fine houseplants too), and they are a plant whose leaves "form around each other forming a rosette and propagate by offsets".

Humpty Dumpty Honors Penguin Awareness Day

With all the "year-end review talk" going on in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, the Humpty Dumpty figurine in my indoor succulent garden (pictured above, and you might recognize his face from other entries here on TLLG) is now feeling nostalgic.

Let the Spring Season Begin

This past Wednesday, March 20th 2013), was the day of the Vernal Equinox and the first day of spring. A music loving visitor (who came to my indoor succulent garden) helped ring in the season by repurposing a leaf and turning it into an instrument! This can be seen in the image posted above today's blog entry (variations of this image were featured in postings on TLLG's Facebook Page and tumblr blog).

Anyone who follows TLLG knows that throughout the year, an array of eclectic visitors frequent my indoor succulent garden, providing some entertainment and ambience which helps my succulents thrive. "Stories" about this can be found in a number of posts here on Blogger as well as on tumblr. 

Moreover, I have guest blogged about this topic in the past. Additionally, there are images of most of the "folks" and "creatures" who visit my indoor garden on one of my Pinterest Boards.

In terms of Wednesday's arrival of spring in my urban (NYC) terrace (roof extension) garden, Juan V and I "celebrated" the onset of the season by working in my garden. You may recall from a number of posts here on Blogger that he comes to work in my garden approximately every ten days during "open season." 

And even though last Wednesday was only the first day of spring, my garden was already coming back from a dreary winter, as yesterday was also the second "round" of my working with Juan V for the 2013 "gardening season." Our first day of working together after "the winter break" had been on Saturday March 9th 2013. Every year when we "re-open" my garden, the first task is to de-winterize, which involves quite a few hours of work as my winterizing methods are quite extensive.

In honor of Wiki's Going Dark: Pausing for Station Identification on The Last Leaf Gardner

Of course, when Dr. Seuss (who has been mentioned in a prior post here on TLLG, which can be found by clicking here), said, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go,” he was talking about reading books, and not reading things on the Internet, and while I read many things on the Internet for my small business, I am certainly one who enjoys reading books.

In fact, once upon a time, when I was about to have a surgical procedure on my knee, which would require a hospital stay, a dear friend gave me some money to buy "an appropriate nightgown to wear in the hospital." After she handed me some rumpled bills, she  gave me a stern warning, "Don't buy books with this!"

Sansevieria trifasciata and Other Delights in Tony's Garden

Even though Phil and Chuck, the respected northeastern groundhogs did predict an early spring, it is still winter — mid winter — and although the temperature in the New York City area where I live is predicted to reach near sixty degrees by the end of the week, my urban gardener-comrades  and I will continue to give our respective outdoor gardens (and ourselves) a much needed rest. 

However, indoor gardeners, such as Tony (whose luscious succulent garden can be seen on a window-sill facing Seventy-Second Street in the Upper Westside of New York City and is  the subject of the photograph posted above) continue to find exciting opportunities in maintaining a succulent garden. His succulents vary widely in form, texture, and color mirroring his design potential. At the moment, his Sansevieria trifasciata (Mother-in-law tongue/ Snake plant) stands proudly (as seen in the left corner of this photograph) and seems to watch over the succulent community around her as a lioness would watch over her cubs. Tony's garden exudes the warmth and wonder of exciting places like North Africa, Australia, and Yemen — a much needed respite in the bleakness of winter. 

"Here we go round the prickly pear . . . "

My succulents (pictured above) are having a great time with Lady Prickly Pear, a new arrival to my indoor succulent garden. Various figurines, as you may recall, from my previous posts here on TLLG, as well as on nybg's (New York Botanical Gardens) tumblr, come and go in my succulent garden, but, while they are here, they always add an atmosphere that causes my succulents to thrive.

As you can see in the image at the top of today's post, a few of my succulents seem to be dancing around Lady Prickly Pear. Moreover, early this evening, I thought I heard them gleefully quoting one of the stanzas from T.S. Eliot's 1925 poem, The Hollow Men, which, as you may know, is far from joyous. 

But joyous my succulents were, as they surrounded Lady Prickly Pear, singing the following famous stanza:

"Here we go round the prickly pear,

Prickly pear, prickly pear

Here we go round the prickly pear

At five o'clock in the morning"

Thank goodness my succulents were not singing at five o'clock in the morning, but perhaps it was there way of remembering T.S. Eliot. My succulents know that Elliot has been mentioned in a number of blog posts here on TLLG, including one this past April, where I referenced his famous observation that "April is the cruelest month", and, they also know that yesterday marked the thirty-seventh year and one week anniversary of his death, January 4th, 1965. 

Dancing Beak to Beak (And Other Garden Stories)

I ended my last post here on Blogger with photo-ops of the feisty folks and creatures that were visiting a succulent garden that I have in my kitchenette, and I mentioned that they "have been reiterating their message: 'Spring! Bring it On! Let the Spring Season Begin,' and as of today, April the 4th, thirteen days later, we have not had a warm spring day since that posting! It's been quite chilly, cold in fact, and some of the things which I grow in my  terrace (roof extension) garden are struggling with their ability to bloom! This is evidenced by the image posted above of one of my sets Kaufmaniana Tulips, a variety that was in its glory days much earlier last season!

Out of respect to my tulips (or anything else for that matter), I don't like to post images when they are struggling, as I find doing so akin to posting unflattering images of folks having a bad hair day or an unfortunate moment.