Follow Up Friday: Donna's Legacy Continues!

The image atop today's blog entry was taken by Juan V when he came over to help me tend to my rooftop urban (NYC) garden yesterday, on the first day of autumn.

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. 

It's still very much October: Rites of Autumn, Moon-Lit Skies and soon All Hallow's Eve

Halloween is a week and a day from the date of this posting. I have honored it by placing orange candles and pumpkin decorations in various places in my garden as seen in the photographs above. 

My decorations are subtle, I find the orange colors to be a way of celebrating the hues offered by the Cheerful Cherry Farm's Sweet Autumn Clematis, discussed in previous posts. The orange also compliments the hues of my Strawberry Plants, Thom-Thumb Shrub, Contorted Hazelnut, and English Lavender. 

Fall is a lovely season for gathering in the garden with friends to enjoy rosemary-infused cocktails  and conversation. Or just to simply be alone and sip on a Hot Chocolate (made with Chauo's special blend swirled into Ronny Brook Farm milk -- a find at the Greenmarket in Union Square) while gazing at the stars.

Juan's Breathtaking Installation of Trivets Allows Donna's Legacy

The blooming of my Sweet Autumn Clematis in my urban garden, is in full swing; the vine and its flowers are playfully wrapping around Juan's Installation as evidenced in the image posted above this entry.

The precious delicate flowers against the rough brick provide a legacy to Donna, the grower from Cheerful Cherry Farms (whom I posted about in an earlier post). Donna sold me the Clematis paniculata plants a couple of years prior on that hot May morning, when she wore a wool cap and winter coat. I say legacy, because a few weeks ago I went down to Union Square (USQ) to tell Donna about the growth of my Clematis paiculata, but I only saw her husband, Jim.It was unusual not to see her with him, and I suspected that something had happened to her, but I said nothing. Recently I returned to USQ again, and Donna still was not there. This time I asked Jim about her.

Juan's Installation

I now have a vine trailing up that wall, and it is jumping on trivets that have been placed on the wall by the artist, Juan. I had seen Juan’s “installation” of trivets on a wall at a shop on the Upper West Side of New York some years ago and had long admired their placement. 

This year Juan has been working with me in my urban garden because, in addition to being an artist, he is a gardener extraordinaire. Since I had so many trivets from years gone by, I asked him to do an “installation” on my brick wall so that my Clematis paniculata (Sweet Autumn Clematis) would have a place to play. The Clematis is loving it! This vine is somewhat of a newcomer (one year old) to my outdoor space.