Honoring the Season of Feasts with Hakonechola Macra (Japanese Forest Grass)

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, a season that began on November 28th 2010.  Dennis Bratcher writes,"the fourth candle of the advent wreath is lit on this day and the light of these candles reminds Christian believers that Jesus is the light of the world — the light that comes into the darkness of people's lives to bring newness, life and hope. It also reminds people that they are called to bring light into the world, and to reflect this grace to others. The progression in the lighting of the Advent candles symbolizes the aspects of waiting, as the candles are lit during the four week period, it also symbolizes the darkness of fear and hopelessness receding as more and more light is shed into the world." Even though I have done volunteer work by bringing Holy Communion to the homebound every Sunday, as well as special feast days, for the past five years, I confess I still struggle with having the faith Bratcher describes.

Home for the Holidays

As part of this year's winterizing my roof-top garden, my Fagus sylvatica (Beech Tree), 'housed' in a lovely container, was removed from where it had been placed in what had been a frame for a table.

You may recall what I wrote about this in an earlier entry and if not, please click here. In any event, the reason for moving the Fagus sylvatica was that it was located at the extreme northwest corner of my garden and very exposed to nature's elements.

With winter-like temperatures setting in, I had to protect it by having the container wrapped twice in bubble-wrap, then 'sealed' with burlap (from on-line fabrics) tied tightly with jute, and then butt it up against the southeast portion of my roof extension garden. All the plants alongside where the Fagus had been located were treated in the same way and moved as well, where they could all huddle together, but placed in such a way as if they were sitting in an audience and each needed a good seat to see what was happening.

Lighting a Fire Inside the Heart . . .

"Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It's lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It's higher thought and a greater plan. It's glorious dream in the soul of man." (Wilfred A. Peterson) 

It is only December 13th, and Christmas is 12 days away, but from all the frenzy of various tree lighting celebrations (which I have blogged about in a previous post) that sets crowds clamoring in New York City where I live, it is  hard not to get caught up in the often chaotic atmosphere of the city.

Today has a "Count Down Date" : 12-11-10, Finish Winterizing!

The  photograph above was taken about six weeks ago, on October the 27th 2010, in the afternoon prior to my presentation at the Apple Store on 67th Street and Broadway in New York City. (I spoke about the presentation in two previous posts which can be accessed by clicking here and here). 

I took the photo from the roof of the building where I live, to have an aerial view of my rooftop garden. I also wanted to have a full view of my garden to include in a "pitch" that I was requested to submit to someone who works for a well known public figure.

The Lighting of the Actinida Kolomikta and Actimidia (Kiwi Vines) Soirée: Alternative to Crowded Tree and Menorah Lighting Celebrations

Happy December! There are so many celebrations this month, in New York City: many tree and menorah lighting events mark the onset of Advent, Chanukah, and Christmas.

This past Friday, November 26th, 2010, the Friday after Thanksgiving, (which I referred to as Blue Friday in a previous post), the South Street Seaport had a ceremony for the lighting of their Christmas Tree beginning at 6:00 PM. 

The sportscaster, Jill Martin, played hostess to the festivities, which included a marching band from Brooklyn, characters from the Big Apple Circus, and jolly old Saint Nick. I'm told that Saint Nick posed for photos at no charge while performers who included Darlene Love and The Big Apple Chorus sang traditional holiday songs; and they were even joined by Rudolph (with his nose oh-so-bright) as well as Frosty The Snowman.

Turning the Tables in Garden Decor

A SCENE IN MY ROOFTOP GARDEN

The ability to define my goals in salient points does not come easily to me. It never has. I tend to view most matters in layers and get caught up in possibilities. As a young junior high-school student, I agonized over the standardized PSAT when it came to multiple choice questions. The traditional choices for those test questions was usually something like this: Sometimes option "a" but never option "b" when "e" and "f" are present. On one occasion, when I questioned the teacher about various scenarios (which were delaying me from being able to go on to the next page), I was put out in the hallway, with masking tape bound over my mouth, and told "when you are ready to stop asking questions and make a quick choice you, can come back to the classroom."

This problem of taking too much time to weigh the answers in multiple-choice test questions occurred in test-taking again, when I was in high-school and took the SAT. There was a test question about how many clothes-pins it would take to hang laundry on a clothes-line. I found myself thinking, 'hmmmm, that depends . . . is the clothing heavy jeans and towels, or is it something light such as under garments?' I lost all my test taking time on those types of test questions, and since SAT scores are based on time as well as knowledge.

Fortunately, I passed the SATs with a score high enough to get into college, and I used my layered thinking to my advantage, graduating from the university with honors. My graduating from college, and my deliberating over option A and option B in relation to test questions, was a number of years ago, but the inclination to consider various scenarios of a given issue still prevails. 

Canopy of Actinda kolomikta and Actimidia (Kiwi Vines)

Here I am returning to my rooftop garden's color again after saying that it can cause me to overlook garden textures in a previous post. 

The canopy of golden leaves in the photograph posted above are from my Actinida kolonikta and Actimidia (Kiwi Vines).

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.

The Last Saturday of Summer 2010 and the fate of Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'

Upright and arching, this graceful Purple Fountain Grass, Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum,' with its delicate plumes that stretch up and out is a type of ornamental grass which is often used in clusters, mass plantings or along slopes. I like it to be showcased where it can be appreciated on its own. 

As seen (in the photo above) in its placement next to my Acer palmatum, 'Shigitatsu Sawa,' the contrast of their textures and colors compliment each other. Some say when planted in clusters, the fountain grass provides privacy by creating a hedge. 

For an urban — New York City — terrace garden, I find it to do the same - even as a 'single' when planted in a beautiful container and placed on bamboo shelving which I've attached to my terrace wall to provide a shield from a voyeur neighbor whose bathroom window looks onto my terrace.

I hope to render these images into invitations, event program covers, and note-cards. Please continue to visit my web-site for details. As today is the last calendar day of summer, and my 'Rubrum' is not "winter-hearty" for the New York City temperature zone, I have to be vigilant about watching for the onset of frost, but right before that happens the purple grasses can be cut and used in flower arrangements.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

MY BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally,  I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

My Beloved Karamatsu

This very sweet tree, my Japanese Larch Larix kaempferi; 'Karamatsu,'  was one of my favorite trees, given to me by a gardener, Jay, because it was a favorite of his, but he had no place to grow it and he knew I would take care of it. The tree was very small when Jay gave it to me in the fall of 2007. The winter of 2007 was the first year I used a cold-frame (discussed in a previous post), but the precious little Larix kaempferi did not need to be put inside the frame. Instead we placed it against the cold-frame to shield it from the wind.

Rubus calycinoides, A Diva

The Rubus calycinoides (Ornamental Raspberry or Crinkled Creeper) is a strikingly beautiful and elegant plant with cascading evergreen, which produces a mass of richly textured greens. 

Some garden experts advise to plant it in masses to form a dense ground-cover. I prefer to show off its beauty by having it as a 'single' and planting it in an attractive clay pot. Folks even use it as a lawn substitute, but I like its 'diva' quality so I let it stand alone.

It is often confused with what could be its twin, Rubus pentalobus. The branches of both plants look lovely in cut flower arrangements. I do not own a Rubus pentalobus, but it has such a fun name to say ROO-bus- pen-tah-low-bus that I couldn't resist including a reference to it in this post. ROO-bus-pen-tah-low-bus. 

This almost sounds like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. And, indeed, these plants seem quite precocious, as you might guess from these two photos of my Rubus calycinoids. Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay, Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay . . .

L. angustifoia and Espresso

Lavender is known as the queen of herbs and you can see why from the beautiful photo posted above which was taken in my urban (NYC) rooftop garden.The honeybees love it too, so, it is hard to think of cutting back the beautiful grey-green textured leaves. However, it can eventually be used in potpourri, and I've recently discovered a recipe for an unusual subtle dessert to serve with after dinner expresso. The dessert is a lavender swizzle stick, and the recipe is as follows:

Make a confection from whole sprigs of just picked lavender blossoms. Beat three egg-whites and 1/4 cup of sugar until frothy. Dip the lavender sprigs into the mixture and coat them. Set aside to dry for two hours on a sheet of non-stick parchment paper. Serve with after-dinner espresso when entertaining guests in your garden.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, Avellana Corylus, 'Contorta'

I've had my Avellana Corylus, 'Contorta' (Harry Lauder's Walking Stick) known as Contoured Hazelnut to most people, in my urban garden for a little over two years. The burgundy leaves on this shrub are beautiful, but I like the shrub for its unusual branching pattern so much that, two years ago, I took the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station in Manhattan, to Bayside, (in Queens) to pick up this shrub. It was a hot July day in 2008 when I did this, and the subways and trains were packed with locals and tourists, making it difficult for me to navigate the crowds carrying this shrub. Once home I had to carry it up five flights of stairs, but it has been well worth the effort!

Fagus sylvatica (Beech Tree)

These lovely textured leaves from my Fagus sylvatica (Beech Tree), a tree which I grow in my urban NYC garden, are often not abscissed in the autumn and remain on the tree until spring. This process is called marcescene which is something I learned from Wikipedia. I just think they make a lovely image.

Continus Coggygria

The above image is of a shrub that has been with me, in my urban terrace garden, since 2006. It is known as Continus Coggygria 'Royal Purple' and is also known as Smoke Bush or Grace. If you like garden texture, you will love this shrub's branches. 

The leaves are oval and measure 1.5" by 3.5" long. The standard is waxy green, but the variety that I have has purple leaves. In the fall, leaves turn shades of red, purple, and orange. Stay tuned to this blog, and in the fall, I'll show you photographs of the changed leaf color. 

Meanwhile, for the deep purple leaf, I have created a beautiful, single-sided note-card (posted below).

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

MY BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally,  I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' (Black Mondo Grass)

(oh-fee-oh-POE-gon-plan-iss-KAP-us)

The magnificent plant, an ornamental grass known as Ophinopogon planiscapus ('Nigrecens' or Black Mondo Grass,) has shiny black foliage which grows into precious little tufts where tiny bell shaped white flowers grow. I have a set of triplets in my urban (NYC) rooftop garden; each individual is growing in a beautiful container. They bring tremendous joy to me, and to those who visit my garden!

Where have all the flowers gone?

The beautiful peony petals have fallen away in my urban terrace garden but the elegance still remains, as seen in the image above, of a peony-seed-pod. Because of its beautiful texture, it  can be used in cut flower arrangements. 

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.