It's beginning to look a lot like Autumn! (Tuesday's Truths WK 223)

Welcome to my 223rd episode of my Tuesday's Truths series. As you undoubtedly know, dear reader, tomorow is the first day of fall and my truth for this segment is this: 

It is beginning to look a lot like autumn in my rooftop garden (a partial view of it is featured in the image atop this entry).

The photo directly belows shows that my Crepe myrtle seems to enjoy this time of year, evidenced by her brilliant pink blooms.

This next picture indicates that my Pyracantha coccinea (AKA Orange Charmer) is looking marvelous after Juan V pruned her. She knows that she has bragging rights for she is featured in my first garden-themed movie, The Kiwi Speaks Fifteen Minutes of Fame...almost (which can be viewed on Vimeo and/or You Tube.)

My Sweet Autumn Clematis was also included in the aforementioned movie and in the image directly below, she can be found climbing up a trellis and sporting her white flowers, with many more waiting to bloom as evidenced by the many buds she is "wearing."

Another "character" in my aforementioned movie is my Japanese Red Maple who is honored to share his home (container) with pumpkins and squashes.

Not ones to be out done by others, both my Anemone and Contorted Hazelnut are flourishing (and have many buds) too, as seen in the next picture.

Up next is a photo-op of my Smoke bush who is thrilled to be sharing her container with an array of pumpkins and a few squashes.

My Beech tree  (below) is especially happy for the opportunity to share her container with pumpkins — particularly since she suffered severe trauma when my landlord hacked her back in May.

Additionally, my Coral Bells Heuchera is thrilled to stand alongside my "urban hedge" (metal custom shelving currently being occupied by a number of pumpkins and squashes).

All of the aforementioned flora and much more that grows here are featured in each version of my books which have "Words In Our Beak" in their title.

A stool finds another purpose in life.

A little over one month ago here on Blogger I published a post discussing how Juan V was able to help me turn a broken wooden top of a stool into a plant stand, which ultimately held a container that housed one of my Heuchera plants. In this aforementioned blog post, I included a copy of the photo which is atop this entry.

Unfortunately soon after this a woman who was visiting my garden knocked over the  stand and my Heuchera's pot shattered into several pieces.

Subsequently this plant was able  to be repotted  — but not into a container which fit the stool turned plant stand's constraints. 

In the interium I placed an empty claypot into the stand but have not been able to plant anything in that spot. Therfore during our recent tremendous heat wave, I placed a shallow bowl of water atop the empty claypot. 

My intention in doing this was to provide yet another place for visiting birds to take a drink and/or to bathe in my garden which is something they need to do more than ever during tremendous heat.

A Broken Stool Becomes A Plant Stand (Wednesday's Wisdom)

Many years ago, sometime in the early 1990's, I got a stool from the shopkeeper Maya Schaper (a woman I ultimately worked for and subsequently wrote an article about her.

The stool held up so well all these years but a few months ago its cracked in half and could not be repaired with wood glue or anything else for that matter.

My the first photo atop this entry shows how the top of the stool had cracked and it was when JuanV unscrewed it from the base, that we discovered writing on the bottom (as seen in the second image) now I'm curious if was once part of a whiskey barrel.

The end result can be seen in the next picture which features my former stool now serving as a stand for my Coral Bells Heuchea plant.

This is not the first time Juan had turned a rundown piece of furniture into a plant stand.

A Lesson to Learn From Birds

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

THESE BIRD TYPES ARE FEATURED IN WIOB

I had two non-social distancing birds (a House sparrow and an American robin) stop by my garden the other day which surprised me as I have always heard these types of birds did not get along, so I did some research posing the question, "Do robins and sparrows get along?"

Here is what I found out: from a variety of sources. Despite their differences, sparrows and robins manage to get along pretty well. They can hang out in the same tree, they can even sit on the same branch, but the unwritten rule is to stay out of each others nest.

Not a bad thing for us humans to do during these tumultuous times of the cornavirus pandmeic and unrest due to issues associated with our 2020 preidential election in the United States.

On anothern note, dear reader, both of these bird types are featured in my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES

My Pumpkin Patch

PUMPKINS ON MY URBAN HEDGE VIEW ONE 

PUMPKINS ON MY URBAN HEDGE VIEW TWO

I now have a pumpkin patch in my rooftop garden! The photo atop this entry shows views of pumpkins atop one of my urban hedges.

A Heuchera's Flower is for the birds!

"WORDS IN OUR BEAK"  IS SET IN MY GARDEN!

"WORDS IN OUR BEAK"  IS SET IN MY GARDEN!

The hot pink bell-like flowers that can be seen if you look at the pictures atop this entry closely; are growing on one of the Heuchera Plants which I have in my rooftop garden.

In the photo atop his entry, they can be found at the lower left hand portion of the image, and in the the other photograph, they can be seen midway to the right.

Moreover, a close-up solo-op of them is posted directly below.

HEUCHERA PLANTS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

A web-page for The Spruce explains,"Coral bells (Heuchera) is a traditional foliage plant that has had many newer varieties. Heuchera plants form round mounds with a woody rootstock or crown at their base. Small bell-shaped flowers on tall stems attract hummingbirds and make nice cut flowers. Their leaves are rounded, lobed, hairy, and evergreen—even when covered in snow. Besides traditional green-leaved coral bells, new varieties of heuchera have leaves in shades of purple, rose, lime green, gold, and variegations in between. Heuchera are native North American plants that are at home in woodlands, rock gardens, containers, borders, and when used as ground covers."

The aforementioned resource also gives some basics re this amazing plant:

HEY! HEY! HEY! It's Garden Meditation Day!

MY GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

Earlier today I posted my tandem tale for the week and since that time it has been brought to my attention that today is Garden Meditation Day.

According to Holiday Insights (HI), "Per C.L, Fornari, the creator of this special day: Garden meditation day honors the fact that when we're working in the landscape we have the opportunity, if we choose to take it, to let the rest of the world fall away." 

Therefore. in honor of Garden Meditation Day, I've posted an image atop this entry which features a partial view of how my rooftop garden looks on this "holiday."

Thursday's Thoughts

On this last day of August for 2017, I'm finding it difficult to write about anything because it seems my content is unworthy in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which has devastated so many lives in Texas. As I compose this posting Harvey is on his way to Louisiana to wreak havoc and his demise is occurring during the anniversary week of Hurricane Katrina, which occurred during the time period of August 23, 2005 – August 31, 2005.

Jazz, the dog pictured above was rescued during Katrina, but ultimately abandoned at an animal shelter because he is blind. Someone I know (TT) here in NYC is from New Orleans and her family was there during that hurricane. The mother (Mrs. T) of TT (who lives near to me) was supposedly working at the aforementioned shelter and she adopted Jazz. 

Ultimately Mrs. T died of cancer, unrelated to Katrina, and TT bought Jazz to NYC. She was not always able to care for him and I introduced TT to someone who has been able to help her care for Jazz.

In any event, I certainly am keeping the folks impacted by these hurricanes in my mind, and I have yet to find out how Juan V's family is faring. They live in Texas, but I'm not sure what part, and, I don't usually communicate with Juan in between the days we work together in my urban garden.

The next time I see him, which will be a week from today, I will be able to ask him if his loved ones were affected by Harvey.

Here's Tuesday's Truths WK 52: How the plant known as Tricyrtis, came to be referred to as a Toad Lily

Hello, and welcome to the fifty-first week of my Tuesday's Truths series, where I will shed light on how the plant known as Tricyrtis, came to be referred to as a Toad Lily. Details of the flowers from this exquisite plant (which was recently planted in my rooftop garden by Juan V) can be seen in the images atop this blog entry.

However, before I go into detail re this awesome flower, let me digress a bit, and apologize for not posting an entry for week fifty-three of my Tuesday's Truths series! Unfortunately, the truth for that day, which was August 1st, is that I did not feel well, due to an injury I sustained to my right foot.

Therefore I was preoccupied with the logistics of getting my boot cast to fit properly and other pesky details associated with recovery from my injury! But if truth be told, and it's about to, what I had planned to point out that day was the fact that the beginning of this month of August was a good time to point out that (according to a web-news page) "there are almost 4 million newborns delivered each year in the United States. Of that amount, 9.05% (or 353,000) babies are born in August alone, making it the biggest month for births. July comes in second with 349,000 births, followed by September."

A number of years ago, I was one of those 353,000 born in August. Moreover, I was born on a Tuesday, which, according to the aforementioned source, is "the most common day of the week for little bundles of joy to be delivered is Tuesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find that on average there are 12,323 births on Tuesdays, with Wednesday and Thursday close behind."

Be that as it may, I admit that this news may not be particularly relevant to those of you who read urban related blogs; but, hey, you never know when the topic might come up in conversation; and you also never know when you might be selected to be on the game show Jeopardy, with details of birth months and days of births being a category worth mega bucks.

And, now that what I would've written on the fifty-third week for Tuesday's Truths is out of the way, I'll move on to my intention for the truth re this fifty-fourth week, and tell you a little bit about the back story of the Tricyrtis flowering plant being nicknamed "toad lily."

Thursday's Test

The photograph atop this entry (featuring an aerial view of my rooftop garden) was taken by Juan V on June 1st 2017.

And the next picture was taken by him on June 15th 2017.

By comparing the images, dear reader, can you spot the changes in my garden?

Here are the answers:

The number one is indicating a Rosemary "Tree" that was planted on that day. It is in the spot where my 'Tamukeyama' (AKA Japanese Maple) used to be. This particular tree's container had cracked, therefore, re-potting was warranted. Moreover, the 'Tamukeyama' needed a larger pot, which it now has. The 'Tamukeyama' has been moved to where my Fagus sylvatica (AKA Beech Tree) used to be as indicated by the number two.

My Fagus sylvatica (Beech Tree) has been moved to the location where my Canadian Palm once stood, which is indicated by the number three. It was time to discard that exotic man made tree!

Today, July the sixth, a few more changes were made in my garden. Can you spot them in the following picture which was also taken by Juan V?

Here are the answers:

My H.F. Young Clematis has a couple of new flowers (and this is indicated by the number one). I have a new bird house which can be seen directly below the number two. Number three is indicating another variety of Heuchera which was planted today, while number four is referencing a new green plant whose name is Melianthus Honey Flower.

And there you have it, Thursdays Test of your powers of observation! How did you do, dear reader?

Tuesday's Truths WK 44-B: It's National Gardening Exercise Day

Earlier today in an entry for my Tuesday's Truths series, I posted a poem in honor of D-Day, which occurred on June 6th, 1944. And, now, before I let this Tuesday pass, I want to state another truth:

Today (according to Holiday Insights AKA HI), is National Gardening Exercise Day. Re this event, HI states: "Everyone knows gardening is therapeutic.  It's good for the mind, body, and soul. Gardening Exercise Day gives us an opportunity to go out and burn off calories and have fun doing it. National Gardening Exercise Day is intended to recognize the important physical health benefits of gardening.

In reality, gardening is exercise. Experts say the various activities and tasks of gardening ultimately uses all of the major muscle groups. In addition, strenuous gardening activities such as raking, hoeing, and digging is both aerobic and muscle strengthening."

Furthermore, HI suggests that on this particular holiday, one "go out and exercise with, and among, (their) plants." 

Going out into my rooftop garden, to exercise with, and among my plants may not be an option for me today as it is raining heavily in NYC. However, rainfall, is not a deterrent for doing some exercising in my indoor succulent garden. Humpty Dumpty, seen in the photo atop this entry, is exercising in it by climbing the wall adjacent to my succulent garden.

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO-D (June 2012)

Today's post is part two-D of a series of posts pertaining to a year-end review for special occurrences in my rooftop garden for the year 2012 (this series is described in part one as well as part two-A of this topic) and in today's entry I will be reviewing the month of June for the year 2012.

"God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest."

The quote, "God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest," which is attributed to Josiah Gilbert Holland (an American novelist and poet), is layered with meaning; but since this is not a dissertation, but rather it is a blog post (albeit a belated one as it was scheduled for yesterday) I am only focusing on one aspect of the quotation, and that is the literal translation.

Since God does not throw food into the birds' nests and since I can't see their nests, I provide food for birds that visit my rooftop garden in a variety of ways; and this blog entry is a pictorial account of some of the ways I do this as well as some of the ways my visiting birds respond to my efforts, and one of my visiting mourning doves is sitting atop my one of my urban hedges and staring at me through my window as I write this because he wants to make sure his brood is included in the photo-ops within this entry. Due to the fact this posting is about birds that eat in my garden it would be hard not to include him, as the mourning doves nosh here more than any other visiting bird and often I'm concerned that their overwhelming presence will deter other feathered creatures from enjoying a bite to eat on my roof extension garden!

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 23

As you can see my "If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . "  weekly feature has a new look! From this Tuesday forward, I'll provide links to the new content, but as always once you are at tumblr you can scroll around and see images or read content that is not included on this Blogger Blog.

Image above's story on tumblr: “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter, he who finds one finds a treasure; A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth …”  Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup . . . ” Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: "Once the paparazzi convinced one  of the Helichrysum roseo-niveums which grows in my urban (NYC) container garden (first image shown here) that she was indeed, 'camera ready' . . . "  Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: “Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear?” Click here to read.

Image above's story on tumblr: "TWO THUMBS UP!" Click here to read. 

Image above's story on tumblr: Memorial Day Reflections. Click here to read.

Lessons Learned in the Garden on Mother's Day (Mother may know best.)

It is Mother's Day, and my seeing my Paeonia suffriticosa (Tree Peony) enjoying its friends is cause for a pleasure to be shared — probably like a pleasure mothers have in taking photographs of their children and sharing them proudly with anyone and everyone who is kind enough to view them — as you are, dear reader, in viewing my chronology of this season's Paeonia suffriticosa and other things that are flourishing in my urban terrace garden. 

My Paeonia suffriticosa is truly enjoying her friends, as evidenced in the photograph posted above, which shows a view of the most southwest corner of my terrace garden. It appears to me that my Paeonia suffriticosa is bending down, to give my Fancy Leaf Coral Bells aka Heuchera 'Marmalade' a kiss; a kiss much like the kiss I gave my sister soon after she was born, and a gesture that inspired my mother to take the photograph posted below of yours truly with my younger sister —

— a woman I've blogged about in a previous post and where the same photograph is posted.