Influenced by NNM's Autumn Clematis!

It has been eight months since my last post here on Blogger and that entry was just to let folks know my web-designer, Chris Deatherage, had made changes to my website. 

Prior to that posting I had become very sporadic in publishing my blog posts which was out of characer for me. For after years of being very dedicated to regularly offering excellent written content that was accompanied by my photographs and or videos — I even received an award for my endeavors and an image of it can be found on my right sidebar — circumstances, upon circumstances beyond my control, interfered with my being able to produce content for this venue.

Those circumstances were mostly due to new and severe consequences of my battles with Neurofibromatosis (NF) a medical condition I've had since birth, which is discussed in one of my first blog posts as well as in many posts thereafter. (NF is also the subject of my book project, Imperfect Strangers.) A short video introducing the book can be viewed on Vimeo and/or You Tube.

In any event, I won't go into details of my forced hiatus from blogging (at least not within this post) for it was my seeing Nancy Nelson Mancini's photograph of her Sweet Autumn Clematis (a copy of it is posted atop this posting) that brought back bittersweet memories of my own beloved Sweet Autumn Clematis vines that I got in either 2004 or 2005, and ultimately blogged about in 2010 in an entry where I described their back story, (which I encourage you to read it and check out the pictures included in that post). 

Moreover, my Autumn Clematis vines were subsequently 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.

These vines ultimately survived being in two major garden upheavals (due to a couple of renovations ordered by my landlord) and one of those upheavls is discussed in volume two of my three hardcover book series, Words In Our Beak.

But getting back to NNM's image of her Autumn Clematis and my saying that seeing it evoked bittersweet memories, the reason for this is, as is that now, approximantely eighteen years of having these vines in my garden, they are gone.

I hadn't relized what a loss this has been for me until I saw NNM's image, and recalled my memories of having Autumn Clematis vines which never did well again after being hacked by my lanlord in 2021.

He had hacked the Autumn Clematis while standing on the building's rooftop and leaning over it to chop away my vines, This was not a safe action for him to take with my vines or with himself as he could've fallen off the building's rooftop.

Moreover, he had assaulted my Beech Tree, ruining her shape. 

The results of these violent actions are indicated in the red-bordered shapes which I've attached to the image directly above. It is also included in a post here on Blogger that I published at the time of the incident. It will still take quite sometime for the Beech Tree to regain her shape which she probably will, but the fate of my Autumn Clematis has not been good.

Initally, Juan V was able to redirect the vines' path and nudge them to grow on a custom built trellis as seen in the two pictures directly below.

But unfortunately they were begining to pull on the string lights that provide a "canopy" over my garden. I was concerned that the vines, given their strength, could yank down my string lights... 

... (which might cause a fire) and that fact, coupled with the truth that vines can harm brick and mortar, convinced me to have my Autumn Clematis vines (I had two) removed. 

For now in their place, a Clematis tangutica (she is indicated by an arrow affixed to the next photo) has been planted. She is a much less aggressive vine, but I feel she looks swallowed up by the big container and it will be quite some time before she eases into it. 

A couple of Amsonia plants have been placed there to keep the new vine company (as also seen in the next picture where a circle has been drawn around them)...

... but I don't like the look of their foliage, so I may need to plant something else there.

Not having my Autumn clematis is a big loss, yet I realize that is what happens when one gardens. Over the years, I've learned it's best to appreciate the flora when they are around as I certainly do, by meeting their needs for water and fertilizer, as well as by helping them to tell their stories through  my blog posts, my movies and my books.

However, given my new battle with NF and the limitations this brings, it may be quite a while before I can tell my flora's stories. Plus I need to concentrate on raising awareness about NF which I hope to do through my book project, Imperfect Strangers.

Bulb Planting 2021

This past Wednesday was unseasonably warm for November which was a perfect time to plant tulip bulbs. Nearly every November for a number of years (and often under nasty weather situations),  Juan V has planted an array of tulip bulbs in my garden (a partial view of it can be seen in the image atop this entry).

In any event over the years the bulbs he has planted have produced extraordinary and unusual tulips, many of which are included in volume one of my book series, Words In Our Beak as well as in posts within this blog.

On occasion, once my tulips have had a blooming period, certain varieties have come back the following year or even years; but for the most part, in spite of them growing in awesome containers, filled with rich soil, they have a short duration in my place.

We were not able to plant bulbs in 2019, and then, because of the long lasting lockdowns in 2020 due to consequences of the coronavirus pandemic; nothing was planted.

Therefore, this year's bulb planting was quite special. The bulbs we chose  — if all goes well — will produce tulips at different times so the activity in my garden should be on going.

Another chance to test out your powers of observation!

Two weeks and one day ago, in my blog entry for October 15th 2021, I posted a copy of the image which is atop this entry and I stated:

A few weeks ago, Juan V was here and arranged pumpkins and squashes which I received from a program at the Greenmarket. 

They are included in the photo on the left (which features one of my urban hedges aka garden shelving).

However, this past Wednesday he added something to the "installation."

Check out the photo at the right. Can you tell what's new?

By the way my garden is the setting for all versions of my books that have "Words In Our Beak" in their title.

Juan was here again today and made an "adjustment" to what is on the bottom shelf. 

Check out the photo directly below and see if you notice the chsange that was made. 

Sunday's (10-17-2021) Sentiment: Here's another chance to test your powers of observation!

As mentioned in a recent entry here on Blogger,  few weeks ago, Juan V was here and arranged pumpkins and squashes which I received from a program at the Greenmarket. 

However, this past Wednesday we discovered my autumn anemones are in bloom again. 

Some of them grow in a container that is on the ledge surrounding my garden and we altered the pumpkin/squash arrangement that is on my table (see photo at the bottom).

Can you tell what's new?

By the way, my rooftop garden is the setting for all versions of my books that have Words In Our Beak in their title.

TEST YOUR POWERS OF OBSERVATION!

A few weeks ago, Juan V was here and arranged pumpkins and squashes which I received from a program at the Greenmarket. 

They are included in the photo on the left (which features one of my urban hedges aka garden shelving).

However, this past Wednesday he added something to the "installation."

Check out the photo at the right. Can you tell what's new?

By the way my garden is the setting for all versions of my books that 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.

Saturday's Sequel (to my garden's flora and me being violated).

Yesterday Juan V came by my rooftop garden to assess the damage my landlord (FA) did to my flora this past Saturday evening (which I discussed in my 5-18-2021 post here on Blogger. It turns out he has really damaged my Beech tree. I’ve had her since the mid 2000’s and she can be seen within the rectangle affixed to the image of directly above posting. FA hacked at her so badly that he split her top in two. 

Moreover he took such a huge hunk off of her that the container she lives in now seems oversized. 

Additionally he ripped a good portion of my Autumn clematis’s (featured within the circle affixed to the aforementioned image) buds, flowers and foliage right off the vine and threw everything to the floor of my garden. I’ve had these vines for a bit longer than I’ve had the Beech tree and I included them in my garden-themed movie, The Kiwi Speaks! Fifteen Minutes of Fame… almost.

[This movie can be viewed within my Vimeo and/or You Tube Channels.]

I am truly grieving re the loss of these flora varieties whom never hurt anyone. Plus I’m shaken up by the violence and invasion that I’ve experienced.

Just as one might do when they lose a pet or a loved one, I’ve been going through my photos of the Beech tree. It looks like that even though I’ve had her since the mid 2000’s, I did not take a picture of her until 2010 (a copy of it can be viewed directly below and I've affixed a rectangle to the picture to indicate her location.

I got her at a nursery in Brooklyn and carried her home on the subway. She thrived in my place and her container had to be replaced a few times as she out grew it. I’ve had her in various places of my garden and had she been in another spot during the attack, FA would not have been able to reach her.

I’m truly frightened by the fervor of FA’s hate-filled mission as it is very dangerous on our building’s rooftop and easy to fall off — especially if you use a cane which he does.

On another note, I’ve spent my grieving time going through photos of her, which I guess is what one does upon losing a living “thing.”

A Recent Visit By Cardinals

Last Monday, shortly after Juan V left from working with me in my garden, I had a visitor who happened to be a male Northern cardinal. He is featured in the image atop this entry which is very aimilar to the ones included in this past Tuesday's (5-4-2021) blog post.

As I stated in thse entry, "This incident was most welcome after having made my place more beautiful with yesterday's plantings. In any event the handsome creature is featured in the sequence of images atop this entry which serve as a play-by play to his discovering peanuts I had placed in a small petri-dish-style bird feeder, that hangs in close proximity to my lush pair of kiwi vines."

In any event this male cardinal's visit was followed by a visit from an array of other avian creatures including a very young female cardinal.

Bird Day 2021 (Tuesday's Truths WK 214)

Yesterday shortly after Juan V (JV) left from working with me in my garden, I had a visitor who happened to be a male Northern cardinal.

This incident was most welcome after having made my place more beautiful with yesterday's plantings. In any event the handsome creature is featured in the sequence of images atop this entry which serve as a play-by play to his discovering peanuts I had placed in a small petri-dish-style bird feeder, that hangs in close proximity to my lush pair of kiwi vines.

One of these vines is the narrator of my garden-themed movie, The Kiwi Speaks! Fifteen Minutes of Fame...almost, which can be viewed on my You Tube channel and/or my Vimeo channel. 

In this mini movie, the vine talks about what it is like to live within my rooftop garden which is located on the Upper Westside of Manhattan.

A few years after this kiwi vine experienced nearly fifteen minutes of fame by talking about my place, a wildbird, known as a female cardinal named Cam, also expirenced fame by narrating a three volume book series about my place.

National Garden Meditation Day 2021

According to a web-page for National Calender Day, today, May 3rd is National Garden Meditation Day. Here is part of what they have to say re this hoiday: 

"National Garden Meditation Day, annually on May 3rd, encourages everyone to take time for one’s self and relax. Working in the garden, tending to the plants and flowers, or resting quietly on a bench on a beautiful day in the garden are forms of meditation. Both can be restorative to the soul and a refreshing way to be out in nature. Meditation and gardening offer many benefits. When you couple it with the outdoor peace of a garden, you also get to enjoy the benefits nature has to offer."

Part of my National Garden Meditation Day was spent working with Juan V (JV) in my garden and the photo atop this entry shows how it looked when we finished in the early afternoon. At the northend of my garden I have a newcomer.

Another 2020 Snow Day

MY GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR MY BOOK SERIES

In my last posting here on Blogger, which was last Thursday, December 10th, 2020, I mentioned that we were having a snow day. That incident was a wet snowfall and the accumulation was not much, nor did snow stick on the ground. 

Yesterday, December 16th 2020, six days after the aforementioned event, we had another snowfall in NYC. According to news repors, including NY1, "This is the biggest December snowfall since 2009, when we [NYC] recieved 10.9 inches that year.  It also doubled New York's total winter snowfall from last year, with 10.5 inches at Central Park." 

Most of the snowfall has ended as of this blog post.

The atmosphere it created in my garden was truly magical as you might surmise from the photograph atop this entry which I took late last night. In the next image you can see how my garden looked in relation to the buildings in close proximity.

MY GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR MY BOOK SERIES

Unfortunately, the weight of the snow caused a portion of my string lights to detatch from the pole which as evidenced in the follwing photo.

MY GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR MY BOOK SERIES

Hopefully once things melt, Juan V can stop by and reattach them.

ADDENDUM:

On 12-23-2020, Juan V was able to stop by and fix the broken zip tie (as seen in the next image)....

JV MAKING A REPAIR IN MY GARDEN
(THE PLACE WHERE WIOB* IS SET)

...which had caused the lights to come down.

Once he fixed that, he added lights to my a portion of the branches of my kiwi vines (as seen on the lefthand side in the next picture).

MY GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR WIOB*

*WIOB is the abbreviation for the title of my book series, Words In Our Beak where the stories are set in y rooftop garden.

MY BOOK SERIES

9/11: The 19th Anniversary

Today, September 11th, 2020  marks the nineteenth anniversary of the Nine Eleven terrorist's attacks. As I've stated in my prior entries re this tragedy, I interviewed for a job at One World Trade Center, just thirty-one days prior to the terrorists attacks: August 10, 2001.

Who-dun-it?

MY GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR MY BOOK SERIES

This past Monday (8-10-2020) when I arrived home after my follow-up appointment with the surgeon (re the procedure I had on 8-4 -2020), I discovered a portion of the string lights which provide a canopy over my garden, had come down and I knew it wasn't storm related....so my question was Who-dun-it?

Tuesday's Truths WK 183

MY ROOFTOP GARDEN IS THE SETTING FOR WIOB

Welcome to my 183rd segment of Tuesday's Truths where I confess that while wearing face-masks and social distancing, Juan V and I were able to devise a way for me to do some of my computer work in my garden. Normally when I work on my computer I rely on a monitor so working on projects while being in my garden has not been an option.

However, there are some computer tasks I can do with specialized eye-glasses which were quite costly when I get them a few years ago, but I've been unable to work on computer projects while being in my garden because I can't see my screen what with so much sunlight (I have lots of sun in my outdoor space).

Therefore, when working outside on my computer, I have been known to hunch under an umbrella (that I use in the rain) in order to see my screen, but it's been hard to work under that circumstance, so I just do my work in my dark apartment.

No more will that be the case, because Juan figured out a way to attach my rain-umbrella to my tripod (and his work of genius can be seen in the image atop this entry).

The white crocuses are in bloom again! (Tuesday's Truths 166)

CROCUSES

On Sunday afternoon, March 8th, while in my garden, I noticed the crocuses that are planted in the large container housing my kiwi vines were beginning "wake up" from their winterized state of being mulched.

Saturday's Sentiments

American robins are featured in Volume 3

Early this morning I had my second 2020 face to face encounter with a lone American robin who was spending his/her time in my rooftop garden.

He/she played a bit of peekaboo with me as seen in the image atop this entry. Our encounter caused me to think of the literary critic, Chris Day.

Monday's Memo: 1/27/2020 is B.W.A.D.!

In 2012, on January 30th, everyone who was anyone was talking about Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, (or BWAD) and everyone is STILL talking about how they celebrated it! This year, 2020, BWAD is being celebrated today, January 27th, as it is the last Monday of the month.

In any event, no one appreciates bubble wrap more than the things that grow in my rooftop garden in New York City maintained by yours truly, with the help of my gardening comrade, JV.

WW* Celebrate National Take the Stairs Day! (*Wednesday's Wisdom)

It has come to my attention (from Holiday Insights AKA HI) as well as from a good number of organizations that relate to keeping healthy (including The American Lung Association) the Second Wednesday of January (which is today) is National Take The Stairs Day.

Christmas is one week from today!

In one week's time, it will be Christmas Day and thanks to my gardening partner in crime (Juan V), unlike Snoopy, I didn't have to unplug anything to get my Christmas tree to be lit!

AND also thanks to David Denny (DD) for taking aerial shots of my garden!

It was very late at night (Saturday 12/14) or very early Sunday morning (12/15) when DD, his entourage and I did "The Drifters" thing and went "up on the roof..."

By the way, if you look closely at these images you will see that I was able to winterize my garden by wrapping every container.