ONE YEAR LATER! Whatever happened to my name tag project?

Salve! Mihi nomen est__________

OR

For those of you who pay attention to detail, you may recognize the first image at the top of today's blog entry, as it was one I used at the top of an entry which I posted here on Blogger one year ago today, when I first introduced what has come to be known as The Name Tag Project, and, if you want to refer to that particular post, please click here.

The second image is of one of my "visiting" house finches sitting a top of the name tag I made for my Rubus calycinoides (Ornamental Raspberry). This bird was not only reminding me to fill her feeder; but she seemed to know I've had so many false starts getting my name tag project underway, and was offering to tweet about it for me once I complete it! So, with an offer such as hers, I am returning to my name tag project to post this update regarding it on the "year's anniversary" of my having announced it.

Before I continue with the specifics of The Name Tag Project as it relates to giving voice to the things which live in a garden, let me digress by sharing with you a few (short-short) back stories on my feelings regarding names.

In cyber-space, I'm known as The Last Leaf Gardener, and if you want to read how I came upon that name, please click here.

However, in "real" life, my name is Patricia Youngquist. I'm not thrilled with the name Patricia these days because too many people have it. Youngquist is OK , as it's a Swedish name, which comes from a plant that can survive under any condition. (Although I've put this "fact" to the test far too many times and have often wished the translation was ability to have a more cushy life.)

As for growing up, my surname being at the end of the alphabet was somewhat of a hazard because I was (and am still) legally blind and could not see the blackboard when teachers seated their classrooms in alphabetical order. In those days I was called "Patti," Patti with a "ti;" and not Patty with a "ty" like Peppermint Patty and Patty Duke, who were "icons" in my childhood. At that point I went through my "Pat" phase, but I still was unsure how it felt, so I would (cringe, cringe) sign my name "Pat (ti optional)."

POP QUIZ

Taralli

Salad Greens

Foeniculum vulgare
A Surprise Posting With a POP Quiz
 (on an unscheduled day for TLLG's Blogger activity.)

QUESTION: What do the things in the images above have in common?
ANSWER can be found by clicking here.

Hip! Hip! HOORAY!

It is a verrrrrrrrrry noisy Sunday morning as the 80+ things I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden can hear many folks cheering. This is because the Triathlon is occurring near to where we live. The periwinkle-colored flowers from my "spent" salad greens and the crimson-colored leaves from my 'Tamukeyama' — both pictured here — have been practicing their own cheers since yesterday morning, as evidenced by the image posted above this entry.

I have written about my salad greens and my 'Tamukeyama' on a number of occasions on tumblr, as well as here on Blogger; including ones which you may refer to by clicking here and here respectively. 

Moreover, my salad greens and my 'Tamukeyama's' leaves are also excited as they anticipate their roles in my "giving voice to gardens" project, which you may view by clicking here.

It's Groundhog Day! It's Groundhog Day! (And my Salad Greens want to know what he has to say!)

The things which I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, and I, would like to wish you a Happy Groundhog Day. Today marks the point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (this day is celebrated on August 1st for those living south of the equator).

"They sang him a ballad, and fed him on salad . . . "

Temperatures in New York City (where I live), have been pushing sixty degrees or more for the past several days, which is is quite unusual for this time of year in our area. However, today is December the Fifth, and in sixteen days it will officially be winter; hence, a good reason to include Mutts, one of my favorite comic strips, in today's blog entry with his "prophecy" regarding the inevitable "W" word which is inevitable.

Where is my Spilanthes oleracea when I need him?

The unusual looking plant in the photograph which  posted above is a Spilanthes oleracea plant. Its flowers resemble pimento olives and it is somewhat of a funky plant to have in one's garden. (I can just imagine the Spilanthes oleracea plant saying 'what do you mean by funky?' — if he is anything like my Physocarpus opulifolius aka Coppertina Tree, who took homage at being called Copper-Tone — not by yours truly by the way — and took it upon himself to express these thoughts in a blog post which you may refer to by clicking here.)

Whether you perceive the Spilanthes oleracea plant to be funky or not, it does provide a unique purpose to one's garden as it is a documented fact that when one chews on the leaves, one experiences a numbing effect on the mouth. 

According to an herb guide (source can be found by clicking here), "a decoction or infusion of the leaves is recommended for stammering, toothache, stomatitis, and throat complaints," and that eating a whole flower bud results in an extremely strong tingling sensation accompanied by excessive saliva production."

In 2006, I had a Spilanthes oleracea plant in my terrace garden as pictured below:

I was not taking many pictures or blogging during that time, but I can assure you that he can be seen in the far right hand corner where the purple arrow is pointing (on a direct diagonal from the SODAS sign which I only recently removed from my urban terrace garden, a gesture that I wrote about in a previous blog entry that you may refer to by clicking here).

The normally perennial Spilanthes oleracea plant, in the zone where I live and have my terrace garden is an annual. Therefore, I am not always able to find them in any of  the green-makets when growing season arrives; hence, I have not had one in my garden for a number of years. However, the Spilanthes oleracea plant is on my mind today, as I am scheduled to have a tooth extraction this afternoon —an unfortunate necessity precipitated by its being fractured.

My NYC Terrace Garden Spring Cleaning: Opened 62 Presents, Welcomed 2 New Arrivals

BEFORE:

AFTER:

AND A LOT OF FUN IN BETWEEN:

Yesterday, April finally relented and gave into Spring. Perhaps she heard me bring up the "cruelest month" quote from T.S. Eliot the other day, and said, "oh not that  bit again . . . " because yesterday's spring-like weather certainly made up for any ill feelings regarding April. I was able to unwrap all my herbs, plants, shrubs, and trees that had been fitted in winter-gear early last December when they were winterized. It was like unwrapping Christmas presents — 62 of them.

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.