April (and now May) Showers Take Away Flowers!

During a weather broadcast yesterday, May 8th 2012, the meteorologist pointed out that out of the first eight days of May, it has rained for six of them! Today is the ninth of May, and it's raining again. Moreover, it has rained heavily almost every day since April 21st 2012! Admittedly, it has not quite been the "40 days and 40 nights" of Noah's Ark, and, admittedly, the rain is very good for our reservoirs, but to some extent, all this rainfall has caused some angst amongst the things I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden, hence (since this blog is mostly about life in my garden) my lack of regularity in posting here on TLLG (although you can always find me on nybg's — New York Botanical Gardens — tumblr, Pinterest, and my Facebook Page for The Last Leaf Gardener).

Yesterday morning, Juan V came over to work in my urban (NYC) terrace garden with me, and fortunately we accomplished what we needed to do there before heavy rainfall began again. He was even able to do an "aerial" photo-op for me which is posted above, and, from the look of things, you might surmise that all is lush and thriving, and you may even find yourself wondering, what the hell is TLLG talking about re garden angst!

NUMBER 1977

Once again I want to thank The Achilles Club in New York City for making it possible for me to participate in the Five Boro Bike Tour. This was the fourth year that I've taken part in this awesome event with Achilles and the image posted with this narrative shows yours truly with my captain at the start line of the Five Boro Tour.

I rode as Santa and she was a reindeer. Her "hanger" antlers brought a lot of comments about "the reception" she must've been getting, which had us laughing all the way . . . 

"You Like me, You Like Me!"

  

I am veerring off the garden path from my "usual" topic of gardening to share the following: 

Once upon a time, in the late 1980s, there was a movie called "Norma Rae," which starred Sally Field. Ultimately, SF received an Oscar for her performance in the film, and in her Academy Award speech, she proclaimed, "You like me! You like me!"

SF's speech became the "fuel" for many sitcoms including "Kate and Allie," where yours truly portrayed a sweat shop worker in an episode that made fun of SF's Norma Rae and subsequent, "You like me" reference.

"Come, Tip Toe Through the Tulips with ME" : Remembering Tiny Tim (4-12-32- 11-30 -96)

Hello, I am one of the Kaufmanniana tulips, a tulip family that was discussed here on this blog, The Last Leaf Gardener, nearly one month ago!

I'm posting this entry on behalf of Patricia Youngquist, AKA, The Last Leaf Gardener, and I can attest to the fact that her absence from cyberspace is NOT because she has been tip-toeing through the tulips, but rather it is because she has had major "mother-board" issues with her "beloved" Mac Book Pro, and therefore unable to blog here or on NYBG's (New York Botanical Gardens) tumblr (where she has appeared on a regular basis), nor has she been able to contribute to Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, which are venues that she is active in on a consistent basis!

While my gardener, Patricia Youngquist has been dealing with Apple Care for her Mac Book Pro, other tulip famlies have been joining me in her urban (NYC) terrace garden. These tulip families include the ones from Curly Sue, Snow Parrot, Tulipa Parrot Blumex, and Tulipia Tarda.

Ah, crocuses!

This is the first year, that I have had crocuses in my rooftop garden. I find them to be a sweet looking flower and that their brilliant green foliage (which is enhanced with white "pin stripes") is also awesome.

A few of my crocuses can be seen in the images posted below, and these varieties were planted this past November within the large containers where my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida AKA Kiwi Vines as well as my Continus Coggygria AKA Smoke Bush live respectively. 

Some of my Crocuses Sharing Digs with my Actinida kolomikta and Actimida 

Going Solo (View of my Crocuses Sharing Digs my Continus Coggygria)

For me, the crocuses exude joy and their playful nature makes me wonder why I waited until this past November to include them in my garden. These little flowers with their pin striped foliage (although I've never heard anyone else refer to their leaves with this particular description), have caused folks from all walks of life to be inspired to include them in their prose.

"The winter that wasn't . . . " (at least in NYC)

One day the temperatures are in the mid-seventies, the next day they are only in the mid-forties; and it's only mid-March in New York City, where I live and have a terrace garden. From what I understand, these "mood swing" temperatures are occurring in many parts of the world.