Easter Season Decor Ends (for the year) in the Indoor Succulent Garden

This past Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost, which ends the Easter Season, and, even though the Easter Season is a fifty day celebration, I am already feeling a bit unfulfilled —  despite my participation in the intense Easter observances as well as the preparation for them during Lent. 

Therefore, I was consoled to read the following comment by the blogger, Emily L. Hauser who is referring to her experience with her 2011 Passover celebrations.

Hauser writes, "It really does seem that every year, Passover goes by faster. One minute I'm hyperventilating over the inhumane amount of cleaning, the next minute I'm saying 'what, it's over?' But here we are. Tonight is the start of the second holiday, the one that closes the week, and boom — its back to bread." I realize that Passover 2011 ended quite some time ago, and that for Ms. Hauser the festival of Shavuot (which is symbolically and historically related to Pentecost) was last week, but it is aways comforting to be reminded of the fact that my emotions are hardly unique to me, and that, in fact quite often, they transcend cultures and belief systems.  

Additionally, as this Easter Season comes to a close, I am also reminded that it is probably time to remove the Easter decorations that are interspersed with my indoor garden of succulents which grow  (under a special lighting system using cold/hot bulbs) in containers that have been lovingly and strategically placed on top of humidity trays (that are laden with pebbles), which are resting on a space 

I've created for an indoor garden on top of my kitchen armoire. (Please see this past blog entry for details.) You may recall, dear reader, that I initially created this indoor garden during wintertime (a few years ago) to have a home for some of my plants that would not withstand winter temperatures and conditions. (Yes, this does happen with my outdoor plants — on rare occasions —  in spite of my attentive winterizing methods — methods that I have described in a previous blog post which can be found by clicking here.

In any event, indoor gardens are quite nice to have — even if you do have the space for an outdoor garden. You may recall that in an earlier blog entry I wrote about a neighborhood indoor garden, a garden that is a celebration of the textures of succulents; and if you'd like to reread it, you may refer to by clicking here.

As for my "armoire-top" garden, it now contains a variety of succulents found at the Greenmarket at Union Square in New York City. 

How does your indoor garden grow?

On this last Friday in the month of September, I would be remiss to not mention that last week (the third week in September) was National Indoor Plant Week.

According to Holiday Insights (HI),"this particular "celebration" was created to promote and increase awareness of the importance of live plants in internal spaces. Those spaces can be your home, an office where you work, a hospital, or even an indoor shopping mall." 

Furthermore, HI proclaims, "Indoor plants are widely popular in American homes. Yet, with their passive nature blending into the decorum of the home, they are seldom thought of, and sometimes ignored."

I confess that recently I've been guilty of not giving my indoor garden (which can seen in the image atop this entry featuring fall-themed figurines who have stopped by to visit it) the same attention and care that I give to my rooftop garden.

Monday Morning Musings: Revisiting the Importance of Indoor Gardens

The "topic" of decorating an indoor succulent garden is something I have not addressed here on TLLG's Blogger, tumblr, or Facebook in quite some time; but even though it is the season when my outdoor (urban) garden calls for "overtime" attention, I have not neglected my wonderful indoor succulent garden, a garden of unusual succulents that, depending on the time of year, is "visited" by unique figurines. This is a fact you may recall from seeing my indoor succulent garden — here in cyber-space — when it has had very different "visitors" for Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall as well as for "off season" celebrations such as Penguin Awareness Day.

And, once in a while, as you may recall, dear reader, figurines of fruits such as apples 'n oranges, as well as pears (that all visit my succulent garden), "weighed in" on their life experience in my succulent garden.

So today, on a stormy Monday morning, when it is impossible to be tending the garden I have on my terrace, I have been given the opportunity to share the 2012 summer look in my indoor succulent garden, as evidenced by a bathing beauty figurine who is new to my succulent garden. I was given this figurine (over the weekend) by a dear friend whose husband also has an indoor succulent garden, as I described in an entry here on TLLG, which you may refer to by clicking here.

In any event, the bathing beauty figurine was welcomed by my succulents and by a little frog — who jumped on a succulent container — to get a closer look at her (as you can see in the image posted at the top of today's entry)!

I am hoping that my other bathing beauty figurine, who also visits my succulent garden, and can be seen in the image below,

will enjoy having some company, even though, like yours truly she enjoys her time alone. (The aforementioned figurine was given to me last summer by the same friend.)

The "story" of the importance of indoor gardens will be included in the series of Virtual Stories (mini movies) which I will be producing for a campaign that I launched late last week on indiegogo, a campaign whose mission is to give voice to the garden, and in doing so remind folks that "The very old, they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious like close to the beginning."

WEDNESDAY'S WISDOM for the indoor gardener (and other interested parties) . . .

In my past few blog posts, I have mentioned Halloween and I realize that I am beginning to sound a bit like Linus Van Pelt (Charlie Brown's buddy) and his constant talk of Halloween as he anticipated a visit from The Great Pumpkin! In my case, of course, I want my readers to take advantage of an opportunity to send Halloween cards that fold out into a picture which is suitable for framing designed by yours truly (to view them. please click here), but I have also wanted to share with you (using whatever wisdom I have left in me these days) my ideas on decorating your garden for this unique time of year before we roll over into the "W" word known as winter. If you'd like to refer to one of my posts regarding garden decor for Halloween, please click here.

However, since I am aware of the fact that some of my readers do not have outdoor space to use for gardens, and I don't want them to feel left out, today I will weigh in with ideas on how you might like to decorate any indoor succulent garden that you might have, such as Tony has. To read about his garden and to see related images please click here for the link to the post in which I wrote about his indoor succulent garden earlier this year.

Light thickens, and the crow . . .

. . . Makes wings to th' rocky wood.

Good things of day begin to drop and drowze;

Whiles night's black agents to their prey do rouse.

Thou marvel'st at my words; but hold thee still.

Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.

So, prithee, go with me."

Claudia, the crow, pictured at the top of today's blog entry has recently joined my indoor succulent garden, and I overheard her reciting a speech from William Shakespeare's, Macbeth. The speech she was delivering comes from Act Three, Scene Two and is posted here (above) in orange text.

"It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information."

According to Oscar Wilde, "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information," and, with that in mind, my blog post today is designed to right that wrong, and to provide you, dear reader, with what might be some useless information, as I may have done in some of my previous posts, in the guise of having you think you could apply it to your own endeavors. For example, both this past April 2011 and December 2010, in blog entries which you may refer to by clicking here and here respectively, I shared with you some thoughts and images on how I enhanced my indoor succulent garden.

Wednesday's Wisdom: There's NO Place Like Home for the Halloween Holiday

Halloween is six days away (including today), and the characters who are visiting me for the upcoming holiday, continue to impress me with their costumes and the personal stories associated with them. Those who read entries within this blog know that I have an annual ritual of writing about the characters who visit my home for the Halloween holidays. This began about five years ago when a few stragglers came to visit my succulent garden which is indoors, atop a pantry-style cabinet in my kitchen. Over the years, more and more characters have heard about my place and have come to spend time here in honor of Halloween.

A similar scenario happened in my terrace garden which is on a roof extension in NYC. It is a place where I have grown an array of cacti, flowers, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs, trees and vines. 

In the case of my rooftop garden, Cam, a female cardinal began visiting it during the year of 2012.

When word got out about the flora I grow in my garden as well as the bird feeders I have here, more and more birds came to visit. To date, nearly twenty different types of birds have visited my place. 

Cam did not appreciate this fact for it meant she had some competition at my bird feeders, which is something she confesses in her book, Words In Our Beak, Volume One. 

Cam's story is set in my rooftop garden. But I've digressed! My intended topic for today is not covering the antics of birds who visit my urban garden, rather, my intention is to cover the antics of a few of the characters who are visiting me for Halloween.

Let the Spring Season Begin

This past Wednesday, March 20th 2013), was the day of the Vernal Equinox and the first day of spring. A music loving visitor (who came to my indoor succulent garden) helped ring in the season by repurposing a leaf and turning it into an instrument! This can be seen in the image posted above today's blog entry (variations of this image were featured in postings on TLLG's Facebook Page and tumblr blog).

Anyone who follows TLLG knows that throughout the year, an array of eclectic visitors frequent my indoor succulent garden, providing some entertainment and ambience which helps my succulents thrive. "Stories" about this can be found in a number of posts here on Blogger as well as on tumblr. 

Moreover, I have guest blogged about this topic in the past. Additionally, there are images of most of the "folks" and "creatures" who visit my indoor garden on one of my Pinterest Boards.

In terms of Wednesday's arrival of spring in my urban (NYC) terrace (roof extension) garden, Juan V and I "celebrated" the onset of the season by working in my garden. You may recall from a number of posts here on Blogger that he comes to work in my garden approximately every ten days during "open season." 

And even though last Wednesday was only the first day of spring, my garden was already coming back from a dreary winter, as yesterday was also the second "round" of my working with Juan V for the 2013 "gardening season." Our first day of working together after "the winter break" had been on Saturday March 9th 2013. Every year when we "re-open" my garden, the first task is to de-winterize, which involves quite a few hours of work as my winterizing methods are quite extensive.

Friday Follow-Up: HERE'S THE BUZZ

As you may have noticed, dear reader, this past week, I have included two "extra" postings (Monday Musings on the 17th and Wednesday's Wisdom on the 19th), today (Follow Up Friday) will make it three extra postings outside of my Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (an occasional special event posting) schedule — a "plan" which I laid out in a blog entry that I made this past January that you may refer to by clicking here.

Because the next several weeks will involve an array of Holidays and special events, and because gardening takes interesting turns at this time of year, and because these topics are often what I discuss in blog entries, I've been asked to include more postings at least until the end of the calendar year.

Antics in my Indoor Succulent Garden (MOSTLY) #1

Today is Post One re my effort to distribute my blog content across the board as I discussed in yesterday's post here on Blogger. My focus in my other blogging venues (tumblr and hometalk) — with a slightly different take in each one —  was on the comings and goings in my succulent garden as they pertain to Thanksgiving; which is in ten days time including today (November 19th 2013). Because of this fact re the holiday, a few guests have begun to arrive in my succulent garden and their photo-ops can be seen within this entry.

The character at the top of this post calls herself Madam Falling Leaf, and she is especially close to my heart since I call myself TLLG, an abbreviation for The Last Leaf Gardener, a name based on the O'Henry story, The Last Leaf.

"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART TWO (For February 2013)

Hello and welcome to part two of my 2013 year-end garden review which I introduced in a prior post here on Blogger when I discussed certain "events" that occurred in my urban (NYC) terrace garden in January of 2013. 

Today's post will focus on a specific event that seemed to be the main focus re my garden in February 2013. That event was the unexpected and brutal "attack" of Nemo, a nor'easter causing a couple of my trees to topple over from the wind and weight of heavy snowfall; and not from the cocktails they may or may not have been drinking.

Dancing Beak to Beak (And Other Garden Stories)

I ended my last post here on Blogger with photo-ops of the feisty folks and creatures that were visiting a succulent garden that I have in my kitchenette, and I mentioned that they "have been reiterating their message: 'Spring! Bring it On! Let the Spring Season Begin,' and as of today, April the 4th, thirteen days later, we have not had a warm spring day since that posting! It's been quite chilly, cold in fact, and some of the things which I grow in my  terrace (roof extension) garden are struggling with their ability to bloom! This is evidenced by the image posted above of one of my sets Kaufmaniana Tulips, a variety that was in its glory days much earlier last season!

Out of respect to my tulips (or anything else for that matter), I don't like to post images when they are struggling, as I find doing so akin to posting unflattering images of folks having a bad hair day or an unfortunate moment.

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.

"We have gotta say good-bye for the winter."

Mama Reindeer, seen in the "middle" of the image posted above, is someone whom you may recognize, dear reader, as she came with her twins (standing to her right in the aforementioned image), to spend the 2011-2012 Christmas season in my urban (NYC) garden, and as of today's posting, January 2nd 2012, they are still here. 

hAlLoWeEn 2013 (ETC)

Today is October the thirty-first and it has been one month since I've posted an entry here on Blogger. I'm obviously not adhering to a schedule I had hoped to keep in this particular cyber venue when I announced my plans for my posting on Blogger in October of 2011.

However, if you follow TLLG's web activity you most likely know that I've been diligent in keeping up with content on TLLG's Facebook Page as well as on my Pinterest Boards, and to some extent tumblr, which are good places to find me if you don't see a posting on Blogger.

Moreover, since June of 2013, I've been posting entries on hometalk, which is a place that reached out to me upon reading an entry I published re bird feeders here on Blogger. And in addition to this, as of August 2013, I am a regular contributor to Cornell's FB Page.

Having said all this, I'd like to get back to posting more frequently here on Blogger and am rethinking a viable schedule for doing so. I hope to come up with an itinerary before the distraction of November and December holidays set in.

For now, let me confess that juggling these venues has been a challenge, and unlike the character pictured at the top of today's entry (who has come to visit my succulent garden for Halloween) I am not a master at juggling activities nor am I good at most types of multi-tasking. The biggest reason for this is I put all my energy into the task at hand and if I can't be as thorough as I want to be with a particular task I put it off until I can.

Be that as it may, I am back here on Blogger today, October 31st 2013, which also happens to be Halloween, a holiday I've written about a number of times on this venue in bygone years.

Often when I've written about Halloween I've included info on how I've decorated my indoor succulent garden for Halloween. This year's decor was enhanced by four groups of visitors who came to visit me for the festivities, including the juggler whose image is at the top of today's entry. The juggler is one of the visitors from GROUP D and he can be seen with his comrades in the image below.

Details about these characters are in a post on hometalk.

"Life is like eating artichokes, you have got to go through so much to get so little."

One of the little succulent garden figurines who came to spend time in my indoor succulent garden (a garden that I decorate for all of the seasons, which I have written about in a number of blog entries on TLLG which you may refer to by clicking here) is Lady Artichoke (seen in the image above). 

She was featured in a post on nybg's (New York Botanical Gardens) tumblr about a week ago, and in that blog entry she is seen with her comrades in the following picture which accompanies that entry.

I return to Lady Artichoke today because of the Tad Dorgan (Thomas Aloysius Dorgan) quote, "Life is like eating artichokes, you have got to go through so much to get so little." 

The 17th Evening: An Inspiration to Decorate

A #ClapBecauseWeCare Participant

The 17th night of clapping and cheering (that has been dubbed #ClapBecauseWeCare) to honor first responders and healthcare workers who are keeping New Yorkers as safe as possible during the coronavirus pandemic took place last night.

I did not expect to see or hear so many participants tonight as it coincided with the evening of Easter and also an evening in Passover, BUT, much to my pleasant surprise, MANY participated (one an be seen in the image atop this entry and others in the series directly below)...

Tuesday's Truths WK 15: Info on the WINGED MONKEYS (seen in OZ)

With Halloween being less than a week away, there is a lot of activity going on in my home. Most of the action taking place is occurring among the cast of characters (dressed in unique Halloween costumes) who visit me on an annual basis during this time period. When they first started coming to my place, they confined their antics within the constraints of the succulent garden that I have atop a pantry-style cabinet that I have in my kitchen. 

The image atop this entry was taken a few years ago. It features a set of triplets who visited my succulent garden dressed as The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and The Cowardly Lion, who as you may know, are the characters featured in The Wizard of Oz.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 35 (But First A Follow-Up)

The schedule I announced this past May for my entries to be published here on Blogger continues to be disrupted! As "they" say, "if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans . . . "  

And, if you follow me on TLLG's Blogger Pages, you will notice that this past week my post was on Saturday instead of my usual days, and the week prior was the same! I apologize for any inconvenience, and I will try with this post to get back on track with my regularly scheduled programing here on Blogger; however, my schedules on TLLG's Facebook Page, Pinterest Boards, and tumblr posts, have NOT been disrupted. Yay!

Speaking of tumblr, I am aware that since today is Tuesday, it must be tumblr, but before I send you there, I'd like to follow up on a few stories I've posted here on Blogger, in the event you have been unable to visit TLLG on my aforementioned venues.

First of all, the cause of Wink's eyesight problem remains a mystery, and I continue with my fervent efforts to reach organizations that are supposedly knowledgeable about the well being of our feathered friends, but so far I've gotten very little information. For a moment, I thought one of the mourning doves, who, like Wink, visits my garden to nosh, was concerned about its comrade, as you might also surmise from the image above today's entry. But perhaps I  am projecting my sensitivity towards eye related issues due to my battle with my legal blindness as well as my concern for Wink's well being, onto the mourning dove, for it seems it was merely pausing for a moment before making itself at home with Wink at the "noshing table" as seen in the image below, an image where you can notice Wink's eye injury. (Once again, dear reader, if you are familiar with anyone or any organization that might be able to provide an answer re Wink's situation, please let me know in the comments field below today's entry!)

My other "follow-up," dear reader is to tell you that the deadline for my Campaign on indiegogo has come and gone with little success, and I'm back at the drawing board working on plans B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, ANd Z! Please stay tuned.

And with these updates — before I send you to tumblr —  I am hoping you will recall that, in addition to my urban (terrace AKA roof extension garden), I grow an array of succulents in an indoor garden, and that garden is frequented by seasonal visitors, a few of whom (pictured below) have dropped by for Halloween to join in the festivities!

AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, THE LINK TO tumblr IS HERE!

ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described 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)whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal.  

As of May 22 2018, I have rendered some images from these books into greeting cards and they are available on Fine Art America, please click here for more info.

Re my book series: 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.

At this moment, May 2018, both volumes one and two are in hardcover format (as seen below) and are available wherever  books are sold.

*Here's the  purchase info for the Words In Our Beak book series:

Volume One: ISBN: 9780996378529:

Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2AFZDCz

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2zxVujM

Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2AAnB26

book culture On Columbus: http://bit.ly/2FsC1Uf

Volume Two: ISBN: 9780996378536
Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2q75g8e

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DY0mz0

Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2G65m6H

Another Halloween in my Succulent Garden

The photo atop this blog entry shows a number of characters who are meeting in my indoor succulent garden before Halloween. It's the fifth year that characters have come to visit my succulent garden for this particular holiday. As many of you know, I have a garden on my terrace where I grow cacti, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs as well as trees. The succulent garden that I maintain inside my home, is not only for unusual cacti, it is a place that an array of characters come to visit for various occasions.

With the exception of Humpty Dumpty, Ms. Skeptic is the one who has been visiting me the longest in honor of Halloween. I've indicated her identity (number twelve within the group image below, Humpty is number 13). I've also included Ms. Skeptic's and Humpty Dumpty's solo photo-ops.

In 2011, her first year here, Ms. Skeptic was the hostess to a small group of characters, but the group of visitors has gotten much larger over the years. In fact the numbers of whimsical visitors has gotten so big, that some of them (not seen in either of these group images) have moved beyond my garden and into my main living area; taking up residence in my armoire and making themselves at home on my shelves! 

A number of the characters featured in these group photos were discussed in posts I wrote for hometalk in 2012 and 2013 under the following titles: Boo! Halloween in Both my Urban Terrace & Indoor Gardens,  Halloween Decor Indoors (mostly), Group B Wins The Coin Toss, Group A Wins The Second Coin Toss, Group C  Wins 3rd Coin Toss, Conclusion of Follow-Up Halloween Decor, Honoring National Pumpkin Day With a Contest in My Garden, and At Halloween and Always, Make New Friends, Keep the Old

In any event, this year, those visiting my succulent garden — with the exception of the four judges (seen at the far right portion of the image atop this entry and identified by white arrows in the second image above) as well as Humpty Dumpty (who is actually a permanent resident) — are here rehearsing in hopes of being the witch that is chosen to appear on America's Got Talent! 

All of the judges here are trying emulate Howie Mandel in order to prepare the hopefuls for a best American witch win.