"another year over AND a new one just begun . . . " PART ONE

GARDEN WINTERIZED AND HOLIDAY DECOR 2011-2012

GARDEN WINTERIZED AND HOLIDAY DECOR 2012-2013

Today is the first Saturday of 2013! The date is January the Fifth, the Eve of Epiphany, which is also the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and it is the day I've chosen for my urban garden's 2012 year in review as well as a great opportunity for me to return here to Blogger after not posting since "the Monday after Thanksgiving," as I have been contending with some health issues as discussed briefly on TLLG's tumblr and Facebook venues.

I realize that most accountings of a given "year in review" take place in late December of the year being reviewed; but since this review will solely be dedicated to my urban garden, I have chosen this particular date, because last year on this day, Juan V came over to help me complete my garden winterizing for the winter of 2012! Hence January the 5th 2012 through January the 5th 2013 was the last full year in my garden!

Wednesday's Wisdom: Robert Burns nailed it! ("The best laid schemes of mice and men...")

The picture atop this blog entry is a screenshot of an image that was included in my newsfeed for my Facebook Page for The Last Leaf Gardener.

It came from the FB Page for Gowanus Nursery in Brooklyn; a place where I have gotten a number of the trees (as well as other flora varieties) that grow in my rooftop garden, which is still in a state of winter-to-spring-limbo, as evidenced by the following image.

This photograph was taken by Kreshnik Vushaj. It is a picture which I included in yesterday's entry here on Blogger.

Like the folks at Gowanus nursery, who had scheduled a re-opening (after their winter hiatus) for March 18th 2017; I've been anticipating de-winterizing my rooftop garden; and I had planned to do so with Juan V, a few days before Gowanus's intended date.

However STELLA (the "bombogenesis" nor'easter), decided to visit our area causing all of us to rethink our gardening plans! Juan V and I have rescheduled the date to de-winterize, and Gowanus has rescheduled their season opener, which I saw in my newsfeed; and have posted below.

As you can see, they now hope to open one week later than planed. Juan V and I have also opted to reschedule one week later than planed! We hope to de-winterize a week from today, but from the looks of my garden, as seen in Kreshnik Vushaj's photo, I'm not sure if the weather will be in line with our plans. And last I heard, we are ruled by weather, it is not ruled by us!

So, while I'm hunkered down as far as gardening is concerned, let me take the opportunity to show you some aspects of my garden. I am thankful to Kreshnik Vushaj for my being able to do this, for he surprised me by emailing me a few more views of my wonderful garden.

Here are the copies of Kreshnik Vushaj's photographs, which I've marked up with arrows and numbers in order to tell you what's what.

The arrow marked with numeral one is referring to my Canadian Palm Tree, seen in a solo photo-op below.

The picture of my Canadian Palm Tree is an image I've included in a number of entries here on Blogger, but thanks to Vusha, you can now have a sense of where it stands in relation to the flora and objects which I have here. But getting back to the aforementioned image taken by Kreshnik Vushaj, the arrow indicated with the numeral two, is my bird bath. I have to really monitor the conditions of the water in that bath, for as you can surmise, frozen temps might crack the bird bath; as it is a ceramic piece.

Numbers three-five indicate where I have some of my bird-feeders, while number six indicates the location of much of my flora, huddled together near the building's wall, where they are somewhat protected from the high winds. The next  picture by Kreshnik Vushaj,

shows my place from a different angle. Once again, numeral one indicates the Canadian Palm Tree, the number two indicates my bird bath, and the number three indicates one of my bird feeders (the one which accommodates whole peanuts). However in this image, the number four indicates a small bowl holding water for my visiting birds. The water in both the bird bath and this bowl can easily freeze over in these conditions, so I have to monitor it carefully, which I do, as water is very important to a bird's survival. The number five in this image, as well as in Vushaj's other image, indicates my bird feeder that I call a Monopoly Feeder. I gave it that name because it looks like one of the trinkets from the infamous board game. And, again, as it did in Vushaj's previous image, the number six indicates the location of much of my flora, huddled together near the building's wall.

In Vushaj's next photo,

the ceramic bird bath is noted by the number one; and one of my whole peanut feeders is referenced by the number two. Number three is referencing the birds' water bowl; number four points to the Monopoly feeder; number five indicates my huddled plants; and, the number six is  pointing at my Canadian Palm Tree.

And with that, I'll leave you with an unmarked photograph by Kreshnik Vusha,

and a recommendation that should you ever need any painting done or interior construction contract related services, contact Kreshnik Vushaj's company Tani & Nick Painting Corp.

I live in a rental apartment, so I have not personally seen Kreshnik Vushaj's work close-up, but I've seen it from the distance of my rooftop to the building he has been working on. Moreover, if Kreshnik Vushaj can take such detailed photos, as evidenced in his pictures here, I imagine his attention to detail in assignments is unsurpassed.

Upon reflection, had Juan V and I  been able to do our de-winterizing when we had planned, I might not have had the opportunity to ask Kreshnik Vushaj to take some images for me. I did on a chance encounter, knowing he has access to interesting vantage points of my garden; as evidenced here.

Therefore I cannot be too disappointed re postponements for as Robert Burns knew, “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”

Monday's Memo: Volume 3 is Finally Available!

Chris Deatherage, who is the designer of my web-site, patriciayoungquist.com, and the formatter of my Words In Our Beak book series posted a copy of the cartoon atop today's blog entry on one of his  social media venues. In his posting, he stated, "These people (in the cartoon) should read WORDS IN OUR BEAK, VOLUME THREE wherein Cam, our female cardinal narrator, teaches readers several ways to winterize an outdoor garden."

I am happy to announce that Chris and I have now received our copies of volume three! The book (pictured below) looks great and with the winter season upon us, I encourage gardeners to heed Chris's opinion, "... read WORDS IN OUR BEAK, VOLUME THREE wherein Cam, our female cardinal narrator, teaches readers several ways to winterize an outdoor garden."

SEE PRESS RELEASE

Winterizing an urban garden is a only one portion the story within this volume of the series. As the front flap of this book (seen in the image below) states...

DETAILS RE BOOK JACKET FOR VOL 3

... this particular book" brings to a close the stories told by Cam, a feisty and beautiful female cardinal living year — round in a New York City garden.

"In this volume, Cam describes two methods for winterizing an urban garden as well as her interactions with some new diners at TLLG"s bird feeders. She also clues the reader into why birds seem to 'hide' in their surroundings.

"Visit one last time with Cam as she chronicles the habits of her avian community, what it is like to spend time in this special urban garden, and why — for all the hazards of bird life and garden greenery — New York City is still the place to live."

Words In Our Beak, Volume Three is currently available on Amazon, but it can also be ordered by any bookstore if you give the title and/or ISBN which is 978099637853.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

Hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can now be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.

This was followed by an ePub version...

..that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.

Its press release can be read by clicking here.  [The press release does note my Kindle version of the digital Words In Our Beak, but I withdrew it from Amazon a few years ago and at this time, I do not intend to make it live again.]

Now with the release of BIRD TALES....

... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one. 

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.

Oh, Wednesday's Wisdom, Where are you?

Today is Wednesday, a day I usually "reserve" for Wednesday's Wisdom, but I am not sure that I am feeling so wise about my personal or business related affairs today, on this Wednesday the Fourteenth of December, bringing us to the point where we only have eleven days until Christmas, when folks — if they are not already — will sing, "and so this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun . . . .", the lyrics from John Lennon's, Happy Xmas (War is Over). The song is haunting to me because I find it to be a reminder of what I have not achieved and what I've failed in doing, as described in a previous blog post on TLLG regarding this song.

The Influence of Douglas William Jerrold + Mutts: A Shelter for New Born Flowers!

Douglas William Jerrold, the English dramatist and writer, is reported to have said, "He was so benevolent, so merciful a man that, in his mistaken passion, he would have held an umbrella over a duck in a shower of rain."

I featured this quotation (as well as the Mutts comic strip that is posted atop this entry), in a 2011 post here on Blogger; where I discussed my concern for a small Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi) that I was growing at that time.

This comic strip came to my mind today due to the weather patterns which have been (and still are) occurring in NYC, causing me to feel the need to bring certain flowers inside my home to protect them from losing their brand new petals!

These include Elegant Lady Tulips (seen in my home in the first three images below where the latter picture features her with Hot Springs Water Lilies) as well as Monte Orange Tulips (shown in in my home in the fourth image).

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 1

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 1

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 1

OTHER TULIPS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 1

Here's why these flowers are currently inside my home taking shelter from my urban garden:

On Sunday, temperatures were thirty degrees lower than they had been the previous day, Saturday, April the fourteenth.

In fact it was so warm this past Saturday, Juan V suggested I de-winterize (unwrap the containers) where certain flowers were thriving, as evidenced in the following photographs.

GARDEN WINTERIZING IS DISCUSSED IN VOL 2

GARDEN WINTERIZING IS DISCUSSED IN VOL 2

As you can see the only difference in these two images is that I've added text to the latter of them to indicate the flower types who were beyond ready to shed their winter gear.

No, I did not give up blogging for Lent . . . (and other TLLG Updates)

Because nineteen days (or two and a half weeks) have passed since February 21st 2012, which also happens to have been Shrove Tuesday (or the day before Ash Wednesday, a day that marks the beginning of Lent), and was the last time I posted here on TLLG, you, dear reader, might have presumed that I gave up blogging on TLLG for Lent.

Today has a "Count Down Date" : 12-11-10, Finish Winterizing!

The  photograph above was taken about six weeks ago, on October the 27th 2010, in the afternoon prior to my presentation at the Apple Store on 67th Street and Broadway in New York City. (I spoke about the presentation in two previous posts which can be accessed by clicking here and here). 

I took the photo from the roof of the building where I live, to have an aerial view of my rooftop garden. I also wanted to have a full view of my garden to include in a "pitch" that I was requested to submit to someone who works for a well known public figure.

Sunday's Sequel to Friday's Post

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

Hope NYC peeps are enjoying this snowfall!

It has come before I’ve had a chance to winterize my garden (which I’ll be doing next Wednesday) and it has come on the date that Winter’s Eve (the tree lighting at Dante Park) is scheduled to take place. I feel sorry for the Chinese dancers who are scheduled to perform there.

Be that as it may, garden winterizing is a topic which is covered in the second volume of my book series, Words In Our Beak.

By the way, with the Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanza seasons approaching, please consider giving these books to those near and dear to you!

THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

"If it's Tuesday, it must be . . ." tumblr. Week Twelve "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

It's Tuesday, so it must be tumblr but before I  lead you there, here's a little (as usual) digression: The images posted above are of my still-flowering-in-December Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) and White Swan Echinacea both of which I grow in my urban (NYC) terrace garden. 

Additionally, my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers) and the roses, from all three of the shrubs that I have of them, are still thriving. This is quite unusual for this time of year in New York City, as by now we have usually had some snow.

Oh, kitchen armoire, oh kitchen armoire, how lovely is your surface . . .

The image posted above is a photograph (taken in my kitchen) that shows some details of the 'winter-time garden' that I keep inside during the winter season. This "garden" is comprised of my less hardy outdoor plants that I bring into my apartment (from my roof-top extension urban garden which I go to great lengths to winterize.

I have also created a line of greeting cards based on some of my past roof-top extension garden winterizing endeavors. These cards are quite special to use for sending holiday wishes. They are part of my petite wrap-around card collection. 

A sample of a petite wrap-around card from the winter collection can be seen below:

As for the plants that I bring inside, I place them on top of humidity trays (placed below a cold/warm light system that is connected to a timer then suspended) that are filled with pebbles. This method is a great way to preserve the humidity and to keep the plants happy during the winter months.

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.

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.

Staten Island Chuck AND Punxsutawney Phil's "News"

This is an unscheduled entry as I normally post on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but occasionally I offer an additional post when a noteworthy event occurs, or when I need to follow-up on a given topic. I wrote about the importance of following-up on entries this past fall, and since in Tuesday's entry I discussed the meaning of Groundhog Day (which is today), I am happy to report this: For those who have not heard, our beloved: New York City rodent, Staten Island Chuck, did not see his shadow this morning, which those weary of winter will be happy to know, because this is a traditional sign that spring is on the way.

Staten Island Chuck was in agreement this year with Punxsutawney Phil, who did not see his shadow either. Rare is the case when New Yorkers and those from Pennsylvania agree on much — especially when it comes to their respective sports teams — but today, these citizens do agree on one thing: they hope their "meteorologist-rodents" are correct in their prediction of an early end to winter.

As for me, I'm not hurrying outside to de-winterize my ice-caked roof-extension garden by unwrapping any plants. In fact, maybe I'll invest in a shovel (since they apparently are on sale, as many shop-keeepers have taken on the sentiments of the cartoon posted above) for the snow that's still predicted.

Monday's Memo: The Last Monday in January (Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day)

Once upon a time, on the day of January the thirty-first, in the year of 2012, absolutely everyone who was anyone, was talking about Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, which was occurring at the time!

This truism is evidenced in the video posted atop this entry. It was initially produced and released by yours truly back in 2012, and is included within my Vimeo channel. In any event, now, six years later, everyone who is anyone is STILL talking about how they celebrated Bubble Wrap Appreciation day! 2018's Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day falls on January the twenty-ninth (today), as it's the last Monday of the month.

No one appreciates bubble wrap more than the flora that grows in my rooftop garden in NYC, which is maintained by yours truly, Patricia Youngquist, The Last Leaf Gardener (with the incredible help of my comrade Juan V).



You see, for a number of winters now, I have used this currently being celebrated "poppin' wrap" to protect the eighty plus flora types that I grow in my garden from winter's normally cold temperatures!

That's this Monday's memo to you, dear reader, should you need an idea for any garden winterizing methods (although in most places in the hemisphere where I live, it's now a little late to do this for 2018; but make a memo of it to consider using Bubble Wrap when you winterize your garden in the coming years).

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.

I'm having a BLUE Pre-Christmas Season.

THE STORIES ARE SET IN MY GARDEN

For the past five years I've had a Christmas tree in my rooftop garden. I've always decorated my Christmas tree with lights and have hung ornaments that are bird feeders filled with suet which I replenish on a frequent basis.

My standard has been to put up a Christmas tree anytime between December twelfth and December seventeenth, then leave it standing until mid February. This way the array of wild birds who visit my garden will have a place to keep warm during the coldest winter months as they nosh. The Christmas tree seen in the picture atop this entry is the one I had last year.

"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. 

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.

Snow Day

Hope NYC peeps are enjoying this snowfall!

It has come before I’ve had a chance to winterize my garden (which I’ll be doing next Wednesday) and it has come on the date that Winter’s Eve (the tree lighting at Dante Park) is scheduled to take place. I feel sorry for the Chinese dancers who are scheduled to perform there.