gardens by the bay

when in singapore, visit the bay south gardens by the bay.

i love these huge vertical planter 'trees'.

wild ginger

Asarium canadense

sprouting along the creek

modern planter

palma hand made cement planters.

today's problem: summer heat

today the heat will be thoroughly kicking in and i expect that will be the end of my bluebells. 

herb and garden festival

head to york for the

pennsylvania herb and garden festival

thru saturday.

today's flower: dwarf iris

the first dwarf iris of a bunch shot up this past weekend.

how to plant edibles in the shade

i am at the beginning of designing a landscape that will support as many edibles as possible...only problem is, i have a lot of shade. luckily, there are a number of my favorite fruits and vegetables that will fit in my garden areas with 4-6 hours of sun or less.
first, i wanted to get the perennial foundation plants selected:
blueberries
currents
asparagus
raspberries and lingonberries (in containers)
strawberries (also in containers)
monarda (bee balm)
chamomile
chives
lovage
lemon balm
mint (contained!)
oreganos (plural, because there are lots of types)
little parsley hedges
thyme
i need to place decorative and functional raised beds and/or containers along walkways and paths for annual shade tolerant foods such as
beans
beets-maybe
broccoli
cabbage
carrots
cucumbers
peas
potatoes (already growing this year in bags)
radishes
sweet potatoes
i currently have salad greens in my self-watering planter boxes, and the
spinach
swiss chard
mesclun
mustard
arugula
dont mind less than 4 hours of sun...everything does grow i bit slower with more shade, but plants dont bolt when the heat and humidity kicks in. i need to get drawing!

happy arbor day!

on this day in 1872

the first arbor day was celebrated with the planting of over a million trees.

today's problem: pollen

a warm spring has led to this...

my eyes itch.

happy easter

how to plant a green roof

this is how!

looks like a lovely selection of succulents, which would make sense since this house is in mill valley.

a beautiful day

bluebells...azaleas...dogwood...

oh, no: is that bamboo in the middle?

pansies

i love a pansy!

earth hour

start prepping now to turn off the lights tomorrow night from 8:30-9:30pm: it's earth hour 2012, and the energy saved in that sixty minutes will be...alot!

cherry blossom

the cherry blossom festival started yesterday, but the summer-time spring weather may foil the blooms longevity, so hurry down to take a peek.

if you dont think its worth it, you are wrong: its like the biggest, sweetest puff of smoke ever! 

after your trist, vote on your favorite variety. when push comes to shove, i choose the kwanzan.

spring flowers

the groundhog was right and now spring is in full swing in the nation's capital! a morning walk through the city revealed the season's delightful blooms

 between the cracks in the sidewalk...

and along side the road.

 

the smell of jonquils perfumed the air.

some crocus pushed through,

and the hyacinths stood out.

there was an unbelievable magnolia grandiflora, who's blooms have not been browned by a frost this year.

this star magnolia shined!

when we turned the corner, we discovered a lovely decaying garden wall and urn.

otto took a minute to take it all in.

earth sea warrior

air plant curiosity: need i say more?

wheat grass

they rotate the fields near my cabin in virginia: soy beans are followed with corn which is followed by wheat grass. 

strawberry season

it's strawberry season!

 

and strawberries plus

 greek yogurt and brown sugar equal

delicious!

moss

a winter walk is punctuated by neon pops of color...

 moss is growing in the most beautiful ways...

wrapping some things up...

and carpeting small places.

philadelphia flower show

the philadelphia flower show started yesterday and runs through next weekend.

home and garden

we have had a some rain this week and thunderstorms are expected tonight and tomorrow, so the garden is soggy, and i wont be working in it. i could use some fresh ideas, so off to the home and garden show! the season kicks off this weekend and it seems like every town has one, so go check it out!

strawberry festival

the strawberry festival in plant city-the winter strawberry capital- starts today: sweet!

how to cast leaves

while cleaning up the winter garden, i started thinking about adding some new decorative elements...i found this seemingly simple tutorial for casting leaves: plaster is a little fragile so i might try it with concrete.

today's problem: florals

at fashion week, florals were the thing! i love this planting ensemble: perfect for the greenhouse seed planting!

today

we are having amazing thunderstorms right now, but earlier this evening, the sunset was glowing. what a beautiful day! totally better than yesterday...

happy president's day

happy president's day!

happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day

today's problem: winter

it really has been a decent-not-too-cold winter 'round here. however, saturday afternoon's arctic blast left a bit of snow on my front steeps which was quickly blown away in sunday's 50mph wind gusts.