Gardening and Gardens

The annual Holiday Train show at the New York Botanical Garden is something I look forward to every year.  After a stunning walk through the conservatory (which I will post about separately), through the tropical rainforests and desert lands, I walked into the main exhibit room and into a whole other world. Before me were 140 New York City landmark buildings and structures, each constructed entirely of natural materials: nuts, tree bark, fruits, pine cones and leaves. Model of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Every now and then I would see one of the G-scale model trains going along part of the half mile track in and around one of these buildings or over one of it's bridges. It's truly amazing that each of these buildings are built entirely of natural materials. The detail on the architecture is incredible, especially knowing it's created from dried plant parts. This is the famous statue on top of Grand Central Terminal train station in New York City: ...

We got quite a wallop of snow on Sunday! At first, the forcasters were saying only eastern Long Island would get a few inches of snow. But as Christmas Day drew to an end, the news was reporting that all of New York City and Long Island should expect for a blizzard with lots of snow and wind. So all day Sunday, we listened to the howling winds blowing 40+mph and watched the beautiful snow fall, and fall, and fall until we got nearly 2 feet of snow. The storm even blew snow onto the wreath on my front door (and it's covered by a porch!):   But the birds were not deterred. They held onto the feeders through the snow and wind, trying to get something to eat. I was just happy that I remembered to fill them the day before the storm. And even though the weather outside was frightful, it sure was beautiful to watch the snow coming down. And my kids enjoyed a day in their pjs to play with their new toys!

Christmas is just a three days away. My children are beyond excited for the big day. The house is all decorated and although our live tree is getting rather dry and dropping needles, it still smells divine. The tree is decorated with ornaments that hold many memories. I've collected many from places I've traveled, but my favorites are these whimsical angels I got at a little store in Heidelberg, Germany. Each one is so unique and they all seem to have different personalities - the only commonality is a white feather. I just love them. On my door, I have a pine cone wreath I made a few years ago. I wired each pine cone individually to the metal frame and then added embellishments. It's not the typical evergreen wreath you see everywhere, but I like it.  This year I added a few birds, berries, greens and poinsettia flowers: And finally, to the left of the door is another arrangement I created using white birch branches, berries and evergreen branches...

Well, it's finally happened. The night temperatures over the past few days have been hovering between 15-20F and was just too much for my purple Ornamental Kale and orange Violas. I must say, however, I was rather impressed with how long they lasted. They continued to look great all through November and even early December. But just around the time when I began to think the colors were wrong for Christmas, they simply wilted over and bowed down to the cold. Since they were spent for the season, I decided to replace them with evergreen cuttings. I filled a similar flower box on my back patio too. And it just happened to snow on them the next day, making for a very pretty sight! I can see this box from my kitchen window and sliding glass door. It adds a nice bit of greenery to my view in the bleakness of winter. I filled another container with some of the longer and varied pieces of evergreens and placed it in the corner. I think it looks quite lovely here. The soi...

I drove by a house in my neighborhood the other day that had these shaped topiaries on their lawn. I had never noticed them before but I thought they looked so cool! I can remember as a kid going to Disney World and being fascinated with the shrubs shaped like Mickey Mouse and other characters. Probably takes a lot to keep it in the proper form and make sure the cuttings don't brown out. Still, I thought these looked so fun! Check out some more inspiring Topiary Gardens , as compiled on the blog "Surroundings."

Terrariums have lately become a favorite winter activity of mine. I started a few years ago, planting a few plants inside a fish bowl. My son, who was 2 at the time, helped me by placing some toy dinosaurs in it. It looked adorable. Since then, 3 of the 4 plants have died.  I assume the conditions for those particular plants just weren't right for them. And then of course, my son wanted his toys back! So now, I'm re-working all my terrariums. Last week I ordered "terrarium moss" from a website called Moss Acres . Included in the shipment were three types of mosses that apparently grow well in a terrarium: Cushion Moss, Rock Cap Moss and Sheet Moss. In the fish bowl terrarium, which is not a closed terrarium, I already have an African violet growing and its got new growth, so I'm thinking its happy in there. I also have miniature fern that stands upright, to give the arrangement some dimension, and a small cutting of Wandering Jew ( Tradescantia zebrin...

As an update from my last post on Thanksgiving Centerpieces, I thought I'd show a photo of what I ended up doing this year. At first, I thought of carving a pumpkin and using that as the vase/container. I was going to fill it with flowers, berries and foliage. But my time seemed to disappear like ice on hot day. And so in the end, I decided to go the simple, seasonal route: I cut some branches filled with colorful leaves from a Bradford Pear tree. The leaves were so pretty and glossy, they almost looked fake. In fact, a few of my guests didn't believe me when I told them they were real! So even though it wasn't an elaborate centerpiece, I was still happy with my creation. The colors of the leaves alone were stunning. Sometimes, simple can be elegant.  I think for Christmas this year, I'm going to ask Santa for more hours in my day... :)

Aside from gardening, I also really enjoy floral design. Unfortunately, I don't always find the time to create even simple ones at home. So holidays and birthdays are some of the few times a year I can actually focus on creating a unique floral design or centerpiece. This Thanksgiving I've started gathering ideas on what to do - I'll post again when I am finished. But in the meantime, here are a few of the creations I've done in the past for Thanksgiving: This one is my favorite and I'm tempted to do something similar this year since I still have a few pumpkins left over from Halloween. This arrangement is sitting on a cake stand and I love how the pumpkin sits in the middle of the ring of flowers and foliage.  The colors and the painted design on the container, along with it's elevated cup, provided the inspiration for this design.    This was my first design a few years ago. Again, the container gave me the inspiration. I remember having purchased ...

It's been really windy here the past few days. Sadly, the wind brought down even more leaves. With the drop of the leaves, the grasses seem to be taking center stage around here now. I've always been on the fence about grasses. Maybe its because I see too many people use them in the wrong places. They get overgrown and look like giant shrubs in the middle of a garden. But on the other hand, I really do think they are quite beautiful and so unique in their own way. This time of year they really seem to pop out of the landscape and can add a wispy, whimsical beauty to a garden (when placed right!). Above is the beautifully striped Zebra Grass ( Miscanthus sinensis). And of course I love the seeds. Each grass has certain similarities and differences which make them really fun to behold up close. I find the black fountain grass ( Pennisetum alopecuroids 'Moudry') particularly striking. The seeds/blooms look like an animal's furry tail....

I took a little walk around the neighborhood the other day. It's been in the upper 40s and low 50s and the air is quite brisk. But the colors are gorgeous and everywhere you look there are berries and seed pods bursting on the branches.    This tree is glowing yellow in the afternoon sun. Even weedy vines have gorgeous fall foliage! These gorgeous flowers look perfect in front of this porch. The sunny flowers and the wispy ornamental grass are a perfect compliment to each other. The seeds pods here have yellowed like its leaves below. Gorgeous!

"It's bittersweet, more sweet than bitter, bitter than sweet" Those are the lyrics to the 1993 song "Bittersweet" by Big Head Todd and the Monsters. I find myself unconsciously singing this song every time I come across this vine full of it's berries. Yes, it is invasive, but this time of year, the plant can't be beat for autumn splendor.  The foliage is a golden yellow and the orange seed pods break open to reveal a red berry inside.  This highly invasive vine is Celastrus orbiculatus , or Oriental Bittersweet vine. It has been known to strangle host plants by twining itself over and around anything it comes in contact with.  Not something you'd want growing in your backyard, but I think it can be appreciated in a natural setting or along the fence on the side of the road. This bittersweet vine should not be confused with the native, non-invasive American bittersweet vine. One way to distinguish the two is to look at the berries...