Palms

I liked this planting of palms on the steps of a courthouse in Vegas. The grove was unexpected and appreciated -- the steps would have been overexposed without them. I don't think the idea would work nearly as well with another kind of tree.

Vegas

I visited Las Vegas for the first time in 15 years, and it's really something. It was sometimes queesey going in this economy, but Vegas really succeeds at its own depraved game.

I was struck at the realism of the planting. Las Vegas seems ready to go to any length to realize the effects it seeks to convey; the imprudent expenditure of resources seems part of the ethos of the place. But they have conceeded to the Mojave. Everything is xeriscaped with drip irrigation systems. The exotics are saved for inside.

Everywhere I looked were responsible, interesting plantings. There was a nice pine I wasn't familiar with, the Eldarica Pine, from Afghanistan. And more palms that I remember.

Snow

We've had some awfully pretty snow lately. It animates the air, and always makes me happy.

Ailanthus

This little tenement garden in Chelsea is a jewel.

Those are ailanthus trees pushing up through the pavement. It’s hard to tell if they were growing in soil and someone cemented them in or if they got started in little cracks. In either case the trees are at war with the pavement. Slow, enormous pressure has buckled the earth.

And then someone whitewashed the trunks: a brilliant, touching gesture that includes the "weed" trees among the things that are seen, appreciated and cared for. And the life of the stoop goes on with garbage cans and hanging out, a place to sit, a window to lean out, a flag. Come summer there will impatiens.

Nothing here is imposed: not the plants, not the ideas, not the technique. An inspired soul reacted to what happened on 25th Street. This is what is meant by vernacular. There is inspiration for highfalutin artistic departures here, but it’s hard to imagine they would be more gratifying than the original.

Espalier

I was struck by the beauty of this espaliered pear at the Cloisters.

And I thought someone could really do something with these on rooftops and terraces, where there are ugly bulkheads and mechanical installations to hide. Most fruit trees do decently in containers provided they have an irrigation system; there is plenty of sun and moving air to keep down the leaf diseases; and since roof gardens are isolated from other plants, pests are less of a problem. So it's conceivable one could grow unblemished fruit without having to spray.

Of course, the trees would need to be knowledgeably pruned lest they lose their form, but one could learn. And the more difficult initial training could be handled by the esteemed Henry Leuthardt of Long Island.

http://www.henryleuthardtnurseries.com/

I notice they list apricots, which I've never seemed espaliered.

Apartment orchid

When I had 4 south facing windows and a fire escape I went nuts for orchids: I had around 50 plants. Then I had to move and found a place with a patio garden but fewer windows. My orchid frenzy had mostly run its course, so I gave most the collection away. Now I grow only a few, including this one: Oncidium x Twinkle 'White Caps'. (Onc. cheirophorum x Onc. ornithorhynchum) It blooms at Christmas with a froth of white flowers that smell of vanilla and spice when the sun shines on them.

The orchids that made the cut were varieties with a definite seasonal cycle. They go outside in May and make their growth, come in around Halloween, bloom in the dead of winter, then sit dormant till it's time to go out again. They are all small, nice looking (or at least interesting looking), tough plants. Laelia rubescens is on the verge of blooming, and I'll post her when she does.

I've also grown the Paphs and Phals that are often recommended for apartments. I've rebloomed them, swabbed rubbing alcohol on their scale infestations, stood by their gradual decline, and eventually said to hell with it.

Orchids are propogated in greenhouses, and it takes a couple of years to acclimate them to apartment living. Once they've settled in, they're easy.

Moss 2

Moss also grows on the surface of potting soil that has been undisturbed for a few years. I notice it especially on potted sedums that never get fertilized. The sedum takes over in the summer, then it dies back exposing the moss during it's active winter season.

One winter Gertrude Jekyll wrote that the north side of her tree trunks were a hazy gray green and that the green of ivy and yew had receded to near black. Only the moss, she noticed, was a "positive" green.

As a tribute to Miss Jekyll I've been cultivating some moss / sedum containers. Cultivate is the wrong word because enlightened neglect is the formula. Sun in summer, no fertilizer, no supplemental water, a couple years' patience.