sprout home!

we've talked about sprout home before, but not since they opened up their first nyc-based brick and mortar shop - we're overdue! so yesterday, suffering from a serious case of winter doldrums, this keen eye hauled herself all the way up to williamsburg (a serious feat of willpower when the G train is out of service), and checked out sprout home.

what a treat! there is something so welcoming about a well-edited, well-cared for garden shop in mid-winter. sprout home is like a little green beacon, beckoning you in from the grey, desolate, FRIGID williamsburg waterline.
even though the back patio was closed up for the season, the shop's interior was lovingly packed with all sorts of lush, green goods - not to mention pots and terrariums and vases and other little trinkets and accessories for the home. and, unusual for most nyc garden shops, i felt like everything was very fairly priced (i managed to escape with 5 items for only $30). i could have stayed forever (i think i spied a place under the counter where i could just camp out for a while), and will definitely be back.

i got these two pots for $5 a piece - and then repotted some rootbound cacti that i had sitting around the house.

i bought this neat little hanging glass orb for $12 (sorry for the shoddy shot)...

and these cute little air plants were only $3 each.

sprout home is located at 44 grand street in williamsburg, but if you're not in new york city, you can still shop online!

photo of sprout from platinumblondelife

maypop!

this morning I went out for an early morning exploration of an abandoned rail siding near my house (no, i don’t make a habit of early morning rail line explorations, but the keen eye canine was in need of his walk) and i happened upon the most glorious vision! Along the siding was a thicket of passionflower. i thought to myself, surely that can’t be the same passionflower i’ve been failing miserably to cultivate in my garden for years – and it’s not, it’s maypop! maypop – can you believe the name?

maypop, or purple passionflower (passiflora incarnata), is a fast growing and hardy perennial wildflower in the southern united states. hooray for the lovely climate in my little ‘ville! silly me, i’ve been struggling (read: killing) with the species more ideally suited to the tropics, not knowing that there is a species more native to my area growing right around the corner.
maypop is not only valued for its stunning flowers – it also bears a small fruit, called maypop, may apple, or wild apricot, which can be eaten (although there’s not much to them) or dried and used to aid with insomnia and nervous anxiety.

interestingly, the vine thrives in disturbed areas, like the rail siding, where it provides the most gorgeous contrast to the industrial landscape. i’m hoping to put it to good use along the fence in my less-than-industrial-but-in-need-of-beauty back yard!

yay maypop!

are you weary?

keen eye b here - how ya been? it's been a while, i know. but i'm back, starry-eyed and excited about landscaping and gardening. much like keen eye e, the spring and summer take me outside where i dig in the dirt and worship the foliage (and shriek every time i see a spider!).

also, much like keen eye e, i've recently begun to rework my own plot of land. it's smack dab in the center of my southern city, but it's not city-sized. it's an enormous swath of land. and, in true american fashion, almost every inch of the 7100 square feet is covered in grass.
s i g h .
and, in true american fashion, i roll out the gas-guzzling lawn mower every other saturday morning (i should mow every week, but i just can't bear it!), and shear the tops off each little bad of grass and curse the fool who planted them. (this is no small feat - my yard is nothing if not a miniature mountain range.)

while mowing, i dream of drought-tolerant ground covers in need of little-to-no mowing. i envision my vast expanse of land covered in mounds of fragrant, foot traffic-tolerant perennials. these dreams led me to find stepables - a company that specializes in providing just this type of solution to grass-weary gardeners.

here are a few of my favorite of their drought-tolerant offerings:

wooly thyme - lovely with its tightly matted foliage and lavender flowers.

creeping thyme (white) - looks like a light dusting of snow in the middle of summer!

lotus plenus - this is perfect as a lawn substitute, and glows with lovely orange buds and yellow double blooms! and, it's suited to clay-bound soils, like mine!

so, if you're grass-weary like me, and in the market to green up your lawn (in that environmentally conscious sense of the word), check out stepables for some garden guidance and plant therapy.

seed pods

oh, and when you're done planting your shade garden as outlined below, you should check out the following prints from etsy (only $18 a pop!).
both from wolfie and the sneak.

shady face.

finally, finally, finally! i spent all afternoon digging around in the front yard - pulling out those invasive norway maples that had sprouted everywhere, ripping up dandelions left and right, and scooping up leaves into a garbage bag.

now that the ground is clear and the weeds are gone, i can start thinking about what i want to plant out there (lucky for me, my neighbors seem to have only a passing interest in the front yard so i have free reign, mwahaha).

i've finally come to terms with the fact that my yard will never be anything but a shade garden, and despite my irrational hatred of impatiens, the ones that i sucked up and planted last year (after my geraniums keeled over and died from lack of sun) actually looked really nice.

so, here we go: let's take a quick look at the shade plants (and flowers) out there.

first up, impatiens. i don't know why i disliked these for so long, but they do fabulously in the shade and flower continuously throughout the summer. they do like a lot of water, at least in my dry, tree-dominated yard, but perk right up when you water them. definitely getting some of those this spring, probably in white.

next, bleeding hearts. i love these plants SO much, but it never even crossed my mind that they could be an option for my shady front yard. this morning, while walking through the neighborhood, i suddenly noticed them everywhere, in pink, in red, and even in white. the flowers are so delicate and so...dangley. i love them and they've made the list. probably going for red. in the leafy category, we've got hostas, which are easy, come back every year, and provide lots of different shades of green to cover the ground. i've already got tons of these going in the yard. oh, and the big floppy leaves look great when cut and placed in a nice clear vase. of course, these do bloom sometimes, too, but i think they're rather undramatic.
i'm also thinking of trying some polygonatum, or Solomon's seal (though i'm having trouble deciding whether it's weedy/invasive). it seems to do well in partial shade. they grow about 3 feet high, and in late spring / early summer develop clusters of bell-like flowers that hang down. for ground cover, i might try bergenia, with it's large, leathery leaves that are green for most of the year, but turn a wonderful red or bronze color in the fall. they also produce clusters of small, bell-shaped flowers that can be pale pink, ruby red, or deep burgundy.now, to see if my local garden shop actually carries any of these....will report back shortly.

bleeding heart from catmadogma; hosta from spikeblacklab; solomon's seal from lookin glass; bergenia from daclaren

spring flowers

this past saturday was by far the most beautiful day we've had in weeks. sunny, bright, and reaching nearly 60 degrees, i was pretty sure that we'd broken through that icy, grey barrier and that spring was finally here. then, in typical new york city / mother nature fashion, we've ricocheted far back into the opposite direction with sub-zero wind chill and snowfall.

no matter though, because while out and about on saturday i noticed these sweet crocus flowers blooming up in my front yard. bright, cheeky-faced harbingers of spring, the crocus is unassuming in stature (usually just a bloom with small, blade-like leaves) but surprisingly hardy and can survive through the lingering frosts and snows of early spring. most gardeners recommend planting them en masse in clumps of 100-150 for a dramatic effect, but i love seeing them pop up alone, as a brief reminder that warmer weather is on its way.

the crocus is a perennial flowering plant native to areas in europe, north africa and the middle east, and across central asia to western china. botanically, the 80 or so known species of crocus are placed in the iris family and can be found in a wide range of habitats, from woodland to scrub to meadows (and brooklyn gardens in between!).

here are some of my favorite shots on flickr:
• ode to spring flowers makes my heart flutter
• this is why i like crocus planted sparsely
• crocus to the sky!
• tiger likes them, too.

containering.

my beautiful jade plant is suffering from some malady that is turning its leaves rubbery and yellow, and as such i'm frustrated with all things gardening right now. so instead of talking about a plant per se today, i'm going to talk about plant accessories. i'm in dire need of some new pots around this place and come spring time i'm going to be doing some major repotting. but i need provisions, supplies, preparations, and the local hardware store and lowes aren't doing me any favors, so here are a few of my favorite pots and other containers from around the interweb:

these aged english planters from GRDN are lovely. handcrafted in
terra cotta, the pots have undergone an aging process in the greenhouse. also fun: the moss is real, and will continue to grow once you begin watering your plant, forming a lush green surface over the pot. maybe not ideal for my window garden, but how beautiful in a rambling old yard [wish i had one].

these stainless steel planters from lekker home are sleek and suitable for inside or out. it would be helpful to know whether they have drainage holes in the bottom though - i always have a tendency to overwater (leading to my general preference for clay pots).

these teak planters from smith & hawken are classic and lined with watertight aluminum to keep them from ruining your furniture. they are designed for indoor or outdoor use, but remember to clean regularly with teak oil to prevent graying if you do put them outside.

this aluminum double planter from achela designs makes me so happy. obviously very impractical for someone like me who lives in an apartment and could only dream of having a tree from which to hang it, it's still super cute. it holds two 6" pots, and check it - it's on sale for $9.99. how can you resist?





sprout home has tons of cute, indoor containers. i love these sleek white gloss midori planters. they come in 3 sizes, 5.5", 8", or 12.25" in diameter. they'd look great on a table top with a little collection of succulents in them.






i'm also loving this white ceramic rectangle planter. what is it about white and green together that looks so wonderful?






i've mentioned these before, but i can't overstate my love for all things perch design - and there's no exception for their wonderful plant orb. 8" in diameter, the white ceramic pot comes with 28" long woven sisal cord, with an adjustable loop at the top. one day, one day it will be mine! and i will fill it with hens and chicks.

and finally, don't forget the obligatory gnomes for your garden inside or out!

string of pearls

for this weekend's greenthumb post, i'm going to talk about something i'm totally, utterly unqualified to talk about. i mean, christmas cactus - totally under control. paperwhites - pshh, in the bag.

succulents - i suck.

seriously, it seems there couldn't be anything easier to take care of than a plant in the cacti family, right? well, i can't handle it. i've been keeping one poor aloe plant on life support for a full 2 years now - i won't even post a picture, it's so embarrassing. my jade plant - no clue why it's lasted this long, but now half of the leaves are yellow and shrivelly, due to some unknown disaster i've forced upon it. but despite it all, i love them. i love their plump, juicy leaves, their cool green textures, their supposed nonchalant attitude.

so, i wanted to share this neat plant i came across a few days ago - the string of pearls, also called string of hearts, rosary beads, or even, my favorite, string of bananas! native to south west africa (which i guess means it's technically an invasive species...the environmentalist in me says that's a big no-no), senecio rowleyanus requires nothing more than lots of sunlight and a bit of water - after that, step back and it's on it's way (that's what they all say!).

the unique shape of their "leaves" allows them to store a vast amount of water and to survive in even the harshest of environments and under severe drought conditions. while they can be easily used as a bit of ground cover, i think they look absolutely gorgeous in a hanging pot, with their long strands draping down to the ground. elegant and a bit otherworldly, how beautiful would they look in a big sunny window - and think of the shadow they'd cast! word to the wise, however, they are potentially poisonous to cats and little ones, so keep 'em out of reach!

and, as usual, here are my favorites from flickr (not a lot over there, surprisingly!):

• macro shot of string of pearls by pixibility;
• gorgeous sun and shadow by sydneyamw;
• my absolute favorite is this one from wisecraft; oh how i covet the plant AND the planter (by perch ceramics).

paperwhites

i keep forgetting to embark on a paperwhite journey after being inspired by this domino sidebar from the january issue. it's not a groundbreaking suggestion here, but it's a lovely one - there's something about watching a plant grow from bulb to flower that's intensely gratifying (am i the only one here?), and even more so when the roots aren't obscured by soil. i love this idea, and i think it will work beautifully in my kitchen

here are a few notes on paperwhites, also known as Narcissus papyraceus.

paperwhites are a perennial bulbous plant, native to the mediterranean region. they belong to the daffodil family (did you know daffodils are poisonous and can cause death if eaten?!), and are the most fragrant of the bunch, with a sweet, heavily aromatic smell. they produce small, star-shaped flowers that will last for several weeks. some varieties have pure white flowers, others have white perianths (outer petals) with pale yellow "cups" in the center.

photo above from anny's pal.

paperwhites gain their popularity not only from their scent, but also from the ease with which they can be "forced" or coaxed into blooming. (it's called this because you are essentially forcing the spring-flowering bulbs to fast-forward their natural growth cycles and bloom in winter instead.) many bulbs can be forced--grape hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, and crocuses, for example--but paperwhites are probably the easiest as they don't require a long cold storage period to root.

you can learn how to force your own paperwhites here, here, or here and you can purchase bulbs from smith and hawken or amazon.

photo above from karen p.

photo above from erika ebert.

schlumbergera

because winter, with its snow and frost and sub-zero wind chill is not exactly prime gardening weather, i thought i'd start off our weekly garden series with a tiny houseplanting victory: my christmas cactus is in bloom! while not hard to care for, christmas cacti are notoriously difficult to make bloom (the internet abounds with gardening threads full of different advice), so when it finally happens, it's honestly a bit exciting...especially because they bloom mid-winter, when nothing else colorful is happening.

anyway, enough of the bragging, here's a little bit about how to care for your own christmas cactus.

christmas cacti are actually a tropical plants, growing at elevations between 1000 and 1700 meters above sea level in the organ mountains in southeast brazil. for this reason, i suppose, they require a bit more water than most cacti, but are still tolerant of dry, slightly under-watered conditions, and prefer light shade to full sunlight.

they can be propagated quite easily by removing a single segment and planting it a quarter of its length deep in a pot filled with slightly sandy soil. place the pot in a well lit area (but not direct sunlight) and keep the soil moist...the cutting should begin showing signs of growth after two or three weeks. this really works - my christmas cactus came from an old, old plant my mom was given when she was young.

the secret of good flower bud production (here comes the nerdy part) involves temperature and dark (photoperiod) control. to flower plants need:
• bright light
• night temperatures between 55 and 65 °F
• long nights - 13 or more of continuous darkness each day is required before flowering will occur. long nights should be started in mid-september and continued for eight weeks.

of course, you can do none of the above and sometimes your cactus still erupts in blooms as mine did, so go figure.

here are a few more resources for all your christmas cactus needs:

-lots of pretty pictures over on flickr
-wikipedia knows a little bit
-tons of question and answers here