The coming fall - a hint of cooler air

After weeks of rain, the air is dry and the sky clear. It seems to have been a beautiful day from what I could tell after work.

I'll water in the morning if there are no clouds. 

I think I'm going to put up a row of cat palms or dwarf fishtails to hide some electric lines that are visible when you first walk into the apartment. The views through the other sliding glass doors in the apartments are lush. This dead-on view over the street needs a scrim of green. It will also make it more pleasant when we're outside eating. 

Planters will be the challenge, how to get the largest planter in the tightest space on the terrace. Due to the table there is maybe 3.5' from the edge of the railing to the table. It will be tight. I'll have to move the small rectangular planter that currently is home to jasmine, gardenia vine and bleeding heart growing on the handrail, though not very thickly. 

 Vertical plantings that work on a terrace are important finds. 

Speaking of narrow spaces, here is a picture by the late Bernard Lipscomb. His Greenwich Village apartment  was no wider than 20'. Using only a glue gun, lots of hanging hooks, bolts of fabric, oriental rugs and good many of his own paintings, he had turned the narrow space into something seemingly spacious and elegant. In truth you had to turn sideways to go up and down the stairs in the apartment.  Bernard had the terraces of both his and the neighboring apartment. Sitting on his terrace was like sitting in a field of wild flowers. This can make all the difference living in the city.