Making the magic garden part I; cover the masonry.

 

Not going for neatness here. I want various leaf shapes and textures
and rich green growth. Placement of pots (plants aat least 3 times the pot size) is important for depth. Draw the eye and the heart in. The new trellis's are fantastic. A great investment.



Newly started creeping fig, friend of the gardener.
 Good for walls, palm trees, wherever.
Note clinging cereus shooting up to the ceiling.

Overtime

I've been very busy (and stressed out) at work lately and have put in some overtime. Taxes seem to eat up any gains in salary -- but there is a little left over. And, with this slight surplus, I went to Living Color, a good nursery on Griffin road and bought 1 gal of stephanotis (19.95) and 1 gal of Asian clematis (19.95). I planted the clematis in the large pot with the stephanotis that is already growing on the trellis. I also planted two pints of creeping fig in an adjacent pot-- 3D coverage of the masonry. 

Asian Clematis

The clematis is a sweet smelling thing that is supposed to bloom 8-9 mos of the year. The wall should be fairly well covered with this combo working together.

The question of the hour.. can I grow b. orococo from herbaceous stem cuttings?? Will a little root tone, do the trick.

Rick next to planter for scale

Bought a rectangular fiberglass planter while at the nursery. It was in use, full of herbs, but the owner gave the ok and I picked it up for $89-- a good deal given it's size. Perfect for the center rail. The gal stephanotis will be planted in it with ferns and burle marx. A screen will be used to allow the vine to cover the spindles thickly. More later.

Party on Pagans!

Better late than never in wishing the multitude of my totally imaginary readers a happy summer solstice! It is a warm, sultry evening here in Fort Lauderdale. The moon is one sliver short of being full. It came up just shy of sunset and is a large butterball in the sky. If my readers are imaginary I can have an infinite number. My blog is the most read blog in the universe. My readers are countless in countless multiverses.. take that Ariana.

And Gay pride weekend here in Wilton Manors begins tomorrow. Here's a mélange of Les-homo brilliance:

Benjamin Britten, Alan Turing, Pope Leo X, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Frank O'Hara, Elizabeth Bishop, Martina Navratilova, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Susan Sontag, Annie Leibovitz, Fran Lebowitz, Gore Vidal, Leonardo Da Vinci (take my word for it), Tennessee Williams, Phillip Johnson, Jean-Paul Gautier, Tallulah Bankhead, Tom Bogdan, King Hamurabi, Alexander the Great, Plato, Emperor Hadrian, Halston, Stephen Sprouse, International Chrysis, Charles Ludlum, Calvin Klein, Richard the Lionheart, Karl Lagerfeld, my next door neighbors, Billy Jean King, Pedro Almodovar, Cole Porter, Emperor Ai of Han.. I don't have time to list any more nor spell check names as much as I should.



Lee Bowery

FIN

Many blogs simply leave off like an unfinished sentence. Not me; I don't think I have anything left to say. If I were more intelligent, I would have labeled the posts by subjects-- perhaps they may have helped someone growing on a terrace. How many times can I go over what's growing on my terrace? How many times do I need to say that the stephanotis is beginning to show signs of vigor with fresh tendrils appearing regularly on the twists and turns of it's stems.

What more is there to say about the flowering of the bougainvillea on the eastern wall now that it's secured onto the new trellis. Something intuitively tells me that it likes being secured..of course several nice handfuls of Bougain probably don't hurt kick out foliage and new deep magenta bracts. And, how many times could I possibly mention the b. orococo responding so well to the foliar feeding. It continues to flower with florets that have the color of a creamy lace and a stalk, that look just like rhizomatous b's..(?) .

Humid and sunny

 

Alba Odorata under the orange tree

Came home to thin curled blades of bamboo after a warm day of sun. It needed 5 minutes of steady hose before the water drained from the pot. The leaves flattened out quickly

The stephanotis has, seemingly overnight, begun throwing out new growth.

interlude



anonymous walker wrapped in a cool, wet evening in Palma 



Terraced garden in Villa Gracia climbing toward Parc Guell

The crucification St. Stephanotis (De morte ad vitam, a sole novum foliis)

Poor Stephanotis. Recently strung up on it's new metal trellis home, looks like hell. Hopefully the sun, rain and humidity will encourage new growth.

Several days later, after heavy rain followed by heady hot sun has coaxed new growth-- trimmed off all broken, dying growth. Life begins again.  Note bougie strapped tight to it's trellis. They liked to be strapped up..I think there's a term for that - strapophile?



Graceful wings on this white bird (though no settled nest yet)

Frankly, the dirty floor, is bumming me out. I have to finish putting up the trellis .. 

Baked another sugar-free orange / almond cake. Someone drenched the cake with a stick of melted butter. A jar of organic peanut butter made its way into the house. The kind with oil on top that is fairly liquid. It made a FABULOUS frosting on the cake. Really tasty.