Winter's bone

Mid 40's at sunrise today.

Stole a snip from a nursery, sweet thing makes for a  lovely handing basket. 

Early morning coffee time

Slowly but surely the garden is filling out.  More needed to hide some power lines and rooftops facing south  Still calms my heart  being surrounded by young ones.  Looking forward to fishtail's  growth.

Penthouse B West 92nd our first terrace

A prince of a dog Gus. Wife Edie in the background. I don't remember the  type of rose. The wrap terrace was about 60" x 35'. Narrow but had an unobstructed southern view and a block from Central Park, we had a  view down 92nd (to CPW) of resevoir and cherry trees in the spring, the park white in snow and leafed in the summer, etc. 

hiding from the noonday sun

A superba cane type this begonia's leaves not as sharply serrated as B. 'Sophie Cecile'  must be B. 'Lana'!

after further gutter work-- I am now able to let the soaker hose run with impunity as needed.

Terrace gardener. Like an old bonsai-- more character with age?
Certainly a bigger belly and less leaves on top.  

Repotting continued.

I love this tall earthenware urn. The lady palm housed here for 5 or so years had become cramped as shoots were coming up at all angles.. though I tried to remove these every so often.

Unwanted, random shoots can be pulled out with enough root to plant. These would be free $, but ladies are slow growers. The impatient among us should buy a mature plant.

New shoots will hopefully fill this out

Because the root ball was large then mouth of urn it was a pain in the ass to remove.

Shook off as much soil as I could trimmed up stranglers, filled 1" lava rock, repotted in light soil full of hummus. Tied up on trellis to keep it straight while it's growing in. There is a near constant breeze up here.

Re-potting the bamboo palm.

I've repotted a number plants and the garden is reaping the rewards. The bamboo palm was planted 4 or so years ago. It had never grown to fill the pot.

When I unpotted, the soil around the root ball was dry and had been dry for some time. I shook the roots clean, trimmed some strangler roots, 1" lava rock and repotted in the same pot.

I use the Miracle Gro moisture mix-- I love this soil; light and full of organic matter.

New shoots galor. Height now about 60".

I read in Container Gardens for Florida that bamboo palms stay at about 8' in the landscape. There is one in my neighborhood that is at least 15'. It's an elegant plant. Maybe I mis-read..

In the landscape

A garden in recovery

6/1 - 6/15 Garden deconstructed for the painting of the building.

7/1 - 6 weeks for the retiling (due to a few weeks of off and on heavy rains). 

I took this time to repot a few.. Eugenia foetida replaed  a large sea grape, a fish tail palm replaced the blood orange (burly marx crammed around the base of palm). Another fish tail took the place of a sea grape.

Eugenia "Spanish Stopper"

Fishtail 

Then came Irma. Had to take smaller pots in, group large pots agains corner .. blah, blah. 

On a shopping spree

Olive and I poking aroun. Hurricane Irma only a few days away..  I hope the trees are standing when we get back. 

Looking to come in from sun-- waiting for new plantings to grow in for cover.

U402 and Selph's Mahogany snuggled in with baby tree fern and lady palm.

Field Work

Eating not quite yet guava at Richard Lyons nursery. The star fruit however with heavenly.

Solar water pot

SunnyDaze 79 gph Solar Pump; chicken wire, black river rocks, bucket inside of white pot to hold water. 

Panel attached to trellis facing due south.  Runs 12+ hrs on a charge, though it has a timer to take care of on/off effort.

Finished project. It looks nice. Now back to getting my hands dirty in the garden.

Re-tiling

4 weeks later still need to grout, but the mottled lichen color will hide dirt, rust.
Can't wait to get garden back in order.

Two staples

In a big ole pot, i might be getting too old for pots this size.. I think I've told you how much I love an orange bougainvillea.

A trifle

elegant little flower in a silly basket of succulents and miniature echevaria

Goings on about town

Hot and dry - the bougainvillea all over are putting on a gorgeous show.

Waiting for re-tiling before planning / implementing new fabulous design

They have completed painting the building and after culling the non-essentials, we're having the terrace re-tiled.   I am beginning to plan a new garden.. living walls to be utilized.

New tile. Green, dark variegated, pretty and will hide a multitude of sins. 

The blood orange after being untied after painters finished was so infested I pruned severely-- not leaving one leaf. It has a strong root structure, the leaflets will reappear soon.

3 weeks or so later. 

Le Cafe

Olive atop a made-to-order mosaic tile table from Further Furniture in LA. Haste Garden chair.