Late Spring/Early Summer at Wave Hill

I went back up to Wave Hill the other day to celebrate the end of exams and to see what was blooming. I am so curious about the individual plants that I have to consciously remind myself to look at the garden form itself. Yet, I think Wave Hill’s strength is not the garden design necessarily, but its plant collections. And of course its beautiful view of the Pallisades.

I find myself wandering more slowly through gardens these days, always on the lookout for unusual plants that catch my eye. Even as I recognize more and more plants, there seems to be an ever increasing number that I do not. My latin is hardly improving, but I am trying! I think the worst thing to come of this is I am increasingly opinionated. Is that even possible? More accurately, I am cultivating a hatred for plants other than petunias.

I’m sad spring has come to a close, but I’ve had a good run of garden visits. Thanks for putting up with all the pictures. At times this semester has been unbearably long, but now all I can remember is a haze of flowers, dinners with friends, the turquoise blue of Bermuda reefs, doughnuts, and a few great concerts.

In a return to the days of yore, I did quite a bit of baking with friends this afternoon, although nothing worth reporting in about. I also made some rhubarb fool yesterday and that was pretty satisfying. Hmm, might go sneak a spoonful right now…

Growing summer bulbs

Ariel views of an apple orchard = awesome

Nigel’s pork meatballs in broth

Roasted hazelnut cookies

Ginger coconut soup

Indoor water gardens

Ice cream flowers

A sweet video of Ariella Chezar arranging

Hour-long program on Prince Charles’ garden Highgrove

Short clip on Ninfa, a beautiful garden in an ancient Italian town

Col. Chris Hadfield’s version of Space Oddity

MUST GO TO THIS NEXT YEAR (need all the rare plants… for my nonexistent garden)

Looooooove the new Vampire Weekend album – Step is one of my fav songs

The terrace in front of the alpine house is now full of specimens

Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’

The last time we saw this view it was just a sea of glowing crocuses

A rainy day at the New York Botanical Garden

Spring overdose?

I forgot to report that if you’re in NYC, now’s the time to visit the Conservatory Garden. The crab apples and lilacs are blooming! As a bonus, some of the wisteria has also blossomed.

Tulips here and there

My final semester is coming to a close. Tomorrow is the last day of classes, Thursday the last day at my internship, and then only two exams to get through. It feels almost miraculous to be planning graduation parties… I can’t wait until my family arrives!

Until then, some recent pictures of tulips for Aunty Cathy. There’s also a sweet article in the NYT on the man who does the tulips on Park Ave. The Upper East side definitely takes tulips seriously… wandering the streets right now is spectacular.

Morningside at Dusk

I’m only now coming to fully appreciate what a treasure Morningside Park is. For a park with what seems like fairly minimal maintenance, there is a surprising diversity of plants to discover in it. There’s also a wide diversity of conditions in the park, from more sunny borders, to woodland areas, to rock faces, to grassy slopes, to walled in beds. It’s a good place to study plants that will survive with minimal care and in endless competition with weeds. It also gives unique perspectives, as you are level with the canopy on Morningside Drive, which allows a great appreciation of the maple blossoms right now (its yellow plays off the colors in all the greens, yellows and reds of new foliage), before descending into the park and down through the sloping paths.

The park isn’t going to win awards, overshadowed as it is by its world-renowned neighbor, but every time I walk through I realize that there are some gardeners working their magic. Little vignettes appear that are too interesting to be results of chance. Although sometimes I think someone is just throwing stuff in the woods and seeing if it comes back; as my knowledge of trees and shrubs grows, I’m always stumbling across a new one duking it out in the jungle. And some choices are baffling. Like why is a lovely combination of yellow magnolia and a variety of pink cherries hemmed in by the basketball court and fenced off completely from the sidewalk? And why is there a random grouping of 3 shrubs featuring both a white Viburnum carlesii (with strong hits of pink) and a huge red flowering quince? But then there’s a really lovely blushing white crabapple growing out of the rock with white bleeding heart beneath it and I’m captivated.

Magnolias at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

This post is to commemorate my first yellow magnolia sighting (Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’ – patented by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in 1977, which is conveniently where this particular tree is located). Wish you were here Uncle D. I threw in some camellia pictures and a tulip/Italian arum combo I thought you would appreciate. Also they had some really lovely Corylopsis sinensis var. calvescens which I didn’t get a good picture of but that I definitely want in my future garden.

Weekly Links: Magnolia

Spring speaks for me these days. Pretty into epimediums. Also the magnolias are stunning. It’s a good time of year for sitting in the garden, listening to the birds, smelling the fragrant narcissus/muscari/magnolia, and watching all the people come and go in the Conservatory Garden. I love people’s awe. Sadly, the usual tulip show in the North section has been replaced with swathes of pansies and small bulbs. It’s really not the same.

Old article from WSJ on Snowdrops

Why I love fritillaria meleagris

Stonecrop – the next garden on my list to visit