Limelight Hydrangeas

Big Fat Limelight Hydrangeas on West End:

Brugmansia time

These beauties are permanent residents at Otto Keil nursery in Long Island:

lights

My favorite light fixtures: Williamsburg Bridge

Best nursery in NY

ok, so it's not the most impressive website but the Suburban Water Garden in Dix Hills, NY is the most incredible garden nursery I've ever been to. I was on the hunt for a Sacred Lotus and came to a hole in the woods place that has an amazing selection of aquatic plants and also fish. I didn't take any greenhouse pics but it's a nursery of a hobbyist, all of the plants have been nursed and maintained like a botanical garden and the tanks and ponds are pristine. It's expensive, but if you own a backyard you need to build a pond and go to this place.

The Highline

The new Highline park is pretty amazing, I mean amazing by aesthetically amazing, but I don't think that NY is really quite ready for such a thing. It definitely looks and feels really good but the problem is, is that although it is a public space, it's not going to be a space for everyone. You cannot play ball in this park. I don't think you can even smoke in this park.
It doesn't work for several reasons; for one, it's in the meatpacking district and the luxury apartments that have been built to have access and a special view of the highline make the public park feel kind of private and two, only a fraction of NYC will even see this park...this park is for tourists.
I don't know that anyone will fully appreciate the native plants like the wild and weedy Ailanthus, because how can you really appreciate a wild landscape when it's been planted in a really beautiful, geometric and very expensive precast piece of concrete tiling. I like contrast but this just seems offensively expensive. I think when our public school system makes sense then this park will make sense. Until then, if you look into the Standard Hotel you WILL see naked people.

for the uninsured

This is a collection of 'receipts' from a lady (Ladie Elynor Fetiplace) that has been reprinted (found at Kitchen Arts and Letters in NYC) that has some awesome remedies for gas, sprains and making jams and such... AMAZING

Summertime Demo(lition)

This has nothing to do with anything that I actually like, which introduces my new label in my lazy blog called: "A log of sloppily crafted evil."

The trees are out, the weather is warm, kids are almost out of school, the parks are in full swing... SO what's a city to do with a public housing park (Marcy Houses) in this lovely season? Demolish it and watch it collect dust of course!
I've done no investigating other than the internet and I've found no news, no plans, no nothing. I've witnessed for the last 2 weeks one lunching man, one back-ho, one dumpster and a large plain of broken asphalt. At this rate I give it 2 years. Although it looks like a rehab project and the tree's have been salvaged I'm suspicious of the timing of this project. oh and why is there only one dude working? Why hasn't it been broken up into sections? As if the bad transportation and the no grocery stores
weren't bad enough for this part of Brooklyn... sheesh

Why people have pergolas

I ain't proud of much but I sure am proud of this Wisteria on a roof deck in Manhattan. Wisteria flowers don't happen like this all by themselves. Most Wisteria's provide a half-assed flower show or no blooms at all...which is alright because they have nice foliage. BUT if you want this to happen all you need it sun and a good pruning in late LATE winter or very early spring.

scale

Scale is a barnacle-like pest that I have found on stressed interior tropical plants but today I found these fatties outdoors on holly, maple, pyracantha, ivy...everywhere. I hereby declare them the most disgusting pest in horticulture. Pictured are Indian Wax Scale and they are white and fluffy and when you remove them and squash them, they bleed like a motherf*er. They attach themselves and reproduce like mad and then suck the life out of anything they can. Treatments include using a systemic insecticide and then physically removing all of the scale OR the better route (and more entertaining and satisfying) would be to buy a container of ladybugs and watch them march into snacktown. Until the feast...

beasts on the beach

This awesome abandoned seaside resort in Taiwan is about to get torn down. It's been vacant for 30 years and there are some last minute talks about trying to preserve them - but I can't imagine much can be stopped at this point.
I am imagining they look best abandoned and sunbleached like they are now. I can't tell what they're made of (maybe fiberglass?) whatever it is, it looks hot and stuffy and if they do get preserved they should just leave them as big dead UFO's on the beach. Hit link above for lots of photos