The Last Leaf Gardener

“It’s a plane! It’s superman! NOOOOO, it’s a ‘new-comer’ bird!”  This is what I overheard the finches, mourning doves and blue jays (who visit my urban — NYC — garden) “chirp-chant” upon seeing a new arrival to my urban garden; where I grow a variety of herbs, flowers, plants, shrubs, trees, and vines.

Today is Halloween, an “important day” to what I grow here, and when I first noticed my new guest, it was from a distance. I had hoped it was Cam (my visiting cardinal who seems to have disappeared) wearing a costume in honor of trick or treating, which will take place tonight at a venue in my hood, but alas, it is not Cam.

In addition to this day being Halloween, it is also the second day after NYC (and surrounding areas) was slammed by Hurricane Sandy, which makes this new bird’s arrival more poignant. As of this posting, I’m not sure what type of bird this newcomer is, but he/she is quite striking, as you can see from the images here. (Please be sure to click on each one to see its caption.)

This past Friday, October 26th, was National Pumpkin Day, as I discussed in an entry on TLLG’s Blogger. However, in terms of New York City (where I live and have my urban garden), yesterday, October the 27th, was the day to enjoy pumpkins. And the “powers that be” in Central Park  were honoring the day with a special event, which I’ve tried COUNTLESS times to “announce” in an entry here on tumblr to no avail! Hence this “belated” posting, with photo-ops not seen in any other of TLLG’s venues!

I hope you enjoy them, especially since a few of my visiting birds (the mourning doves and finches) agreed to “pose” these photo-ops with one of  Jack-O-Lanterns who is in town for Halloween. (The other Jack-O-Lanterns which visit here can be seen in images on greeting cards which I’ve created and that are available in the storefront of my web-site, Patricia Youngquist Photo-Art).

BTW, please click on a given image with this posting to read our corresponding caption.

I have not posted much about my indoor succulent garden in quite some time as I’ve been preoccupied with a number of “events,” including my recent garden upheaval which disrupted life in my urban (NYC) garden; my efforts with my first indiegogo project; my on-going concern for the problem one of my visiting finches is having with her eye; and my new endeavor of creating comic strips based on the antics of Cam (my visiting cardinal), as well as the “sagas” of my visiting blue jays, house finches and mourning doves.

I’ve been trying to resolve format issues re these comic strips, ever since I created ones for my Beech Tree as well as for my Japanese Larch. However, I’ve yet to post the one which I created for the larch as I was quite saddened by his unexpected death.

Be that as it may, the birds which have been visiting my garden arrived soon after the death of my sweet larch, and they have been entertaining me with their antics, as evident in the number of “venues” that I’ve dedicated to each of them.

All of my visiting birds can be “seen” in many of TLLG’s cyber-space places including, Blogger, Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest and Vimeo. Now, re my visiting birds, I hope to concentrate on my comic strips; so please stay tuned here on tumblr for details re these projects, for which I’ve “dedicated” a board on Pinterest, where I have posted finished strips and works in progress.

However, all of this does not mean that I’ve neglected what grows within my indoor succulent garden or the figurines which visit it. On the contrary! For it is thriving, and full of visitors in honor of Halloween, as evidenced by the photo-ops included with today’s posting!

BTW, Halloween is less than a week from today; if you still need greeting cards, some are currently available (@ http://www.patriciayoungquist.com/Pages/store/notes_hc.html#halloBoxSet).

And a downloadable brochure re my cards, invitations, and event program covers can be found @ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/p/brochure.html

“Waiter, there’s a bird on my head,” my pumpkin joked as he let his sense of humor take over on this most rainy day in my urban (NYC) garden, a day on which my visiting house finches — undaunted by the downpours —still came to visit.

My pumpkin’s one liner was reminiscent of my Thymus Serpyllum’s (Creeping Thyme) remark this past June! I must say everything I grow in my garden, and the birds which visit us help me keep a perspective during disappointing times such as today, October 19, 2012, the day, my campaign on indiegogo comes to an end with a thud, after nearly falling flat on its face (as in very little momentum).

However, as  I said on TLLG’s FB Page today, “I’m grateful for the contributions I did receive, as well as grateful to folks who posted links to my endeavor on their FB Page and tweeted on my behalf!”

If my pumpkin can continue to laugh, with his nearly toothless grin, in the pouring rain, with a house finch on top of his head, then so can I! I’m blessed to have a garden which has provided inspiration for a number of endeavors, including ones prompted by my pumpkins, whose images have been featured on my Halloween greeting cards, which are cards that go beyond communication!

Juan V came over to work with me in my garden yesterday and we put up my Halloween decorations. After we finished Juan V took a few “aerial” photographs of my space for me, and I’ve included one of them in the series of images with this post. Juan’s image is the first one seen here, but I’ve “highlighted” it with a black square for purposes of the content in today’s posting.

The vantage point in the aforementioned image features how we decorated one of my urban hedges, hedges which are an essential for a New York City garden such as mine, where the proximity of neighbors warrants having a hedge —  if privacy is to be had in the garden.

The other images included with this entry were taken by yours truly, and they show a few details of our decor “interacting” with my Aloe plant as well as my Rubus calycinoides (AKA Creeping Raspberry OR Ornamental Raspberry).

Decorating my garden for the seasons is something I enjoy, and I dare say my flowers, herbs, plants, shrubs, trees and vines are happy to be part of the fanfare as evidenced by former entries here on tumblr and TLLG’s Blogger pages.

This is the first year birds, such as Cam (a cardinal), and her daughter, house finches, and mourning doves, as well as an occasional blue jay, have visited my garden. Therefore I was a bit concerned the decorations might frighten them, but all the birds (except for the blue jay) have returned as they seem to enjoy trick or treating — or at least that’s what they chirped about when they were discussing what to be for Halloween, as I mentioned on TLLG’s Facebook Page yesterday October 10, 2012).

In any event, despite the fact that I do enjoy preparing my garden for a holiday, I don’t like to do it so early! After all, Halloween is twenty days from today, and even though a few homes in my hood have put up Halloween decorations, I don’t want to rush the holiday.

However, as a designer of greeting cards that go beyond communication, invitations that enhance any occasion, and event program covers that preserve a moment in time, I must decorate in advance, as quite often my garden is the subject of the images I use for the “products” I create.

If you are interested in getting any of my Halloween cards you can view the selections of cards that I have designed for  Halloween via the Card Shoppe Pages of my web-site Patricia Youngquist Photo-Art. A link to the specific location for these cards within the Card Shoppe Pages may be found by clicking here. They are only available in boxed sets on the Internet due to shipping regulations.

The image accompanying this text features two of my urban (New York City) garden’s Halloween pumpkins who are perplexed; and who need hats (especially with their “open-air heads”)!  

Halloween is  still three days away including today, the last Saturday of October, and it is already snowing —  albeit a wet goopy snow —  that probably won’t stick for long, but old man winter  appears to be getting an early start.

Hopefully its only a “trick” for Halloween and we will still have the “treat” of beautiful autumn days!

In my urban (New York City) terrace garden, my “Halloween” pumpkin is smiling broadly at the sight of little flowers blooming on my Hakanechola macra  (Japanese Grass ‘All Gold’) and my thriving Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium).  My “Halloween” pumpkin seems to realize (as I certainly do) what a treat it is for me to have such blooms in my garden when it is late October.

My Hakanechola macra has never disappointed me, and in fact, it was the inspiration for an image that I used in a Christmas card which I designed last year that you may read about by going to the following link to my blog, The Last Leaf  Gardener on Blogger:

http://thelastleafgardener.blogspot.com/2010/12/honoring-season-of-feasts-with.html

As for my Tropaelum majus, I am truly enjoying her. She’s given me a bit of Giverny in Manhattan which I described in my aforementioned blog in an entry you may access via the following link:

http://thelastleafgardener.blogspot.com/2011/06/giverny-in-new-york.html

Additionally, my Tropaelum majus is featured in over three dozen “poses” within my Flickr Gallery. They are in a set called Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) which is accessible via the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patriciayoungquist/sets/

In response to both “stories” that have been posted here on nybg’s tumblr (one regarding the father-daughter’s emotional horticultural experience and one pointing us readers to what a blogger who calls her blog Mommy Poppins), I would like to weigh in to reiterate on the impact gardening has had on the life of children —  or at least on a child who is my neighbor. 

I live in the UWS of Manhattan where I have a lovely terrace garden, which I blog about frequently in my blog, The Last Leaf Gardener, and if you’d like to refer to it, you may do so by clicking on the “main” link to it which is posted below:

http://thelastleafgardener.blogspot.com/

However, my weighing in with nybg’s tumbr today, is not regarding my blog, or my garden per se, instead, it is to share with nybg readers the delight that gardening brought to  the very young boy who is my neighbor/gardener.

To provide you with a bit of orientation, dear reader, I have included “aerial” views of my garden and its relationship to the young boy’s (who lives immediately west of me and who calls himself “D-Man”) garden with two photographs (taken by Juan V ) with this narrative and one taken by yours truly from my garden looking down on to his garden.

The first image is a partial image of my terrace garden and even more of a partial image of D-Man’s terrace garden. The purple arrow (which I’ve added to the image) points to his garden, and since, I am posting this in response to your posts regarding Halloween-gardening, family and children, I have taken the liberty of including yellow arrows in the partial view of my garden, to show that it too, is decorated for Halloween.

The second image is a fuller view of my garden, with a turquoise-colored arrow, which has been added to show D-Man’s vantage point of my garden; and vice-versa.

The third image is a photograph which I took of D-Man’s garden and discussed in a blog entry this past June.

So, now that this orientation is in place, I would like to share what D-Man said about gardening and a link to his You Tube Video on pumpkin plants which he filmed and narrated in his garden and without further ado:

Here’s how D-Man “weighed in” with a comment on my blog, which he wrote this past June, in response to what I had written about both of our neighbors.

“Very nice garden!  I wish I could get privacy from those neighbors also. They just stare at me and smoke when I tend to my garden.” 

My response to this? “D-Man is a very talented young boy who lives in the building which is in between my building and the building that has the terrace where gawkers and smokers abide. He maintains a garden on a terrace one level below mine, and he is new to gardening. It is very exciting for me to see his earnest  efforts as it reminds me of a quote from My Life in Art, a book by Constantin Stanslavski (a “pioneer” method acting teacher), which is this:

“You must love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art .” Stanslavski was speaking to actors who loved themselves in the field of theatre rather than finding the theatre within themselves, but I think the quote applies to so many folks involved in a variety of pursuits, including gardening. So many gardeners that I know are more concerned with the outcome of their gardens than with the the nuances that come from nurturing of them; however, this is not the case with D-Man. A refreshing example of his demure can be seen in a You Tube video that he has produced which can be seen by clicking on this link: My little Pumpkin Plant: :DDDDD: “:DDDDD”

Because D-Man’s video is about his pumpkin plant,I think it is most appropriate for me to it with the “nybg audience” at this time, so I hope you will refer to it and will enjoy its heart-felt production by the young gardener.