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Tomorrow is February the First — within thirteen days of that time it will be Valentine’s Day — and in honor of the occasion, a number of figurines (pictured here) have come to visit a succulent garden, an indoor garden, which I have atop an armoire in my kitchenette.
Giving my succulents a festive environment is very important to me; after all they bring such joy to my life, as do the 80++ “things” which I grow in my urban (NYC) garden, a garden “housed” on a roof extension.
However, as of this posting, where the zone in which I live is in the sesaon of winter, I’m not spending too much time out there; except to replenish my feeders for Cam (a female cardinal); her male companion; and her “entourage” which consists of blue jays, common grackles, house finches (red as well as brown), mourning doves, tufted titmouses; and a bird who is either a tree swallow or a snowbird.
Therefore, to exercise my green thumb and help fulfill my need to nurture things which grow, providing an ambience for my indoor garden is essential to me and it is something I do for all the holiday seasons as well as for ordinary time.
In fact I wrote a guest blog about setting up an indoor garden and giving it flair, and if you’d like to refer to it please click here for a tab (on TLLG’s Facebook Page) that takes you to my guest blog posts. The one re indoor succulent gardens is the second one in the list so you may need to do a bit of scrolling!
Meanwhile, in terms of the valentine’s figurines pictured here, the first image features most of my guests.
The prisoner of love is off camera in that image, but he can be seen on his own in the last image in this series; however, bear in mind, he is normally quite busy wooing his gal, the lady in the polka dot dress in the lower righthand corner of the first image in this sequence.
Also missing from that first image are Lucifer and his long lost crown princess; they had hopped out of sight during the part of the photo-shoot, you know how frogs can be, and especially Lucifer, who has been featured within my Blogger entries on a number of occasions, including one which you may refer to by clicking here.
Another camera shy visitor, the one delivering a pizza (standing atop my pencil cactus in the upper right hand corner of the first image), finally agreed to a closer shot — if he could stand behind the clown as he is doing in the fifth image of this series.
The rest of the folks, Cupid, the skinny legged kids, the Queen of Hearts, the-was-my-face-red diva, and the clown all join me in wishing you a Happy February; and I encourage you to start thinking about sending a card to those near and even not so dear to you you in honor of the occasion!
I wil be creating a few cards for this “event,” and, as always, they will be cards that go beyond communcation; and you will be abe to find them within my ETSY shop, so please stay tuned!
Before I sign off, I want to thank Nancy and Steve for their unending inspiration in my decorating endeavors!
According to Holiday Insights, NATIONAL BIRD DAY was two weeks ago (January 5th ANNUALLY); and with my appreciation for birds I don’t know how I could’ve missed it!
But I must confess I have been preoccupied with taking care of my feathered friends (who visit my urban — NYC — garden) as well as writing about them, for I JUST completed a series of posts (SIXTEEN TOTAL) on my blog (The Last Leaf Gardner on Blogger).
The series spans posts from 1-5-13 to 1-20-13; and is a pictorial with narrative, year-end review (2012) of “events” in my garden.
As I’ve said before (to anyone who would listen), upon completion of my last entry re this series, I realized I did not do much “relaxing” in my garden and hope in the years to come that changes!
P.S. The images accompanying this post feature only a fraction of the types of birds (thirteen different varieties) who visit my garden. To see more images of my feathered friends, please visit me on Pinterest, where they are featured in a number of photo-ops within different boards, including one called Birds in my Urban Garden as well as one called “my” Birds & THEIR Feeders.
It is has been written: “Consider the birds … they do not toil … .,” and, I TRULY need to take a lesson from my feathered friends!
I say this because I JUST completed a series of posts (SIXTEEN TOTAL) on my blog (The Last Leaf Gardner on Blogger).
The sixteen entry series spans posts from 1-5-13 to 1-20-13; and is a pictorial with narrative, year-end review (2012) of “events” in my urban (NYC) garden, many of which involved the antics of my visiting birds.
The cast of characters can be seen in the image above today’s tumblr entry; their identities are as follows:
Left to Right:
Row One: Snowbird, Chickadee, Common Grackle, Female House Finch
Row Two: Blue Jay, Cam (female Cardinal, Cam), Tufted Titmouse
Row Three: Mourning Dove, (Cam), Male Cardinal
Row Four: Tree Swallow, Male House Finch, Hairy Woodpecker, White Throat Sparrow
On the Eighth Day of Christmas, which is today, someone’s true love, somewhere, gave to them eight maids a milking; or at least this is what the figurine in the first image within the series of photographs posted with this entry told me this morning when I watered my succulent garden!
This particular figurine is one who visits my succulent garden for the Christmas season, and as anyone who follows me here on tumblr, knows, my indoor succulent garden is something I discussed on a number of occasions when I was a newbie to NYBG’s (New York Botanical Garden) tumblr pages. It is a garden which I’ve also written about on TLLG’s Blogger Pages as well as TLLG’s Facebook Page, and it is one that I wrote about in a guest blog post.
However, in my cyber-space writings, I tend to put more content “out there” that deals with my urban (NYC) garden and especially the birds which visit it, including blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, finches, mourning doves and tufted titmouses! Images of all the aforementioned topics (indoor succulent gardens, my urban garden and various birds) can be found on my Pinterest Boards and within my Flickr Galleries.
But now that I have digressed by informing you of all of this, my cow figurine is ringing the bell around her neck as a reminder for me to post pictures of the other figurines who have been visiting my indoor garden for the 2012-2013 Christmas season, which in the United States, will end this Sunday, January 6th 2013 — The Twelfth Day of Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany!
AND SO, without further ado, the images following my cow figurine feature a few of the other figurines who have been visiting my indoor garden this Christmas season!
“Looks to be a chickadee,” was the “answer” I received from Fauna early this morning re my Facebook query about the delightful bird’s (on the right) identity. This bird is a newcomer to my urban (NYC) garden!
I had contacted Fauna as they have been most helpful, recommending a “house-style” feeder which was featured in a number of entries on TLLG’s Blogger Pages including ones found by clicking here as well as here. AND, they were helpful re what type of food I should “serve” to the birds that visit my garden, which, as you can see, is already being appreciated!
The red house finch (seen here to the left) was SO curious about who the newcomer was that he stopped eating long enough to learn Fauna’s answer! The red finch, as you may know, is near and dear to my heart as we share issues with our eye-sight as mentioned on TLLG’s tumblr pages!
”God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest,” Josiah Gilbert Holland reportedly once said.
So … ”feed the birds!” To read more re how these lovely birds who visit my urban (NYC) garden do their noshing, please visit TLLG’s relate Blogger entries by clicking here and here respectively.
The first snowfall of 2012 came yesterday by way of a nor’easter! This “event” occurred eleven days after Hurricane Sandy began her wrath on New York City (where I live) as well as surrounding areas, devastating many in her path! My prep (re my urban garden) for Hurricane Sandy was very thorough (with the help of my friend Michael who had also helped me in September when my garden underwent a major trauma due to a so-called renovation).
However, the day before the nor’easter hit, Juan V and I put things back in place, but when the winds hit (from the aforementioned storm) last night bringing with them wet snow and ice, the impact nearly took the branches off my beloved Continus Coggygria (‘Smokey Bush’); causing me to freak out and break my resolution to stop swearing! The wind and heavy snow have also caused an upset with all three of my rose shrubs, but Victor, another friend, assures me that they are hearty and will snap back.
BUT today, my visiting birds seem undaunted by last night’s nor’easter as evidenced by the photo-ops (and accompanying captions) with this tumblr entry! The images begin with Cam, my very special cardinal, who returned this morning after having been on a long hiatus (October 20th 2012) from visiting my garden. I did not want to startle her with my Canon lens as she may not be ready for a close-up after such a long absence.
I certainly hope you enjoy seeing the antics of my feathered friends, and I also hope you have survived both storms without too much trauma. If you have suffered as a result of these latest “hits” by Mother Nature, I pray for a speedy come back for you and yours!
I am trying to get my routine back to what it was before Hurricane Sandy struck NYC where I live, devastating much of the city and its surrounding areas.
Juan V will be over late this afternoon to help me revamp my urban (NYC) garden which I once again had to “dismantle” as part of my prep for the onset of Hurricane Sandy.
As you may recall, dear reader, this past September I had to totally “dismantle” my garden for a so-called renovation; however, my prep for Sandy was not nearly as extensive as that procedure was, and it seems that the flowers, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs, trees and vines have survived both disruptions.
One of my ornamental grasses, a Ophipogon planiscapus AKA (Black Mondo Grass), can be seen in the image above today’s entry. This grass is part of a set of triplets, and he can be very outspoken, making him a natural candidate for the spokes-plant of my garden, a task he gladly participated in at the beginning of the 2012 year on TLLG’s Blogger venue.
In any event, the other day I overheard my prolific Mondo Grass quoting Henry David Thoreau “I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn,” my grass stated. Presumably as Thoreau was honored to have a sparrow “alight upon (his) shoulder,” my Mondo grass was thrilled to have a red house finch alight upon his blades!
And who could blame the Mondo for his pleasure? For the red house finch is such a sweetie, and he has endured traumas that might make one refer to him as a come back kid!
Therefore, part of what I need to get back to asap is a project I started prior to Hurricane Sandy, and complete another query to KH of a nature center in Cape May. KH has been most helpful to me in answering my questions and I’m in the process of dedicating a board to her on Pinterest in order to make it easier for her to view images of birds visiting my garden that I have questions about!
So … please excuse me while I step away from tumblr to do this task, but stay tuned as I will post updates here on tumblr as well as on TLLG’s Facebook Page!
Meanwhile, please note that I truly hope you and yours were not devastated by the vicious Hurricane Sandy; and that if you were, that your recovery is smooth!
Happy November to you and yours! I realize that a large number of folks are far from happy on this day, and many of the reasons for the sorrow are due to the devastion that resulted from the wrath of Hurricane Sandy which slammed New York City – where I live — as well as many surrounding areas.
I am also aware of the fact that the expression, “remember November” has hurricane connotations associated with it, but my association (perhaps because I am an urban gardener) with remembering and November is to appreciate the changing colors of the leaves which happens at this time.
My Paeonia suffruiticosa’s emerald-green leaves have now turned into a rainbow of colors associated with autumn in the northeast portion of the United States.
These beautiful leaves will soon be falling, and therefore it is essential that I heed the advice offered in Elizabeth Lawrence’s quote: “Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”
Ms. Lawrence did not live in this digital age where folks rarely take time to look up from their hand-held devices (even while they are walking across city streets), much less look at nature, but it is November First, and just as the leaves are changing, we too can turn a new leaf in our routines and stop – yes I did say stop — and watch the leaves turn.
This is November’s answer to spring’s adage, “stop and smell the roses”! And after all, if my visiting house finch can tear herself away from her routine to take in the beauty of changing leaves, as she is doing here, then so can I, and hopefully you can too.
“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
Two of my visiting red house finches took a moment this morning, October 21, 2012, to “REFLECT” on the anniversary of this day! For, according to a holiday web-site, “on October 21, 1879, Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated the first practical incandescent lamp. The carbon filament lamp lasted for 13.5 hours. He continued to improve this design and filed for a U.S. patent on November 4th.”
My red house finches admire Edison’s BRIGHT idea, but, if truth be told, instead of appreciating a light bulb to help them see when they read, they have more fun swinging on the strings that support the outdoor lighting system which I have in my urban (NYC) garden. It’s a system that celebrated its own anniversary of being installed a little over a year ago!
“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!
One of my visiting finches “proved” she was a New Yorker the other day as she got ready to exit her “perch” of the digs (container) of my ‘Tamukeyama’!
Why do I say this?
Well, as she got ready to make her move she focused her gaze in one direction, as New Yorkers instinctively do when crossing a one-way street!
“They (New Yorkers) glance the proper direction to approach cars. They always know, without thinking, which way the traffic flows. They glance in the proper direction as naturally as a deer sniffs upwind. Yet after that one glance in the direction from which cars are coming, they always, just before stepping out into the street, also cast one small, quick look in the opposite direction — from which no cars could possibly come. That tiny glance (which we have noticed over and over again) is the last sacrifice on the altar of human fallibility; it is an indication that people can never quite trust the self-inflicted cosmos .. . “
The passage I’ve quoted here is from E.B. White’s essay, “Crossing the Street,” which he evidently wrote in July of 1932. Although the quote is long for tumblr’s “standards,” I felt it worthy of sharing with this finch’es photo-op.
Besides, E.B. White is one of my all time faves, as you might surmise from the number of times in which I have referred to his prolific essays in my postings on TLLG’s Blogger @ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/search/label/E.B.%20White
