THE POWER OF THE PLANT

Just a quick moment of gratitude. There are so many beautiful places to live. So many small towns that don't even make it onto the map. My hometown, Franklin Square is essentially one of those towns. It's overlooked, as nothing noteworthy makes it pop. But isn't that in itself the charm? I believe so. We are a quaint community of neighbors who know eachother and families who grew up generation after generation with one another. It's a conservative town yet liberal in it's social beliefs. We are a hop away from the worlds busiest city and a jump away from the worlds most renowned beach town. Smack in the middle of everything one could wish for. I am proud to call myself a long islander and I am proud to be part of my community. Sometimes these "little things" are taken for granted. But I don't take my town for granted. And part of the reason I keep my house looking the way I do, is because of that pride. It's not only a reflection of who I am, my h

My favorite tree, this 40 year old filagree redlace japanese maple. It's beauty and grace isn't justified in this photo. To me it almost feels magical. The art of shaping this beauty comes naturally to me. I clip each branch down to a particular leaf until it "feels" right. It's truly an art form, a craft and a pleasure to care for this tree. I'm so lucky to have bought my house with this tree already on the property. These trees are a common subject in Japanese, Chinese and Korean art .

The last of the anemones are in bloom with a few new flowers ready to show but as they dwindle, my Salvia Divinorum are ready to burst into appearance. This being their third season in my landscape, I have mastered the art of keeping the purple upright clusters blooming all season long. It's simply a matter of daily pruning. As each purple cluster begins to lose it's luster clip it off (even before it is fully dead) and watch new clusters emerge non-stop as long as the pruning continues. These flowers want to propagate seemingly strongly, as it appears to a novice so as long as the deadheading continues new blooms will grow.

The one species of plants I did have trouble with were these Maiden Mist dwarf variety rhododendrons. My original 3 have dwindled down to one healthy plant and a sad small "living section" of a second. For all intense purposes, let's just say I lost two to the brutal winter. The lone survivor is currently in bloom, showcasing it's brilliant deep pink blossoms that fade to white upon opening. The amount of flowers and the actual size of the clusters of the flowers are not as plentiful as they were in the first year. I'm going to keep my eye on the lone survivor and see how I can help nurture it back to full health. I'll post it's progress. [See first year in full bloom here]

The most talked about trees on my property by family, friends and general passerbys, without a doubt are my two curbside Royal Empress trees. Hard to believe I planted two bare roots two years ago. This being the start of it's third season is where the fun truly begins. I've had multiple unknown passerby stop while walking, and even pull over in their car to have a closer look. In the first year people thought I'd lost my marbles and planted two gigantic sunflowers on my curb. They were convinced! I initially trained the saplings and allowed only one shoot to grow while plucking away any other shoots that fought to grow (seemingly daily new shoots budded) but I left the gigantic leaves all the way up the soon to be stalk that would become the tree's trunk.  In the second growing season I had an established "pole." No better way to describe what the trees looked like. At this point the nicknames began. "Jurassic Tree" and "Jack and the B

I have had a lovely blooming season. Perhaps it's attributed to the fertilizer spikes I placed in late autumn or maybe it's the fact that my house gets sunlight from sunup to sundown, or maybe plants really do respond to being taken care of with love and respect (:P) haha, whatever the case may be any issues from previous seasons seem to be at bay and the new growth is lively and plenty full!