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!

Two years ago, on a budget I needed to fill a large space under my front window. I wasn't exactly sure of the direction I wanted to go so for the time being I purchased three large pluming grasses and placed them in the bare spot. The grasses are beautiful, giving a flowing grace in contrast to the other more rigid plants they surround. However, come winter I find myself displeased with the empty space once the grasses turn dormant. As luck would have it a family member asked me if I'd like a newly purchased rhododendron since she was reworking her garden space and no longer had room for it. Wouldn't you know it fit perfectly in place of one of my three grasses. I'll provide a full picture of the newly configured front scape once the grasses have grown in more. 

M y front yard is beginning to come to life as all the dormant trees and perennials slowly show what they've got. With, believe it or not, 9 trees in my front yard alone, the property goes from drab to lush as leaves fill what appears to be empty space. The greatest memorial I have created is through the use of trees, each memorializes the loss of a close loved one and has been specifically planted with a person in mind. Here on the left is a weeping #katsura tree I bought three years ago to honor my grandmother and to it's left (and out of frame) is my newest addition in memory of my father. The #magnoliavirginiana or #sweetbaymagnolia tree was purchased for my house by my first cousins and was waiting for me at home as I returned from my fathers funeral. It had been beautifully wrapped in a funerary purple ribbon. What an amazing thoughtful gift from my cousins. A piece of history and a reminder of my father that I will care for year after year.

After one of the longest and coldest winters experienced here in the northeast, we are finally experiencing many more scattered days filled with bright sunshine and holding temperatures in the 60s. People are smiling a little more brightly and the trees have begun their return from dormancy. The weekends are occupied by homeowner's who either find the yearly spring clean-up daunting or others such as myself, who embrace the chore as a sign of the 4 beautiful months ahead where we get to enjoy general gardening, vegetable growing, swimming and beaching, sunning and an overall period of enhanced outdoor living. This is the time of year northeasterners generally snap out of their malaise and once again come alive. The warmth and light of the past week has beckoned perennials to show their faces and evergreens and trees have sprouted new growth and buds. As it generally happens in the first week the growth seems minuscule and slow and then upon the second week (even though this h...

Last year in late summer, early autumn I was walking around the nursery when I came upon a bag of bulbs that seemed just right as early spring filler. Boy was I right! The anemones were a little confused as they began growing during a winter warm spell, never flowered and then really took off in early spring. The flowers are delicate yet stoic with deep shades of blues and purples. These are such a great addition to the early spring garden (even before the tulips bloomed) the anemones flowered.

In my somewhat (many) years on this planet I have yet to experience a winter such as the one that we are currently enduring here in the northeast. Snow, snow and then some more snow mixed with rain that eventually turns into snow is the weather pattern of the season. This might have been exciting had I been a 10 year old boy who (would be) looking forward to school closures, but alas I am not and in fact my place of business has not offered one stinkin' snow-day. With that said I have a few worries regarding my established yet still young shrubs and trees. Some are absolutely covered in mounds of white while others are bending to the weight of the now icy snow mixture. Luckily tomorrow will warm up with temperatures projected in the 50s and plenty of rain, hopefully enough to wash away most of the lingering mounds of snow. My only hope is that the root systems have established themselves enough to keep my young little plants holding on just long enough to endure a few more wee...

Winter 2014 in the North East has been a tad been daunting in this year. While single digit temperatures and snowstorm after snowstorm have reeked havoc on my skin, all of my plants and shrubs seem to have endured thus far. My primary concern has been my thujas which are two years old and growing rapidly along my fence line. Snapping, breaking and bending from the weight of heavy snow and ice can ruin and/or kill them. So far so good. Just waiting this weather out for one more month and we will be in the clear!

As the trees and shrubbery go dormant for winter here in the northeast I begin to concentrate more on indoor projects. With Christmas around the corner what better than to put a little energy into tree decorating and present wrapping? This year my love and I bought a new faux tree from Michael's along with many, many sparkly adornments. And yes we did in fact make a point to head out with the masses on Thanksgiving night to take advantage of the sales (something I swore I'd never do!) With a vast assortment of high-end meets low-end buys I am proud of the overall outcome of our tree and wrapping presentation. Cheap tree from Michael's meet expensive ornaments from Restoration Hardware. Expensive wrapping paper meet cheap ribbon from .99 Cent Dreams. It's all about mixing it up and saving some dough along the way. And putting a smile on your loved ones face!

My two Royal Empress trees are in their second season of growth and have surpassed 20 feet tall. In early spring when buds and leaved began to appear I pruned back the growth at about 8-10 feet to allow a long tree trunk for aesthetic purposes and to allow the foliage to clear the stop sign. In early summer the trees appeared to have a bug problem as the leaves had small holes in them but as summer progressed the problem ceased so I did not have to spray the trees. Neighbors and passerby do in fact stop frequently and ask questions about the trees. People in general seen excited watching the rapid growth and unique tree.

In the midst of 4 large yellow day lilies is my one white astilbe. While the flowers on this perennial don't get as full as the deeper pink varieties it shows with such grace in a delicate manner in front of the hardness of the lilies. This is the astilbe's second year and it has doubled in size.