I have planted thousands and thousands of plants. Thousands of bulbs, thousands of vegetables, thousands of annual flowers. And well maybe hundreds of perennials and shrubs. And a few dozen trees. But peonies just always seemed too grown up. Maybe it was May Sarton’s description of planting a peony in her book Plant Dreaming Deep. Peonies supposedly hate transplanting — I can’t testify, because I never have and don’t know anyone who has. They’re one of the longest lived perennials. Basically you put them in the ground, and they stay put for decades. I know the peonies at the Garden of Union were the one perennial that stood there ground for the 20 years I gardened there. I moved on, and the peonies are still there.
But today I bought my first peony. And I intend to plant it in the front garden. It feels like the time I ordered my first martini– which was on my 40th birthday. I’ve grown up. And can now be a little dissolute even. Because face it, there’s no more dissolute flower than a peony. Big, blowsy, and fragrant — only tuberoses are more dissolute.
Categories: Uncategorized
I saw this photograph in the New York Time this morning, and my first thought was what were they thinking? They might as well as sow the seeds directly on the sidewalk as sprinkle them around the compacted, dog urine drenched soil around the base of a street tree. Clearly these people have never done any real urban gardening.
The article reported on the neighborhood response. The most astute:
“Do I go into your living room and tell you where to put your furniture?” Keith Henry said as he got out of his car near his home on Putnam Street. “It’s not so much about the flowers. It’s about the idea.”
His advice? “Take it easy. Before you change something, become a part of it.”
Categories: Uncategorized
I miss the spring-time acacias in California. They bloom a bright, clear yellow — so much more happy than the muddy brown of forsythias that seems to be the east coast substitute. This is the weeping willow that I can see from our dining room table. The yellow is clear, and it does make me happy. That’s the L train to the left.
Categories: Uncategorized
