Unexpected Growth

Two recent photos — a grass garden growing out of the unused entrance to the Chauncey Street J stop. And a robust cosmos growing out of the soil that collected around a hydrant on a particularly bleak block of Broadway in Brooklyn near the Broadway Junction stop.

Lilies in concrete

Lilies on Pilling Street

This clump of lilies, planted in a concrete tub up the street from my house on Pilling Street, blooms year after year with, as far as I can tell, a minimum of maintenance. Of course, this ain’t no fancy Beth Chatto-style container garden, but it’s nonetheless fabulous. A minor urban miracle.

Back from Destiny

I just returned from two weeks at Faerie Camp Destiny. I had a good time, but I must say living on the land is physically strenuous. I arrived in the middle of another rainy stretch in an already rainy summer. Everything was damp and clammy. The only dry structure is the new kitchen, which Ophelia and Jules were working hard on finishing. All other shelter at Destiny is temporary. My big project was whittling down the big pile of straw left over from the kitchen’s straw bale walls. I used it as mulch and as a sketching medium for a garden border in front of the kitchen — I’m thinking it would be nice to focus on medicinal and magical herbs and plants, but I don’t know what is on other people’s mind. Here’s a before photo, and a shot of the straw sketch for a herb spiral.