auty of the heat is that shade takes on a whole new coolness.Speaking of unexpected kindness, my friends keeps a little curb garden, about 2 feet square. It's a geyser of marigolds, petunias and an enormous sunflower plant with about 8 buds on it rising out of the cement. She mentioned that a while ago someone vandalized the sunflower plant and removed the only two buds that it had at that time. I was flying into a snit when she steered the story on a different course and told me that because of that premature dead-heading her plant developed the abundance of buds it now has. I wonder if it will get to hold on to them, and if they'll stare their big seedy eyeballs at future Ocean Avenue pedestrians. What you lookin' at?
Meanwhile, I have to weed the forest of mint that is taking over our 11th Avenue front garden. I never have time. I hereby declare it open season on the mint for any interested mojito or taboule-loving garden vandals. Don't feel bad for it, it is a superplant no man is a match for, and a wily source of freshness. You pull it up in one spot and it sends up shoots in another.
I was also outwitted by the rose bush that grows in the corner of the backyard plot we have, an approximately 8 by 12 foot rectangle of hostas, bleeding hearts (i'm getting tired of their melodrama) basil, solomon's seal, clematis, assorted mysterious plants of unexplored usefulness, lillies and 3 fruit-bearing trees that I wish I could take credit for but they were here when we moved in. Looking up into the old apricot tree that only grows unsavory fruit I noticed it seemed to be bearing rose blossoms. I think I felt the sensation of the wind being knocked out of me. The feeling of being blessed with a miracle ended when I noticed a long skinny branch of the rose bush jutting straight up and lodging itself in the branches of the tree, a true city dweller of a bush claiming it's right to vertical expansion. What else does it have up it's thorny sleeve? I love it when things play with my head.
1 comment:
I've also had problems with people abusing the tree pit I garden on Vanderbilt Avenue. Whenever I go to weed it, I'm always surprised by the number of cigarette butts I find in it. It's a bit frustrating when you find yourself working in your tree pit and you realize how little regard most people have for the city around them. I once had a woman open here car door no more than three feet from my head and toss and entire bag of trash right next to where I was gardening. Although I'm not usually one to make a fuss, I let her have it, trying my best to embarrass her in front of her daughter. She relented sullenly and threw her bag of trash in the can at the corner.
One time I even found a bullet in the tree pit! Though I hadn't heard any shots recently, it looked pretty new.
Then of course there are the dog owners who let their pets pee right into my plants. One of these has left a permanent urine stain. Thus far their urination has not caused any unexpected beneficial effects as described by the unwitting deadheaders in your post.
I have planted in my tree pit four o'clocks, pachysandra, and morning glories. I'm also trying to make a home for volunteers, and there are a few "native plants" (not weeds!) that have taken off. I hope to identify them some day. I recognize some of them from walks in Prospect Park.
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