Get dirty!

This looks like a lot of fun! Go to the website to see the complete schedule.

http://www.nationalgardenmonth.org/index.php?page=nyc_grows

2008 NYC GROWS Garden Festival

Learn how from the experts at the third annual NYC GROWS Garden Festival, presented by Target, and co-hosted by the National Gardening Association and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, on Sunday, April 27, from 10 to 5, in Union Square Park South Plaza at 14th Street. There will be hands-on activities for the whole family, food and beverage sampling, chef and gardening demonstrations, a prize drawing totaling more than $5,000, and much more. See below for detailed information.

Demonstration Tent Schedule

11:00	NYC Parks & Recreation/New York Restoration Project	MillionTreesNYC
11:30	Target	Container gardening with Sean Conway
12:00	GreenMarket	Chef Colin Alevras, The Tasting Room, prepares his favorite dish with local foods
12:30	GreenMarket	Chefs Colin & Renée Alevras, The Tasting Room, prepare local foods family style
1:00	Organic Gardening Magazine	Cooking with Rodale author Dana Jacobi
1:30	Organic Gardening Magazine	Contributing Editor Willi Galloway creates an herb bookshelf
2:00	Target	Container gardening with Sean Conway
2:30	National Gardening Association	Urban gardening with William Moss
3:00	Ames True Temper	Planting trees in containers with Vicki Payne
3:30	The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company	Making Plant People with Rebecca Kolls
4:00	GreenPrints: "The Weeder's Digest"	The Greatest Garden Stories Ever Told with Pat Stone
4:30	NYC Grows Garden Festival Drawing	Prizes worth the trip (total value over $5,000)!

There are tons of great links on the website! 

See you there!

Happy Earth Day

I was helping out a fellow garden friend at Urban Landscape Concepts most of this week.

I went out to Long Island to the nurseries for trees, perennials and mulch.  We filled the back of the 14' Uhaul box truck to the brim.  

It was a great time.  

Today we turned the soil for the new garden beds, dug holes for huge shrubs and trees.  It is always an incredible task when it takes four strong bodies to heave an 8' shrub out of the ground, keeping the root-ball completely in tact.  

I ended my day at a Brooklyn Planting garden which is in full spring bloom.  

Very cute indoor and outdoor window box plantings.

My body is very very dirty and tired.  

Hope you planted a tree today or did something great for our planted Earth!

Keep on keepin on.

Saving the planet is the new black

I came across this great new earth friendly tip for our web searches.

For those of you who use Google, try Blackle instead.  It's Google with a black background instead of white. 

The creators of Blackle say that a black Google would save 750 megawatt-hours a year. 

A megawatt-hour is equal to ten thousand 100 watt light bulbs burning continuously for 1 hour.

Every watt counts.

www.blackle.com

**** Read the comment!  Turns out "Blackle" isn't all it's cracked up to be.  I will have to do a little research and see what's going on.  It's good practice to not trust everything you hear without a little background check.

Spring container planting

It's an easy way to make people smile. 

When Brooklyn Planting was installing these window boxes and container in a front garden, we had so many fans stop and chit chat about the flowers.  

Purple fringe tulips, white ranunculus, dusty miller and a few while muscari will last for a while if the weather doesn't get too warm.  

It looks so lovely from the inside looking out as well.  

And as a bonus, the white ranunculus can be cut for a long lasting vase flower.  

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I, of course, use the rejects and plant them in my window box.  It's a bit hogpog now, but I will pull it together by june.  

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This is a sweet collection of daffodils, pale yellow pansies and helichrysum under a climbing hydrangea. 

 There is a very beautiful perennial called nepita (cat mint) that is starting to come back in this flower box.  It fills the front of the container with a misty grey blue leaf and flower. 

Lets hope no heavy frost comes through!! Last frost is in late May so we have a little ways to go.

Ps.  I'm loving my Zip Car.  Two days of darting around the city and I didn't have to pay for any gas.  Also, just dropping it off when I'm finished and not worrying about anything, it's a great feeling. 

April showers recap

Brooklyn Planting has been full force these pasts few weeks. 

The bulbs we planted last fall are all coming up.  

Daffodils are in full bloom, pansies and violas are everywhere.

I have been pressing my plucked flowers and laminating them... I received a laminator for the holidays and am putting it to good use.  

Now what to do with a laminated viola? - I don't know yet.

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Last week I planted this very vibrant spring selection. These kinds of bursts of early color help kick things off in a budding garden.  

*Purchasing flower tip: Buy flowering plants with the most buds, not blooms.  That way you will get a longer show if you start just before they become beautiful.

This was just after I planted it. The crocuses now are balloons of purple around a sweet mix of soft spring tulips and daffodils.   
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Also, I helped out a few days this past week with an old gardening friend at one of his rooftop gardens.  

These daffodils smelled amazing.

Our task was to move a few boxwood shrubs around and remove six spiraea. His client didn't like them after living with them for three years. 

The look is more streamlined, clean edged and masculine at this garden. 

The spiraea is a little more wild and naural with a woody bark to it.  

Gardens are always a work in progress.  Sometime things grow out of their spot or aren't looking as nice as it did three years ago.  Things need to be adjusted throughout the life of the garden. 

This is a spiraea in bloom.

This summer we will plant in the place of the spiraea a bold blue, 24'' tall annual called Angelonia.

We have lots of work to do on this garden.  A party is planted for mid May so we will be focused on getting this garden back in order.