The sun vanishes. The pearl of a moon rises. Magic happens. Japanese cherry blossoms, French water lilies, and New York lindens, lit by the moon and stars.

Five creative women committed to the art of floral arrangements.

A great article from last weekend about Peter Van de Wetering who landscapes the Park Avenue malls.

A close up of my new scarlet plume. Such a fantastic shade of orange. 

I’m pretty sure this is my lavender phlox coming back, although it could the flame coral phlox. 

Chives getting bigger and bigger. 

Honeysuckle coming back. 

My scarlet plume does seem to be in shock, but it doesn’t seem to be dying. This morning I noticed that even though the leaves continue to fall, there are definitely new ones sprouting in to replace them.

I bought a euphorbia fulgens, or scarlet plume, the other week and the leaves are slowly dropping. Does anyone know if this is normal or not? Is it just shocked from the new location? Is it a sign that it’s dying? Is there anything that I can do about it? 

From The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden.

Signs of spring in Brooklyn Heights.

So last September and October this guy was wandering into the yard a lot. He was very friendly and energetic and getting away from his owners who had newly moved in down the street. The first time that he came over, I was trying to get him to calm down a bit and to stop frantically eating sticks and my watering can, but every time he’d hear a squirrel or a bird move, he’d lunge into action. Anyway, during one of these lunges he jumped on to my perennials and he snapped the main stalk of my clematis just inches from where it pokes out of the soil.

And was so upset and then I wasn’t sure what to do. These are supposed to be hard pruned, but not until spring and not as low as the stalk had been snapped. Anyway, ultimately, I pruned it. I wasn’t sure if that was right, but a good friend of mine and master gardener, Inez, always told me that it wasn’t good to leave dead material on a living plant and I thought maybe that was the best way to do.

Unfortunately, all of my perennials are starting to return and my clematis is just a little brown stick sticking up from it’s pot. I’m still clinging to hope, but it’s seeming less and less likely.