Above: a quick snap of my new cacti

I hope that my mom and T decide to visit this April. I've got my fingers crossed.


[1-2. c. lynn]

I'm enjoying the delicious smell of lemon cypress on our terrace. I purchased two small trees for our cedar container earlier this week. I figure that they will bring some much needed color to our space during the winter and will be ready to replant in the ground sometime next year.


[1. 99 Market]

 

I really like these rail planters by Greenbo for apartment dwellers. They offer such a great solution for limited and elevated patio spaces that call out for a little green.

[1-2. A+R store]

A whole bowl of succulents at my friends R & N's house. I love the low shape of planter and the fact that you can display the bowl atop of an outdoor table or keep it in a corner of your porch steps. To achieve the look, a similar planter can be found here.

[1. c. lynn]

My mom and I visited the Portland Nursery today and had a marvelous time looking at all of the greens, blues, and rose colors. We especially swooned over the fruit and flowering trees. I cannot wait to have an Arbequina olive bush and a lemon tree in my yard.

I picked up some really healthy looking chives to add to my herb garden and potted succulents in an array of olive shades.

[1. c. lynn]

The moms are visiting this week and next! I love having my mom around and I've made a list of things that I want to do with her. We'll go hiking, visit the botanical gardens, and tour cheese makers, breweries, and vineyards! We'll drive to the coast and stop at Karla's for smoked tuna and oysters. I'll take her to $2 Tuesdays for a pint of craft brew. We'll shop and walk the city with coffee from Barista and laugh. I know that she misses me on the east coast, but has always wanted a reason to move westward.

[1. Anna Bella]

Yesterday we visited the edible local garden festival at the New York Botanical Garden. Dr. Amy Goldin, author of The Heirloom Tomato was there to lecture about 150 varieties of the heirloom tomato. Dan Barber, executive chef of Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns/New York and well-known proponent of locavorism was at the event to talk about his views on the local eating movement as was Martha Stewart who hosted a cocktail hour with herbs from her garden. There were living examples of how to start your own plot of tomatoes, herbs, fruit, etc. as well as a tour of the 250 acres of gardens and native forest that were set aside by wealthy New Yorkers in the late 1800s for public use. We also saw wonderful examples of an edible tropical garden (taro root, pineapples, black pepper, pomogranate, etc.) in their permanent Flowers of the World collection in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a Victorian glass Greenhouse. It was a very well executed event with lots of information, local fruits and vegetables served up by chefs from the Culinary Institute of America, and everyone wore their favorite gardening sun hats, which made me feel a bit nostalgic for other venues for hat-wearing

One of the unexpected highlights of the trip to this gem in NYC was meeting Martha Stewart's famous French bulldogs, Francesca and Sharkey. How cute!

This weekend came and I finally have a breath of fresh air. I opened all of the windows in the house because spring is outside my window waiting. A few new things in the apartment, a rubber plant from Dad's house, new herbs in the kitchen, linens from South Africa, and a new book. Oh and A is home.

We're off to D.C. in 2 weeks and then to Providence, RI to visit my sister and her fiancé.

[1-2. c. lynn]