When the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold…

I’m posting almost a month’s worth of stuff all at once. So, I’ll keep it pictorial. Here’s a chronology from May 16 to today, June 6th, including the headline photo of my flowering broccoli rabe – before I learned about pinching.

The climbing rose I got at Crest Hardware in Brooklyn.

Passion Flower from Van Houten Farms at the Union Square Green Market.

Super cool, no? Wonderful-smelling geraniums (and these aren’t even the scented kind!) from inside, looking out.

The flower of my new bougainvillea. I took a picture, b/c if my first bougainvillea is any indication, it’s going to be a rare sight!

My hurting rose after being in the sunniest spot on the terrace for, basically, 3 days in 90 degree heat without me around to water or prune (I tried sticking a water bottle in the dirt before i left (and I got up at 4 to water it the morning I left and came back early on the 3rd evening (2am)) – so it was really like 1-2 full days without water, not 3) but it didn’t work.

My hydrangea was way worse off:

After that sadness, the weather turned cool again and I finally planted a bunch of things – still without doing it fully properly – e.g. no rocks at the bottom of the pots, questionable drainage… – and my pepperoncinis started flowering!

Even my chamomile breathed a shallow puff of life.

As I hope for the chamomile, my rose is kind of coming back around.

The hydrangea is fighting hard.

And the arugula I planted 5 days ago very late at night is sprouting!

Unfortunately, my Sedum ‘Laconicum’ has bugs.

All the websites say it is disease and pest resistant, but such is my luck w/ succulents. They should be easy but I find them hard.

After a late night adventure with spray paint, I finally got near to ready to make my vertical succulent wall.

Before:

After:

Today, I stapled the landscaping fabric on the back but my stapler lacks power and makes me have to hammer. Each day gets me closer! One thing I learned is that there is nothing too simple for an instructional video or step-by-step advice on the internet. Thanks bloggers, forum posters, and corporate video makers! I couldn’t have spray painted or stapled without you!

The still-far-from-finished layout (I moved the rose to the eastern side after learning, as you saw above, the hard way):

My other misstep: tons of research led me to a dream of fence-covered flowering vines – Dutchman’s Pipe, Variegated Kiwi, Chocolate Vine, and Winter Jasmine. I called Van Houten today and found they carried none of those. That raised a flag. Turns out Dutchman’s Pipe is hardy only to zone 8 (we are in zone 7) and Chocolate Vine is so invasive that some nurseries refuse to carry it. I’m still dreaming of Winter Jasmine but I’m moving on from my brief foray into purchasing plants online: I’m going to buy piecemeal from the Green Market. After all, that’s what led me to the love that is a Passion Flower and so much more!

While the fences will not be covered immediately (and I’ll probably end up with tons more stuff of various sizes and shapes and needs), I have a long-term live design project. In fact, when I realized I could not afford to buy all the pots I needed, I started imagining all kinds of D.I.Y. live design projects (e.g. shipping pallet succulent wall). Here is one (not-very-D.I.Y.-but-anyway-D.I.Y.-inspired):

Next up: a finished succulent wall, “upcycled” planters, and a cherry tomato plant.