Hummingbird Moths

The garden is teeming with hummingbird moths (aka sphinx moths) right now. They love the summer blooming perennials (echinacea, buddleia, monarda, etc.). They are the funniest looking things: part bee, part moth, part bird, part lobster (the tail!) in appearance. Such a treat to watch them feed on nectar!

Blue Mouse Ears

Blue Mouse Ears Hosta is just as cute as can be. Very slow growing and maxing out at about 6", this blue-green little guy (introduced in 2000) is now being grown in Long Island and is available at local nurseries. I popped the second pic at Crest Garden Center yesterday. My favorite hosta this year!

Cutest Street Tree Edging I've Ever Seen

Spotted on Clinton Street in Cobble Hill...handmade Brooklyn Bridge tree pit edging!

Saturday Night Live - Googly Eyes Gardener - Video - NBC.com

Saturday Night Live - Googly Eyes Gardener - Video - NBC.com

So funny!

Pit Trampolines in Landscape Design

I'm bound and determined to find a client willing to let me install a pit trampoline in the their yard. They were a huge part of my child hood. The swim club that we went to almost every day each summer had them. We even took lessons!
I'm imagining really artistically designed trampolines with interesting colors and shapes, surrounded by plant material. Ellipses that look almost like
"pools" maybe??

BBG Bluebell Wood

Okay this is a little late, but I just located the photographs I took of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Bluebell Wood last month. It was one of the highlights of my May and I just wanted to share it. 45,000 Hyacinthoides hispanica 'Excelsior' massed beneath a mature stand of trees. It's positively magical! Don't miss it next year!
For more info, check out the BBG's website writeup: http://www.bbg.org/discover/gardens/bluebell_wood/

NY Times Terrarium Article

I love terrariums and am so happy that they're making a comeback (and thus becoming more readily available).

Take a look at these key chain terrariums! http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/keychain_plants.jpg

Check out last week's New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/garden/03terrarium.html

The Artful Handiwork of the Leaf Cutter Bee

This week, I've noticed an abundance of leaf cutter bee damage in the gardens I work on. Every year in June, dozens of concerned gardeners bring baggies of leaves bearing perfect semi-circular holes to the nursery. This is the mark of the Leaf Cutter Bee and there isn't much to be done short of a cheese cloth wrap (I know I know, hot pepper wax....in my experience, fail!).

I've always loved the patterns that the bees chew out of the leaves. The perfect holes can lend even a very dense tree or shrub an lacy, airy look. They seem to love cercis, roses, and azaleas/small-leaved rhodies

Leaf cutter bees are important pollinators and are native! They don't eat the leaf fragments but rather cut them out and use them to form net cells. Usually, there is no permanent damage to the host plant. They just look funny for awhile. Just one of those things...