oh dang! willow fence!

 

i'm design tackling a possibly universal gardenerfarmers problem.....the fence.   this barrier must keep out, in my case deer, and it must be gorgeous. hello!

Tree of the Week: Osage Orange

willow fence inspo

 

 

 yes Mary how useful indeed, thank you, Nellie

How to make your own solar food dehydrator | DIY Garden Projects | Garde...

garlic messages

 and motherwort encouragement

Top 10 Crops To Plant In Late July

love her garden spirit!

loofah display of affection

one success of 2021 was that I was finally able to grow some luffas loofahs .... a gourd no less....and that I came upon the osage orange by eye by color and form by relationship to the place to the land... and now can find the osage orange trees by smell such a particular flowery odor adore....in the hills of central virginia....with all its ghosts...this strange beauty with no goal waves her flag so loudly and I recognize genius fall in love 
 

HOW to PLANT and GROW LUFFA (LOOFAH), plus WHEN to HARVEST and HOW to PEEL

how to grow plum tree from a cutting

Grafting PLUM Trees ~~ DIY

recommended techniques

sometimes people are just so great.

Acindanthera in the garden in the rain

Acindathera Gladioli

Acidanthera Gladioli

flowers

I'm growing a big flower garden this summer. Some are for drying and incorporating into artwork, some are experimental flowers I have never grown before and some are old friends-Zinnias I'm talking to you! Biennials, Perrenials, annuals, apple trees, oh pears galore, white peaches, plums, cherries! ssshhhh.
Working on my little cabin or is it a cottage (?) has been such fun alongside growing flowers, being close to my Appleby family and making a big compost pile. Virginia is for flower lovers 

fresh

'desert owl' cyanotype on paper

'desert owl' cyanotype on paper, 22x30 inch, 1/1

the great tumbleweed migration

via GIPHY

tumbleweed and yucca make out and 'hairy panic' down under

SOTOL

S O T O L

not Yucca but also in the Lily family

Sotol leaves are more ribbon like

and their shaft of flowers more delicate, less 'big ass bell shaped'

the Sotol quite like growing on the black lava landscape

of the Valley of Fire

near Carrizozo New Mexico

(where MoMaZozo hosts an artist residency)

The core of the Sotol is roasted and fermented into moonshine called Sotol 

and I sure would love to try it.

 

Borrachera

compost palette....needs more browns

its a nerdy gardeners joke ok?  this compost pile, while totally admirable, needs more carbon e.g. leaves, straw, sticks, bark, or as gardeners call them, 'browns'

Pseudobombax elipticum

as the sultry spring bursts into the dripping summer the last of the Pseudo Bombax peel back in the night blooming for the morning and falling in the path of the Key West tourist who picks her up and discards a block later or perhaps in this artists dream presses the flower into their notebook or journal and to preserve the sweet memory....Pseudobombax elipticum reveal themselves unfolding like a banana peeling itself- oh joy- oh complete ridiculous Dr Suess-ian world, I stand by with my wonder and my picket sign that says simply 'CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL'

compost pile

compost pile update .....collards, confetti and flowers from the ultimate Bombax tree

mountains for maimi

mountains for miami,  living growing arugula, basil, radish and chia on towels with mirror, plexiglass and gravity fed watering system created from the recycling bin and braided thrift store dresses, 8x8x8 feet, 2010

my garden in Brooklyn summer 2005

My street garden in Brooklyn circa 2005 with Scruffy Machito RIP our sweetest street dog from Cuba.

Jimson Weed in gardens gone wild in Brooklyn

sometime in the early 2000's
i brought soil and plants i dug up from my family's place in virginia to my street garden on leonard and meserole in brooklyn. strangely, there are two such cross sections.
i loved that garden and it was prolific, all flowers, being in the brown zone and all.
when i left one year, and it just grew wild, it came up full of jimson weed. datura. by the studio door. 
yes datura by the door
datura by the door
datura door
daturadoor
datura por su amor
datura tura dor
hallucinogenic
wild moon flower 
by the door

banana flower in Colombia

prettiest pink       unfurling       flowers        to fruit       exquisite 

Aloe light

The Botanicas in Colombia have remedies for various illnesses as well as plant charms for dreams, hopes and desires. These plant liasons also posses the powers of poetry as the light emanates from an aloe....

heavenly blue

heavenly blues hold out 
then burst abundant in the late summer
how vivid and heartfelt they are.

how to drive

our compost pile at Residencia en la Tierra, Colombia

moss forever, and ever, amen

compost composition

cherish the process...the every day beauty of composting...

Homegrown Kale Salad all year long

Kale salad...blessed with no freezes in sub-tropical key west, we can grow Kale year round. In fact one Kale plant can grow for years. Another perk of key west - Kale in the summer! I love a Kale salad with a simple lemon, apple cider vinegar, dijon and a fine olive oil dressing...with a bit of goat cheese...every day. feeling great!

food gardening in a boat...florida keys style with tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, papayas and a ladder to pick them with...love

Wild Tamarind

The most sweet smelling flowering tree of key west...a Wild Tamarind or Lysiloma latisiliquum...the smell knocks your socks off as you ride/walk and inevitably stop by

how trees grow in key west...big and broad

go! go! you are doing it!

the creamers

in the summer in key west florida when the wind blows from the southeast islands of seaweed accumulate at the shore...
and it is here we see the creamers creaming it with Dominic Nurre, Vita Litvak and Nellie Appleby 

"Lichenes" from Ernst Haeckel's Artforms of Nature, 1904

and other places i love

plant sculpture

mirror pedestal vase and boca raton ikebana plant pruning bouquet with color photograph and swimming video with florida avocado plant

february 24 2013 in key west harvesting bountiful arugulas, kales, chards, mizuna, tatsoi, dill, parsley, cilantro...the best salads for me and my friends!

baby poinciana, observed

one of my talented photography students honing in on the beauty of a baby Royal Poinciana.... here is to the future!

cactus kinship with adult, predecessor and baby

mango and frangi pani compost

compost compositions and friends

vegetables...collecting the scraps...recycling...piles...transforming...biological magic...into more nourishment...black gold futures...
It's really quite elegant.

red mangrove in bloom!

amazing to see the red mangroves bloom... and in/under saltwater! I am blown away by natures designs once again...

frangipani, plumeria baby

dreamy skies...

everyday compost compositions

frangipani time!

here's to being madly in love with it all

african sausage tree

oh man. this tree rocks my world. eventually some of the candelabras of flowers will turn into a large seed pod that looks like a big old sausage. I love a tree with a good sense of humor.