See How Our Garden Grows

Posted by Shane

Last summer, my boyfriend, Addys, and I moved into a garden apartment in a Brooklyn brownstone. We had never imagined cohabitating this kind of space -- but having the garden to ourselves just outside the kitchen has been both inspiring and a quiet retreat on weekend afternoons.

So as soon as the weather turned warm last week, we rushed to the garden shops and nurseries to buy an assortment of plants to fill the pots we had been collecting over the past year. (We have a yard, as well, but have just fertilized and planted grass seed.)

Below is a collection of shade and part-shade plants, which includes Fittonia “Juanita,” ferns “Maiden Hair” and “Lemon Button,” Neophythytis “Holly,” and Leea “Purple Desire,” to name a few.

Most of these pots are shades of gray and black with the exception of some vintage terracotta, which have decayed beautifully. I bought them at various shops including grdn -- a superb garden shop in Brooklyn. Suzanne, the owner, has good suggestions for timid gardeners like us.

Here is a garden still life Addys and I composed of marble slabs we found while digging up the dirt in the yard. We gathered them and simply leaned them against the side wall of the patio. The branch? It’s a piece of drift wood I found.

Along one side of the patio is a patch of dirt perfect for a flower border. We're trying to avoid a “grandma garden,” so we stuck to only two flowers: Origami Red and White Columbine and Bleeding Hearts. To be honest, it is looking a little scrawny, but we are hoping it will fill out in a month or so. Hence the close-up shot.

Stay tuned for a midsummer update.

Comments

[Sues]

Can't wait for the update! Even if it is scrawny right now, the flowers you do have are beautiful. And it's MUCH better than looking like Grandma's garden!

Sues

[Tara Burkhardt]

Hi Shane, I love your pots and your still life! I just wanted to give you some unsolicited advice about columbines.:) They are a beautiful and delicate perennial, but they only bloom in the spring and are fairly short lived. They always stay fairly sparse and scrawny. That being said they are a joy every spring. I noticed you have some coleus and coral bells planted among them, lovely, you may want to try some icelandic poppies to keep the delicate flowers and red color. They are modern, bloom all summer, and tend to come back the next year. Best of all they offer now hint of a "grandma garden". Good Luck!!!

[scott]

when am i coming over?

[Rebecca]

Beautiful!