INSIDE or OUTSIDE?

I was at Crest Hardware the other day, just checking out their really amazing garden center.  The environment has really become something amazing back there!

I overheard a couple who were talking about what plants to buy.   They didn't get much sun, they liked the bushiness of this one and were hemming and hawing about if they should get it.  Here is where I butt in:
       "Can I offer some advice?  This is a bleeding heart which is extremely beautiful. A must have for a shade/ part shade garden.   It will bloom in late spring for about four weeks and then the leaves and stem turn yellow and dies back. "

    Dicentra spectabilis

The woman says something about how she just wants nice foliage. I point out ferns, astilbe, heuchera and hostas.  She says something about it being inside and I stop her. 

"Are you looking for plants for inside your apartment?" I ask. "These plants will not live indoors. Yes, even if you mist them."


And so I point her to the indoor plant section of the hardware store. 


There are a ton of plants that do well indoors... Some are best brought outside for the summer and back indoors for the winter.  But don't try to bring perennial flowers inside and expect them to do well. 

Some low maintenance plants for the indoors:
 Snake plant, Pothos, Spider plants, Swedish ivy, and my indoor/outdoor favorite, the Oxalis.

Oxalis, often called shamrock.

All plants are different and a little research will go a long way! Don't just buy whatever because it's pretty.   Know what it likes to eat, how much it likes to drink, how much sun it will get...   If you are really stuck, just ask me.  I'll try my best to help. 

Making this terrace worth it!

Before

 

. . .

After

A mix of Italian style herbs and drought tolerant planting offer super low maintenance and maximum enjoyment.  Fragrant lavender, vibrant neon yellow yarrow, varieties of succulents, echinacea and northwind grasses offer something different each part of the season. 
. . .

The best thing about spring...

...has got to be the breeze.

This climbing hydrangea is magnificent. 

 

After a nice little winter break working with a group of talented floral event stylists, it feels great to be back in the gardens.  

Pest Inspections:

We are busy smelling all the first blooms on the roses while we pinch off the aphids.  I have been plucking aphids off flower since March now. 

A common garden pest that goes unseen until it's too late is the GRUB.  These little crawlers turn into the common Japanese Beetle,  not to be confused with the Asian Long Horn Beetle. A solid "Integrated Pest Management" system will benefit not only your own garden but the surrounding gardens. 

 Also, a less threatening yet still such a pest is the common Slug. A good amount of constant slug patrol will really cut down on the chewed up plant life mid summer.  Catch them by lifting up containers, cleaning out old piles of wet junk... use shallow saucers of cheap beer if you'd rather not  hunt for them.   Keep up on those common and unavoidable garden pests.

.  .  .  

 And because spring arrived a bit early this year, about two weeks too early, all the tulips were long gone for mothers day this past weekend.   These are a few Parrot Tulips that popped up on a terrace in Williamsburg, Brooklyn a couple weeks ago. 

It's been great to be back and getting moving.  New spring installations and of course our seasonal plantings are filling up. 

Brand Spankin NEW!

I started building my new and improved website!  

www.melissavbateson.com

Here I'll show off my beautiful gardens as well as the work I do with photographers and stylists on photos shots.  This past year I have worked on such a great variety of jobs... Fashion editorials, childrens portraits and product/lifestyle shoots.  

Check it out and let me know what you think!    I am still adding more and more photos each day, creating more of a solid collection... so things are still a work in progress.

Also, what happened to fall??  This amazing maple was from last season.  With our warm days and rainy weather (not to mention our New England freak blizzard) the tree colors are somewhat stunted this year.  Boo.  I love autumnal colors.    

Time to plant bulbs!  Get your orders in now!

This season was so beautiful... Part 1

Humid & Misty

April has been a nice mix of pleasant warm sunny days with a few rainy & dreary ones like today.    Working in the rain has produced it's fair share of issues - muddy gloves, transporting all my tools, amendments & garbage backs to and from a terrace through white carpeted rooms... but the sweetest part of April is to see what made it through the hard winter.


NYC had three storms back to back with heavy heavy snow that stuck around for weeks.  With this months rounds of seasonal maintenance at the Wild Pistil and Brooklyn Planting gardens, I've been finding lots of broken branches on the woody shrubs.  A few hollies looked like they were parted straight down in the middle.
Thuja arborvitaes seemed to bend over, almost to the ground, but not snap!  A few ties with some twine and it's back to it's original position. 

Everything gets a good haircut and some organic fertilizer.  I til the soil and mix in some great  composted manure.
Most of the daffodils, redbuds & plum trees at this point are finishing up in the city. Next round is the cherry trees, dogwoods, late tulips and alliums!
The akebia vines are just about to bud out in a few of my gardens, the lilacs and muscari alongs with the wisteria vine should be amazing this year.  Depending on how much sun we get in the next week, we could see a whole new burst of spring colors.


This is a sweet sleepy garden in Tribeca... It's got a great view of the Hudson River but very windy!  Most of the terrace is shadowed by the building next door, so things here open up a bit later than the sunny warmer rooftops in the city.  

This very tidy shade evergreen, skimmia, will bloom in a week or two.

The large sedum, Autumn Joy, is making it's comeback.

 I love this subtle golden paint for the fence and boxes. 

 The akebia almost ready to bloom a purple bloom

An simple but solid row of evergreens at each window.

I am gathering more of my spring flower photos to post this week... Enjoy the days!

To Do's

It's the last week of March and I am feeling springs pressure already.  I saw lots of daffodils blooming along the highway in Queens yesterday.  This means its the time to get myself super organized & begin another season.

Although it's been snowing and is extremely cold out, we have been doing a few miscellaneous gardening things like winter clean ups.  Lots of broken branches and compacted soil.  A quick list of spring to-do's:


- Take inventory of the tools. Sharpen, oil and clean what needs it.
- Organize soils, plant food, oils/sprays
- Prepare for the cool weather plantings by selecting plants & putting in orders with the farmers.
- Clean out gardens from the winters havoc!
- Enjoy the beginning of spring- forsythias are bright yellow in the city

I found this fantastic veggie garden calendar on veggieharvest.com!

Use it to plan out your edible garden this year! 

Speaking of veggie gardens, new gardens:

A great couple in Brooklyn has inquired about a vegetable garden in their back yard.  Since my family owns and operates a vegetable farm in Connecticut, Wades Farm Fresh, I'm elated to get back to my roots!  The new clients are chefs and host a dinner club so we are hoping to grow exotic and hard to find herbs and veggies.  Excited to keep you all posted on our progress...


I'm also helping out a friend who has a great backyard... He's gotten custom planter boxes built to match the mahogany decking.   We are bringing in glazed pottery, three amazing trees and a whole slew of shrubs and under plantings.  It will be quite the transformation.   

We are also reviving a home in Long Island with some fresh curb appeal.  Since the 1950's, the large shrubs have grown and gradually hedged together into an undulating mass.  Azaleas, acuba, pieris japonica, rhody are all now a "azacupierody." It looks fine but a bit dated. Along with a new planting, we are taking out the old slim path to the street with a 4' wide multi-color stone walkway  Photos soon!  Project starts May 1st!

Happy spring gardening everyone!