home again

Spring break, n: school holiday or vacation occurring roughly during the middle of a spring academic term. In other words: the eye of the storm.

It is very sweet to be home. *sigh*

Yesterday I went to the Boston Flower Show with a good friend and fellow plant-lover, Emily. The Philadelphia Flower Show is heavy on spectacle and competitions, with less emphasis on inspiration and things real home gardeners can do. The Boston Flower Show has plenty of the latter two items. The theme was similarly not highfalutin': Container Gardening. How practical for the city dweller! I find this type of flower show more endearing and approachable. Though I don't think I am the type to join a Garden Club, as I shun competition when it regards things I truly love,* I respect garden clubs and think they are quite wonderful in an idealized small-town neighborly sort of way. 

Unfortunately, flower shows have hideous lighting which makes for bad photos. But here is a sample:

Delphiniums, juniper, pine, and white tulips, among other plants, in the Garden of the Treehouse

Many installations used rock in very interesting ways. Ignoring for a moment that such huge boulders, specially sculpted with a trough in the center for planting, would likely cost over $500, this installation was very evocative of a New England alpine landscape--the reindeer lichen, the rock outcroppings, the moss.  

Canterbury Bells (love !!), dwarf Nordmann Fir, and Japanese Maple, with Orange tree, Canna leaves, etc in background

An interesting cultivar!

A bamboo structure. I thought of my friend Borden and the possibility of growing scarlet runner beans over this entire little house. What a perfect little hideaway. Make it a little bigger, add a hammock...

I know from experience that this type of water feature becomes a nursery for mosquito larvae, but I love it anyway.

Emily and I returned from the show with armfuls of orchids (I know, I know, I wasn't allowed to adopt any more, but it was cheap, and such a beautiful oxblood color), and this fellow: 

Meet our new staghorn fern! He lives in our shower. Finally, we have an audience for our shower singing.

*as I probably don't need to tell you, shying away from competition has been both a bad and good thing in my life. Or is it bad and... neutral? Blah blah blah some psychobabble about dreading social pressure/judgement and wanting to be judged for myself alone...