when we lived in new york, back in the real world, i took care of our building's window boxes. every 4 months i threw on a sundress, twirled down to the union square farmers' market and blinked fetchingly at every stall proprietor, finagling the best prices for a taxi cab full of flowers. (i did try, several times, to lug said flowers on the subway. it did not work.) then i spent the day on the front stoop of our building (and teetering on top of the railing over a 9 foot drop, yes, sorry mom and dad) and our street magically transformed into that of sesame lore, strangers coming up and introducing themselves, neighbors bringing sodas, dogs and children happily tugging on flowers.
so why did these LA boxes turn out so... crappy? i don't know. maybe these flowers are intimidated by the backdrop of 12 foot high bougainvillea. maybe i need my sesame street neighbors to sit on the stoop with me while i plant. maybe, and this could be the real kicker, maybe i need to pass the gauntlet to my building super once the planting and scaling of railing is done, as i did in good old NY. that is so not going to happen here.
i mean, i like the flowers, they just look sort of pitiful up against all that green. sort of mange-y. now that's a word you want in a descriptor for foliage, isn't it?
i do like this one. i'm thinking of replacing the little blue daisy things and the orange poppies (which by the way have COMPLETELY wilted) with this plant. i think it's called sweet broom.
and yes, mom, i have planted the many seeds and crazy outer space canna bulbs you sent me, but they are still pots of dirt. now, if these full grown flowers are intimidated, can you imagine the inferiority complex going on in there?
ps: 2 more days to guess my thrifty weight!
I tried ferns and poppies in my garden out there. The ferns worked, but the poppies did have trouble. BTW - the metallic christmas balls are STILL in your NY boxes. The horror.
ReplyDeleteYes Oona, the brick facade of your NY digs, full of lovely windows, was a much better backdrop for your window boxes. These LA boxes just seem to get lost in the sauce. Somewhat like the lowly COLON (:) they can't be seen for the forest of the trees.
ReplyDeleteChop down the offending bougainvillea. Erect a brick facade full of lovely windows in its place. Bring a little NYC to LA.
Think of your Sesame Street neighbors...build it and they will come.
(BTW, you and your window boxes get major points just for even trying in LA!)
Planting stuff into my planter boxes is on my list of to-dos for this weekend since it is starting to warm up enough in the bay area that seeds will actually sprout outside (so the cats won't be digging up my dirt in the kitchen); unfortunately I'm not doing any fun, pretty flowers, just herbs and some smaller vegetables (lettuces, radishes, peppers).
ReplyDeleteI rather like the forest of green behind your window boxes, but if you want flowers that "pop", you can't really go wrong with snapdragons and tigerlilies!
Hey girl!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you want pop for the windowboxes you might need some bold colors then...aren't you in like zone 10??? Tropical like isn't it? How about those bodacious hibiscus flowers that love to strut their big blooms and command the stage? Lots of colors like red, pink, yellow, etc. and they'll keep blooming for you as long as they get full sun and some fertilizer plus water of course.
The broom I've grown here is a perennial and only flowers once in spring then just green leaves.
My sister wants to have some flower boxes in our flat... there are none in the house's windows. I hope they'll look really good. I wish you the best of luck with yours.
ReplyDeleteAnd I posted about the orange kitchen here: http://marmota-b.blog.cz/0804/oranzovozelena-kuchyn-orange-and-green-kitchen Have fun in the Oops section. ;-)