BOTANICALLY INCORRECT:SONORAN DESERT

Walking in the desert near Tucson AZ, each time I clicked my camera I imagined the collage that I would make when I got home. Here it is and here's how I did it. (click on any image to enlarge)

If you scroll down to the post just below this one, you'll recognize many images that I printed out on plain paper on my very ordinary home printer. Then I cut away all semblance of sky because I wanted to create that myself in my collage.

On a desert path I, whose balance is problematic even on a straightaway, was super-aware to watch out for wayward thorns. But in my collage I wanted to exaggerate the prickliness of the cacti so I cut some of my images with spiked edges as seen above.

Starting with the sky of torn papers, I glued my way down to the first cut image of the hills bathed by evening light. I added a swath of tan, textured paper for the ground,

then layered the various cacti, smaller near the top of the collage, bigger images layered over them to create an illusion of distance. At the bottom, I cut an image of a huge rock at the Sonoran-Desert Museum and glued on some actual desert soil.  No color manipulation in Photoshop but I took great liberties with relative sizes and placement of the plants. Notice a little yellow sun added to the sky just at the end. Purchase price $275. Contact Ellen Spector Platt.

NYC GARDENERS WANDER THE DESERT

Other Ellen and I went to Tucson AZ last week to a national Garden Writers Symposium, tours of public and private gardens, lectures about the newest plants and newest media, networking.

I showed my new book, "Artful Collage from Found Objects", in the Trade Show and found  columnists, bloggers, radio and TV hosts who promised to spread my fame, if not fortune. As luck would have it my book has a desert-inspired cover, albeit with dried green foxtail weeds, not cacti.

Three Tucson garden hosts fed us lemonade made with prickly pear cactus fruit, all made much too sweet for my taste.

We were too late for bloom in the Sonoran Desert but saw remnants of other fruits like that of the fishhook barrel cactus.

 and the teddybear cholla. (below)

And as the sun set in the West, Other Ellen and I cut our afternoon lectures and drove with two other writer/photographers to the fabulous Saguaro National Park where we learned that cactus spines not only protect a plant from animals but offer some shade and shield it from drying winds.  The  saguaro cactus, icon of  old Westerns, may be 75 years old before it sprouts an 'arm' and lives 175-200 years.

When it dies, the woody ribs inside were used by the local Tohono O'odham tribe for building shelters and fences.

ROOT PRUNING TO SAVE A TREE

What's wrong with this tree?   Nine years ago I planted two in 30" pots, both flowering purple plums, with regular drip irrigation.  Buffeted by winds on the 18th floor roof garden, one lists badly, the tips on both have many bare branches, bloom is now about 80% less than four years ago, and they are generally unattractive.
Replace or replant? I chose the latter for now, a potential savings of about $500.

First I drastically pruned the tops with my Fiskars long-handled pruner, my all-time fav gardening tool. Then, a better idea, since the trees were coming out of their pots anyway, I waited a bit to complete the top pruning job. Two strong men from the building staff provided the muscle and a crucial tool, an electric Sawzall. Because these containers have an interior lip the tree can't just be loosened and pulled out. One man loosened some soil with a spade,

the other ran the saw blade down in the dirt about three inches from the lip,

then with the muscle in four strong arms and two strong backs laid the tree on

an old canvas.  I could complete my pruning job easily, cutting both the top of the tree and some of the roots, trying to release other of the roots from the compacted ball.

A little new soil, less than half a bag and the tree is comfortably back in place, about1/3 smaller than it was before. As a woman of a certain age, notice that I saved the easy jobs for myself.
And yes I do realize that there are uneven spaces and some unattractive cut off sticks, but always an optimist, I'm thinking that the new spring leaves will hide all that. Time will tell.

book reviews and give away!

Dear Readers,

Ellen & Ellen are offering two new and very different books as giveaways. We've reviewed them both below and look forward to judging  your comments! Write a few sentences about your favorite discovery growing edibles (if you want book # 1) or orchids (if you want book # 2).  It might be something most gardeners know but you unearthed for yourself, or a secret you're ready to share with the world. 

We're looking for personal experiences, either positive or negative. Please post your comments by Oct.12th and we'll announce by Oct. 19th.  And please don't enter for both books; we want to spread the literary joy as wide as we can.

The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook, by Leeann Lavin is a lavish book of conversations with farmers from the fertile North and South Forks of Long Island, along with top local chefs. Leeann  profiles these Farmers and Chefs as co-dependents in the dance of the local harvest. Large and lush photographs by Lindsay Morris & Jennifer Calais Smith make you want to run this weekend to one of the fabulous restaurants that base their menus on local and seasonal crops at their freshest.

Farm-to-plate is a hot topic these days, and on Long Island it makes a lot of sense because the crops are so diversified; from seafood of all types caught by local fishermen, to local wine from the vineyards, cheeses, and of course the greens, beets, corn, tomatoes, raspberries; fruit and veg of all kinds. Recipes look extremely flavorful, yet simple to produce, enticing enough to try.

In a regional book of this kind, part of the fun is in personal recognition; my moment came in the profiles of Chef Eberhard Muller and his wife Pauline Satur of Satur Farms.  I had dined in Paris at the Michelin three-star L'Archestrat where Muller had been chef and where I  first tried a miraculous new concept called a tasting menu.  Now living in Manhattan, I order my groceries online from Fresh Direct, which offers a special category of local foods; Satur Farms greens have often been on my marketing list.

This book will surely please you if you have any connection at all to the area, or know someone who does. ESP

Aphid in my Eye gives the reader a nostalgic glimpse into a bygone era of orchid growing, when orchid societies stressed SOCIETY and orchids were high-priced rarities, rather than big box store loss leaders.  Tom Powell's memoir is a humorous, fast read, full of idiosyncratic caricatures and stories just weird enough to be believable.  Most of all it's a love letter to his wife Betty, with whom he survived encounters with a wife-swapping deacon, a psychic who spoke to orchids, and a chauffeured orchid thief who cried poverty.  Aphid in my Eye is an entertaining book, written with horticultural know-how and love. EZ

BASIL ALERT NYC

Make a simple poached or grilled salmon, decorate the plate with fresh herbs like basil and variegated sage, thin slices of cuke or zucchini, whatever you have at the moment; cantaloupe and lemon for more color and people think you're a genius. BUT......

 Whether your basil is one of the red varieties, or green, whether you grew it or will run out and buy it at the greenmarket,

it will soon all be gone in the NYC area. Basil wilts and blackens at the slightest hint of cold weather so wait no longer; it's time to preserve basil and all annual herbs for winter. I usually cut some of my perennial herbs at the same time to give myself a head start. Pick off any yellow or damaged leaves, and rinse thoroughly. Shake off excess water.

In the picture above clockwise from top left, basil, stevia, thyme and mint. Allow to air-dry on a clean towel for an hour or two. Put each herb in a separate freezer bag, press out excess air, seal and label with a pen. It's hard to grab the right bag of green stuff after it's frozen. Freeze. It will be perfect until spring if you have enough to last that long, far tastier than any dried herb I've ever had. It will however be limp and not too pretty, so don't expect to decorate your salmon filets with frozen herbs unless well chopped.

TREEWELL REPORT, NYC

Regular readers may remember that last fall, the city contractor finally (18 month delay) planted a new pin oak in front of my building, almost doubling the size of the planting pit.

The tree languished with a full compliment of brown leaves until May, when in desperation, it finally made up it's mind to leaf out, as it's three old companions had done six weeks previously.
Building residents were getting restless, would accost me on sidewalk or elevators asking me if the new tree had died. I advised patience, and to support my optimism, planted caladium bulbs in my roasting pan on a south-facing window.

Notice that the pan is foil-lined and obviously has no drainage holes, but I was VERY careful not to over-water. When the outdoor soil had fully warmed in late May I planted a dozen caladium 'Kathleen', surrounding each tree trunk, just before the block association guys put in the coleus.
It now looks like this.

The caladium are barely visible, the plantings have a true tropical feel and there were enough coleus to dig a few last week, leaving no bare spots. I  put the mature coleus in two new planters until next spring when I do the official planting.

JOIN ME

Above, "Waterlily Dreams"  incorporating hand painted paper and found papers, cut photos, and found Ailanthus pods.

Join me Thurs. 9/27/2012 in a workshop "Artful Collage from Found Objects" at the Horticultural Society of NY.
I (Ellen Spector Platt) will talk about my new book by that name, that incorporates plant and garden themes, stressing recycled, repurposed and reused materials. Following a brief discussion about gathering, designing, and manipulating found objects, I'll give a demonstration involving cutting and tearing, gluing and other attaching techniques.

Each participant will create her/his own collage of a striking garden memory to take home.
Participants will need to bring small garden treasures like photos, plant labels, pressed flowers and leaves, copies of old botanical prints, pods, seeds, seed packs, special papers, postage stamps with garden themes, floral fabric, pieces of other old craft work like embroidery.  The Hort will provide all other crafting materials.

 Above, "The Weaver",  incorporating paper, recycled bamboo skewers, and pressed black cotton and flowering plum leaves that I grew.
Techniques of collage were first used at the time of the invention of paper in China, around 200 BC. Originating from the French word "coller", meaning "to glue", the collage allows you to experiment with a wide range of materials  two and three dimensional materials to achieve amazing results.

Above, 'North of Santa Fe' the cover collage using colored tissue and other papers, pressed weeds.
Ellen's book will be available for sale at the workshop and also now at Amazon, by clicking the icon of the book cover to the left of this blog post, also at B&N online, and other book and craft stores around the country.
For more information about the workshop, more images, and to register:
Limited space available, preregistration required
Thurs, Sept. 27,  6:00pm-9pm
Hort members: $30 Non-members: $45
Register online or email programs@thehort.org