Why people have pergolas

I ain't proud of much but I sure am proud of this Wisteria on a roof deck in Manhattan. Wisteria flowers don't happen like this all by themselves. Most Wisteria's provide a half-assed flower show or no blooms at all...which is alright because they have nice foliage. BUT if you want this to happen all you need it sun and a good pruning in late LATE winter or very early spring.

scale

Scale is a barnacle-like pest that I have found on stressed interior tropical plants but today I found these fatties outdoors on holly, maple, pyracantha, ivy...everywhere. I hereby declare them the most disgusting pest in horticulture. Pictured are Indian Wax Scale and they are white and fluffy and when you remove them and squash them, they bleed like a motherf*er. They attach themselves and reproduce like mad and then suck the life out of anything they can. Treatments include using a systemic insecticide and then physically removing all of the scale OR the better route (and more entertaining and satisfying) would be to buy a container of ladybugs and watch them march into snacktown. Until the feast...

beasts on the beach

This awesome abandoned seaside resort in Taiwan is about to get torn down. It's been vacant for 30 years and there are some last minute talks about trying to preserve them - but I can't imagine much can be stopped at this point.
I am imagining they look best abandoned and sunbleached like they are now. I can't tell what they're made of (maybe fiberglass?) whatever it is, it looks hot and stuffy and if they do get preserved they should just leave them as big dead UFO's on the beach. Hit link above for lots of photos

Wisteria Prep

If you haven't pruned your Wisteria...you better do it in the next couple of days! For optimum flowering and shaping cut back all whips and prune back closer to main trunk leaving 3-5 buds per small stem. Click on the link above for a nice illustration and see me and my co-workers post pruning in the photo. (Ignore tree's in background, Wisteria is growing on the pergola.

My job is done

I was just thinking....I planted thousands and thousands of bulbs in the fall and early winter, some my own but mostly not. When I saw these tulip babies on a terrace the other day I decided I really don't care to see them in bloom - just the young glossy foliage is satisfying enough. Spring flowering bulbs have been our proof that the winter is behind us and the temperatures are slowly but steadily rising - but their flowers are pathetically short-lived.

Real Live Amazing Tile Work

Oh yeah, this is one of the reasons why I love seeing colonial Latin America, Mexico City's House of Tiles:

More amazing iron fencework

This is even nicer than my favorite fencework on 5th ave Manhattan....it lives in New Haven:

The south pacific and its collection of bright fancy things

According to the Darwin exhibit in New Haven, Charles Darwin called the Bird of Paradise the most beautiful and spectacular of all male birds and after gazing at a few stuffed samples, I have to agree. The level of color and texture on this birds feathers are more foreign and exotic than anything I've ever seen in my life. I was totally hypnotized...

Tile Source

I've been daydreaming while going through every single item on this website called St. Tropez Boutique which is a silly-named supplier of Moroccan and Moorish tiles, door fixtures, window screens, tents. Everything that they are selling is beautiful - I have no idea what their pricing is and I'm sure I do not want to know but if I had an old home to fix or renovate I would be filling it with everything just like this. Take a look.

Brassy

I'm starting a new title/subject tab so that I can post and log of all the amazing old things I take pictures of and don't know what to do with. So here's the first, a sink and its gorgeous fixtures that I have only seen in rich peoples homes, attached to brand new porcelain. This might be the nicest sink I've ever used and it lives on the 2nd floor ladies bath room at a place called Bill's on 54th street in Manhattan. It's a rickety joint and this sink is most likely original.