stuff...

I transplanted hundreds of heirloom tomatoes and peppers that I had started from seed at home in the extra bedroom...


Jon Miller - the chip king - I salute you!


Today I made 10 hypertufa planters out of old boxes and some woks... After they cure, I'll plant them as little rock gardens.

Plants!

Some shots of the perennial plant stock...



It was very exciting to find little baby sempervivum in one of my rock gardens from Brooklyn...

A new plant nursery for annuals and great indoor plants...

nice tractor!


Special delivery! Sixpoint Craft Ales in Brooklyn NY sent a keg of Righteous Rye! Thank You!


Diana with the cash from her first sales! (she got promoted to Head of Sales!)


Katie times 2... Katie Grace lives next door and she was my first sale - Kalanchoe!

The greenhouse at the trout farm

Chris has this great little greenhouse he keeps full of flowers and vegetables. He invited me to dig up anything to use at the nursery since he is ready to reseed the beds. I cloned a bunch of the coleus and transplanted dianthus into old berry baskets lined with clear plastic.








This is sweet little Pearl sitting in a planter... she sits in all of them!


Rainbow Trout are jumping!

Tara

A friend and I were talking about Tara the other day, and I was trying unsuccessfully to describe why she has always been a goddess I have identified with, held dear... So, Shane, this is why! :)...

Tara means "star," "planet," or "she who ferries across." She is a bodhisattva embodying compassion in the female form of a young goddess. She is often considered to be such an advanced bodhisattva that she is actually a Buddha.

Tara’s name is said to derive from the verb meaning "to cross" or "to traverse". In Pali the verb tarati means "to get to the other side." This word is cognate with the Latin "trans" (across). The word Tara also literally means "star."

Green Tara (Shyama Tara or Dark Tara)) is seated on a white moon-disk. Her green complexion symbolizes the active function of the fully-enlightened being. The moon symbolizes her peacefulness. The moon is resting upon a lotus. The lotus symbolizes her freedom from any defilement, just as the lotus rises out of the mud of the swamp, but the blossom itself is pure and undefiled. In the same way, Green Tara arises in the world but is completely undefiled by the world.

Her posture is the 'lalitasana' or royal ease asana. Her left leg is withdrawn in the Lotus pose, to symbolize her mastery of Insight and detachment from the 5 Emotional Defilements (Klesha). Her right leg is in the Euro-posture in front of her body, slightly bent, with her foot on a lotus blossom. This signifies her ability to spring into action, to act swiftly for the compassionate protection of all sentient beings.

In each hand she usually holds the stem of a blue utpala flower. Each flower consists of three blossoms indicating that Tara, the embodiment of enlightened activities, is the Mother of the Buddhas of the past, present and future. The Buddha of the past is the Treasure Tower Buddha, the present refers to Shakyamuni, while the Buddha of the Future is Maitreya, the Buddha of Loving Kindness (Maitri or Metta).

Her right hand, (left-facing) is actually in the Dana or Varada Mudra (The Gift bestowing Gesture of Compassion) with the palm turned outwards. The five extended fingers in this mudra symbolize the following five perfections: Generosity, Morality, Patience, Effort, and Meditative concentration.

The left hand is held up, again with the palm facing outward, and grasping the uptala lotus. This is Abhaya Mudra the gesture of fearlessness and refuge.

This Tara was painted by Darma, a Tibetan friend I made while living in India. He taught thangka painting classes and with all of the money he made he maintained a home for orphaned Tibetan boys studying to become monks. I commissioned this piece from him (he asked $50, I gave him many times that), it made it's way to me in NY via a friend who also lived in NY but studied painting and yoga with me in India. This is the first time this thangka has been out of the protective tube and framed and hung and truly appreciated!

She hangs over command central in the nursery...

Another Tara image I found online...


Even Spider-Man has an intense Buddhist experience, thanks to his encounter with the Buddhist superheroine Tara.

My friends are the best!

So my dear friend Kevin Beard, all around great guy (and yes NY ladies - he's single!) and amazing graphic designer, designed the green grand opening invitation! I have no technological skills, so Kev has helped me over time with different stuff, including my blogging (plant of the week! heeheehee)... As a part owner of Barcade, we worked the Sunday happy hour shift together (he managed and I bartended) for over a year, and he never objected to pre-opening Patron shots or my crazy ramblings and rantings! Thanks Kevin - you're the best!


You may have noticed I never post pictures of myself, because frankly, I don't think it's so important since this blog is about plants... however... technical difficulties arose *damnit!* when I tried to upload the pdf of the invitation that Kevin made, so I posted a picture of us boozin instead! Love you Kev!

truckload of plants!

I had a very successful plant buying trip to two super great wholesale nurseries in Fletcher, NC, about half an hour from the nursery. Robert owns/runs Botanical Treasures, focusing on sun loving plants, and Butch has Dogwood Nursery, shade plants, adjoining.
Every inch of the truck was full... front seat (yes, they are wearing the seatbelt!)


Acers and ferns (native adiantum!!!) in the back of the cab...


They are all wrapped up in the truck bed to prevent the leaves and such from being too thrashed...


Voila!


In their new home! Now I just need about 20 more truckloads to fill it up! Slowly but surely!

more random stuff...

Brevard printing made up these banners for me... they turned out quite nicely.


This is the (blury) invitation to the opening party on Friday night. It should be a pretty big to-do considering how many of these have been handed out! Now we're wondering, "how many kegs?..."


Keith took me out to his friend Chris Selle's trout farm yesterday. Chris starts lots of annual flowers in his greenhouse just to grow stuff and is ready to get rid of the current batch, so he has invited me to come dig them up and sell them at the nursery! He also gave me this rack with lights set-up he didn't need anymore!


Some little sempervivum fell out of their pot so they have a new home in a glass teacup on the window sill...

stuff...

We have several ancient apple trees in the yard, all blooming beautifully, dropping petals... The pink blooming apple is over the driveway and after the rain, there were petal puddles!


The concrete footer cured and Caleb set up the sign! It blows in the wind a little bit too!


Iris cristata blooming!


A minor/major detail... the receipts and clipboard thingies that hold them... When people buy (all of) the plants we're selling, we'll write up the details on these custom made receipts! There are 2 layers, so the custie gets the yellow copy... And yes, I changed the traditional "Thank you for your business" to "Have a beautiful day!"


Everyone keeps pestering me to post shots of the inside of the space, so here's the big ol' mess... It's actually coming together quite nicely considering there is no real storage space to hide anything! All of the plants are massed together on a sheet of insulation with a heating pad underneath since it has been close to freezing the past couple of nights... yeeeeessss, that is an Australian tree fern! *sigh*

THE SIGN!!!

I am completely overwhelmed by the sign Caleb made for the shop! It is AMAZING! He made it everything I had hoped for and so much more... He is a truly great artist!


There is a middle panel that is solid green (hahaha) so coming from either direction the letters are green... does that make sense?



Some of the beautiful detail work! YAY!

Time for some plants!

I bought a few plants from some different nurseries yesterday... Both for indoors and out!

A nice assortments of Kalanchoe and other succulents...


Yesterday I only bought plants that could take the wind in the back of the truck so... GRASSES! Juncus unicorn, Festuca glauca, Dianthus, a special Iris cristata "powder blue giant", Sedum ternatum (a native sedum), Achillea and Trillium!


I repurposed a set of blinds... cut them up and I am using them as plant tags!

stuff...

Diana... the little blue table got some glue and nail therapy today!


I unpacked a box of rocks and brought some down to the nursery to live on the window ledge...


I started on some hypertufa planters today. I made a cottage cheesy mix (2 parts portland cement, 3 parts peat moss, 3 parts perlite) and packed it on the outside of 4 woks... Now they are curing under some plastic.