Westlawn flowers

Just west of Growing Power on Silver Spring (at about 63rd Street or so) is this bountiful flower garden. It always strikes me as so colorful and amazing. It really brightens up the government-style housing at Westlawn. It makes such a difference.

I Heart Growing Power

I love Growing Power on Silver Spring. Everybody there is just super. The pic above is a young lady helping an older couple collect some compost/topsoil and get it into their car. Below is one of the greenhouses. Probably it would have been a good idea to open the screen door to get a better shot, but I was being stealthy.

Sadly, they had no eggs today. "They all went to the market," said the clerk. "We just have to wait on the ladies to lay more." Plan: call ahead next time.

Succulence!

Cacti and succulents have always amazed me. I have been growing them for years. They have fan clubs. They are inspiring. They have vivid, evocative names like "Living Stones" and "String of Beads" and "Burro's Tail." They even have their own Dome. I have some that I have been lovingly cultivating for years (one since at least 1993), and ones that are special cherished gifts (they really are the gift that keeps on giving, as I have potted many cuttings for loved ones as well). In San Francisco, jade plants get to be several feet in diameter, just effortlessly growing on the street: a sight that was as extraordinary to me as the Golden Gate Bridge or the Wharf. Those are like the Redwood Forest of succulents. But I meant to write about tomatoes.

These are not tomatoes. These are succulents.

As you may know, Kellner's is now under new ownership. I stopped there on the way home from work the other day, looking belatedly for tomato plants- unfortunately, the ones they had were cursed with yellow leaves, brown spots, and thrips. Not something I wanted to purchase, or even compost. Yuck.


But I wandered into the building and discovered a portal into another dimension: a greenhouse, previously closed off under the old ownership, that was filled with breathtaking cacti and succulents. I found heaven.

Cacti and succulents at Kellner's in the magical greenhouse.

More succulents and cacti.

I purchased two plants as well as some cacti and succulent soil mix (usually I make my own mix, but... I'm still dedicated to the 3/50 project, and, and...) and found a couple more loose succulent chunks on the overwhelmingly disorganized shelves: pieces that had fallen off other plants and were already starting to form wee babies of their own. I liberated those tiny fallen pieces to be able to help them flourish in my own new succulent garden (as you can see, one cactus is dead in the photo above). Tomatoes will have to wait for another day: the Farmer's Markets are opon us now, anyway.

Weed bouquet

Today is the 11th anniversary of my marriage to Brain. He doesn't get me flowers, ever, using his half-Vulcan logic: "You have flowers," broadly indicating the yard. This year, though, all I have are weeds. And a fairly good excuse to not have gotten rid of them. (Though I had eradicated the evil garlic mustard previously, at least). I missed the peonies' bloom- pushing aside the taller-than-myself weeds revealed only shriveled brown. I had hoped to snip a bouquet for myself, at the very least.

Since many of my neighbors care meticulously about their own lawn appearances, particularly those directly next door in either direction, this is especially frustrating.

So today, Brain, ever the practical pragmatist, weeded the front flowerbeds for me. Ah, mature love. That, and the perfectly cooked steak he has been making for me.