In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: The Cubicle Garden: An Interview @1:46 PM
Matthew Gallaway: You have a very lovely and unusual green plant on your desk — can you tell me what kind it is?
Jessica Picone: It is a ZZ plant! Zamioculcas zamiifolia. [Also called 'Zanzibar Gem.']
Matthew: How long have you had it?
Jessica: Since July, I believe.
Matthew: It looks very healthy—does it get any natural light?
Jessica: No! This beauty has thrived in the complete absence of natural light. It lives in my cubicle. READ MORE 11
The End of the 00s: Down Under the George Washington Bridge Overpass, by Matthew Gallaway @1:00 PM
It was one of those late November days for which the decade will perhaps be remembered, a day that should have been cold but was not. Stephen and I decided to take a walk to the Hudson River, and though the air felt good —the way it does in late spring, when you put away your jacket for the season —I could not shake a sense that there was something unhealthy about it, as if I had mistakenly wandered onto the grounds of a hospital. READ MORE 2
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: The End of Autumn @5:44 PM
Spring is the time when even the surliest curmudgeons are lulled by new shoots and flowering buds into a state of shallow optimism. Summer—as certain plants inexplicably thrive while others succumb to heat and rain and pests—delivers a mix of pleasure and disappointment (and Deathâ„¢). Autumn, leaving us now, is about reflection and reconciliation. READ MORE 23
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: In Search of Lost Roses @1:15 PM
As Stephen and I pulled into the parking lot of our favorite nursery on a recent Saturday afternoon—we were here to buy mulch—I felt a stab of regret that it was not the 'Month of Mary,' followed by a second stab of regret that we were not walking through the countryside of France (followed by a third that it was 2009 and a fourth that ____). READ MORE 28
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: The Oxford Botanic Garden @3:00 PM
The second I walked through the entrance of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, I knew I had made the right decision to skip the historic site of ____ (est. 1287), which several of my colleagues opted to visit on a recent Sunday afternoon before a series of 'business meetings' that would occupy us through the duration of our stay. READ MORE 21
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: Jumel Terrace @3:54 PM
The best route to Jumel Terrace is by way of a small staircase located on St. Nicholas Avenue just north of 160th Street, on the east side. Before you get to the garish teal awning of the adjacent supermarket, turn right and walk up the fifteen or so steps to the top. The ghetto behind you—the housing projects, the dealers, the 99-cent stores, the tinted-window SUVs roaring up and down Amsterdam Avenue and the (faggot-hating) iglesias pentecostales—will instantly recede as you are delivered into one of the city's most forgotten landscapes. READ MORE 21
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: Gardening Is My Blank @12:20 PM
On the taxi ride from the 'Ronald Reagan' National Airport, the majestic trees lining the Potomac cannot completely overcome a manicured sterility of the landscape that seems appropriately Orwellian, given the proximity of the Pentagon. Unlike so many great urban parks—e.g., Rock Creek Park, just a few miles away—which beckon with the allure of brief, anonymous sexual encounters, the most prominent 'cruising' in this stretch of Virginia seemed to be that of a police vehicle intruding in the shot, as if to warn against even imagining what might be going on in the back seats of those parked cars in the distance. READ MORE 25
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: Gay Gardens @2:50 PM
As we like to do every October, Stephen and I recently drove to Brewster, a small town in Westchester County, about an hour north of the city. Our first destination was the company ____, which you will no doubt recognize as an importer of fine ceramics, glass and textiles—not to mention garden statuary and urns. They were holding an 'outlet sale' at their office-park warehouse. READ MORE 31
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: The Hyacinth Bean Vine @1:40 PM
While there are many vines in our Washington Heights garden, the Hyacinth Bean Vine (Dolichos lablab) has emerged as the most frightening intriguing as we head deeper into the fall season. Not only does it continue to grow vigorously, sending out blood-red tendrils and wide emperor-green leaves that seem to sway (and perhaps beckon) even when the wind isn't blowing, but it still blooms with equal potency, with many new inflorescences adorned with clusters of pink flowers that will soon mutate into shiny purple seed pods. READ MORE 9
In the Weeds, with Matthew Gallaway: The Protest Garden @1:45 PM
I arrived in Pittsburgh last Friday night at 11 p.m., or exactly 12 hours later than I had anticipated when I booked the flight a few weeks earlier. (Hey, that a.m./p.m. thing can be tricky!) This meant I couldn't join my friend Jennifer at the G-20 protest downtown, which after much internal debate (but before I realized my mistake), I decided I was looking forward to. After all—questions of political efficacy aside—who but the cold-hearted and dull-minded doesn't love the traveling carnival that is a great protest march? I was also curious to know whether there would be a contingent of non-heterosexuals. As everyone knows, they are essential to the success of such affairs. READ MORE 7
In the Weeds: Grapes @2:04 PM
Grapes: the foundation of civilization? Possibly. Besides cats, can you think of anything else so prominently featured in 5000-year-old Egyptian hieroglyphs that to this day remains a 'must-have' in the modern garden? (Seriously, don't answer that.) Whatever, grapes have a lot going for them: as this site about the world's healthiest foods notes, 'the combination of crunchy texture and dry, sweet, tart flavor has made grapes an ever popular between-meal snack as well as a refreshing addition to both fruit and vegetable salads.' Grapes also cure cancer, heart disease and maybe even stop you from aging. In short, even if you eat a lot of grapes, it's probably not enough! (This rule obviously applies to the liquid form of grapes, aka 'wine'.) READ MORE 12
In the Weeds: Zinnia Profusion, or, When We Start Thinking About the Death of Flowers @2:00 PM
Though almost always considered a 'beginner's flower,' the zinnia nevertheless has a long and controversial history. Records of its use date back to at least to the 1500s, when it first appears in Aztec garden blogs and anonymous conquistadors 'snarkily' referred to it in the comments as 'mal de ojos' (which of course is Spanish for 'fugly'). German botanist Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727 – 1759)—after whom the plant is named—brought it back to Europe, however, where it faded in and out of popularity for several centuries. READ MORE 12
In the Weeds: The English Elm of Washington Heights, or, 'The Trees of Manhattan Island Are Gradually Following the Fate of the Red Men' @7:34 PM
Looking north from the intersection of St. Nicholas and Amsterdam Avenues toward 163rd Street in Washington Heights, you might notice what appears to be an exceedingly large tree. And as the August heat radiates off the surrounding pavement, you might say to yourself: WTF, is that a mirage? Because really, there's nothing about the neighborhood—replete with liquor stores, decaying apartment palaces, abandoned lots and vacant storefronts—that would seem to lend itself to hosting such a magnificent specimen. READ MORE 3
In the Weeds: The August Slump @4:45 PM
April may be the cruelest month, but in terms of life gardening, August is arguably the shittiest. If your garden is anything like ours, it has entered 'the slump,' a demoralizing period when your favorite perennials have already flowered, the conifers are sagging and even the most dependable annuals are riddled with holes from mysterious and seemingly incurable infestations of leaf-munching bugs. While this can be an excellent time to reflect on what went wrong—and if you can afford it and have the space, to order some late-blooming summer bulbs for next year—it can also be an ideal time to say: 'Fuck it, let's go back to Wave Hill!' READ MORE 13
In the Weeds: Veronica Repens ‘Sunshine’ (Golden Creeping Speedwell) @3:05 PM
While there are many Veronicas to choose from, I've always been partial to V. repens 'Sunshine.' Commonly known as golden creeping speedwell, it's easy to grow, is on excellent terms with cold weather (hardy to Zone 4, at least), and looks great in the alpine garden or anywhere else (including pots) with decent sun, adequate water and good drainage. READ MORE 6
In the Weeds: The Dawn Redwood @4:59 PM
While the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is not as massive as its California cousin—the giant sequoia—for me, the tree has always possessed an equally mythical allure. Long believed to have gone the way of the dinosaurs—leaving behind only fossilized records of its existence—a wild stand was discovered in a remote region of China in the 1940s, and seeds were brought back to the United States, where it proved particularly adaptable to the primordial climate that still reigns on so much of the East Coast. READ MORE 7
In the Weeds: Phyllostachys Aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'! @3:00 PM
As a gardener in Washington Heights, the most daunting problem (besides the rats) has always been the pervasive and terrifying sense of being scrutinized by at least three thousand people the second I step outside. This is due to the many apartment buildings—all six stories and built within 15 feet of their respective property lines—that hover over the tiny backyard plot. READ MORE 12
In the Weeds: Corsican Mint! @12:50 PM
I became obsessed with Corsican mint a few years ago, after seeing a photograph of a courtyard garden, which-if memory serves-featured little more than ten or twelve large white stepping stones magically hovering above a translucent carpet of the Mentha requienii. While I had no desire to impose this kind of 'modern' aesthetic onto my own garden-which was already packed full of similar obsessions-I began to research. The plant, I quickly learned, has a preference for a 'climate zone' of 6 through 9-fairly warm– and though Washington Heights is technically a zone 6A, I find that plants do best if I treat the neighborhood as a zone 5. What did I care? I immediately bought some. Via the internet! READ MORE 24
