Eat your Vegetables, Drink your Flowers?

A story in this week's New York Times dining section headlined How to Sip a Flower Garden led us to wonder whether we should add a bartender to the staff. As visitors to the store know, we do enjoy the occasional cocktail hour. We hadn't realized that this is the summer of the floral cocktail; that flowers are being "deployed as much for their delicate flavors as their visual appeal." The cocktail shown is flavored with elderflower liqueur and, as readers of our 4th of July post will spot, garnished with a nasturtium bloom

One of the Creatures of Gotham Gardens

Remember the old song Froggy went a-courtin'? This froggy went a-hitch-hikin' and arrived in the shop over a year ago hidden in a plant shipment.  A Cuban tree frog, his is considered an invasive species. Even if he could be released into the wild, New York winters would not be to his liking. He's grown considerably in the warmth and humidity of his own terrarium (complete with pool), feasting happily on crickets. Given tree frogs are nocturnal, we were delighted to find him awake and willing to pose. Meanwhile, the song has been covered by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan to Elvis Presley. We especially like this version by everyone's favorite frog, Kermit.

Monsoon Summer

We got off to a late start planting our window boxes this spring. For a time, all we had was bare dirt as customers bought the plants we had planned on planting. But thanks to New York City's second rainiest summer (which August may push into the record book), the window boxes have more than made up for lost time. On the left you can see our crop of Swiss chard, more than overdue for harvesting. Alocasias, the elephant-ear plants on the right, have overshadowed a nasturium vine but are bringing much delight to passers-by.