The chili peppers are ripening just as the weather turns cold.

Sidewalk Greenspace on New York's Upper West Side
The chili peppers are ripening just as the weather turns cold.

With the weather turning chilly, this might be our last garden party of the year.
Join us for crisp fall air, hot drinks, engaging conversations, remembrances, and rededications as the seasons turn.
Friday, October 30, from 7:00 until 10:00 or so. (If it’s raining on Friday, we’ll reschedule to Saturday.)
We’ll provide some warm drinks and a few snacks — please join us and share your company. If you know us, or live in the neighborhood, you’re invited!

This bench was donated by a neighbor two years ago, and has suffered a bit under the strain of the seasons and vigorous use by passersby. The seating surface was the first area to go, with cracked branches being progressively replaced by bamboo supports over the last year. Most recently, we’ve lost the second arm some time in the last few days, and it’s less clear how to best replace that — but we’ll try to keep patching it up for as long as we can to maintain this bit of rustic chic.

This fiery salvia is providing a nice burst of color on the steps to greet our neighbors as they come home each evening.

The individual leaves on this burdock are more than two feet long, as it builds up energy in its roots to flower next summer. (This less-common pattern marks it as a biennial plant., rather than an annual or perennial.)

I haven’t has as much time to put into gardening the treebeds along Broadway this year, but there are a few showy plants that have really been worth the effort



As the nights cool, we’re getting some pretty new blooms from the asters and tall stalks of evening primrose.
(Also pictured: salvia and cosmos, which have been flowering all summer.)




Last month, I lashed some five-foot-tall fiberglass rods to the top of the fence… and within hours, the tips of the morning glory vines had found them and started circling their way closer to the sun. Now that a few weeks have passed, the rods are completely hidden behind a wall of vines speckled with small purple flowers.
