apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This past month's Horticulture Magazine features a farm in Washington that champions this deep color and has beautiful gardens that are based on a 'chocolate palette', which inspired me to get those near-black dahlias last week.

This week we had a garden on wheels, gorgeous peonies, incredible garden sheds and air plants, an infant's indoor forest, and lots mor kitchen gardening...

This week I was inspired to get these deep, almost black dahlias after discovering a farm dedicated to such dark-hued plants (I'll be posting about them later today). Having such a dark flower is much like beginning an oil painting on a deep ochre ground...

I like the large negative space formed by such dark flowers. What would you have put in with them?

We're sending a shout-out to all of you who bring home flowers to brighten up your home. Do YOU have some Sat. morning flowers to share? Let me know! You can drop a line with a small description and some pics at matt at apartment therapy dot com

The NY Times article "For Urban Tree Planters, Concrete Is the Easy Part" writes about Arthur Simpson, one of the 24 foresters hired this past year to get the city's Million Trees Initiative under way, and some of the surprising resistance he has encountered since he began the job.

Links on the Million Trees Initiative, why trees are a good urban investment, and how to get involved after the jump...

This week The Kitchen is kicking off a month of kitchen gardening (!), beautiful garden creations at Ohdeedoh, fantastic tire vessels from Re-nest, a call for orchid advice and best small planters at AT:LA, poison ivy is proliferating over at AT: SF, and nasturtiums from last year's flowerbox awards!

This year's were especially nice - and the show's almost over! A few shots from them at their peak, as well as a link to a NY Times article and video about these plantings after the jump...

Seeing the spring cherry blossoms never gets old. But I never get to see them more than once or twice before they are gone for a year. This beautiful time-lapse video comes via the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Toggle back and forth from the beginning to the middle of the video - dramatic difference!

Havana uses vegetable gardens within the city to feed the population, locally and organically. They aren't doing it to be nice guys - they are doing it because they have to.

Last year Maria Finn posted on her blog about traveling to Cuba and visiting these gardens. This morning she is sharing with us a few pictures and describes how these gardens/farms are set up - and why...

One of the 'guest lecturers' at the Greenmarket

I came for the flowers, but stayed for the chickens. A few weeks back I came across Jennifer Small of Flying Pigs Farm at a Greenmarket demonstration speaking about raising chickens, farm life, and answering questions from people who were curious about raising chickens in the city.

View your invite for the upcoming Native Plants Demonstration on May 3rd and a few shots from the market from these past weeks...

Almost every day in spring could come with a reminder of some seasonal flower that we should enjoy while we can. Right now I have cherry blossoms in mind, and now is the perfect time to get them at the market or enjoy outside.

This week I passed by a place full of these same blossoms that are gracing the Met's Great Hall (above)...

"I don't have any fancy photos to submit but I woke up this morning and saw that my flowers were in perfect bloom and just wanted to share!"

Today's flowers are courtesy of Stephanie (above), Amy, and Yvonne (after the jump).

We're sending a shout-out to all of you who bring home flowers to brighten up your home. Do YOU have some Sat. morning flowers to share? Let me know! You can drop a line with a small description and some pics at matt at apartment therapy dot com

While the concept above for an empty Canal Street lot may never go beyond the drawing board, the urban garden concept below will be appearing in Queens this summer. Take a closer look after the jump...

This week across AT there were suggestions on indoor/outdoor chairs, vines on ceilings, a simple and beautiful bud vase, a crazy front yard plant, turning your lawn into something edible, and a high-tech sprinkler run by computer...

This week's photos were sent in by Monica who describes her flower taste as, "Nothing fancy, as I really like it quite simple". Without a lot of fuss Monica brings flowers into her home, simply, sometimes even digging a few bulbs from outside...

I am sending a shout-out to all of you who bring home flowers to brighten up your home. Do YOU have some Sat. morning flowers to share? Let me know! You can drop me a line and some pics at matt at apartment therapy dot com

A few weeks ago I posted on some double tulips from my local florist. They were a fresh and exciting contrast to the other tulips in the cooler, so it was surprising to learn that they have been around for hundreds of years.

Scott Kunst from Old House Gardens was nice enough to write a bit about double tulips and explain the possible origins of the ones that make their way to the florists' coolers, which you can read about after the jump...

Organic Gardening Magazine had great suggestions this month for using items in/around your home as plant food, rather than spending money or reaching for a chemical. Two of these seemed especially good for people living in the thick of the city (photo above is a big hint for one of them)...

Carnivorous plants seem to get a bad rap - but they have an abundance of beauty and character (so what if it comes from digesting flies?). Pitcher plants (Sarracenia) are very, very cool. I think they make a very interesting addition to a flower arrangement. Not only are their tubes/pitchers full of color(above), but they also put forth some of the strangest flowers you have ever seen.

This week I bought a bunch of the tubes and combined them with these tiny Narcissus blossoms.

More pics (including the pitcher plant's flower) and a word of advice on the Narcissus after the jump...

A roundup of plant and flower-related posts from the AT sites from the past week. This week there were dinosaurs lurking in the foliage, trees hiding in cans, flowers at the table, outdoor-inspired decor, and flower classes in Paris...

It has been great to receive photos from other people enjoying cut flowers - and we decided to continue to share some of what has been gracing our inbox (although I have a fun, unusual pick to share later today).

This series of photos are from Kenn, who is joining in on Chicago's cure and has really gotten into finding flowers every week for his cottage. Although he says his place is not ready for its close-up, he was happy to share the flowers he has bought over the past 4 weeks. Take a look at his other weeks' choices after the jump!

I have a motley group of pots on various windowsills, which is why this caught my interest over on the Smith & Hawken website...

April kicks off 'National Gardening Month' and 'Million Trees NYC Month' - Here is a short list of lectures and events in April happening all over the city. Do you know one that's not on the list? Post it in the comments and let everyone know about it!

So last week I received e-mails from all over from those who also were enjoying cut flowers around the home, and will definitely share them with AT readers. This morning's are from Kristin from Cambridge, MA. Last week she got married and the ceremony was in their apartment!

There is a lot of green going on across all the AT sites. Here is some of what was out there this past week.