“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers” Claude Monet
Just popping in to say hey and try to get outside this funk I am finding myself in. Bud and I spent Friday evening looking at paintings at the Norton Simon Museum which has a surprisingly great collection of paintings and artist represented in this little museum!
The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil 1881 Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)
And lately my mind has been obsessed with flower selection for the New Orleans garden which I am considering calling Cross Roads Garden... still not 100% sure on that but a working name for now to see if it sticks.
Tulips are becoming a focus as well as roses... I mean I have to pick the ones that have a reputation for being stubborn or fussy and really demand I hone some skills. Having to chill the tulip bulbs before being able to get them to grow. This can be done in a refrigerator minus any apples or other fruits that emit that gas while ripening (c2h4 ethylene) which will damage or ruin a tulip bulb) so that is the trick I need to conquer as I broke down with a small order of parrot tulips to try and force and test out a couple outside to see if I can get them to grow early spring in New Orleans or at least force some in a cute china bowl or something for a table display at least. I was going to leave tulips out of the mix because I was convinced it was just too damn HOT to consider. But Dawn, a new friend who lives in New Orleans says people get tulips to grow...so of course I need to test this out and find the spots I can get to work! 
Roses I will get down and then again that becomes a matter of sunlight. Though there are a few David Austin Rose varieties that they say can handle some shade. I need to find one that will climb and do alright for the front garden to climb up one post to the porch façade (overhang , whatever it is called)
So lots of testing the first year around the Roses that I know I can get to work and plugging in other things, annuals, a couple perennials once I get a look about town and see what is doing well locally.
I guess Tulips are bit of a memory from child hood and my grandmothers front porch at her tiny little house on 4th Street and my first exposure to gardens as a child. Peony's and Bleeding hearts are another love but I have not heard of Peony doing well in New Orleans and Bleeding Hearts are a question mark. I most likely will try Fuchsias in pots or hanging baskets. I would love Lilac but the kind like we had in Wisconsin and I just don't think they would thrive down south.
Again I am all over the place. I've dull sorting and cleaning to do and I just want to be distracted and lost in the smell and sights of a lovely garden.
And while I wish there was the space in the landscape of Cross Road Gardens no lily pond is being planned tho wouldn't that be grand!? However, I did check out the pond in the sculpture garden at the Norton Simon for the first time. Only part of it was open due to the light rain and I guess they where worried bout guest tracking dirt (mud it was not) into the lobby of the museum. But still it make me happy to sit outside and think about the paintings we just looked at the nice cool air and light rain fall around us after very HOT week in Los Angeles. Something I need to get used to.
