Heading into August–and hoping for a nice mix of rain and sun! The sunflower babies have been flourishing, and today Ellen was gratified to see two women posing and taking their pictures together at the ginkgo tree sunflower garden across from the post office! Nuestros jardines are living the dream!
Not only were these folks happy to spread the tree and sunflower love, but all our various gardens have been drunk on sunshine for weeks now, and most are looking pretty darn lush. For instance, the one we focused on today, on Broadway just below 193rd, near Reynaldo’s NC Mascy Flowers, Reynaldo, Aricela, Carlo and the gang have been protecting and adding herbs and plants, and it’s looking amazing! We began the garden, as you may recall, with two rue plants (now defunct) and two Mexican oregano plants (now thriving and strong beyond belief, and spreading out).
We eventually added a bit of basil (seeds), and mint (plants), and just hoped for the best. Meanwhile, the florist contingent has been adding nutrient-filled soil to the pit, along with Mexican marigolds and Chia plants–and it looks like maybe also a Bonnet pepper or two! The entire rectangle, which used to attract tons of dog poop, is now beautiful and full of green edibles. Today, we replaced the old poles and added some of our quickly-becoming-trademark, Home Depot-supplied white picket fencing.
At Reynaldo’s advice, we also planted a small but sturdy Yucca plant: these amazing native north American plants thrive from Canada to Panama, and a bit beyond. They tend to like dry soil, so we’ll be curious to see how this one does in this relatively wet bed. There are 50 different species of yucca (aka Adam’s Needle, or Spanish Bayonet), and the genus is related to asparagus and agave. They range from small shrubby plants to tree-ish giants like the Joshua Tree. This tree-like plant (they can grow 20+ feet tall!) that is called yucca is not the same as manioc or cassava (which is also known, confusingly, as yuca), which is a shrubby plant with those wonderful edible potato-like roots (for more about manioc/cassava/yuca, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava).
Yuccas generally have rosettes of leaves and creamy white flowers that show themselves off in bunches. Ours from Mascy is the type of Yucca called Yucca gigantea (literally “Giant Yucca”), which is native to Central America, in particular Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the eastern part of México: Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz, eastern Puebla, and southern Tamaulipas–and it’s migrated to Puerto Rico, the Leeward Islands, and Ecuador as well. Yucca plants up north here are often brought indoors as house plants–but they can also thrive outdoors within that large range.
Yuccas are pollinated by specially co-evolved yucca moths (in fact, yuccas and their moths are a famous example of mutualism in nature). I am so excited to grow this plant, and see if its companion moths appear next!
The flowers are part of Guatemalan and Central American cuisine – petals are blanched for 5 minutes, then cooked with tomato, onion, chile pepper, or made into egg-battered patties with green or red sauce. In Guatemala, boil and eat with lemon juice! Other uses for the yucca have included using its fibers to make cords, baskets, mats, and sandals.
A humorous aside: We had been talking for quite a while about creating coziness and inviting folks to hang out at the flower beds. So, a few weeks ago, Ellen tried placing a comfy abandoned chair, snagged from around the local A train station, next to our little sunflowers: one of the dreams would be to have each of the little gardens become their own hangout spot for locals enjoying a snack in some shade. When we met up the next day, however, the chair was gone… or, er, at least it had been moved a half block up Nagle, and, to our amazement, was actually in the process, right that moment, of being refashioned with a large lockcutter by a neighbor who shall remain nameless (because we literally don’t know their name!), who, as we watched!!, took off the top bar of the chair in this way, then leaned back, lounging in the chair as though it were a hammock–at least they enjoyed their new chair! Sigh. We’ll be on the lookout for replacement furniture; stay tuned!