Hi Yippee,

This sounds like a great idea! I live in the Chelsea/Clinton area which is a stone's throw from the flower district and have a terrace on the 20th floor. My space is 6'X12' but I enjoy it so much. I've experimented with various annuals, perrenials and evergreens. Unfortunately I've killed the perrenials but I'm learning from my mistakes. The evergreens have survived nicely though. This summer I'll be changing the look completely going for the Greek island look. Last summer I started painting the terrace using white and blue with yellow accents. The year before it was all reds and oranges. Here's a couple of pics for you.

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Hi Amaranthena! Thanks for your note. Gee, what a nice little balcony setup you have there! It's so nice and "clean", and it's a very natural/casual/eclectic mix of things you have too, which I like.

Here's a link to pix of my yard:

http://www.pbase.com/yippee1999/selected_images_from_my_yard

How nice that you live near the Flower District. I just love walking around there in the Summertime, although it IS sad that more and more of it is disappearing. Last I heard, many of the vendors were eventually going to have to relocate... I think to the Bronx maybe?

I see you're from Piraeus? How nice! I've been to Greece and loved it, but I never made it to Piraeus.

Anyway, maybe we could arrange to meet for coffee, either near your place or mine, and then check out one or the other's patio, and then vice-versa some other time. (I live up in West Harlem at 149th Street.) I'm also game for opening these meetings up to others that might be on this board, if you are...

BTW, there's another forum here for Metro NY gardeners, and they are in the process of trying to arrange some meetings as well. Most of the people on that forum are in L.I., but I told them that I'd still be interested in knowing when their meetings are, and that I'd try to attend so long as my schedule allowed, and so long as I can get there by train. You might want to check that forum out too if you're interested.

So you said you've killed-off most of your perrenials? You do know about the if-in-pots-subtract-two-zones law, right? :--) So for container gardeners like you and me, we should only be buying perrenials hardy to Zone 4 or below, and MAYBE Zone 5. But anything Zone 6 or up will more than likely die. I had to learn that rule the hard way too. :--( I also initially didn't understand what "Full Sun" really meant either. I thought if my plants had direct sun on them at any part of the day, that that meant "Full Sun". I didn't know that Full Sun meant a Full DAY of sun, or a minimum of 5 hours or whatever! So now I just focus on Shade/Part Shade plants hardy to Zone 4, and sometimes 5.

All for now!

Lynn/yippee1999

oops! Let me try the link again...

Here is a link that might be useful: yippee1999's yard

Hi Yippee,

Thanks for the link! Your Japanese maple is beautiful. Regarding the flower district I don't know what will happen to it but I will be very sad to see it go if indeed it does. I look forward to walking through it especially during the spring.

My biggest mistake in killing plants was that I didn't water them when the temperature was 40 degrees or over so they dried out. I guess I was afraid that it would be too cold and they'd freeze, so instead they dried out. I also recently learned about the lower zone rule for containers since I joined this forum.

Last summer I stuck with annuals and they were lovely all summer long. This year I'm focusing on hardy evergreens and probably some annuals. Since my terrace isn't to large I'm trying to limit the big pots. I want to find a very hardy shade tolerant vine that will cover the railing. I recently purchased some English Ivy but I doubt it will survive the winter.

I've seen the LI forums but I doubt I'll have any time to go to their meetings. Perhaps we can start a Manhattan Garden Club! There's so much rooftop and balcony gardening in this borough. Just from my terrace I see so many all around and there's plenty of brownstones with beautiful frontyards and backyards.

Meeting for coffee sounds like fun and if anyone else from this board is interested in joining us would be more than welcome by me.

What do you think about meeting by the Union Square area? There's lots of great places to get coffee, the Ghandi garden is beautiful this time of year, and we can check out all the plants and flowers at the Farmer's Market. It's there every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday until 6pm. Fridays and Saturdays are usually good for me.

One of my friends has been trying to get me to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We could plan an outing if you're interested. The Sakura Matsuri Festival will be Saturday, April 29th and Sunday, April 30 from 10am-6pm.

Here's a picture of my terrace from this morning right before the snowstorm and another photo during the snowfall of my neighborhood rooftop gardens. Enjoy!

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The Ghandi Garden at Union Square Park taken April of 2005