July 18 Update

I am returning to Rochester much more often than Palash or I anticipated initially -- Palash misses me, and I miss both him and home. It's pretty depressing to be in a town that you can cover all ends of on foot, alone. Ithaca would have been much more fun if Palash and I had been there together -- on my own there, even the nice things about it are a reminder that he's not there and of how much fun it might have been with him. Most of the time, if I like something, I make a note to myself "Show Palash x," or "Take Palash to y." Like the spring roll quesadilla at Viva Cantina which was so delicious: the delight was only complete when Palash had also eaten it and loved it (as of course I knew he would).

The 3x30 in Rochester is thriving. Here are pictures from the last two weekends I visited, with the names of the flowers:

(1) Cosmos and convolvulus, with some helenium at the side; (2) Larkspurs (Doesn't Palash take really good pictures with perspective?); (3) Z-scape poppies, which are rather disappointing because there aren't many, and they don't last long. The other varieties of poppy we sowed never grew at all though -- I'm really disappointed with Burpee seeds. (4) Canary climber -- the flower is all of 1 centimeter.


(5) Purple morning glory; (6) pink morning glories: Both kinds are from Burpee's Early Call Mix. Again, Burpee disappointed me because their celestial mix and their moonflowers seem to have not taken off at all. But to be fair, nor have Ferry Norse's Heavenly Blue or Crimson Rambler. (7) mainly Glads, which we bought at Wegman's. Good stuff -- glads are very regal. Even one or two are really impressive and stately.


(8) Convolvulus again, mainly because I like this picture. I must mention here that Burpee also has light and dark flowers on their packet, which led us to expect them, but apparently they're pretty loose about their representation of their package contents. Not one single sign of pink, light or dark. (9) Petunias, dewy and luscious. Again, the photo is just so good it's obvious Palash took it. (10) Sweet peas of different sorts that we harvested and put in a jam jar. Very fragrant. Needing to take this picture made me clean the dining table really well. I like the look of this picture with the window fan in the background.


My favourite gardener of all time :).