Everyone Loves Flowers

Fresh Cut Flowers
I zipped past the sign on W. Forest over in Woodbridge on my way to Wayne State. Did it say flowers for sale? As I continued on to my class, I thought what a cool idea. Sell fresh flowers from your garden. I made a point to look for the sign again. The next time I passed by though I didn't see it, so I figured that it was a one time deal.

Wrong
I couldn't have been more wrong. My class finished up at the end of June, but I recently had a reason to pass by the house again at the corner of W. Forest and Rosa Parks. And sure enough there was a sign. This time I stopped.


Simple Process
I discovered the place is called Fresh Cut Flower Farm, and you can read more about them at their website FreshCutDetroit.com. The gardner, Sarah, greeted me and explained that the flowers are around back on the side of the house. We walked over, and I was pleasantly surprised to find bouquets of fresh flowers lined up. However, they turned out to be flowers that were preordered. Bummer. But she did have $5 bouquets for sale, and that was exactly what I needed. Fresh flowers made simple. I purchased a couple of bouquets, and sure enough Mrs. DVD was surprised and happy with her gift.

Fresh Cut Flowers

Thursdays
If you're in the area stop by, but the stand is only open on Thursdays from 4 pm to 8 pm. According to their website they're open from May to October. Fresh Cut Detroit also offers other services such as wholesale and custom orders. Check out their website for more info. Beautiful flowers await you.

 

 

Bouquets of Fresh Flowers

 

 

Fresh Cut Flower Farm

Summer Come Back!

Flowers at Lafayette Greens

Urban Garden

After shoveling some snow today, I was thinking about this past summer, partly to remind me that warmer weather will come back, but also thinking about how much I miss the green landscape. Then it hit me, time to dig into the archives and publish the video about one of Detroit's coolest urban gardens, Lafayette Greens.



Compuware Connection
I later found out that this garden was commissioned by Compuware. They have different opportunities to get involved at the garden, and you can read more about what's going on there by clicking on this link.

A view from the garden

Vibrant colors

Raised garden beds

Statues
Inside the garden are some unique pieces of art by Tim Burke. He uses found metal and other scrap to create his art. Read more about the artist here.

Statue among the flowers

Video
Below is the video I shot back in August 2013. If you like urban gardens, be sure to check out Lafayette Greens, you won't be disappointed. The location is at 132 W. Lafayette Blvd. at the corner of Shelby St. and Lafayette.

Eat Local Food

Murals

I don't have much information on this great mural project on East Jefferson other than it's unique. The installation is at the corner of Lakewood and E. Jefferson, and the garden and the murals offer a nice break from the busyness of the street.

If you click on the photos below, you'll get a better view of the art.

Creativity with a message!

Art and flowers = nice

So what do you think? Sure beats a vacant lot in my opinion.

Where's Buster? The Backyard Koi Pond

Koi Fish Pond

Lorenzo's pond

My brother-in-law, Lorenzo, has been raising Koi in his backyard pond in Detroit for years. He and his wife have a beautiful home, and their backyard is a relaxing green space with a Koi fish pond adding to the tranquility.

Catfish

Amidst the Koi in the pond are a couple of catfish, and as you see in the video the catfish don't come out for food as quickly as the Koi. In the video there is talk about "Buster", the previous catfish, who by size alone was "king of the pond". Buster is no longer with us, but a couple more are on the way. :)

Have you ever tried to raise Koi, or do you have a pond in your backyard? Leave a comment and let me know!

Detroit Tea Time

Heat Wave

A sizzling heat wave hit metro Detroit last week. The average temperature was 94 degrees! Two days the temperature went into triple digits (101 on July Fourth and yesterday, 100). What does at Detroiter do to fight the heat? Drink some iced tea. Nothing like good old-fashioned sun tea to battle the heat wave. Here's a photo of the tea brewing in the Detroit Video Daily garden.

Lots of sun, makes good tea!

Flowers

And I can't post a photo from the DVD garden without highlighting a few flowers. The frame around the photo was made possible by using the website PicMonkey.com. It's an easy to use website to do basic photo editing. No need to register, just upload your photo, edit and save it back to your computer.

Fancy frame!

Second Photo

Here's another photo with nice matte frame.

From the DVD Garden

Garden Extra
The garden also has an old ashtray from years gone by. I used a filter from PicMonkey.com to add a little character.

Antique look

Just the photo
Here's the photo plain and simple. It looks like a few of the daisies are wilting a bit in the heat.

No effects,  just the photo please.

Do you have a garden this summer? How did it hold up through the recent heat wave?