Urban Plants

Chicago hasn't aesthetically looked like an urban place to me despite living here for about two and a half years.  But I've picked up a few things:

Chicago houses might be narrow, but they're long - and they go pretty far back.

An urban area that has lots of trees feels a lot less like an urban area. Andersonville has always felt a bit more friendly than the Loop because of this. Green instead of concrete just feels a bit better (although I'm sure the Loop would test out green painted concrete as a short term solution to please residents down there.

Sometimes you're just getting accustomed to an urban place so you notice the endless rows of houses more.

So, while taking pictures of the kitchen plants to keep on file and document their growth, I noticed that I truly do live in an urban area. Maybe I was just ignoring it, or comparing little Andersonville to Brooklyn, in which Brooklyn looks like the massive stone giant.

Urban Jade
Crassula ovata

Clapping Hands (or Bunny Ears)
Opuntia microdsys

Spider Plant
Chlorophytum comosum

Cactus Rock looking over the houses.

The lone star Cactus Rock.

Ivy Unwinding

Urban Crown of Thorns
Euphorbia Milii

Crown of Thorns Budding
Euphorbia Milii

Euphorbia Milii Budding Two Buds

Today I sat on the deck reading Jude the Obscure, engulfed in that wayward confusingly changing time period from Victorian to Modern and listening to birds sweetly singing on telephone wires, more alive than I could ever be sitting in 90 degrees.


So I thought I'd take pictures of Crown of Thorns.

Crown of Thorns is one of the only plants that blooms year-round if you gave them the proper care.  The flowers, while beautiful, eventually whither up and fall. Legend has it that the crown from this plant were used in the crucifixion of Jesus.