So as you may remember, last year we transformed the deck of Seri’s apartment into a perfect little getaway spot. We bought some new + cool furniture and added a ton of plants to make it feel much more homey.

Since then, we’ve learned a lot about gardening! We keep joking that last year was our “test” year because we pretty much had no idea what we were doing. We just went to the market and bought things that were pretty….. Well now we know MUCH better!

Just to give you an idea of the conditions we’re working with - the summer in NYC is boiling hot. So we needed plants that would not only do well in the heat, but that would last without being watered for a few days (we are around less in the summer due to travel, being out in the Hamptons, etc). Also, Seri lives on the 16th floor of her apartment building so the wind can be intense up there. Which meant we needed to look for plants that were low and wouldn’t blow over.

With all this in mind we had a team outing to the Union Square market to check out the inventory for this year’s deck!

For our railings this year, we decided to do a mix of succulents and cactuses. Best decision ever! So far they have held up beautifully. They seriously look just as good as the day we bought them. Perfect for the wind and heat!

Last year we planted some herbs and a tomato plant. The tomato plant did amazing believe it or not, so we decided to do it again this year. For the herbs - we went with rosemary, basil, and chives. The chives and rosemary look great, the basil on the other hand is a bit tricky because it needs to be watered often but so far so good, it hasn’t died on us yet!

We wanted to bring a little bit of color into at least one of our planters. So we chatted with one of the local vendors in the market to find out what he suggested would be the best option for florals. He recommended: Lantanas, Marigolds, and Zonal Geraniums. Based off that we chose an assortment of hot pink, orange, and yellow - very LMP.

Finally, we added a small Yuca plant to our taller container to have a little bit of height. I have one of these at my house out in there burbs so I already knew it would do great in the heat!

We’re excited to see how our assortment this year holds up. And even more excited to start entertaining on the deck! More on that soon….

xo,
Natalie