THE HYDRANGEAS are in high definition, so blue and vivid in this backyard paradise in Fishtown, and a hint of jealousy blooms in Donna Cooper.

A few blocks away, Cooper’s hydrangeas, and every other rooted thing in her yard, all live in the shade of a cherry tree. She can’t bear to chop it down or even to gently prune it, no matter what hue her hydrangeas settle on.

“My god, what a beautiful blue. This is called garden envy,” she says, strolling through a friend’s Eden on Palmer Street.

Cooper, 54, is executive director of the nonprofit Public Citizens for Children and Youth, and a former deputy mayor and policy chief for Ed Rendell in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.

Once described as Rendell’s “pit bull” who wielded great power, on this scorching Sunday she’s suffering no foolish Fishtown homeowners who just tossed some pansies in a plastic container willy-nilly and hung them out by a window.

In between stops to admire her neighbors’ gardens, Cooper’s judging window boxes for a Fishtown Neighborhood Association contest.

“Well, that’s not really a window box,” she says, pedaling her multicolored Specialized mountain bike past a boxful of blooming flowers on a sidewalk.

Diversity is a big plus for window boxes, she says.

“I’m looking for a nice, full arrangement of interesting flowers of different sizes and varieties. I’m also looking for color diversity,” she says, snapping a photo of one such box near Palmer and Wildey streets.

In the back yard of Michael Di-Berardinis, commissioner of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, Cooper talks politics, a grilled-salmon recipe, the school budget, feral cats, gravel, education, Italian terra cotta and her envy over flowers blooming in his sun-dappled yard.

“See what a difference a little sunlight makes,” she instructs, pressing a glass of iced seltzer against her neck.

Philadelphia Inquirer – July 9, 2013 – Read article online