Rose News

  • Post published:07/31/2009
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I just learned about a wonderful rose site, Roger Phillip's Rose Reference, which has photos of thousands of roses and information about where you can get them, as well as lots of general rose information. I am also excited to learn from them about a rose nursery in California, AND it is having a sale!  Today, the 31st is the last day for a super sale. I am going right back to the Vintage Gardens Antique Roses site.

Bee Balm – ABC Wednesday

B is for Bee Balm, otherwise known as Bergamot and Oswego Tea is more properly known as Mondarda didyma. It has been used  as a tea for centuries and is still found in herbal tea blends, and other flowery tea blends such as Earl Grey. The Shakers grew bee balm commercially because of its many uses as a tea and culinary herb. It also was used medicinally for colds and sore throats. It is the leaves that are…

Berries Jubilee

  • Post published:07/28/2009
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Summer blues are nothing to weep about.  The low bush blueberries are ripening on Burnt Hill. Anthony, Drew and I went picking over at the Benson Place. You can see forever on that hill, even the spires of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. We picked and picked. For about 15 minutes.  That's as long as it takes two energetic boys with the efficiently designed blueberry rake to pick about 20 pounds of berries, along with a few…

More Family and Flowers

  • Post published:07/27/2009
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It began with a birthday celebration (slightly belated) and a game of Settlers of Catan (excellent), but as we often say here at the End of the Road 'We are having fun, but we are on a tight schedule." And yet there are chores, or chores that are so unheard of in a Houston suburb, that they become entertainment. Anthony and Drew got to  watching the goat milking, and then reward the goat with a stimulating brush off.…

Jane Markoski’s Garden

  • Post published:07/27/2009
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“I guess you can see I like water,” Jane Markoski said as she gave me a tour through her gardens. There was a birdbath in the shady entry garden, a trickling fountain as you turned the corner of the house, a bubbling faux millstone fountain at the corner of the barn, a lotus tub in the middle of a mixed shrub and perennial border, a small fish pond with a waterfall, and a larger fish pond with a…

A Mysterious Fragrance

  • Post published:07/23/2009
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At this time of the year the walk to the hen house and back is a particular delight because of the subtle fragrance in the air. The linden trees are blooming. Lindens are also called basswood or lime trees. We planted 6 linden trees (Tilia cordata, with cordata referring to the heart shaped leaves)  about 18 years ago.  Three were for our three daughters, and three for the three (at the time) granddaughters.  We chose them because they are…

Worm Update

  • Post published:07/22/2009
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The worm farm is celebrating its first anniversary. A year ago the grandsons helped set up the worm bin, drilling air and drainage holes, and putting in rotting leaves, compost and a little soil.  All of that was really unnecessary; red wigglers are not the earthworms that live in our gardens. Red wigglers are happy with damp shredded newspaper. We started with one pound or about 1000 baby worms.  The worm bin lived outside into the fall on the…

Large and Small on the Monday Record

  • Post published:07/20/2009
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The weeds grow larger, but the adventures with Rory, large and small continue. Rory and I visited Frances Avery and her model of A.L. Avery's General Store, an essential supplier of what we need. This small model of the store includes tinier models of everything in the store, clothes, hardware, office corner, kitchen stuff, groceries and EVERYTHING! Mrs. Avery's brother in law and his family lived over the store for many years. It took her a long time…

Tours of Delight

  • Post published:07/17/2009
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These tours are over, but even these brief garden descriptions may be useful to others.   When I visited Mary Manilla’s garden in Hawley this week it was a ribbon of green along the stream that borders the garden. By the time the Hawley Garden and Artisans Tour takes place on Saturday, July 11, there will be a river of color along the stream as the hundreds and hundreds of daylilies in every hue come into bloom. It…

Bloom Day – Still Rosy in July

The roses were just beginning to bloom on June's Bloom Day, mostly the rugosas, but this Fairy, one of two, had not yet begun. Unlike most of the roses in my garden The Fairy will bloom into the fall. I fully expected the roses which had barely begun to bloom on June 15, to be done by today, but they are have a most floriferous and long season.  The Queen of Denmark is still petite, but blooming as…