Monday’s Muse

"Now, thank God, everything is finished; perhaps there are still things to be done; there at the back the soil is like lead, and I rather wanted to transplant this centaurea, but peace be with you; the snow has already fallen. . . . Well then make a fire in my room; let the garden sleep under its iderdown of snow. It is good to think of other things as well; the table is full of books which…

The Brother Gardeners

  • Post published:11/28/2009
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Much has been written about the “Columbian Exchange,” which refers to the plants and animals (and diseases) that were exchanged between the Old World and the New once Columbus started ships regularly traveling across the Atlantic. The Old World owes a lot to the New, especially in an agricultural sense. Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, cocoa, pineapples and pumpkins and a dozen other crops traveled from the New World to the Old so successfully that everyone’s diet changed radically. However,…

Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden

  • Post published:11/28/2009
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All those who think roses are finicky plants that require fussing and lots of chemical sprays for disease and bugs will be surprised when they visit the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in the Bronx with its more than 3000 healthy roses.               I visited the garden last week and spent an afternoon with the Curator, Peter Kukielski, the man who has supervised the renovation of the garden over the past…

My Blogaversary Giveaway

Now that Thanksgiving has been celebrated in riotous style (23 for dinner!) it is time to move on to the next celebration. On December 6, 2007 I asked myself the question, as posed by another blog, whether I was too old to blog. The only way to find out was to begin the commonweeder.com, and I guess the answer is no, because I am still standing. Or kneeling, bending, stretching, digging, weeding, in the garden and sitting at the computer.…

Will She or Won’t She?

  • Post published:11/25/2009
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My Thanksgiving cactus has been budded for weeks and I thought she would be blooming right on time. But right on time is tomorrow!  I'm inviting her into the warm room of the house today.  I should have thought of that earlier. There is no question that this calendar will prompt me to get everything done on time. This beautiful calendar prepared by the University of Massachusetts Extension Service has 12 gorgeous photos of plants, exotic, common and…

Wildlife – There and Here

  • Post published:11/23/2009
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It was wild on the field in Ashburnam when our grandson, Ryan, and his team, the undefeated North Middlesex Wranglers, played for the state Pop Warner championship title. And they won! The Wranglers are State Champs. Next weekend they go to the regional playoffs. Ryan has a pretty good grip on that amazing trophy. Great team and a great game. Ryan's mom went wild cheering - and can barely speak today!  Yay Wranglers!  Good luck next weekend. This porcupine has been lurking around…

Blossoms of the Fall

  • Post published:11/21/2009
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  During the spring and summer most of look at the trees surrounding us and see a generally undifferentiated green. The tree foliage grows full and heavy; for the most part we don’t see the individual hues, or shapes.  That changes in the autumn.             During the past few weeks I have been particularly aware of the changes in the trees, partly because of the color changes each hour with the fluctuation of sunlight and shadow. Then, each…

Christmastime is Wreathtime

  • Post published:11/20/2009
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The Greenfield Garden Club held its wreath-making workshop last evening at Chapley's Garden in Deerfield. Linda Tyler knew what she was doing and helped all the rest of us who didn't. Chapleys provided all manner of greenery from blue spruce to euonymus, rose hips, pine cones and I don't know what all - except that a lot of different and unique wreaths were being created all around me. Karen Helbig and I were working side by side. She was…

Truffle?!

  • Post published:11/19/2009
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Ted Watt has worked with the children of the Heath Elementary School for years, teaching them about the land and the world they live in. One of the blessings of the school landscape is a woodland where the childrren have studied the seasons and phases of life of many woodland creatures and plants. On their most recent exploration of the woods they  found - drumroll please - a truffle. I know nothing about truffles, except that they are a…