My neighbors, Brooks McCutchen and Janis Steele, are very models of the modern maple sugarers. When I went to visit their sugarhouse I saw the familiar steam billowing from the roof, but as I got closer I saw modern elements. Inside the sugarhouse is a huge steamy stainless steel evaporator but there is no fire in sight. This operation is run mostly by solar power. Solar power is not the only modern element. McCutchen and Steele use a…
The Ladies Who Lunch need to refresh their wardrobes with a new little black dress from time to time. While I was in Boston for the Flower Show I stepped into Macy's to get a new pair of little blue jeans. I like the styling of these which have retained the integrity of the originals designed by Levi Strauss. Blue jeans are a staple of the gardener's wardrobe, so easy to dress down, and versatile when combined with…
Probably the first thing I knew about Beatrix Farrand is that she was the niece of Edith Wharton, and designed the approach to Wharton's home, The Mount, in the Berkshires. Although she did not have anything to do with the rest of the gardens, I cannot believe that Aunt and Niece did not sit together and talk about what might be done during the years she lived there, 1902-1911. When you have talent in the family, surely it would be…
There were a lot of young children at the Boston Flower Show, some clutching a parent's hand, and some being wheeled about in stroller splendor. It might not always have been exciting, but the youngsters and their parents enjoyed this jungle garden with a grassy lion . . . a giraffe made of flowers . . . . and a really scary crocodile right at the edge of the exhibit. No one wanted to touch - and a…
The Boston Flower Show is back! There were flowers everywhere, in all kinds of arrangements and gardens. There was also a lot of water - a pond like this one with a stone 'lily pad' that appeared to float on the water. The pond was surrounded by azaleas, conifers and bulbs. I may have to do a whole posting about water in fountains and streams. There were flower arrangements like this simple vase of brilliant tulips for a…
I celebrated the arrival of my friend Kathryn Galbraith's new book Arbor Day Square and then I saw My Garden by Kevin Henkes on the New Book shelf at the Heath Library. As a former librarian I know it used to be difficult to find books for young children about gardening, whether real gardens with real information, or about imaginary gardens, but happily that seems to be changing. Kevin Henkes is one of my favorites authors and illustrators…
I got the most wonderful present in the mail today - Arbor Day Square - written by my good friend Kathryn Galbraith. We met more than 30 years ago when we both lived in NYC and were taking a writing class at the New School of Social Research. Kathryn and I both left the city at about the same time, but she left for the State of Washington where she went on to write beautiful books for children.…
After soil building, mulching is probably the number two topic for gardeners. Kerry Mendez, author of The Ultimate Gardener's Top Ten Lists, talks about both these important topics in her talks and in her book. There was also considerable discussion at the Trillium Workshop I attended on Sunday. I mulch all I can, and have stories to tell myself. Last year our town left piles of wood chips all over town for us gardeners to use as we…
What a weekend. While I am waiting for the snow to melt I had a glorious weekend thinking about - and looking at flowers! On Saturday I got to meet Kerry Mendez, the spirited, humorous and knowledgeable keynote speaker at the Master Gardener's Spring Symposium on Saturday. She engaged the audience in lively conversation and talked about how to have a successful flower garden- choose the right plant for the right site - and gave great design tips. Fortunately, if…
Daylilies are as beautiful as the day, and come in all the colors of the day, pale pink dawns, watery yellows of a sunshower, brilliant golds of noon, and all the ruddy shades of sunset. Richard Willard who grows about 500 daylilies at Silver Garden Daylilies says that when people think about orange daylilies they think of the common roadside variety, and “yet there are beautiful big orange daylilies with seven inch blossoms that you can see from…