Vines have become more important to me over time. Vines have become more important to me over time. When we built a south facing patio in front of our Heath house in 1990 we also planned a kind of loggia structure that would hold a wisteria vine to shade and cool the patio. to shade and cool the patio. That shade would also alter the quality of light in our living room and even keep that space a…
Few of us hear much about castor oil anymore, but my childhood memory is that it was a common laxative and I never imagined there was a castor bean plant and it was one of the very poisonous plants Even as an adult I never gave a thought as to where castor oil came from so it was with great shock that when I admired a beautiful big plant with dark red-tinged leaves and prickly red seed cases…
A shrub with golden blossoms, a witch hazel, is blooming our our street. Some thought it was a forsythia that got it's dates mixed up, but it is witch hazel, properly known as a Hamamelis, and about the earliest blooming plant in our area. You have to get up close to appreciate and admire the twirly little blossoms. This is probably Hamamelis mollis, a Chinese witch hazel, because it is blooming in the spring, beginning in February. Our…
Culinary herbs bring flavor and savor to a meal, that bit of piquance that can turn a bland dish into something delectable. They all have their own stories as well. I enjoy thinking of women from time immemorial harvesting their herbs and preparing meals and medicinal potions for their families. Herb gardens have an ancient history and we moderns can still grow a handful of the herbs we use most often. Simon and Garfunkel aside, parsley, sage, rosemary…
While we Greenfield Garden Club members were on a trip to Waltham, MA, to see the Lyman Greenhouses we also visited Stonehurst, the beautiful house built for summer visits by Robert Treat Paine. I am calling this the reception room, but you can see there is a little room where the entry door is before coming into this large space. There is built in seating, and a beautiful golden marble fireplace, but am not really sure how the space…
In March gardeners need flowers so members of the Greenfield Garden Club set off for the historic Lyman Greenhouse in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was so exciting to be able to walk under this tropical vine as we began our tour of the greenhouse. There are literally thousands of plants in the greenhouse of every variety. Most of them are houseplants, some familiar and some dramatic and strange. The greenhouse is filled with orchids, succulents and many other beautiful…
The first time I learned about compost piles was when a homesteading friend gave me a subscription to Rodale’s Organic Farming and Gardening magazine while we were still living in New York City. We had a tiny backyard in Manhattan, but we never did very much with it because of our fear of heavy metals in the soil. Adverse health effects caused by heavy metals are a real threat if you grow edibles. We moved to Heath 37…
The Mount Holyoke Spring Flower Show, “Gateway to Spring" is open. Now in its 47th year, this beloved College tradition features a thoughtfully designed display of thousands of colorful and fragrant spring favorites, including tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, pansies, cinerarias, pocketbook plants and more to entice and inspire those eager for spring's arrival. This year's show also features a large fountain created by three Mount Holyoke students, Deb Kelly, Stella Chepkwony and Samiha Tasnim, evocative of the Fidelia Nash Field…
Sunrise Farms welcome the sweet life when it's time to boil up the maple syrup. These days we are more likely to see little hoses (called lines in the vernacular) snaking through the snowy woodlands than tin buckets hanging off the maple trees. Maple sugaring has changed over the years and I got to see the whole process at Sunrise Farms in Colrain. The Lively family, mom and dad Marilyn and Rocky, with sons Erik and Jordan welcomed…