Groundcovers – Base for the Layered Garden

  • Post published:04/28/2018
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The layered garden is created by arranging plants from the ground up beginning with groundcovers ranging from delicate tiarella, epimediums, and lamium to taller plants like ferns, and even low growing shrubs like cotoneaster and very spready junipers.             The layers continue upwards with an herbaceous layer of perennials and annuals, followed by a shrub layer and ending with trees. Layers will  spread out across the garden space. For example, I have planted two river birches in one of my…

April National Poetry Month – The Bridge of Flowers

  • Post published:04/24/2018
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April is National Poetry Month and Carol Purington, Colrain's noted haiku poet has donated a matted set of poems describing the Bridge of Flowers through its seasons. It is available by writing to bridgeofflowersmass@gmail.com. Carol has written several books  of haiku describing life on a family farm, the essence of the seasons, the love of family, joy and  sorrow. Carol, and her friend Susan Todd also put together an anthology of poems, Morning Song: Poems for New Parents.…

Niki Jabour’s Veggie Garden Remix

  • Post published:04/20/2018
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Every spring we gardeners stand in the sun as we breathe deep and fill our minds with plans for new projects, using new techniques and planting new plants. This year my new project is a small straw bale bed for vegetables. However, I have been reading Niki Jabbour’s new book Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor and Fun (Storey $19.95) and my ideas about what to plant are shifting.…

Straw Bale Solutions and Red Lily Beetle Controls

  • Post published:04/13/2018
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The idea of using a straw bale as a planting medium attracted me a number of years ago.  I bought a two straw bales, gave them a good soaking, punched holes in the bales with my Japanese hori hori knife, put a cup or so of compost into the hole, and then put my tomato seedlings in the holes. I watered the bale and watched the tomatoes grow. They grew slowly, and produced a very few tomatoes. I…

Richard Wilbur – National Poetry Month

  • Post published:04/11/2018
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Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) winner of Pulitzer Prizes for Things of This World (1956) and New and Collected Poems (1988),was named the second Poet Laureate of our country and won many awards and prizes. I knew Richard Wilbur had long lived in our corner of western Massachusetts, but I never expected to get a letter from him.  And for that I thank Carol Purington and Susan Todd who were longtime friends of his. Carol and Susan were putting together…

True Lilies, Martagon Lilies and How to Plant

  • Post published:04/07/2018
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Lilies. There are all kinds of lilies: Lily of the valley, daylilies, water lilies, and sword lilies, but these are all fakes. True lilies belong to the very large Lilium family which includes more than 100 species. That means there are many colors, sizes and forms to consider for your garden. Right now the florists and supermarkets are offering potted Easter lilies, but these cannot be planted in our gardens because they are too tender. However, among those…

National Poetry Month and the Culture Hour

  • Post published:04/05/2018
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All through April people will be celebrating National Poetry Month, giving gift books of poetry and attending poetry readings. However, I think National Poetry Month (instituted in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets) was created as a response to the lack of attention to poetry and its joys. Actually, we are surrounded by poetry in advertising jingles, popular songs (at least that used to be true) even when we are not aware. Last week I started thinking…

Spring – Trying hard to make an appearance

  • Post published:04/03/2018
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Spring is trying its best to make itself known. For over  a week all I saw poking up through matted grass and leaves were golden buds. Then hooray - golden crocus blossoms.  Then it snowed. Blossoms closed, but remain ready for a reprise. With such encouragement, I took a walk around the garden, and brushed away leaves while making a note that it is time to really finish spring clean up. The bed of primroses is green and…