The hardy kiwi vine (Actinidia) is possibly the only plant I ever wanted specifically for its foliage. I first saw it at Lakewold Gardens, a historic estate and gardens near Tacoma, Washington. In that beautiful garden it was growing neatly on a trellis and I was fascinated by the pink, white and green leaves. It grows exuberantly on our shed next to the hen house and is in need of a serious pruning that will require a good…
Shoots are up, plants are leafing out. It is time to start keeping the Monday Record. The only bloom in the garden are these Van Sion daffodils that are growing against a stone wall - in back of the Buckland Rose. I thought I had dug out all the bulbs before I planted the rose here, but I was wrong. I wrote about how I identified this daffodil here. One reader said these were the ugliest daff he…
The last planting season of the year is late fall when gardeners are racing to get in all the crocus, daffodil, scilla, snowdrop and tulip bulbs in the ground so they can look forward to an early spring full of color. But fall is not the only bulb planting season. There is a whole array of bulbs that need to be planted in the spring to bloom gloriously and often exotically in the summer. Many summer blooming bulbs…
I rarely participate in Foliage Follow-up, but Pam Penick at Digging has prompted me to take a good look at the foliage around me at this time of the year. I have owned this orchid cactus (Epiphyllum) for a number of years. I pay almost no attention to it which is shameful, because it would bloom regularly and magnificently if I did. You can see I don't even give it the pedestal it deserves. For the past year…
The Bridge of Flowers officially closed on October 30, but it will be open for a few more days so people can take the scenic route from Shelburne to Buckland OR Buckland to Shelburne. Last week there was a final exciting event. Note the graceful ironwork on the Bridge sign. It was a collaborative community effort between Bill Austin and Grey Marchese of Austin Design in Colrain, artist/blacksmith Bob Compton of Rising Sun Forge in Conway, and Michael Therrien's…
This fall we have truly been having a 'golden season.' The weather has been relatively mild, if rainy, and the usual flame of the maples was muted. But a golden glow shone on every sunny day. But today we got rain - and a surprise. This photo was taken around 4 p.m on Thursday.
And home again. For more Wordlessness click here.
Gardens are planned, grow and develop over time as dependably as any single plant. Ray and Melanie Poudrier’s garden could be said to have begun when Ray’s father bought land in Hawley in 1942. Ray’s father joined his mother and their brood of thirteen children on Hawley summer weekends to see the latest developments. The family grew a vegetable garden, had an orchard and a blueberry patch. They even rented a cow for the summer to have milk…
Yesterday, in the rain, I visted the gardens of Melanie and Ray Poudrier and paid special attention to their collection of heaths and heathers. These two evergreen shrubby plants are often mentioned together in the same breath, but I never really knew how to tell them apart until Melanie made me look at the foliage closely. Heaths and heathers are both members of the Ericaceae family, but heath of the genus Erica has needle-like foliage. The foliage of…
The Bridge of Flowers is blooming and blooming, ready for admiration, but you can see that greens are important too. Azaleas are just beginning to blossom, and Solomon's seal is still blooming. Iris season is just beginning. That's a dramatic combo with a yellow iris and orange azalea. The Bridge of Flowers loves azaleas. Surely it is clear by now that the Bridge of Flowers does not depend on a single type of flower. The bulb season is…