Long Weekend in Burlington, Vermont

  • Post published:08/11/2016
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Our visits to the Cousins always include a few hours at the North End Beach (at the North End of my uncle's farm) which is covered with smooth lake stones. The pier was not there when I was a child. The cousins, my brothers and I didn't need any refinements to swim and have a wonderful time. We used those stones any number of ways, including hitting them together while we were under water. Our first experience with…

Horticultural Society Memberships Make Good Gifts

  • Post published:12/26/2015
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Being surrounded by books makes me feel secure and comfortable knowing that I have information or entertainment at hand whenever I need it. However, my bookshelves also hold magazine holders where I store the magazines like Fine Gardening and the magazines and newsletters from horticultural societies like the American Horticultural Society, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the New England Wildflower Society. I am a member of all three. Memberships in horticultural and plant societies make a great gift.…

Amherst Orchid Society – Spring Orchid Show

  • Post published:02/24/2015
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On Sunday I drove down to Northampton and the  annual Orchid Show put on by the Amherst Orchid Society. I do not grow orchids because I always think they require a greenhouse. However, anyone who has ever received a phaleanopsis orchid as a gift knows that it will live happily on a bright, but not sunny, windowsill.  I walked through the orchid show with Bill Benner, a member of the Amherst Orchid Society, who has about 100 orchid…

Gifts for the Gardener

  • Post published:12/08/2012
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This post is a reprise from last year and has some really good ideas, so I am repeating, but I will have some new ideas next week. What gifts for the gardener are on your list? In the ‘olden days’ garden catalogs did not arrive until after the new year, the first sign that spring will eventually return. Now my mailbox is already full of garden catalogs describing all kinds of plants, books and tools, every company hoping…

Massachusetts Horticultural Society

  • Post published:11/20/2011
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After I gave my talk about my roses, and other disease resistant roses, at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society last week, I  took a brief tour around the gardens. I can just imagine what this Wedding Garden must look like in June! Weezie's Garden is the children's garden at MHS. It is a charming space with a sand pit for the very youngest, a tower for the most adventurous, shade and sun and place for conversations. Lots of benches…

Yesterday and Today

  • Post published:11/18/2011
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Yesterday was a gray day at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, but all was sunny in the classroom where I talked about hardy and disease resistant roses to an enthusiastic group of gardeners. Maureen Horn, MHS librarian, introduced me in this, the first of a series of Meet the Author talks. This morning we woke up to snow. Again.

Three Societies for Thursday

  • Post published:11/18/2010
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It's time to renew memberships!  What are you a member of? My most local membership is in the New England Wildflower Society because their propagation operation and nursery are so close by. An individual membership is only $50, for which you get free admission to the famous Garden in the Woods in Framingham, discounts on workshops and lectures, discounts at Nasami Farm and in the Gift Shop. NEWFS also participates in a Reciprocal Admissions Program that will give you free…