Surprising Blossoms

  • Post published:05/03/2013
  • Post comments:2 Comments

There are surprising blossoms in the garden right now. Yesterday I found my first dandelions growing against the house foundation. None in the lawn but it won't be long. I never know when the neglected orchid cactus in the guest room will bloom. Surprise! The orchid cactus is loaded with buds waiting to come into bloom.  More surprises to  come

My Succulent Container Garden on Wordless Wednesday

  • Post published:12/19/2012
  • Post comments:4 Comments

I just realized that I planted my succulent container on December 19 last year. This was a new project for me. I posted an update in February when the succulents looked like this. Today the succulents look like this. I love being able to put together this series. With so few words. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

How to Give a Gift Plant

  • Post published:12/02/2012
  • Post comments:2 Comments

A living plant can be a wonderful holiday gift whether it is chosen for its flowers or for its foliage. However, before you give a plant think about the recipient. Will she accept the plant as a long lived bouquet and then let it go to its eternal reward in the compost pile? After admiring the plant will she feel overwhelmed by the necessity of caring for the plant? Will she weep because she wanted to keep it…

The Unexpected Houseplant by Tovah Martin

  • Post published:10/07/2012
  • Post comments:6 Comments

We’ve had frost and feel the outdoor growing season closing. Tovah Martin, author of The Unexpected Houseplant: 220 Extraordinary Choices for Every Spot in Your Home reminds us that we can now concentrate on the indoor growing season. I confess that I have never been much of a houseplant person. In the past I have grown spider plants, asparagus fern and grape ivy in pots hanging by holders I macramé-ed myself, supermarket cyclamen, avocado pit seedlings and occasional…

A Surprise on Bloom Day

  • Post published:04/15/2012
  • Post comments:8 Comments

Bloom Day and I have the most respectable forsythia ever. Which isn't saying too much. A little rain would probably have helped. We haven't had any real precipitation since two inches of snow on March 8. The Van Sions, an old early blooming  variety were here when we moved in, have been blooming for a couple of weeks. Now other daffodils are just starting to bloom as well. Lots more to come. Rain would help. I have little…

I Become a Judge at the Boston Flower Show

  • Post published:03/24/2012
  • Post comments:0 Comments

Spring was in full bloom inside the Seaport World Trade Center where the Boston Flower Show and BLOOMS! featured display gardens with reflecting pools, landscapes fit for a hobbit, Japanese maples, fountains, school gardens with veggies and flowers, as well as rooms filled with specimen plants and flower arrangements awaiting the intense gazes of the judges. This year I was not attending the flower show merely as an admirer, but as a volunteer judge. Earlier this spring I…

My Succulent Container

  • Post published:12/19/2011
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Last week I spent the better part of a day Christmas shopping. Needless to say I ended up buying a gift for myself. I have been so inspired by Debra Lee Baldwin's book, Succulent Container Gardens, that when I found myself near the Hadley Garden Center I had to stop in and buy some succulents.  I had already bought this handsome classic container and potting soil at my 'neighborhood' Shelburne Farm and Garden Center. I did review Debra's…

Succulent Container Gardens

  • Post published:12/10/2011
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Houseplants have never been my strong suit. I rarely get cyclamens or amaryllis to rebloom, and I even gave up my everblooming abutilon this summer. I simply could not get rid of scale. I had to put it out of its misery. And yet I have kept succulents alive and in good shape for decades. My jade tree is over 20 years old. It survived being moved to my daughters’ houses while we were in China, and it…

Bloom Day – November 2011

Between the fact that the weather has been so oddly warm, today at 7 am it is 55 degrees, and our efforts to prepare for a kitchen update, I forgot about Bloom Day - not that much is in bloom.  Still, I dashed out into the gray dawn. Certainly it is the end of rose season. Does this Thomas Affleck bloom still hanging on count? An unexpected stop at Wilder Hill Garden in September sent me home with…