Mid-Summer Planting

  • Post published:08/13/2009
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              “How’s your garden this year?”             This is the question on everyone’s lips this summer, and in my case the answer is “Not good.”             I began with the usual good intentions, and even more energy and enthusiasm as I decided to start my own vegetable seedlings and enlarge the garden. My plan was to grow more of my own vegetables than ever, and thus save lots of money on grocery bills.             However, we all…

Wedding and Work

  • Post published:08/10/2009
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First I have to say the very most important event of the past week was the wedding of my cousin Jay  and his beloved Juliet in a beautiful garden in Manchester by the Sea. It was a glorious day and celebration was in  the air. Our hotel was hosting three wedding receptions and packed to the rafters with SEVEN groups of wedding guests. Juliet is a Nanny in the classic mode. The wedding guest list was filled with her…

Eyes to See

  • Post published:08/05/2009
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Creating good plant combinations and beautiful color pairings is not my forte.  Obviously I don't even note such things in my garden because today, I suddenly realized that I had this great combo, a clump of crimson bee balm next to a clump of Black Dragon lilies.  They are perfect together and I wasn't even trying.

Bloom Day – Still Rosy in July

The roses were just beginning to bloom on June's Bloom Day, mostly the rugosas, but this Fairy, one of two, had not yet begun. Unlike most of the roses in my garden The Fairy will bloom into the fall. I fully expected the roses which had barely begun to bloom on June 15, to be done by today, but they are have a most floriferous and long season.  The Queen of Denmark is still petite, but blooming as…

Monday Report June 22

  • Post published:06/22/2009
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'It's raining, raining, raining. I hear the raindrops fall.'  The lawn is sodden, the Sunken Garden is a swamp and the vegetable garden is sulking as morning temperatures  are still in the 50s. And yet, and yet, the rains have mostly been gentle and the roses have drunk their fill. Applejack, at the head of the drive is all grace, and the rugosas are blooming fragrantly. Rose buds are swelling on every bush. I think this will be…

Monday Bloom Day

Happily for me my Monday Report coincides with Bloom Day hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  Be sure and visit there.  This is an exciting time because the roses are just starting to bloom in my garden. They loved all the rain last week. Rosa glaucaEven though the roses on Rosa glauca (formerly known as Rosa rubrifolia) are tiny and inconsequential, this is the rose that gets the WOWs at the Annual Rose Viewing.  The bush is a…

All Kinds of Peonies

  • Post published:06/11/2009
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              I walked through the garden with my Sunday morning coffee amazed and delighted to see that the fat pink buds of my Guan Yin Mian tree peony had opened.             Guan Yin is the name of the Bodhisattva (or goddess) of Compassion.  The term bodhisattva is not much used in the west. It means those who have chosen to remain in the world even though they have enough merit to reach nirvana. Guan Yin is almost…

Monday Record May 26

  • Post published:05/25/2009
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What a celebratory weekend.  All due honor has been paid to our veterans, and even the tree peony has joined in those solemnities. Appropropriately, she is named (in translation) The Face of the Goddess of Compassion.  This year she has nine blossoms, each about 7 inches across. Next  to Guan Yin is another tree peony, planted at the same time, about 5 or 6 years ago (the relevant journal has gone missing) but she is smaller and  will have…

Monday Record May 4

  • Post published:05/04/2009
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 Last week’s heat wave woke everyone up. There was enough breeze to keep the black flies down, and make it possible to work in the unexpected 80 plus degrees heat.     I always start working close to the house. The Herb Bed is protected from the winter winds and the soil drains well.  I weeded the entire length and spread around some rotted horse manure I got from a neighbor’s farm.      The Red Fire lettuce…

Monday Record April 20

  • Post published:04/20/2009
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Gray and chilly. Temperatures in the 40s with winds gusting at 14 miles and more. There is still one pile of snow in The Sunken Garden.   Still, I got a lot done over the past week.  First I found out that the old daffodils growing here when we bought our house in 1979 are Van Sion, a heritage variety.  I have Kathy Purdy of Cold Climate Gardening to thank for the ID. Van Sion is a beautiful…