An Early Bloom Day – before hard frost

  • Post published:11/06/2017
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Will my garden be blooming on November 15. the official Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? Maybe not. Therefore, I went around the garden today taking photos of the flowers blooming this very unusually warm November day. We have yet to have a hard frost although some plants were bitten and succumbed. This is what's left on this gloomy day with a temperature of 50 degrees at 4 in the afternoon Daylight savings left, Eastern Standard time arrived and so…

Flowers – A Secret Language of Love

  • Post published:02/08/2017
  • Post comments:2 Comments

The Victorians had a secret language of love - flowers. I don't know who decided that the peach blossom said, “I am your captive” or who then decided sending back a bunch of daisies meant, “I share your sentiments.” I do know that a century ago Kate Greenaway compiled and illustrated a volume called The Language of Flowers that listed hundreds of plants and flowers and translated their messages. If a gentleman wished to compliment a lady, he…

Three Views of The Lion’s Fairy Tale Rose

  • Post published:06/23/2016
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I am so happy with my Lion's Fairy Tale Rose, one of Kordes Fairy Tale Series. I planted it last summer and did not expect nor get any flowers. Still, it took hold and came through our odd winter weather, mild until it got bitter cold very late in the season. One of the things I like is the way it produces clusters of bloom. I love the creaminess of this white rose as it begins to bloom.…

Roses at the End of the Road – Sale

  • Post published:01/01/2016
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The Roses at the End of the Road is the tale of my life in Heath and the roses that lived, and died, in the gardens at End of the Road Farm.  My first rose was the delicately pink  Passionate Nymph's Thigh, followed by a number of elegant ladies like Madame Legras de St. German, the Queen of Denmark and the Wife of Bath. However there were a few gentlemen like Martin Frobisher and William Baffin. The Rose Walk…

The Shrub and Rose Border Begins in Greenfield

  • Post published:07/20/2015
  • Post comments:3 Comments

I first became acquainted with Julie Moir Messervy through her book The Inward Garden: Creating a space of beauty and meaning. This beautiful book approaches garden design through seven archetypes, the cave the prairie, the mountain, the sea etc., and the way that a garden makes you feel. It is this attention to the mood I might want in my garden that interested me. That attention to mood might have begun when as a graduate student she spent…

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – July 2015

  • Post published:07/15/2015
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On this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day I am celebrating blooms in two gardens, although I dearly hope it will not be too long before I am once again tending a single, small garden. In Greenfield the hydrangeas in the Shrub and Rose border are beginning to bloom even though they were planted only a month ago. Angel Blush is joined by Limelight and Firelight. These hydrangeas will form a beautiful privacy fence. Buttonbush was only planted two weeks…

Rose Viewing Memories

  • Post published:06/30/2015
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Mount Blanc rugosa The Last Rose Viewing has come and gone, but it was an unforgettable day - Rain!  I always said 'It never rains on the Rose Viewing' but that record was broken on Sunday when there was mist - and then real rain. But hardy souls turned up anyway dressed in slickers and boots, umbrellas at the ready. Rose Viewing attendees It was not only raining, it was cold. Those little girls were not happy. This…

Annual Rose Viewing – June 2015

  • Post published:06/25/2015
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This year the Annual Rose Viewing will be the Last Rose Viewing - at the End of Knott Road in Heath. The Rachel Rose, named for one of Heath's grand dames, will be holding court with other notables like The Queen of Denmark and Madame Plantier. Mount Blanc rugosa The rugosas are among the first roses to bloom in June. Fragrant Mount Blanc is one of my favorites. Thomas Affleck rose Thomas Affleck does not have the promised…

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – June 2015

  • Post published:06/15/2015
  • Post comments:9 Comments

On this June Garden Bloggers Bloom Day we feel summer has finally come to our hill in western Massachusetts.  Consistent warm weather has been a long time coming and some plants show cold damage that arrived all too late in the season. This section of our lawn remains a flowery mead because I have planted daffodils here and we have to wait  this long before mowing down the spent daffodil foliage. At this time of the garden season…

Thomas Affleck – A Mighty Rose

  • Post published:04/15/2015
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Thomas Affleck is not blooming yet, but I did clean out the Herb Bed where this rose is the western anchor. It looks like it came through our horrendous winter well. All that deep snow was a blessing for many plants. Chives and parsley and marjoram are showing new growth, but I am going to have to wait a while more the roses to bloom. Thomas Affleck came from the Antique Rose Emporium where many of my most…