Renovating and Planting Continue

  • Post published:05/22/2012
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Renovating and planting the lawn bed continues. I had to wait until after the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale before I made my final 'design' decisions.  This is the end of the Lawn Bed, all cleaned out of a nearly dead potentilla and lots of weeds. I also removed two clumps of ornamental grass that had been grown in pots last summer and just stuck in this bed in the fall. "Just sticking" a plant somewhere is always…

Blogoversary Giveaway

On December 6, the Feast of St. Nicholas, I will celebrate my Fourth Blogaverary! It wasn't an ideal time to start a garden blog, but I had just learned about blogs and 'met' Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening, Carol at May Dreams Gardens and all the Ranters at Garden Rant. I was lucky to meet such stars early on because they have taught me so much and continue to inspiremme.  I even got to meet them all at…

Will You Adapt?

  • Post published:08/13/2011
  • Post comments:4 Comments

I just celebrated my 71st birthday and my daughter (my 50 year old daughter!) said that I was now “well into my 70s.” I’m not quite sure how to take that; in my own mind I am barely over 16. However, my muscles disagree and tell me I am definitely over 16, and even over 50. Fortunately I was able to visit with Rose Deskavich, sister member of the Greenfield Garden Club and mistress of a beautiful Greenfield…

Encyclopedia of Container Plants

  • Post published:05/21/2011
  • Post comments:2 Comments

The garden centers are putting out their trays of blooming annuals, many of which will find their way into planters and containers of all sizes and shapes. They’ll be hung on porches, set out on decks and placed by doorways.  It is hard to resist all that color and frilly form. Fortunately for us we don’t have to resist because those familiar annuals, impatiens, petunias, begonias and geraniums are inexpensive and put on a good and cheerful show…

I Won Tropicannas!

  • Post published:03/18/2011
  • Post comments:3 Comments

There was a Giveaway over at Garden Rant and I won some Tropicannas from Tessalaar Plants!  I'm not exactly sure what, but I think this new Tropicanna Gold is coming my way. Cannas are dramatic plants so I am very excited.  I don't think they will be in bloom in time for the Franklin Land Trust Farm and Garden Tour on June 25 and 26, but it will be a great treat for mid-summer. They will not overwinter…

Gloriosky Gloria!

  • Post published:04/27/2010
  • Post comments:6 Comments

Yesterday my husband,  Henry,  and I went out to The Curtis House in Ashfield to film a session with Gloria Pacosa of Gloriosa & Co. and Trillium Workshops fame for the Shelburne Falls Cable TV show Over The Falls. The subject was how to make beautiful container plantings. Mine is the red arrangement and Gloria's is one of fifteen herbal containers that she is making for a wedding next weekend. The show will be aired first on May…

Tulip Time on the Bridge of Flowers

  • Post published:04/26/2010
  • Post comments:4 Comments

Tulips of many colors and hues are in full bloom on Shelburne Falls' Bridge of Flowers. It's enough to make one stop - or at least slow down - to enjoy the day and be grateful to live in such an area where  going about one's duties and errand running brings one this kind of pleasure.   And don't forget you can add a little bit of the Bridge to your own garden by buying a plant or…

Shopping with Le Flaneur

  • Post published:04/17/2010
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The weather is wretched here today. No need to pretend, and I go window shopping with Le Flaneur. Pretend the weather is impossible and while away some time perusing these sites – no need to buy a thing, but it’s always beneficial to have a notion of just where you might find something when the need arises: Seibert-Rice offers a vast and expensive array of pots. What appeals is the robustness and visual strength of their designs. Pot rims…

More About Containers

  • Post published:04/14/2010
  • Post comments:5 Comments

The Flaneur du Pays continues his disquision on Containers. Materials Pots and containers are available in all the materials that a sculptor might employ: woods, metals (zinc seems to be the current favorite), clay, and recently fiberglass and synthetic resins. The natural materials remain the most aesthetically pleasing, but utility, lightness of weight and weather-durability all have their virtues as well and this is why the newer materials must be considered. These materials have, like the plants they’ll…

Consider the Containers

  • Post published:04/13/2010
  • Post comments:1 Comment

My friend, the Flaneur du Pays, is an architect and claims to be more of a vicarious gardener than a knees in the dirt type, but he has a lot to say about cachepots, jardinaires, urns and plain old pots. He will be guest posting from his cottage moderne set amid a grove of trees, in sight of  a salt marsh and Long Island Sound, for a couple of days while I put my knees in the dirt.…