A Search for Shade

Still some shade in the McGuane garden

Gardens can change overnight, as many people learned after the great May storm that took down so many large trees.  Those who had treasured their trees for the serene shade they provided, and the cooling they often brought to the house, found themselves in a new situation that could not soon be remedied.

Marty and Jan McGuane’s cool shady garden became a hot sunny garden  less dramatically, but with the same result. “We had a beautiful and very large Star magnolia that we planted on our seventh wedding anniversary. It developed canker a couple of years ago. We pruned off affected parts, but last fall the whole tree had to come down. Then we were on a quest for a new tree,” Jan McGuane said.

“The magnolia provided screening and shade. It is so hot in our yard now,” McGuane said, explaining what they looked for in a new tree. They wanted shade, but they also wanted flowers in the spring and good color in the fall. After discussing many flowering trees they settled on a Japanese Kousa dogwood. Kousas are not susceptible to the diseases that afflict Cornus florida, the familiar dogwood  that blooms early in the spring before the foliage appears.

The Kousa dogwood blooms later than Cornus florida when the tree has already leafed out. The flowers, which are actually long lasting bracts, are pointed instead of being rounded. It has deep reddish fall color and its fruits that resemble raspberries are quickly eaten by birds.

It was a job to take down the large magnolia. McGuane explained that roots are much harder than the rest of the tree and it was another big job to grind them out.. I did not know this about roots, but could see that it made sense. Roots of a large tree need strength to hold that tree in the ground.  This spring the McGuanes planted the six foot Kousa that is doing very well in the same spot.

McGuane's stone wall and path

During the time the tree was failing the McGuanes undertook another project that took two years to complete – the building of a curved stone wall for a ‘raised bed’ and a graceful stone walkway.

Working with six tons of Goshen stone for the walkway was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. At the time Marty was not able to heft the stone because of broken shoulders, but Jan said he had a much better idea of how the stone should be arranged.. “He would chose the stone and indicate how it should be sited in the path. I was the labor, but between the two of us we had a better result than either could have alone. I really like the curves in the garden, the path and the stone wall.”

The curving stone wall is located where there was a small deck.  Last fall planting the garden inside the wall was completed. Bulbs, a variety of sedums and heucheras have settled in nicely. A small shallow metal birdbath ornamented with a dragonfly sits on the wall. “I like ornaments in the garden,” McGuane said. “They are fun, and the dragonfly is a symbol of the Franklin County Hospice; Marty is on the Board.”

There are many curves in the McGuane garden. The back border which started out as a Moon Garden with white plants, curves and draws the eye when they sit out on the deck in evenings. There is a white Cornus florida, honeysuckle and a white Queen of the Prairie (filipendula), scented nicotiana, and pale variegated foliage plants.

There is a round fire pit and round table. “Marty likes to grill and we enjoy sitting out here eating and talking with friends,” McGuane said.

Jan's favorite garden spot

As much as she enjoys the spaces for friends and socializing, she said her favorite spot is in a corner of the garden where she has placed a chair made for her by a friend on a patch of  bluestone she laid herself. She planted a ninebark behind the chair to create a bit of seclusion and included a water bowl as a very small water feature. “I am happy just sitting there,” she said.  We gardeners don’t do enough sitting in our gardens, and we should always provide an enticement that will encourage us to sit and admire the day and our own work.

The McGuane garden is an urban garden, and is relatively small and yet it provides room for solitude and sociability. Sociability will be the order of the day on Saturday,  July 10 from 9 am to 4 pm when the McGuane garden will be one of several private gardens on the Greenfield Garden Club Tour. Tickets and maps for this self guided tour will be available at the Club’s Trap Plain Garden at the intersection of Silver and Federal Streets.

This year the Greenfield Historical Society is participating in the Tour, offering refreshments and opening their exhibits about Mary P. Wells. Wells, the author of the Boy Captive of Deerfield and other historical novels for children, was also the founder of the Greenfield Garden Club!

This tour is one of the major fundraisers for the Garden Club, along with the May plant and garden sale. The Club funds horticultural school projects, town beautification projects, and educational talks, tours, and craft nights as well as a newsletter for its members every month. If you are interested in joining the Club contact President Debran Brocklesby at 413-648-5227.

Between the Rows  July 3, 2010

Don’t forget the Daylily Sales today or the Hawley Garden tour!

Surprises!

The first unpleasant surprise was frost!  The 7 am temperature on our thermometer on the north side of the house, but in the sun, said 42 degrees and I rejoiced. But my husband brought in the cat’s frozen water dish from the welcoming platform. The first shock. Then I went out to open our ad hoc cold frame and the inside was all frosty. I’d better mark this frost date in my Journal.

Jewel Black Raspberry

The second, and final, unpleasant surprise of the morning was finding one of the 10 newly planted and mulched black raspberry plants dug up. Who would do that? The deer have munched the hostas, but there’s not much to eat on a new ‘black cap’.  I will have to rush out and replant this, but I fear the roots may have dried out beyond reviving.

Rangoon rhododendron

Fortunately there was a pleasant surprise. The Rangoon rhododendron’s buds are preparing to open, as are the buds on Boule de Neige.  A tiny red primrose was also blooming this morning. I haven’t been paying very much attention to this bed next to the Cottage Ornee, but I got here in time. Buds of the tree peonies are swelling. It won’t be long.

Beauty of Moscow lilac

The reason I bought Beauty of Moscow is because the fat pink buds are just as beautiful as the big double white flowers. I bought this lilac locally from the Shelburne Farm and Garden Center several years ago.

The lovely blossoms on this ancient apple tree next to the Cottage Ornee are no surprise. The Cottage was sited to nestle between, and almost under, this apple tree and a large high bush cranberry (virburnam), both of which suffered terribly in the Ice Storm of 2008. Yet it still blooms, full of grace and determination.

The Week That Was

Sargent Crabapple

It was quite a week, with two New York days, visiting parks, and the New York Botanical Garden’s Emily Dickinson Exhibit. (See my earlier posts) I came home to my own show – the Sargent Crab in the mucky Sunken Garden is in full bloom. So far it has been able to hold on to it’s leaves and flowers but ever since I got home late Wednesday the winds have been blowing, and the temperature has been dropping. Not below freezing, so far.

Although the Sunken Garden is still boggy, the winds have been drying. I have been watering the roses and vegetables. On April 1 I planted Renee’s Baby Leaf ‘Catalina’ spinach in the Herb Bed and it is just about ready for a thinning.  The soil here is good, and there is some protection from the wind.  The seeds and seedlings that I planted in the new Front Garden are also surviving. I must have slipped with the Red Sails lettuce because there are clumps in serious need of thinning. I think we’ll have our first garden salad this week.

Forget me nots

Of course I have flowers. The daffodils are continuing and the lilacs are just beginning to bloom, as are these tulips which I have no memory of planting. I can’t wait to see what color they are.  And the forget me nots! Last year at the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale (coming up May 22 in Shelburne Falls) I bought two little pots and now I have all the forget me nots I could want. Plenty to share too.

Golden marjoram

Looking forward to this year’s Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale I have been potting up bits of golden marjoram for the new Herb Section of the sale. I’ll also be bringing some down to the Greenfield Garden Club’s Spring Extravaganza plant sale on May 29.   Friends of the Sunderland Library are having a Book and Plant Sale on Saturday, May 15 from 9-3 pm. Baked Goods too. All these local fund-raising sales are excellent ways to get good plants for your own garden and support the good works of many community organizations.

When I Got Home . . .

Our family tree

I found that terrific windstorms yesterday had knocked over one of our linden trees, Tilia cordata. In 1991 we invited our three daughters and three granddaughters to visit on Memorial Day to each plant a linden tree along the pasture fence to the west of the house. Tracy was almost 10, Tricia was 5 and Caitlin was only 13 months, but they all got their pencil sized linden trees in the ground.  However, time brings change, not all of it good.

Linden trunk

When I left for Norwalk on Sunday, three of those trees were still standing; the other three had come down at different times over the years. In fact the two trees that now remain, at the beginning and end of the row were both damaged, one by a plow and one by insect damage, but both have coppiced, which is to say that new shoots have grown out of the trunk.  They look more like bushes now than trees.

I checked the trunk  of the newly fallen tree which broke off right at ground level. The wood is splintered but it is not rotten.  The winds were described as ‘wind shear’ and ‘mezzo-cyclones’ .  Whatever they were, the winds  came from the north, as usual, and were strong enough to knock the tree down right at the soil level.

Lindens, also called basswood, or lime trees have interesting uses. Basswood is light and good for carving. For those who enjoy flowery or herb teas, ‘lime flower’ tea is really made with the blossoms of linden trees.

Caitlin's many trunked tree

Lindens are beautiful trees, with wondrously fragrant flowers. Unfortunately they seem not be be ideal trees for Heath.  Still, Caitlin’s tree, as well as her mother’s, are healthy in their shrubby shape for the moment.

Good things happened while I was away, too.  The white lilacs and the Sargent crab have begun to bloom. Sitka and Alchemyst roses were delivered as were 10 black raspberries and three new blueberries from Nourse Farm.  My husband heeled them in and tomorrow I will be in the  garden all day planting and watering. Probably weeding, too.

Trees – Glorious Trees – Arbor Day

Rowe landscape

My friend (and noted author), Kathryn Galbraith, explained the importance of trees to community in her beautiful new picture book for children, Arbor Day Square.  I am fortunate to be surrounded by woodland here in Heath, but as a new member of the Bridge of Flowers committee I have been more and more aware of how healthy street trees, some of them quite new, add to the quality of life in a small town like Shelburne Falls, but they also support the economic life of the town. When visitors come to tour the Bridge of Flowers they see that the Bridge is not an isolated element in the town, it is just a symbol of the care the community takes of its resources, of its residents, and of the natural world. Visitors find pleasure in walking through the town, and stopping to shop and snack, and even dine. Not to be crass, but greening a town can lead to putting a little green in townspeople’s pockets.

Does your town have street trees? What do they mean to you?

Celebrate trees and Arbor Day. There is lots of information about Arbor Day in Massachusetts here.

Perfectly Pink

And now to see how Wordlessly beautiful the world is elsewhere click here.

Tulip Time on the Bridge of Flowers

Tulips on the Bridge of Flowers

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 two at the Annual Plant Sale on May 22.  Nine a.m.!

Viburnam

The woods are also beginning to bloom. Even when my errands take me through the hills I look around and see woodland foliage attaining more definition and leaf buds unfurl in ruddy shades of maple, tender green and the bright yellow green of willows. Everywhere I go, magnolias, cherries and trees I can’t even identify are blooming in yards, along the Deerfield River, and at the edges of pastures. Crabapples are just beginning to bloom. Trees, tulips, daffodils – bloom is bustin’ out all over.

At home, bees are buzzing in the wild plum trees that grow around the hen house. I am reminded that I need to get busy as a bee. This week I spent a happy morning moving rotted horse manure from my neighborly supplier and into various garden beds. I pruned roses and planted roses: Hawkeye Belle (pink) on the Rose Bank, and Prairie Harvest (yellow) and Quietness (pale pink)  on the Rose Walk. All three are hardy Griffith Buck hybrids. I also ripped out Pamela, a pink rugosa that was too much like Scabrosa.  I put a couple of the shoots on the Rose Bank and gave the greater part to neighbors who have no roses. Yet.  My  husband revved up the tractor and pulled out a nearly dead spirea – too far gone to try and save. Now I have a beautiful open spot in a Lawn Bed that was looking too crowded.

Trillium Workshop - Planting Containers

The lasagna Front Garden is now completed and I planted my own lettuce and broccoli seedlings in the new bed. Then I celebrated by attending a Trillium Workshops program on planting containers. The three Trillium gardeners, Jeff Farrell, Lisa Newman and Gloria Pacosa, gave a group of excited gardeners information about options in containers, how to make potting mixes, how to keep container plantings alive – and then we all dug in. So to speak. We had brought planters and Trillium supplied a whole range of seedlings, annuals, herbs, dahlias – and ideas. One of the participants noticed that all of the completed and very different arrangements looked great. Which just goes to show that there are many aesthetic approaches and many ways to make something beautiful. Thank you Trillium!

The Mysterious Larch

I just came back from checking the Larch seedling I was given ten days ago. I  watered it the first couple of days, but the recent weather has been perfect for transplanting  -  overcast, cool (but not freezing)  and showery. The tree seems to have settled in well. So far.

Larch trees, tamarack, hackmatack, or more properly Larix laricinia, are that mysterious thing, a deciduous pine tree. This is a native tree that can reach 75 feet tall.  It does not mind cold climates,  wet sites or heavy acidic soil, but does like the sun. Birds like the larch, espcially spruce, blue, and sharp-tailed grouse who eat the needles and buds; pine siskin, crossbills, and other birds eat the seeds released from the small cones.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin State Herbarium

As majestic as they are,  in spring they are known for their tiny bundles of inch long  needles that emerge in a tender bright green, such an unusual shade in conifers, and then the gold of autumn. Finally all the needles fall off, leaving only the small pine cones.

If you like a little mystery in your garden, and you have the space, this is the tree for you. The hazy springtime green of  spring is enough to catch the eye of visitors, but they will be amazed or confused by the autumnal gold. Aren’t we lucky that our gardens give us so many opportunities to delight and amaze our visitors?

Our Sustainable Home & Landscape

Jan over at Thanks for 2day is asking us to write about our current and or planned efforts to garden and live sustainably by April 15. There are prizes!  And a chance to learn more about each other, and more ways to live a greener life. Check out Jan’s blog for all information and don’t forget –  Earth Day is coming up – for the 40th year!

I have been documenting, to some degree, our attempts to live more lightly on the earth beginning with a couple of my first posts about Changing One Thing, and switching to cloth grocery bags; and our changing our Christmas lights to LEDs. Since then we have changed many light bulbs to CFLs and replaced our old (29 year old) washer with an energy and water efficient front loader. I now also use the Quick cycle for many types of laundry which uses less electricity and means less wear and tear on the laundry. During as much of the year as possible I use the solar clothes dryer out in back, but I confess that I do still use the electric dryer for several of our New England months every year. We also had to replace our old refrigerator with a more efficient model.

The biggest energy saving project we completed last year was an efficient heating system using propane gass instead of oil. This was a major investment, but it did away with electric water bills as well as oil for heating the house. Part of our heat is supplied by our woodstove. Local wood! We recycle glass, paper, plastic and everything else we can think of. Of course.

I told my husband that I didn’t see how we could join the 10% challenge and lower our electricity bill by another 10%, but he said Yes, we could!  So, there are more CFLs and a new tighter more efficient door in our future. I have solar LED lights out in the garden.

That brings us to the garden which has always been an organic garden. No chemical fertilizers, pesticides or insecticides. I make and use compost. The chickens help by providing us with manure and bedding, as well as eggs. The only other soil amendments I use are  greensand, rock phospate and lime.

We live on 60 acres of woodland and field. Lots of natives to maintain the local ecosystem, without any effort on our part. I have planted some natives, but it is because I want plants that will do well in our area, without a lot of effort on our part. We have been working slowly on eliminating some of the lawn – my husband is all in favor of lessing the lawn mowing effort.  Henry doesn’t mow the field (in the interest of less effort?) until the meadow larks and bobolinks, should there be any, have raised their young.  Can you tell we are not in favor of unnecessary effort?

We are at the point now when the garden is coming to life. Today a friend dug up a Larch (Larix) seedling from his land and gave it to me.

We planted it in back of the Cottage Ornee. We haven’t done much cleaning up back here, but the soil is quite good. We dug a wide hole so the shallow spreading roots would not be crowded and watered the young tree well. The Larch, a deciduous conifer, is a remarkable tree.  The needles turn gold in the autumn and then fall. In the spring they appear in tender green bundles along with the tiny pine cones. The tree is very tall when mature, and very beautiful at every stage.

Scillas and Glory of the Snow

The grass around the newly planted larch is beginning to bloom with scillas and glory of the snow.

Rhubarb shoots

The rhubarb is well up, and the first fine leaves of spinach are up in the herb bed in front of the house. I can see the leaves of the lilacs and roses starting to open and all manner of perennials and herbs are making their presence known. I walked through the garden today with my daughter who was visiting, and working with us on a DVD project for our big upcoming Family Reunion. She was doing all the work but needed us for historical background. Later, friends with their year old daughter joined us for lunch and conversation about Water. Andrea works for the Connecticut Watershed and our daughter Betsy works for the Mass Water Resources Authority – both of them concerned about and working to protect our water.

It struck me as the glorious sunny day progressed that while I work to make the garden, and our household, as sustainable as possible, I am sustained by the garden in turn. The garden feeds our bodies and souls, with vegetables and fruits, beauties for the eye, a sense of our connection to all living things from the weeds in the lawn, to the birds and bugs of the air. The garden is a safe playground for grandchildren and all the friends who visit here, a delightful underpinning for our sustaining family and community life. The Annual Rose Viewing is coming up!

Don’t forget to visit Thanks for 2Day.

More Than Maple Farmers

My neighbors, Brooks McCutchen and Janis Steele, are very models of the modern maple sugarers.  When I went to visit their sugarhouse I saw the familiar steam billowing from the roof, but as I got closer I saw modern elements.

Inside the sugarhouse is a huge steamy stainless steel evaporator but there is no fire in sight. This operation is run mostly by solar power.

Solar power is not the only modern element. McCutchen and Steele use a reverse osmosis technique that removes most of the water from the maple sap before it goes into the evaporator. Reverse osmosis means the sap takes only about 45 minutes to emerge from the evaporator; then it is drawn off into stainless kegs. This is called small batch sugaring, and each batch will be slightly different in color and taste. Which brings us to the modern marketing of Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple Syrup.

We live in a rural area, so most of us are familiar with how difficult it is for small farmers to make a fair wage. The rise of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, farm stands, and farmers’ markets are some of the ways local farmers have found to make a more secure living. After doing some wholesale selling, McCutchen and Steele decided to do only direct sales. You can buy their syrup at their Heath farmstand on Route 8A, at any of the dozen or craft shows they attend up and down the eastern seaboard, or buy mailorder through their website, www.berkshiresweetgold.com.

Berkshire Sweet Gold farmstand

Besides using new technologies and marketing strategies, McCutchen and Steele take an innovative approach to working on their farm. They consider themselves carbon farmers, as well as maple farmers. They manage their mixed woodland, which includes the sugarbush, to sequester carbon.

As we talked they reminded me that at the turn of the 20^th century 80% of Heath was open farmland and the soil was becoming depleted. There are not many open fields anymore but McCutchen explained that it is the mixed forests that have grown up that are rebuilding the soil, putting carbon back into the soil. “Carbon is the core for providing the structure of healthy soil,” he said.

Knowing that both McCutchen and Steele had professional careers as a psychologist and anthopologist respectivley before they became farmers of any sort, I asked them how they came to this new career.

McCutchen said it was not such a leap as I might have imagined. He was 13 when he came to Heath with his parents Leighton and Martha McCutchen. He attended Mohawk for a short period but then chose to finish high school by correspondence, and went to work at the same time for farmers in the town. “Elmer Sherman made maple syrup as a seasonal product on his farm. He was very fussy about doing things right,” McCutchen said.

After graduation he attended The College of the Atlantic; that is where he and Steele met, both majoring in Human Ecology. “Psychology can be too much in the head,” McCutchen said, “but anthropology is based on land, on language and communication. It is a more natural progression.”

Steele said that as a Montreal native, she grew up where all the kids went sugaring in season. “Ninety percent of the world’s maple syrup comes from Canada so now when we bring our syrup up to my family we are stopped at the border and everyone laughs that we would bring syrup into the country,” she said.

“I haven’t really left anthropology. I’ve just shifted my topical focus. I’m still a member of the American Anthropological Association and have a sub-group membership in Culture and Agriculture.  This June Brooks and I are giving a paper on Variance Agriculture and the Ecosystem Marketplace at an Agriculture Food and Human Values Society conference,” Steele said.

She explained that variance agriculture and marketing, emphasize the particular variety of a crop. Those of us who garden certainly have our favorite varieties of lettuce, tomato, and squash and can understand this concept, as can those who drink specialty wines and liquors.  McCutchen and Steele believe that giving information about variety is another element that small farmers can use in their marketing for greater profit – enough to make a fair wage.

Steel and McCutchen also remind, and educate people, that maple syrup can be used for more than pancakes. Going beyond pancakes, McCutchen  says small amounts of maple syrup can be used in cooking, not as a sweetener, but to help balance flavors. The grading system of A, B, and C is no longer used; the color of the syrup is an indicator of intensity of flavor. He said that if you have a lemon based sauce or marinade a bit of light amber syrup can help achieve that balance; if it is balsamic vinegar a darker syrup; and if it is soysauce based a black amber syrup (which is not really black) can be used. You will find many excellent recipes on their website and at the farm stand. I am going to try the sautéed green beans and garlic tossed with a bit of Berkshire Sweet Gold and a few dried cranberries.

I think small family farms are still one of our American ideals. The making of Berkshire Sweet Gold maple syrup supports a family (children and grandparents work as well), supports the community economy, maintains the rural landscape we all love, and protects our environment.  ###