I’ve always known we have many different types of bird habitat here at the End of the Road. We have fields that surround our house and the garden. We have a wetland and a pond. Mostly we have woods, about 35 or so acres, surrounding the house, fields, and wetlands. I have walked in our woods. I have taken grandchildren up the lane, part of the old road to Rowe that was discontinued decades ago. The tree-lined…
Yesterday we took a (wet) walk in the woods and saw this moosewood tree. It is more properly known as a striped maple, and more properly still as Acer pensylvanicum. It is a small understory tree, very tolerant of shade, and has very large leaves. Late in the afternoon, there was a flash of brown passing my window. I ran outside to see what it was. A moose. A young moose, who only stopped briefly to pose and…
M is for Marcescence. Marcescence refers to the retention of dead plant parts that are usually shed. We all know that trees lose their leaves in the fall. Some of us may have noticed that oak trees, and beeches carry their dead leaves will into the fall. And maybe until the new leaf buds give the old leaf a final shove in the spring. Over the past few years I have noticed that there seem to be a lot…
Jono Neiger of the Regenerative Design Group which has its office in Greenfield, spoke to the Greenfield Garden Club a couple of weeks ago. His inspiring talk explained how gardeners could mimic nature, and require less work and inputs to create a garden that would give us what we desire out of our garden and what wildlife and pollinators require. He gave some very specific advice beginning with the suggestion that vegetable gardens, and gardens that need…
The leafless landscape seems dead, but dormancy is only a false death. In the 1/24 issue of the New York Times Michael Tortorello takes us on a wintry horticultural tour of gardens in New York City and learns that death is not what winter brings. I grant you, the activity he sees in Central Park and other places is rather different from the dormancy I can see in my frozen snowy landscape, but still, his guides make…
We usually cut our Christmas tree from our own land. We are famous for having Charlie Brown trees. This tree strikes me as a hemi-demi-semi tree. The only tree we could find was this section of a tree that had been damaged by the ice storm several years ago. It only has branches on one side. I think this year, for the first time in over 30 years, we'll be shopping for our Christmas tree. For more (almost)…
John Bunker and David Buchanan gave a couple of talks on Cider Day all about their experiences with finding and planting heritage apples. They also got to sell their books. I knew about David's book, Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter, but I didn't know that John had also written, and illustrated, a book about the apples and orchards of Palermo where he lives in Maine. Not Far From the Tree: A Bried History of…
David Buchanan and I met at the Conway School of Landscape Design (CSLD) reunion in September where he gave a six minute talk about what he had been doing since he graduated in 2000. He talked as fast as he could, and I listened as fast as I could, but I was glad I could slow the journey when I received a copy of his new book Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter.…
The barren branches of the old yellow birch in my field retain a certain majesty this frosty morning. But the Thomas Affleck shrub rose that grows at the end of the entry walk is resisting the closing of the bloom season. The days have been chilly and windy, tearing dying leaves off many trees, but Thomas just laughs and says, "Look at me!" I bought this rose from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas and it has been hardier and…
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