Ice and Snow and Fog – January

Cottage Ornee

The view from my bedroom window on January 27, 2012.

White Birch and Green Conifers

Ice is heavy.

Iced branches

And to think I was planning to collect forsythia branches to force today.

Yellow Birch

View from the Welcoming Platform. I have photographed this tree in every season and every weather. It is always beautiful.

Snowy stream 1-25-12

Temperatures hover at 32 degrees and the stream keeps flowing.

Skies and Reflections

Gray skies 12-6-11

A gray day with gray skies,

Deerfield River

and silver reflections.

For more skies visit Skywatch Friday.

Water and Delight

University Village fountain

Our area suffered flooding from Tropical Storm Irene and the storm that followed a week after causing enormous damage as rivers and streams overflowed their banks. We have recovered on our road so today I prefer to think about the gentler water in our gardens that calms and soothes.  Here are some of the the quiet waters I saw in Seattle this summer at the Garden Bloggers Fling.

Michelle and Christopher Epping's Garden

Kate Farley's fountain and pool

Kathryn Galbraith's fountain

Bloedel Reserve Reflecting Pool

Only a big public garden can have a big water feature like this, but most of us can find a way to bring water, reflections – and quiet reflection into our own gardens.

Marooned by Irene

Signing The Roses at the End of the Road at World Eye Books

The weekend started out happily with my book signing at World Eye Books. I got to meet new readers, and chat with old friends like Bob and Sue Gruen who gave a wonderful talk last night for the Heath Historical Society about weaving in colonial times – and now.

But, by the time we left their talk around 9, Irene’s rains had arrived. Heavy rains on and off  all night continued until noon, then let up somewhat. We didn’t get heavy wind which was a blessing. I thought we had escaped all damage until a friend called to say that Rowe Road, which leads to Knott Road and our house ,was washed out. She said there was no way Henry would get to work on Monday. Later in the afternoon, when the rain was light we set off to survey the damage.  Our bit of road looked fine, but the drainage ditches were tumbling streams. This freshet was bubbling off the hill from our field, into the ditch.

Knott Road

Towards the end of Knott Road where it joins Rowe Road we saw the first washout, and a tree hung up on the power lines. Fortunately, we still have power and phone service.

Rowe Road

The was the first major washout we came to, just before the turn onto Knott Road.

Looking at that same washout from below you can get some sense of the water rushing over a newly revealed giant boulder in the road bed.

Rowe Road

Just a few yards further down the road this is what we saw.  We decided to end our travels in that direction.

This stream on the other side of Rowe Road is usually a sleepy trickle, but not today. My husband was able to check an on-line record of the flow of the Deerfield in Charlemont. The readings there are almost unbelievable.  The river depth is measured at over 16 feet, instead of the normal 4 feet, and the cubic feet per second flow is 20,000 or possibly more, where the usual flow is 600 cubic feet per second.

When we got home from our walk we checked our very informal rain gauge – 7 -3/4 inches since last night.

Over the afternoon we have heard stories about terrible damage in the area, and do indeed count our blessings that End of the Road Farm came through relatively unscathed.

Inspiration From Seattle – One

Shelagh Tucker with tomatoes and sweet peas

Compared to Heath, Seattle has a mild climate, and yet gardeners there share some of our problems. Generally, it does not get hot in Seattle. Gardeners go to great lengths pampering their tomatoes in an attempt to achieve juicy ripeness. Shelagh Tucker has a small greenhouse in her sloping back garden, but she also grows her tomatoes in a raised bed sort of hot house to provide the heat tomatoes require. Behind her, in another raised bed are beautifully trained flowering sweet peas.

Lavender

I was surprised to see so much lavender growing in Seattle gardens, great healthy clumps. Lavender does not need the heat that tomatoes do, and enjoy the wet mild winters.

Potted succulent

Because of all the seasonal rain I could see why containers with all manner of succulents are popular.

Santolina

I love santolina but have never been able to overwinter this pretty herb with its yellow button flowers. It is used widely in arid climates, but Shelagh has used gravel extensively in her garden to help retain heat, and provide sharp drainage for her plants.

Shelagh took a leaf from British gardener Beth Chatto’s book on gravel gardening to design a stunning garden featuring gravel and stone to capture heat, provide paths, and provide drainage for plants like thyme in front of her house.

Stone Mosaic

Stone and gravel become art in this beautiful mosaic.

Waterlily pool

While I am familiar with the many small in-ground pools that gardeners install for plants or fish, I was particularly fond on this raised pool which was so elegant.

'Heritage' rose

Of course, I always pay special attention to the roses in a garden.  David Austin’s ‘Heritage’ is one of my favorites even though I cannot keep one alive very long myself.

Shelagh Tucker’s garden was the first garden we visited on our tour and it set the tone for the unique and personal gardens that followed.

Water in the Garden

Greenfield Garden Club members opened their gardens to the public in a fund-raising tour on July 9. Water seemed to be everywhere in those gardens, fountains, pools and streams. One of the most important water features was in Marcia Stone and Norm Hirschfeld’s garden – a rain barrel. They plan to add more. The rain off their garage roof fills the 55 gallon drum almost instantly.

The Greenfield Garden Club raises money to fund many school projects.

Monday Record 5-23

Earth Oven at Katywil

There isn’t much to report about progress in the garden. This report is full of  rain, showers, downpour, drizzle, rain, spitz and fog.   Fortunately a showery day did not deter the Yestermorrow crew who came to Katywil to hold an Earth Oven Building workshop.  The stone foundation had been completed two weeks ago and Saturday was going to see building of a wood fired oven. The workshop participants had to get deep into the mud (earth) and muddy straw so a little water from the heavens was not a problem. I will have more about this project soon.

Pollen cloud

While I was watching the oven construction a great cry went out. “Look!”  And then we were all looking down and across the hills a a great wind blew up and sent clouds of green pollen across the valley. None of us had seen anything like it.  No wonder allergy sufferers are having such a bad year.

Yesterday was the first day in two weeks that we could do anything substantial out in the garden. The grass was still damp, but Henry mowed. Now I have to rake.  I will not put these clippings in the compost, because my pile never gets hot enough to kill all the dandelion seeds. So I guess this chore isn’t quite done.

My to-do list included pruning the roses and weeding along the Shed Bed, Rose Walk and the Rose Bank.  I collected two wheelbarrows full of prunings and weedings, but I think there is more to do. I don’t like to rush into pruning winterkill, in case a branch is just a lazy leaf and still alive. I can’t cross this off my list yet either.

However, before the bugs drove me inside to get busy roasting a chicken, and getting some blueberry muffins into the over,  I did do a bit of weeding in the front garden, and put in a second planting of spinach and Tango lettuce.  It is not often I get such a good photo of a completed job.  Actually, its not often I actually complete a job to photo-worthiness.

Another Lawn-less Garden

Yesterday I attended a reunion of the book club I helped found in 1965. The book club continues, and the book under discussion was Per Petterson’s I Curse the River of Time.  I very much enjoy Petterson’s books, and indeed many of the chilly books of the Scandinavian writers, but it is ironic that this book of lonliness and the failure of emotional ties was the topic among a group of women friends meeting over tea and cake while rain fell on the verdant garden outside the windows.

The club membership has shifted over the years, but all of us could look back over the river of time we each have swum and been generally happy – while admitting that there may have been dangerous rapids from time to time.  We are all women of  ”a certain age’, no one gets to this point without having experienced sorrows, but we are all fortunate to have many joys.

The Gazebo

I enjoyed the view of this charming gazebo from the window, but just before we left I got a tour of Audrey’s dripping garden and got to peek into the windows where other meetings of the book club have met.

The brook next to the gazebo was racing and tumbling over the stones.

Next to the screened gazebo was a little seating area. I loved the little side table made of pots and a board.

Audrey said she has seats all over the garden because she can’t work for very long without needing a respite.

I looked at all those seats and saw the reminder that we all should sit and enjoy the garden from time to time –  without a weeder clutched in our hand.

Every garden should have a touch of humor.

Did you miss a lawn?  I didn’t.

Frog Pond Reflections

For more Wordlessness click here this Wednesday.

The First Dandelion

The appearance of the first dandelion means spring has really and truly arrived. It also means that lawn mowing will not be far behind.

Because of a family obligations, and a joyous publication party for Carol Purington and Susan Todd’s poetry anthology, Morning Song: Poems for New Parents,  Saturday was taken up with family and friends. On Sunday we were eager to go out and play in the dirt. Some of the seedlings I have had out in the cold frame were ready to be transplanted into the Front Garden – Tango lettuce  and Amadeus broccoli.  In the meantime my husband was busy mowing along the old fence line. With the old barb wire fence gone we have to integrate new space into the garden.

The Frog Pond

We took a walk down to the Frog Pond and found that the overflow was stopped up and the water level in the pond was higher than it had  ever been, just starting to seep over the edge here where my husband and looking for the overflow which is hidden by the deep water. He successfully found the overflow, unstopped it and the level rapidly went down.

The Frog Pond's proper level

When we started the lawn chair’s legs were at the water’s edge. Now we’ll be able to walk along the edge and check the frog population.

Frog eggs

We could see frog egg sacs sparkling all along the edges of the pond. Some of these eggs got caught up on weeds that were submerged – until Henry got the overflow cleared out.  We were able to get the captive sacs back into the water. We saw some pollywogs and lots of newts. Things look healthy down at the pond.

Having read Sue Reed’s book, Energy Wise Landscaping, we decided it was finally time to plant a windbreak to shelter the house from the winter winds. We began by digging up and transplanting three white pine trees and a small spruce. I am expecting 30 more conifers to be delivered this week along with some small ornamentals that will be planted on the house side of the windbreak.

Windbreak May 1, 2011

It is not very clear in this photo but I have set out a pagoda dogwood that will be planted just where we can see it from the dining table in the Great Room.

Rose Bank May 1

My final task today was planting three more roses on the Rose Bank, Rugosa Agnes, Goldbush, by the hybridizer Kordes, and Gentle Persuasion, a Buck hybrid.  I had hoped to get the Rose Bank remulched with chips – but that will have to wait for another day.