Gardening Can Be Murder by Marta McDowell

I am a reader, and a gardener. During the day I have jobs to do, but I always have some time to read when dinner and the news is over. Recently I have been reading Gardening Can Be Murder – How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers. This is an amazing book, fascinating, thrilling – and I’ve often met some mysterious characters who surprised me. (more…)

The full name for this flower is Boltonia asteroides “Snowbank”.  It often begins to bloom late in August, but in my garden they did not bloom until September. It has been a very wet summer which did not please Boltonia. (more…)

Alma Potschke is a New England aster that will rise to 36 inches or more – and these did reach for another foot of sun.  The difficulty this summer has been a LOT of rain, so they grow tall, but then the heavy rains  knock them down. (more…)

The Roundhouse is a part of the great Franklin County Fair, sponsored by the Franklin County Agricultural Society in September. I am one of the women who are members of the Greenfield Garden Club, women who put this vision together.  Each year there is a different approach, but this year we included lots of books – and I can tell you happily those books came from my house. (more…)

I planted a very few Cardinal flowers four years ago. It is with surprise that I began  to see them spread, and now these ‘baby’ Cardinal flowers are everywhere. They are so small – but so many – and so strong. (more…)

Yesterday we drove up to Heath for an Annual Art Event – with all kinds of Art, oil paintings, photography, watercolor, pastels, weaving, felting, embroidery and much more. (more…)

The Fire Light hydrangea is my first hydrangea to show off the wonderful color.  More red color will appear on these large blossoms. I have been waiting!  (more…)

In 2015 my husband and I decided that it was time to move to The City – Greenfield. We rather quickly chose the small house under a Sycamore and a Lilac tree. Yes! There really are lovely  lilac trees.  Even so, we had to begin to work on our lawns – front and back – and although I enjoyed of thinking of Gardens we had to go to work building a Garden.  You can see we planted a very few small bushes and such – and  that was all very early. Actually, we learned that  the neighbors eventually told us that kids used to skate here in the winter, using the flooded backyard. With good clear eyes you can see floods above. (more…)

Look at all those Cardinal (Lobelia cardinalis) flowers! They have been increasing for five years. I love these flowers – because I love red – but now there are some mysteries. (more…)

I have seen images of the Green Man – but a few years ago I had a new friend and he had a new Green Man in front of his house. There are various ways that the Green Man is shown but a “common theme that runs through these figures would seem to be that of death and rebirth, and the Green that means life.” I was lucky to visit and see the Green Man – and his beautiful gardens. (more…)