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 Mutation rudbeckia In mid-July I received an email from Peter Guertin in Orange who told me about the mutant rudbeckias he had growing in his garden. He included several photos of those mutant rudbeckias. One looked like a smile in the middle of the flower. One looked like a fat caterpillar growing across the center of the blossom. One blossom had two black eyes, almost back to back creating two attached blossoms. They were very odd flowers indeed. I was delighted to be invited to come and see them for myself.
Guertin’s email also passed on information from Dr. Kevin C. Vaughn about these mutant rudbeckias. “From what Dr. Kevin Vaughn has told me, they are called cristate or fastigate mutants. The normal plant meristem (growing point) is shaped like a dome. In the cristate type, the meristem converts to a linear structure”. That at least explained to me that mutant plants do exist, and they take different forms. But who was the Dr. Kevin Vaughn giving this information?
I should have known because right on the shelf near my desk is a beautifully illustrated book, Beardless Irises: A Plant for Every Garden Situation by Kevin C. Vaughn. It turns out Dr. Vaughn has many strings to his bow. Almost literally.
 Peter and Elaine Guertin Guertin grew up with Elaine McCobb who he ultimately married, and Vaughn. As a nine year old, Vaughn had already begun growing a collection of Siberian Iris, but he and Guertin and Elaine became friends through the music classes in their school. Elaine has now retired from teaching, but continues to play clarinet with many local bands, and Vaughn, who now lives in Oregon, plays a multiplicity of woodwinds with many orchestras, as well as carrying on in the plant world.
The Guertins remain dear friends of Vaughn and they showed me all the daylily hybrids he had sent them. Many of these were rejects from his daylily hybridizing efforts. But they were still beautiful.
 Vaughn hybrid daylily with Guertin’s hand to give a sense of size Vaughn also hybridizes succulents and has a new book titled Sempervivum: A Gardener’s Perspective of the Not-So-Humble Hens-and-Chicks. I am amazed that there are now seven thousand varieties of sempervivum available to gardeners. Guertin gave me a tour of some of the ‘hens and chicks’ that Vaughn had sent to him. I can hardly comprehend how many forms a particular kind of plant can take.
 Sempervivums When I got home I went and looked at the black-eyed susans in my garden. No mutants there. But right next to them was a clump of a similar plants. The leaves were much finer and the brown eye was small and looked a little like a blunt ice cream cone. There were not as many petals and they were also very fine. I did find 43 rudbeckia varieties listed and pictured online, but none seemed exactly like mine. I think it is Ratibida pinnata, sometimes known as Missouri coneflower. It is not a mutant.
Between Guertin’s mutant black rudbeckias, Vaughn’s hybrids and my ratibida I realized there are many ways that plants have changed over the ages. I am sure many of you have visited Smith College’s Lyman Plant house for the spectacular Spring Bulb Show or the autumnal Chrysanthemum show. I hope you have also visited the fascinating 60 foot mural telling the story of plants through the ages. 3,500 million years ago there was only bacteria and that lived in the water.
In the early Devonian period, 400 million years ago, the first tiny vascular plants, plants with food and water conducting tissue, began to evolve. Then came the Devonian Explosion which “resulted in plants becoming more complex, evolving roots, leaves, and more complex reproductive structures.” In the late Devonian period trees evolved.
The late carboniferous period was a time when trees in tropical swamps lived and died, ultimately transformed into coal.
It was not until the Cretaceous periods, 130-60 million years ago, that flowering plants of all sorts arose along with animal pollinators.
We are now in the Holocene era, from the birth of agriculture, breeding plants, and moving plants around the world.
More specifically but amazingly in just the last 200 years or so, Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) and Charles Darwin (1809-1882) were at work discovering ways that plants could be manipulated.
Now we gardeners wait for the arrival of plant catalogs to tell us about the latest hybrids available for our gardens. The very first farmers attended to the strongest, biggest, most delicious or other beneficial attributes, and took the seed from those plants to have stronger, better plants the following year. Then came cross pollinating.
The reason for creating hybrids is to give us bigger, or smaller plants, different colors, different flower forms, more dependability, or more tolerance of heat or cold.
Nowadays hybrids can also be created by genetic engineering/gene modification. There is a lot of debate over the wisdom of GMOs, which is a story for another day, but it certainly is a technique that is being used today.
For myself I enjoy native plants, cross pollinated plants, and surprising mutated plants. I am glad I got to visit the beauties and surprises of the Guertin garden.
Between the Rows August 10, 2019
 Cardinal plant, silver artemesia and helenium It’s been quite a year in the garden here in western Massachusetts. A long wet spring has led to a hot dry summer. I dug out our sprinkler and put it to use. The butterflies and bees have been visiting the cardinal plants which made me happyl
 Aesclepius for the Monarchs The Aesclepius is right next to the cardinal flowers and they are very good friends.
 Rudbeckia, daylilies and phlox The daylilies are nearly done in this bed but the rudbeckia and phlox will get us through the summer.
 Japanese anemone and bee The Japanese anemone, right in back of the daylilies and next to the phlox is just beginning to bloom. The bees are happy.
 Cone flower, bee balm, daylilies on the South Hellstrip. My neighbors across the street are still enjoying this floriferous hellstrip – otherwise known as the Tree Belt. No tree, but lots of pollinator flowers.
 Folksinger, a Buck rose Time to celebrate Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day! The Folksinger rose is having a very good year. It will stand in for the other roses that are still modestly blooming. I think it is too hot and dry, even with watering, to have them do their best.
There are other blooms, bits of coreopsis, yarrow, honeysuckle, and meadow rue still blooming. The three hydrangeas are coming into full bloom. Our South Border is quite a beautiful jungle. I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for showing how to share our gardens all across our great land. Happy Bloom Day to you all.
 The Green Man Many of us have seen an image of the Green Man, his face made of hawthorn leaves and acorns, symbols of fertility. Many of us have no idea of why such an image might exist. And yet this ancient symbol was found in cultures older than the Roman empire, expressions of birth and death. The carving of a Green Man in what is now Iraq may date from as early as 300 BCE (Before the Common Era).
There are many images of the Green Man, sometimes solemn, sometimes smiling, and sometimes grimacing and biting on a branch. Many of these images are to be found in early Christian churches, a reminder of the cycle of life.
The images and beliefs in the power of the Green Man indicate that the human race recognized its dependence on nature in those ancient times. Many of us in these modern days are still, or again, realizing the importance of caring for Nature.
Celt Grant grew up with legends of the Green Man from his Scottish father. Grant’s father grew up in the North Pacific forests of Canada and was devoted to his Scottish heritage. He even named his children to reflect that heritage. I met Celt, but his siblings are named Scott and Gael.
 Celt Grant “My father had milking cows, but mainly he was a woodworker and kept his own woodshop. We all became woodworkers,” Grant said, adding that he is also a woodworker, and spent many years working as a preservation contractor.
“I’ve known about the Green Man since I was a teenager. He is the guardian of the forests and gardens. A benign force. He is very well known in Britain and Europe,” Grant said. Today his retirement house in Bernardston has Green Man images on the walls, a reminder of his Scottish heritage.
But clearly small Green Man plaques were not enough. A spring windstorm last year took down a large maple tree in his front yard. “What was left of the tree dried out over the year. The bark peeled off. I looked around for someone who could carve a Green Man out of the part of the trunk that was left.
“I found a woman in Royalston, Sue O’Sullivan, otherwise known as Chainsaw Sue. When she finished with her chain saw I painted the leaves and finished his face.”
I could not help admiring this congenial looking Green Man with his shining beard who watched over the hedges and flower beds at the edge of the green lawn.
Of course, many of us may be familiar with the experience of making a wonderful change in our gardens and then realizing that now it needs something more. “I began to rethink this whole front garden. I’m thinking about building a very low stone wall around the Green Man and planting a ground cover – maybe Waldsteinia,” he said.
After admiring the Green Man from every angle Grant showed me the way to the gardens behind the house. I was startled to realize that the house sat on top of a high hill with a steep drop to the lawns and gardens below. A graceful stone stairway led past the terraced plantings to the right and a dense planting of vinca to the left. From the stairway I could see a handsome shed, and a lush fenced vegetable garden.
 View of the Folly, vegetable garden and shed from the deck Grant said when he bought his house six years ago the back yard was full of farm junk and a dead elm tree. I could hardly take in the transformation.
Grant showed me the brick seating area that he calls his Folly. He seemed amused as I tried to figure out the use of the device set on a pedestal. “It is an Aeolian harp, a wind harp” he said with a smile. Then he confessed that it took more wind than was produced in that spot to really make much music. The harp, the pedestal, and the circular white seating were all picked up at the Brimfield Antique Flea Market – and other places. He told me the spring and fall Brimfield Markets were enjoyable, but I should never go to the summer Brimfield Market. Too Hot!
 Looking up the hill at Terraces and Trellises The Aeolian harp might have been a disappointment, but not the view of the back of the house. A long deck was high above the three terraces. It provided the necessary anchor for five trellises from the deck to the highest terrace. Grant explained that he was working to discover the best plants for those trellises. The clematis was doing very well but the others less so. Shade is the problem, but also an opportunity. At least that is the way I try to face a problem in the garden.
Grant and I share an appreciation for Martin’s Compost Farm soil. The soil there is stony and not very fertile. He needed good soil for his vegetable garden, and to create the terraces. My problem was flooding, but we are both grateful for Martin’s Compost Farm.
When it was time to leave I spent a few silent minutes communing with the Green Man. I thought of the cycles of a garden year, and the cycles of life. I also thought about the cycles of nature. I thought we should not take the benign powers of the Green Man for granted.
Between the Rows August 3, 2019
 Encaustic painting – Indigo Falls The title of Christin Couture’s Nearest Faraway Place exhibit might sound confusing to many people. For Christin Couture that Place is about more than a shadowy woodland, and rushing river water. “The view is like a theater. A theater is always changing. This view I have is of the changing seasons and weather. I never tire of this scene. The location is the anchor of all the paintings. Everything else is changeable,” she said.
For nearly 15 years she has been painting the same view from her house with its innumerable changes through the hours of the day and seasons of the year. The 25 paintings on view at the Oresman Gallery at the Brown Fine Arts Center are small. The wood panels measure only 10×8, 6×8, and 9×12 inches, though some are doubled. These paintings use the technique called encaustic. The paintings are mixed mediums using beeswax, candelilla wax, oil pigment, acrylics, and colored pencils.
“In 2005 I did the first painting. I was just experimenting, and I put the painting away in a drawer. Later, Bill, my husband, happened to find it and said they were great. So I started to do some more.
“I went to Peter Curtis of Mole Hollow Candles and he gave me a thick sheet of bees wax. I put it in the freezer because then I could break off a piece when I needed it. I was going to try it with various pigments. This was not at all planned. I was just doing, not thinking about an exhibit. I just got wrapped up in the image and in the colors,” Couture said.
“Encaustic painting is very physical, you can move it around. Its malleable, you can scrape off the wax if you make mistakes. You don’t have that benefit when you are working with other media. You can’t correct watercolor mistakes or acrylics. With oils you have to wait until they are dry. In addition, there is a beautiful translucence. That is the beauty of wax.”
 Sunset by Christin Couture Couture told me about the pleasure she feels working with beeswax. “Beeswax just smells wonderful when it is melting and you are working with it. I also use candelilla wax which comes from a Mexican plant. It is harder that beeswax. You can mix them. The beeswax can get a little harder or the candelilla a little softer. Sometimes I do an underpainting with acrylics and then I’d smooch around with the wax. It was all about experimenting. I felt it was a challenge.
“Bill is responsible for the view, Couture said. “Originally there was just a dense woodland running along a chasm near the house. For a while there were terrible storms and Bill had to remove the fallen trees. He began to be concerned about the view. He wanted to protect the whole length of the woodland beyond his slice. That didn’t happen, but he was able to work in the woods, pleasing his own eye. Actually I couldn’t look at the mess so I began to join him in the clean up.
“Bill is a landscape designer. He is also a sculptor. He does three dimensional art – thinking about spacing, incorporating a lot of elements, making them move. He makes them alive.”
Hosie told me about learning and working as a gardener when he was in high school. He is now in charge of all the landscaping around the Couture/Hosie house. There are flowers and greenery, and the artful woodland. I was particularly taken by his extraordinary moss garden, glowing like an emerald next to the house.
When I first met Couture she was doing many other kinds of painting. I remember paintings of enormous icebergs in a dark sea, and of children that seemed a bit Gorey-esque. Apparently, Edward Gorey thought so, too, because he invited her to visit and talk over a cup of tea – or absinthe.
I remember her beautiful colorful children’s book, A Walk in the Woods. Now I have to wonder whether it was the same woodland that inspired that earlier book, and these new paintings.
 Expulsion – Encaustic painting by Christin Couture The first encaustic paintings did not include figures, but recently she did add small figures like Adam and Eve being expelled from the paradise made of her woodland. She said it was easy to concentrate while working on these small paintings. There was also a special intimacy working on a small scale.
 Christin Couture and William Hosie I have often said that a walk down the garden path leads into many other paths from science to art. Monet had his water lilies, and shimmering haystacks. Georgia O’Keefe had her magnificent flowers with amazing color. Like artists, we all see and experience gardens and flowers differently.
Artists are a gift to us gardeners, because our gardens sleep for part of the year. We turn to paintings and our memories of the seasons past.
The Nearest Faraway Place will be on exhibit at the Oresman Gallery at the Brown Fine Arts Center on the Smith College campus. Oresman Gallery Hours: Mon – Friday 8:30am – 4pm, Friday, August 9, 5-8pm during 2nd Friday Arts Night Out. Exhibit will close August 29, 2019.
Couture has also exhibited her work at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center; DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park; Monique Knowlton Gallery, NYC; Museo Leon Trotsky, and Galeria Arvil, Mexico City. If you are interested in purchasing any of her paintings you can reach her through her website, www.christincouture.com or email her at christincouture@icloud.com.
Between the Rows July 27, 2019
 January 25, 2019 View from the office I have not been keeping up with my monthly view from “the office.” My plan was to keep track of the weather, and the growth and changes in the garden. When we bought out house the view was very much like this, so we knew there was a lot of wet in the backyard. We are still learning how very wet and flooding it can be.
 March 1, 2019 view from the office We did not welcome snow in March.
 April 13, 2019 Snow is gone, We were glad to watch the flooding drying out, but it is still wet. By the end of the month we were able to get more compo-soil, 4 yards, and begin building up the raised beds. It was clear they needed to be higher.
 June 6, 2019 Spring looks wonderful The new elevations of the planting beds are not to clear, but we did raise them There are not too many flowers, but we are very happy to welcome spring.
 July 14, 2019 stop gap plantings The center bed and northern bed needed to be redone because the fall, winter and spring downed many plants including my beautiful weeping cherry and pagoda dogwood. I am thinking of making a least the center bed into a cutting garden with some annuals. I’ll get started early next year.
 July 29, 2019 July is ending It amazes me how much things can change in just a couple of weeks. We have had to do some watering, and hope for more rain and a less blistering August.
 Canada lilies in the Hawley Bog woodland photo by Will Draxler Years ago I tried visiting the Hawley bog, but gave up when the walkway gave out. I had to wait to really see the bog until Sue Draxler offered to be my guide.
Sue Draxler was my neighbor when we lived in Heath. She was a very special neighbor because she loved the natural world and generously shared her knowledge of the world around us. Her love of nature showed itself in many ways, in her art works, and in exhibits of wood or insects created by her sons, Will and Alex, for display at the Heath Fair. Not only were those exhibits informative, they were beautifully arranged and labeled. This was a reflection of Draxler’s 20 years of working as a naturalist for an environmental center in New Jersey, and volunteering with other groups.
Draxler told me “Even as a child I enjoyed exploring the natural world. I would try to identify and make lists of the birds, bugs, and plants that I found. I think I told you that it was in the New Jersey Pinelands that I became enamored of bogs so I was delighted to discover the Hawley bog so nearby when we moved to Heath.”
Last week Draxler invited me to walk through the Hawley Bog with her, and her son. Will is 16 and a student at the Academy at Charlemont where he has been gaining greater and greater skills with a camera. Draxler said this was a good time to visit the Bog because the orchids would be in bloom.
 Rose Pogonia – Hawley bog orchid photo by Will Draxler I didn’t know much about bogs beyond the fact that they were perpetually wet places. I certainly didn’t know I could find orchids in a bog.
Neither did I know that the Hawley Bog is considered one of the best examples of a natural New England Bog. It covers an area of 65 acres; 25 of those acres are cared for by the Nature Conservancy and the Five Colleges, Inc. The colleges use the bog as a living classroom and laboratory for research. This fragile wetland includes a mat of peat moss 30 feet thick that floats on the open water of a glacial lake. A 700 foot walkway through the Bog was renovated a few years ago to make it available to students and to interested nature lovers.
Draxler, son Will, and I met early in the morning to drive to the Bog. We parked at the well marked entrance to the woods and began to walk. Within very few minutes we stopped admire bright and dainty Canada lilies, and to sign in at a weather proof box nailed to a tree. The Nature Conservancy likes to keep a tally of visitors and where they come from. We had not far to go through the woods to step on the walkway.
 Witches broom is a fungus that can grow on trees and shrubs Draxler explained that this first section was really a wet meadow. As we walked we could see that the land beneath the walkway getting wetter and wetter. It all looked very green. I did recognize the mountain laurels, but Draxler had to point out the odd collection of brown and green sticks growing on a branch. “Do you know about witches’ brooms?” she asked. No, I did not. She had to explain that this deformity was caused by fungus or viruses and it could attack trees or shrubs. I noticed many more witches’ brooms on trees and shrubs as we walked.
Then Draxler pointed out a pink orchid. This is when I learned about how to look carefully. These pink orchids were no bigger than my thumbnail. That day we only saw Rose Pogonia with its pink crest and fringed lip. Later I learned that there are about 30,000 species of orchids around the world. Large and small. As we walked we saw more and more of these tiny pink orchids. It was very exciting. Draxler said there had not been so many in bloom the previous week.
 Yellow loosestrife, only 8-10 inches tall photo by Will Draxler I did recognize meadowsweet with its dainty white panicles, but Draxler patiently pointed out the Royal fern and Ostrich fern by name, as well as the delicate little yellow loosestrife, and the heart-shaped leaf of water arum. I pointed out the odd grass with little fluffy tips but it was Draxler who provided the name – cotton grass. We also saw a small meadow rue which was actually a tall meadow rue, Thalictrum polygamum, which has no petals, but starry bursts of while threadlike stamens.
 Meadow rue – photo taken by Will Draxler Very different from the meadow rue in my own garden. As we walked there were fewer trees and shrubs, Will silently following, stopping to take photographs of the varied plants. We had to look very carefully to see the tiny sundews that were sending up tiny flowers. The pitcher plants were bigger and more familiar. Bogs don’t grow many plants because the bog soil is very acidic and has little nutrition. Carnivorous plants can happily grow in a bog because they get nutrition from their prey.
We came to the end of the walkway, where it turns around and returns. From here the view is of a vast expanse of some low greenery. It was hard not to think about the thousands of years that it took to make this bog. Layer after layer of sphagnum moss grows and dies, but it does not completely decay.
We began to walk back. There was lots of greenery, grass-like plants that we did not name. However, Draxler did give me a rhyme that might help me identify the species. “Sedges have edges, rushes are round, and grasses have knees that bend to the ground” referring to their jointed nodes. I loved the rhyme in all its versions, but alas, we did not classify any of the ‘grasses’ we found.
It was two hours later that we returned to the car with a plan to return in August and in the fall, so we can both see the progression of the seasons. I cannot have a more congenial guide and teacher than Sue Draxler. Eventually, I will share those visits and lessons some time in the future. ###
Between the Rows July 20, 2019
 Peonies have long stems and have a variety of colors and forms, perfect for a cutting garden The rains started last August. The rains continued during our long cold spring. The effect on my garden was that a number of plants drowned including my beautiful double weeping cherry. The view from my kitchen window was now bleak and empty.
To remedy the situation now and for the future we first needed to raise our already raised planting beds. Spring rains kept us from beginning this project. To raise the height of the beds we needed more soil and our beloved Martin’s Compost Farm could not supply that soil because the rains put a stop to their operations.
Finally, Martin’s Farm was able to deliver four more yards of compo-soil and we moved load after load to the two planting beds. Once again we had barren beds. What to do?
We began by planting a water-tolerant quince bush surrounded by water tolerant sedums, yarrow and silvery Artemisia in the most northerly bed. The water tolerant Aesclepius tuberosa, the ornamental native orange flowered milkweed, and cardinal flowers were thriving. Even so, we did add more soil to the area around these plants.
I took a different approach with the second bed, which is right in front of my kitchen windows. We hadn’t decided on a planting scheme and decided that for this year we would plant annuals on this small area while we devised a plan. In went seedlings and starts of cosmos, snapdragons, zinnias, marigolds, and two clumps of dianthus. Needless to say it doesn’t look like much right now.
 Annual cosmos comes in a variety of colors. Long stems, lacy foliage Then, one day I looked at the second bed, about eleven by eight feet, with its little flowers and thought I might turn it into a permanent cutting garden bed. The flowers in a cutting garden are chosen because they easily make pretty bouquets. Snapdragons, cosmos, and zinnias are certainly good bouquet flowers. It would be lovely to be able to share my garden by giving friends and family an occasional bouquet.
A cutting garden can make use of perennials, annuals and even herbs in a bouquet. Most gardens have perennials suitable for a bouquet. The question is will there be enough for bouquets and the flower garden. A big question.
The summer perennials that come to my mind are peonies, yarrow, phlox, helenium, gaillardia, dahlias, asters, and black eyed susans who each have their own blooming season. There are also perennials like Lady’s mantle that has gray-green ruffled leaves that make a pretty collar around a bouquet.
I think many of us are familiar with the practice of judiciously cutting back perennials early in the season to create more lush blooms later in the summer. When you prune those perennials cut them carefully and remove most leaves.
Annuals with long stems are best for many bouquets. I am always careful to choose long legged zinnias. To keep annuals blooming through the season I’ve been told that blooming annuals should be cut back once, or even twice a week. This practice will keep new flowers coming.
This regular cutting of flowers to use in bouquets means learning where to make the cut. When you are beginning to harvest annual flowers, the first cut should be made above three or four side shoots. This will generate more strong flowering shoots which will be cut back in their own time. Be careful to cut back stems that are growing towards the center of the plant to keep stems from being overcrowded.
 Red zinnias – and annual with long stems. Vibrant color There are many annuals that can be started by seeds, or seedlings bought at the garden center. Just a few of the annuals for a cutting garden include gomphrena, phlox, love-lies-bleeding, Mexican sunflower, china asters, nigella, the red flanders poppy, China asters, Shasta daisies and other ‘daisy’ flowers like osteospurmums.
Herbs like rosemary, dill, sage and oregano can also have a place in a bouquet. Herbs provide pleasant scents and attractive foliage.
 Yarrow – a strong, long stemmed achillea I’m known for running out to pick a few flowers to stick in a vase and calling it a day. This kind of bouquet will be pretty for a day or two. However, making a bouquet that will last for a few days takes some preparation.
The best time for cutting flowers is early in the morning or in early evening when the flower stems will be full of water. Use a very clean pail or container with clean lukewarm water. Use a sharp snips or garden clippers to cut flower stems at about the same length so they will not crush each other in the pail.
If a plant has floppy stems I have heard that some gardeners roll the stems in newspaper to hold them erect. Don’t crowd the flowers in your bucket. Maybe you’ll need two buckets if you are making a large bouquet. Also think about whether it is necessary to have a separate container for each flower you are gathering.
The bucket of flowers should be left in a cool place for at least three hours, or overnight.
I have never been very successful using floral foam, but many people swear by the help foam provides. Others like to use a bit of balled up chicken wire to hold the flowers in place.
My cutting garden has not been carefully thought out this year, but it has given me food for thought for next year.
Between the Rows July 13, 2019
 Hellstrip, Tree belt
Coneflowers, daylilies, centaurea, yarrow I DON’T KNOW WHY THIS DIDN’T GET POSTED ON THE 15th – BUT I’M HERE NOW.
The climate is much on my mind as I celebrate Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day here in western Massachusetts. Last summer was very wet, and the wet continued this spring. I lost many plants and I am in the process of re-designing (and I use the term loosely) and replanting. The last three weeks have been very hot (high 80’s and 90) and very dry. Is this a promise that we will have hotter drier summers? I have had to water the hellstrip which was beginning to get crispy. Even so, I think it looks lush and wonderful, with lots of flowers yet to bloom.
 Daylily border section on the south bed The daylilies are doing well. I love daylilies because they tolerate wet sites, and they are doing well this hot summer.
 Elsa’s Mystery Daylily Last summer I went up to the Stone Meadow Gardens in Ashfield daylily farm determined to add some interesting colors to my collection. I was successful. In addition, the owners Phil Pless and Linda Taylor gave me a piece of this tall yellow small daylily named Elsa’s Mystery. They knew I was a good friend of Elsa Bakalar, as they were. They said Elsa named this daylily because she had lost its real name. I am delighted their collection gave me the richness of color that I was looking for, and a memento of a dear friend.
 A cheerful daylily from Stone Meadow Gardens  Blue Paradise phlox This phlox is slowly taking hold. I think it might need a little more sun.
 Kordes Polar Express The roses are taking a little rest. There are few blooms, but I am hoping that with some deadheading there will be a second flush.
 Buttonbush It is hard to remember that those spiky balls are buttonbush flowers. The buttonbush has thrived with all the rain, but you can see that the flowers are getting brown in their centers. I think they will not last long.
 The North Planting Bed The is the most northerly of the three raised planting beds. This section of the bed suffered from the flooding of the garden. No more perennials or pagoda dogwood. The Aesclpias and not-yet-blooming cardinal flowers and that amazing golden mat of sedum are all that was left of this area. New plants include a quince bush, obedient plants, yarrow and helenium.
 Delphiniums I don’t know if it is cheating, but these delphiniums were knocked down in the wind yesterday. I had to let you see them. The color is extraordinary!
 View from the office I’m adding this View from the Office so you can get some idea of most of the garden, including the Center and North Beds. I’m thinking maybe I will make that area of the Center Bed a cutting garden next year.
I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for making it possible to share our gardens and see what is blooming all across our great land. Go on over to see it all!
More pix – just for fun
 Daylily on the hellstrip  Lavender daylilies on south hellstrip  Double orange daylily  Deep red and gold daylily – which the camera does not really catch  I seem to have several doubles, and frilled daylilies
 My husband Henry and me, toasting our neighbor Wendy and her lush garden. Gardening in the summer can be hot and dirty. But a reprieve is the reward. It’s time to put away our tools and wash up. It’s time for a tranquil cocktail hour in the garden. Time to sit with a spouse, and time to sit with a friend in the midst of your garden beauty. The ideal place for the cocktail hour is in the shade with birds chirping, and floral fragrances carried by the breeze.
When I was browsing my bookshelves the other day I noticed that I had three books that inspired me to think more about the delights of a cocktail hour.
The Cocktail Hour Garden by C.L. Fornari
 Cocktail Hour Garden by C.L. Fornari The first book, C.L. Fornari’s book The Cocktail Hour Garden covers just about every aspect of making that hour delicious. She suggests ways of creating evening landscapes for relaxation and entertaining. She describes the way the late afternoon sun provides backlighting through her foliage. That same sun can throw artistic shadows of well placed perennials.
Like all of us she welcomes the birds and butterflies into her garden with feeding and watering places. She also suggests the kinds of flowers that can provide food for them and beauty for you at the same time. Fornari provides great information about the birds and the bees with generous lists and descriptions of appropriate plants like asters, coreopsis, liatris, joe pye weed and more.
She also reminds us that the sound of moving water is soothing and calming. It also attracts the birds. This is perfect music for the end of the day.
If your cocktail hour begins or extends into the night she touches on the white flowers like phlox David, white zinnias, and Star Cluster coreopsis that will add a soft glimmer.
The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
 The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart The second book is by Amy Stewart who has written fascinating books about plants. These include Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Perhaps to provide a balance, she also wrote The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks. There are recipes for fermented and distilled drinks from margaritas to Moscow Mule, to Blushing Mary.
There are recipes for syrups, infusions and garnishes from prickly pear syrup to limoncello. She even gives a template with suggestions on making up your own cocktails.
Stewart’s book is a delight because she is not just a knowledgeable bar tender. She also knows a lot about botany, the plants that are used in these libations. For example, her recipe for Royal Tannenbaum gets its name because of the pine liqueur that is added to London dry gin with a sprig of rosemary. Did you know there are eight distinct gins, or that there is a liqueur made from the arola stone pine resin? Nor did I.
Stewart is a great researcher. She talks about many of the plants most commonly used in alcoholic drinks. In addition, she adds historical and medical notes. She includes fascinating bits of information about physicians and scientists who 400 years ago and more discovered and used birch sap in making medicines – and a good addition to ale.
After reading a few pages of The Drunken Botanist you’ll be able to regale your cocktail hour companions with intriguing stories from agave to wormwood.
Harvest by Stefani Bittner and Alethea Harampolis
 Harvest by Bittner and Harampolis Finally, the third inspiring book on my shelf is Harvest: Unexpected projects using 47 extraordinary garden plants by Stefani Bittner and Althea Harampolis. The book, with its beautiful photographs, is arranged by season, spring, summer and fall.
I always have rhubarb in my garden. It has beautiful foliage, and I will need it for my rhubarb-strawberry pie filling. Bittner and Harampolis begin their book with a recipe for rhubarb quick pickles. The pickling liquid includes peppercorns, chilies and apple cider vinegar. It takes only 48 hours to pickle. The ladies suggest it as an addition to a cheese plate. You can also use a piece of rhubarb as a swizzle stick for your drink.
Some recipes use familiar ingredients like poppy seeds, feverfew, oregano, and lemon balm for eating and drinking. Others are for tinctures or other medicines. For instance yarrow flowers and leaves can be transformed, with the help of brandy, into a tincture to be taken by mouth, or on your skin. Tinctures are very strong so only a bit is used at a time.
I thought the recipe for pomegranate margarita would be a good suggestion for the cocktail hour. The pomegranate margarita is a beautiful pink drink that requires tequila and triple sec as well as pomegranate juice. Maybe even some pomegranate seeds.
Of course some of us may have a few aches at the end of a day in the garden. Bittner and Harampolis have the recipe for a colorful calendula infused essential oil for a massage, or for dry skin.
Last week my neighbor Wendy Sibbison invited my husband and me to join her for a cocktail, at the end of the day. She followed up with grilled chicken, homemade bread, and, as it happened, a delicious mango sorbet. All I had to do was bring the salad. We sipped her special gin and tonic, ate everything on the table, and enjoyed the cooling breeze as we admired her climbing roses and clematis.
Are there garden cocktail hours on your schedule this summer?
 Here I am among the delpniniums, peonies and lilies Between the Rows July 6, 2019
 Green and gold groundcover We all know that groundcovers cover the ground. However,the problem is that there are good groundcovers and bad groundcovers. If you are like me you spend a bit of time cursing the weedy plants sneaking over our ground. I have two responses to the problem. Sometimes I weed casually, then put down paper or cardboard topped with bark mulch. Sometimes I cover the ground with good low growing plants that do a good job of holding weeds at bay.
 Tiarella – Foam Flower Actually, there are many blooming ground covers. I have long used foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) that spreads by runners. The flowers are airy racemes on wiry stems and will bloom for about six weeks in the spring.
 Waldsteinia – barren strawberry In addition, I use barren strawberry (Waldsteinia) which is definitely not a strawberry plant. However its shiny dark green foliage is strawberry-like as are the little yellow flowers that bloom in the spring. I’m told they can be up to eight inches high, but the dense mats of foliage in my garden never get that tall. You can use this around walkways because it can tolerate light foot traffic.
 Alchemilla mollis However, all sorts of plants can be called ground covers. I use lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) around some of my roses. Lady’s mantle is a lusty low growing perennial with soft frilly light green leaves that can be six inches across. It can reach a height of about 12 inches with flower stalks holding chartreuse blossoms that last most of the summer. It spreads and grows thickly enough to keep out most weeds. And it is very pretty.
Tiarella, Waldsteinia and Alchemilla thrive in full sun or part shade and spread energetically in rich soil.
Primroses (Primulla) produce their pretty flowers in the spring, but their dense foliage does not allow weeds to take hold. Primroses prefer at least some shade, and a moist area. This means they are absolutely perfect for my wet garden.
Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia) covers dry ground happily. It is very attractive in rock gardens. The silver-gray flowers on foot tall stems are thought to look like cat’s feet, but the velvety foliage is dense and flat. It is not only pretty, and good for dry sunny areas, it is poisonous to deer and rabbits. And they know it and avoid it.
Epimediums (sometimes called bishop’s hat) are wonderful groundcovers. They have green and reddish foliage on wiry stems and reach a height of eight to twelve inches. The appeal is their dense growth and the miniature flowers that come in an array of colors and forms in the spring. They welcome sun and shade and prefer a moist site with rich soil. Given good soil they will spread nicely. They should be cut back in the fall. We are fortunate to have a wonderful epimedium nursery in Phillipston, Massachusetts https://epimediums.com with hundreds of beautiful varieties.
Chrysogonum virginianum, much better known as green-and-gold, is new to me. The name is self descriptive. There are low green leaves with golden flowers in the spring. They prefer some shade and moisture. Not a problem in Greenfield these last months. I became acquainted with this lovely little plant when it was included in the meadow garden plantings at the John Zon Community Center. It is beautiful right now.
I never thought of Coral bells (Heucheras) as ground covers because of their height. The foliage is often about 10” high, but the flower stalks can be two feet high. Each clump will gain in width, but they do not spread by runners. Groupings of several plants do serve well as ground covers.
Violets are always found in lists of ground covers. Many call them weeds, but there certainly are areas in many gardens where it is easy to give up the fight and let the violets have their way. With strict limits, of course. Violets grow densely and keep out other weeds. In addition violets are the only food to nourish frittilary butterfly larvae.
The list of blooming ground covers is long and includes familiar lamb’s ears, ajuga, , mazus, creeping baby’s breath, hostas, fringed bleeding heart, wintergreen and partridgeberry.
 Fringed bleeding heart – Dicentra eximia Obviously, groundcovers come in many forms including shrubs and vines which I will not touch on today. However, I’d like to mention the family of sedums, or stonecrops. I have some edging areas where I have grown sedums. Unfortunately, I have lost their names, if I ever knew them
Many of us are familiar with low growing hen-and-chicks and the taller, more substantial Autumn Joy that blooms in the fall. Those are common sedums but there are countless unique sedums available in nurseries. Of course, we often have neighbors who are willing to share their ever increasing sedums. Or we can buy them at plant sales.
In my own garden I have several sedum varieties, including two low creeping sedums.
 Sedum spurium Sedum reflexum has bright golden needle-like leaves that outshines any other sedum in its brilliance. It grows vigorously and the color is an eye-stopper.
Sedum spurium is comprised of creeping succulent florets. My nameless variety is green with a touch of red, but the Dragon’s Blood variety turns rich shades of red in the summer and is popular because of its dramatic presence.
Do you curse the weeds? You might want to add some groundcovers to your plantings.
Between the Rows June 29, 2019round
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