There were frosts and snows here in Heath, but in between we have been having the most delightful weather. Sun and warmth are such blessings at this time of the year that every ordinary (quotidian) task brings an awareness of the pleasures of the earth. I have my morning routine, beginning with feeding and watering the chickens who are enjoying this weather even though it does not prompt them to lay eggs. I'm down to two or three…
Things go bump in the night at this time of the year, but in her new book, Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities (Algonquin Books $18.95), Amy Stewart takes us on a tour of the more bloodcurdling aspects of botany. We all know that Abraham Lincoln grew up motherless from the age of nine, but I certainly never knew that it was white snakeroot (Eupatoreum rugosum) that killed his mother in1818.…
Early this morning, after yesterday's rain, the sun began to break through the autumn mist. The grass is still lush, but all bloom has fled from the garden, except for a single pot of verbena blooming in front of the house on this Bloom Day. And indoors only the ever faithful abutilon is blooming. Still, the Thanksgiving cactus is heavily budded and it may bloom right on schedule. For many more Bloom Day treats visit Carol over…
On Veteran's Day the Shelburne Falls Area Women's Club, and the greater community, celebrated some of the women who have served in the Armed Forces. The women on the panel above, left to right, are Georgette Devine (Marines 1944-46), Trice Heyer (Army nurse 1967-72), Sandra Lucentini (Air Force 1988-92), and Sandra Magill who is still serving as a Reservist after 27 years in the Navy. It was luck that we got to hear stories from four of the Services and hear how…
I went to the NYBGfor the roses but I got chrysanthemums, kiku, too. This is the third and final year for this extraordinary exhibit of Japanese chrysanthemum art forms set up at the Enid Haupt Conservatory courtyards. I was familiar with this form, Kengai, because similar cascades are created for our local Smith College Chrysanthemum show. All season long a single chrysanthemum plant is trained through wire mesh, pinched and artfully pinched again to create this waterfall of bloom.…
This red Austin rose is climbing the fence at the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. It is just one of the more than 3000 roses growing in the newly designed garden with the goal of showing all visitors what roses can be grown in that climate without a lot of fuss. I got to spend the afternoon with Peter Kukielski, the Curator of the Rose Garden, who arrived in New York from Atlanta…
The city is left behind. I'm home and the first trip out to visit friends we see a porcupine in front of the house eating an apple falled from our old apple tree. We had a delicious lunch of homemade tomato juice (with a few additions) carrot and parsnip soup, little chicken salad sandwiches and tiny fruit tarts. One of the best things about having a wonderful lunch at this house is having a tour of the vegetable…
My friend Peter and I drove into Manhattan for a day of wandering and listening to the symphony of the city, so it was appropriate and easy to park under Lincoln Center. I got to see all the changes and new construction. Then we were off to the subway and downtown. We saw lots of flowers . . . flowers on clothes, flowers on silk brocades (lots of flowers at Pearl River), flowers on pillows, and flowers on china. As…
The week of rain and wind have blown all the trees nearly bare, but the rain was much needed, and mild weather in between allowed the garden clean up to continue. Now that so much is bare I can notice and admire details. The few leaves left on my weeping birch can be seen individually, the color and form better admired. I also have to wonder about the brain of this birch. Surely it has a brain, or why else would…
"Most people, early in November, take last looks at their gardens, and are then prepared to ignore them until the spring. I am quite sure that a garden doesn't like to be ignored like this. It doesn't like to be covered in dust sheets, as though it were an old room which you had shut up during the winter. Especially since a garden knows how gay and delightful it can be, even in the very frozen…