In order to beat the promised two (more) days of heavy rain, I dashed out to get photos for Bloom Day just as the rain began on Thursday. I've potted up many of the annuals: geraniums, fuschia, petunias, snapdragons, blue and white lobelia, and rosemary. I still have a few that have to be put in the ground. These stocks were a gift from a friend. I didn't totally realize how big the clump would get, and I certainly hadn't…
The Garden Tour Season is well begun. Next Saturday, June 15, the Whately Garden Tour sponsored by the Historical Society includes 5 five diverse Whately gardens that will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. rain or shine. There are woodland gardens, gardens that reflect other cultures, cottage gardens and gardens that welcome all kinds of wildlife. A Garden for Family and Friends Last week I visited Nicole and Joe Pietraszkiewicz who bought a newly built…
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…
The Forbes Library Garden Tour descripton of this garden included a 'rock garden'. This is not the kind of rock garden I expected, but it made a great edge between the road and the 'real' rock garden that is comprised of native plants, and larger stones. I thought it resembled a dry river bed. Though not intended to support flowers, it is possible to see some tiny wild flowers making themselves at home in this unusual rock garden.…
Honeybees are in the air, literally and figuratively. A friend, Edward Maeder, who just moved to an old house in Greenfield suddenly saw clouds of honeybees and saw that a swarm had settled into the barn attached to his house. He raced to visit Don Conlon of Warm Colors Apiary to find someone who could help him. A local beekeeper who had also been at the Apiary returned with Maeder and said that he and a friend…
Yesterday morning I watched what I later confirmed was a cowbird being fed by another bird. I just happened to look out the front window and there was this little bird (fully fledged) standing still and looking around while another bird, a different type of bird, much the same size was running around picking up insects from the lawn and bringing them over to the cowbird. Through the window I couldn't hear the cowbird squawking, or whining piteously, but I…
Rhododendrons are in full spectacular bloom now. Many many of them are a single variety magenta variety. This is a shame because rhodies come in so many beautiful colors and shades. My friend Jerry (who I wrote about earlier) has been planting rhodies on his hill side for nearly 15 years, and now has a varied collection of about 400 rhododendrons in gorgeous colors. I do not know all the variety names but here is a sampling. Bees love rhododendron flowers. Scintillation…
One 2013 resolution is to keep a good Bloom Record this year, noting bloom twice a month on the 1st and 15th of every month. After a lot of rain, about 4+ inches, and then hot! weather, things are really moving in the garden. This is high rhodie season. Rangoon is nearly done, Boule de Neige is in full flower and Goldbusch is not quite blooming. Calsap is just beginning to bloom. I transplanted it a couple of…
Right now I have two sage plants in my herb garden right in front of our house. I have a Salvia officinalis plant that has survived several winters, and a brand new meadow sage, Salvia verticillata Evelina. I have since learned that there is a showier S. verticillata named Purple Rain with deep purple flowers. Soon I will add two or three six packs of the annual Victoria Blue salvia which I use as a kind of…