Do you cook? If you have been cooking for any time at all I think you will have discovered that herbs add a lot to everyday cuisine. If you garden as well as cook, you know that a small herb garden can save you money, look pretty, and brighten up your meals. I have always loved and grown herbs to use in the kitchen, but I also grow herbs that have had a fascinating history. The space I…
I bought the Connecticut Yankee Delphinium because it was not as tall as the dramatic and more familiar delphiums, and knew that it did not need staking. That is the attribute that famous photographer Edward Steichen was searching for when he hybridized the Connecticut Yankee. Steichen had a passion for delphiums and grew five acres of the flowers at his Reading, Connecticut home. He was so passionate that he brought them to the Museum of Modern Art in New…
Most of us will never have a reflecting pool in our garden, but water in the garden comes in many forms. The Bloedel Reserve has many beautiful ways to use water in the garden., this is just one. A small fountain near the house makes electricity for the recirculating pump easy. This small waterfall has been 'tuned' to make lovely music. The water enters in a lovely fishpond. A simple birdbath in the shade. A more elaborate…
You might think The Fairy to be a fragile pink rose, but in the 1960 Roses of Yesterday and Today catalog this sturdy polyantha is described as 'unexcelled for vigor, spreading growth, perfect health and hardiness, and its superability to produce those charming pink rosette type blossoms in constant abundance, - each a fair flower, crisp and waxen like a pink sea shell." The Fairy has proved herself to be a stalwart star of my mixed border for the…
Welcome to the Greenfield Garden Club Garden Tour. Welcome seems to be the theme on the Greenfield Garden Club Tour which will be held on Saturday, July 6 from 9 am to 4 pm. This beautiful garden on a challenging slope in Gill has several garden rooms, from the small sunny garden with its fountain and pool surrounded by astilbes, ornamental grasses and bright coreopsis to the woodland garden with its gravel paths and colorful mushroom ornaments. Each garden…
Last week I mis-identified this rose as Winter Sunset. Winter Sunset and Folksinger are both Griffith Buck hardy rose hybrids. This image from the gardenweb forum shows that both roses have a similar form, but Winter Sunset has deeper color. I have both of these roses, but right now Winter Sunset is not doing well at all. To see what else is Wordless this Wednesday click here.
My report for the first of the month and the first of the week, is a day late - but recovering from the pleasures of the Annual Rose Viewing is my excuse. My first of the month reports are to help me keep a better record of bloom times throughout the whole garden. Most of the perennials are in the North and South Lawn Beds. These two slightly curved Lawn Beds were born 14 years ago. Their purpose…
It has never rained on the Rose Viewing, and I think I can claim it did not rain yesterday either. The Rose Viewing is from 1-4 pm. At 3:45 yesterday there were a few drops of rain, but then no more. The guests who were here at that time strolled into the Cottage Ornee where we stayed and chatted, ate the last few cookies, and strawberry sorbet that one of the guests brought, until Sunday afternoon exhaustion set…