When we think of sunflowers most of us think of tall stems with large blossoms heavy with seeds – that will be half eaten by the birds unless we protect them for our own use or display. The Recorder and the Greenfield Garden Club will be holding their Annual Sunflower Contest on Saturday, August 21 at the Energy Park and we expect to see many of these beauties vying for attention. The contest has several categories for youth…
Potted hostas at Mike Shadrack The ‘long bus’ turned so sharply off the paved road and onto a dirt track that all 40 of us garden bloggers collectively held our breath. Fortunately our driver was a real pro and soon we were driving through the woods where Kathy and Michael Shadrack, hosta experts, awaited us. When the bus stopped Mike Shadrack leaped on to welcome us to his home and gardens. With a nod to Frank Lloyd…
Ev Hatch will never forget the seed salesman who talked to him about his upcoming retirement. Instead of selling seeds, he was going to plant a lot of vegetable seeds, tend the plot and donate all the vegetables to food pantries. Over his career Hatch has planted a lot of seeds, in the ground, and in the community as he worked for the Cooperative Extension Service and 4-H. After his retirement in 1977 from these agricultural state enterprises …
Gardens can change overnight, as many people learned after the great May storm that took down so many large trees. Those who had treasured their trees for the serene shade they provided, and the cooling they often brought to the house, found themselves in a new situation that could not soon be remedied. Marty and Jan McGuane’s cool shady garden became a hot sunny garden less dramatically, but with the same result. “We had a beautiful and very…
Who would not like to live on Pudding Hollow Road? It is clearly a road steeped in the history of Hawley, a town settled in 1760, and a unique pudding contest which took place in the late 1770s. Farms and food have always been important parts of Hawley’s history and culture so I could not resist the opportunity to visit the newest farm and an old established garden, both on Pudding Hollow Road, and both a part of…
It takes more than plants to make a garden. First, it takes time. Deirdre Bonifaz and her husband Cristobal moved to Conway in 1985. For Deirdre it was a return to a part of the world she knew as a youngster. In the 1950s her father had moved the family from New York to a West Whately farm, to be closer to the soil and the essentials of life. ‘He was a man ahead of his time,” Deirdre…
Last week I was privileged to be invited by Paul Hellmund, Director, to the Conway School of Landscape Design for the presentations of term projects by this year’s class. I was particularly interested in two of those projects: a feasibility study for the Davis Street School site and plans for a Botanical and Geological Garden at Greenfield Community College. I have long been an admirer of the Conway School of Landscape Design with its emphasis on environmentally sound…
“I have a good imagination,” William Siff told me as we sat in the shade overlooking the new Learning Garden in the midst of fields of medicinal herbs. He said he didn’t imagine the Goldthread Herbal Apothecary with its farm, workshops and national speaking engagements all at once, “But they are all a part of the same focus. “As a move towards sustainable living herbal medicine is a powerful vehicle. As a society we know a lot about…
Ev Hatch, now retired from farming, is a member of the Hunger Task Force and a member of the First Congregational Church of Greenfield. When the First Church began planning a special day of service they called ‘Feet, Hands and Voices to Faith’ he knew just what to do. He donated a half acre of his farmland, and his services to prepare the field. On May 16th he and a crew, that included Luella McLaughlin (aged 93), set…
How has your garden changed in 30 years? How has your life changed in 30 years? As a person who moved every two or three years (on average) for the first four sevenths of my life, I was stunned to realize that Henry and I have been in Heath for 30 years! And that means, that on May 22, today, I celebrate my 30th anniversary as garden columnist for The Recorder. It was a happy day for me…