As I review and renew in my garden, I thought I ought to look back at the year on the commonweeder. The 5 most popular posts were not what I expected. In February Mycotecture got many visitors - and continues to be visited. In March the New York Times had an article about Femivores, women who love their chickens too much. Or something like that. I have chickens so I had to comment. Chickens - and their houses…
Rose at Ramble 0n Rose has won The Perennial Gardner's Design Primer by Stephanie Cohen and Nancy Ondra. Congratulations! I want to thank everyone who has helped me celebrate three years of blogging this month. And thank you Storey Publications for being so generous in making this Giveaway possible.
When we moved into our house I was thrilled that there was also a hen house in the back yard. The building is about 30 feet long, divided into three sections. We store the feed, kept in metal garbage cans, as well as bales of shavings, in the first section. We also brood our chicks in that section when they arrive around the first of June. There is a chicken door that allows the chicks to go outdoors into a…
Last week I spent the most delightful, and inspirational, afternoon in a sister blogger's garden. Can you tell where I am? I know many of you are familiar with this talented woman with a quick camera finger, and her varied gardens through her popular blog. I will only say this for now. We were both surprised to find how close we live to each other. We will reveal all on Thursday.
This Garden Blogger's Retreat, designed by Michael Devine, is one of the sheds in the Living Stylishly in Nature: Re-Imagining the Humble Garden Shed special exhibit at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. in Stockbridge. Wouldn't you love to walk out your door and through your garden to this 'shed' to begin your post for the day? Can you tell that two thirds of the back wall is covered with tall mirrors? Swagged with handprinted fabric? However, I noticed that…
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…
Here is part of the crowd of 70 garden bloggers at the Buffalo Botanical Garden. I was familiar with the blogs of some of these gardeners like Frances (lower left) of Fairegarden, and Susan (center in blue with hat) of Sustainable Gardening Blog, and Helen (in white under the camera) of Toronto Gardens. Susan is one of the Garden Ranters; she and I worked briefly for an Australian organic gardening website Organic Gardener which made us virtual colleagues!…
The first mirror in the garden I saw this past weekend was in one of the first gardens. I had already seen gardens with high brick walls that had 'windows' cut into them. When I glimpsed shining light in the wall in this garden I thought it was another windowed wall, which I thought was a charming idea. When I scrunched down to get a better idea, and a photo I realized I was looking at a mirror.…
We started off at the Erie Basin Trial Gardens for the All America Selections (AAS). The AAS helps gardeners by rating seed varieties so they can find some of the best flowers and vegetables to plant from seed. We all loved this brilliant red dahlia. Then it was off to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens which has a fabulous glass conservatory, modeled after the one in Kew Gardens in England. This building opened in 1900. The Orchid…
We not only didn't reduce the plans for today's itinerary for the garden tours, we added a drive through the rain to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park (designed long ago by Frederick Law Olmsted) to see who we would vote for in the Front Yard Garden Contest. The contest was set up by the National Buffalo Garden Festival and with support from the Olmsted Parks Conservancy. For more information about these totally renovated front yards and how…