Tulips Are Blooming – Indoors

  • Post published:02/26/2013
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Yesterday I drove into the valley to see tulips, and many other  bulbs and flowers, blooming at the Mt. Holyoke College Talcott Greenhouse and the Smith College Lyman Plant House. Both institutions are preparing for their annual Spring Bulb shows which require attentive and scientific handling of the potted plants, cool and then slowly warming so that they are at the perfect moment for spring-hungry flower lovers to visit them when the shows open on Saturday, March 2.  Both…

Snowdrop Mystery

  • Post published:02/18/2013
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                                I have never forced snowdrops before, so I decided to experiment. Early in November I got my late order of bulbs from Brent and Becky's Bulbs.  Some of them went in the  ground, but I potted up some tulips, my paper whites, and a few of the snowdrops. I left them all out  in the unheated Great Room. All of the indoor…

Bloom Day February 2013

On this Bloom Day the ground is covered with snow and the plow drifts are still  substantial. My indoor blooms are modest. These paper whites, a bonus from Brent and Becky's Bulbs, have been blooming for over a month. A couple of the stems collapsed, but I cut the blooms off and they continue in a little glass vase. This little pot of primroses was a door prize at the annual meeting of the Greenfield Garden Club. I…

Spring is Springing – Indoors

  • Post published:02/05/2013
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  Twenty degrees outside and breezy, but spring is springing - indoors.  These beautiful paper whites were a bonus from Brent and Becky's Bulbs last fall. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.  

Days Grow Longer and Cold Grows Stronger

  • Post published:01/25/2013
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The days grow longer, so even though we are 'enjoying' a week of zero temperatures - and below - we can feel the shifting of seasons. The paperwhites that Brent and Becky sent along with my order as a bonus to cheer those of us who lived through Superstorm Sandy are indeed encouraging. I potted up my paperwhites in late November and kept them out in our bright unheated Great Room until January 6. Unlike most daffodils they do not need chilling…

Dig Up, Dig Down, Cut Back and Rake

  • Post published:11/12/2012
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Mild weather this long holiday weekend has  given us time to work together to dig up, dig down, cut back and rake, all parts of putting the garden to bed. Henry helped me slightly enlarge the end of the bed around the fountain juniper, cleaning out weeds, and making room for small bulbs, miniature golden daffs, 'Diamond Ring,' Pink Sunrise' and macrocarpum 'Golden Fragrance' muscari. We will be able to see  these from the dining table in the spring.…

Time to Think About Spring and Spring Blooming Bulbs

  • Post published:10/13/2012
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  While attending a wonderful art show featuring my friend Trina Sternstein’s paintings at the Forbes Library I couldn’t help using the library services as well. I was searching in the garden section for a book on trees, but I came away with Anna Pavord’s big book, Bulbs. When I got home I found that the mailbox was full of bulb catalogs, from John Scheepers, Van Engelen, and Old House Gardens. That made for a very dangerous night,…

Acidanthera – A Gladiolus?

  • Post published:09/18/2012
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Acidanthera, now officially named Gladiolus callianthus, was an impulse buy this spring. I have admired it on the Bridge of Flowers and when I saw a bag of ten little bulbs at Shelburne Farm and Garden I popped them in my basket. Acidanthera is a tender bulb which means it will have to be dug up in the fall - or be treated like an annual and simply left in the ground. It does not have the rigidity…

April Has Been the Cruelest Month – Almost Over

  • Post published:04/30/2012
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April proved herself to be the cruelest month indeed this year alternating summer and winter temperatures. The past couple of nights we've had frost - and this after we had gotten quite used to balmy temperatures and tender zephyrs in mid-month. Now these lovely white daffodils might as well be snow cover - it is so cold. And windy. And dry. My Early Garden in front of the house is still adorned with row covers that blow and…