The Harvard Forest is located in Petersham. That is the first thing I learned about the Harvard Forest, which actually belongs to and is cared for by Harvard University. It is not located in the town of Harvard. I first heard of the Harvard Forest and the Fisher Museum when I met John O’Keefe a year ago after he had retired from his position at the Harvard Forest. Recently I called O’Keefe because I wanted to know why…
This Thanksgiving I am looking over the past year, which was such a trial in many ways with storms and floods and unexpected fluctuations in temperature, I have many reasons to give thanks. First there is my beautiful family. It is hard to get everyone together for a photo, but we made a special effort at last year's Larson family reunion. My brother and his wife bookend my crew. This year the five grandsons were all in their…
When I drove down the Greenfield Community College driveway last Saturday I passed ‘my tree,’ a weeping cherry that I donated when I left the College in 1989. I reveled in its good health, parked my car and walked towards the steps. A head popped out of the Sloan Theater door, calling to tell me I could take the elevator up. I called back, “No, no. Step to health. Step to health,” ever my motto as I was…
Readers often have favorite authors and are not content with reading the author’s books. They want to know where and how the author lived, what made them the writer, the person they were, what influenced them and what supported them. In recent years, after a tough beginning, I have come to enjoy Eudora Welty’s books. I confess it took listening to an audio book of her stories including “Why I Live at the P.O.” and heard those southern…
When I joined 70 other garden bloggers in Seattle this past summer, one of the first places we visited was the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanic Garden which is a part of the University of Washington. There were familiar plants, and not so familiar plants like these cardoons, which are related to the artichoke and make for some sophisticated eating. Like many botanic gardens there are trial beds and educational projects like this green roof. It looks like it…
Eudora Welty has been much on my mind these last months. First there was a performance of the one act opera composed by Alice Parker based on Welty's The Ponder Heart, and then I read a biography of Elizabeth Lawrence who was a friend of Welty's, and then my book club read One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty. All of that is topped off with the publication of One Writer's Garden written by Susan Haltom who researched and…
In our part of the world we are surrounded by trees. We are so used to seeing trees that we don’t really look at them anymore. When we do attend to them we see them in their entirety, trunk and an undifferentiated mass of leaves. As autumn approaches some of us pay a little more attention, the flame of maples, the sheen of dark oaks and the gold of birches, but still we are not seeing the whole…
The weekend started out happily with my book signing at World Eye Books. I got to meet new readers, and chat with old friends like Bob and Sue Gruen who gave a wonderful talk last night for the Heath Historical Society about weaving in colonial times - and now. But, by the time we left their talk around 9, Irene's rains had arrived. Heavy rains on and off all night continued until noon, then let up somewhat. We…
I haven't seen Seeing Trees by Nancy Ross Hugo, but I have seen some of the gorgeous photographs by Robert LLewellyn. This book promises to give many ways of recognizing trees in the most delightful way, through all the tree's stages. Timber Press, which publishes some of the most distinguished garden books around is holding a contest. A signed, 16"×20" print of a Robert Llewellyn photograph from Seeing Trees, custom matted and framed (see contest site for image)…
The Heath Fair gave me a unique experience this year. In addition to enjoying all the other delights and events, I got to meet and talk to other gardeners who asked me to sign my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, when they bought it. This was a thrill for me. The book my family and I had been working on all summer was finally in our hands - and on sale. Of course, The…