I don't think I have ever had this Bloom before on my blog. Several forsythia bushes were here when we bought they house : they are so old and entrenched that we have never been able even to contemplate the work it would take to pull them out. They rarely bloom, but they sure do grow. But this year! Not spectacular, but a regular profusion. A milder winter? Global climate change? I have no idea why, but the…
I drove over hill and over dale until I found the white house with the green roof - and a welcoming table in the garden. Prettier than the table, and with a smile that said more about welcome than a pretty table, Carol greeted me under centuries old maples and led me into the garden. Those who are familiar with the Flower Hill Farm landscape through Carol's gorgeous photographs, can imagine the gardens that meander downhill, and the…
Mostly I just weeded, and weeded all weekend, while Henry mowed and mowed. The big job we did, almost, was to take down this Stanley plum tree in our little 'orchard' next to the vegetable garden and rasberry patch. This tree has suffered over the years, most notably during the year we lived in Beijing and had renters; their horses had a fondness for fruit tree bark. The chain saw gave out before we got down the main…
This is not my William Baffin rose! Alas! I visited Deirdre Bonifaz whose garden is on the Franklin Land Trust Garden tour on June 26 & 27. Her garden has everything - blooming trees, blooming shrubs, fruit trees, perennials, vegetables, herbs, AND roses! We went around identifying the roses when we could, and admiring them always. Deirdre could hardly believe that I had managed to kill a William Baffin rose. You can see what hers looks like. When…
The first unpleasant surprise was frost! The 7 am temperature on our thermometer on the north side of the house, but in the sun, said 42 degrees and I rejoiced. But my husband brought in the cat's frozen water dish from the welcoming platform. The first shock. Then I went out to open our ad hoc cold frame and the inside was all frosty. I'd better mark this frost date in my Journal. The second, and final, unpleasant…
It was quite a week, with two New York days, visiting parks, and the New York Botanical Garden's Emily Dickinson Exhibit. (See my earlier posts) I came home to my own show - the Sargent Crab in the mucky Sunken Garden is in full bloom. So far it has been able to hold on to it's leaves and flowers but ever since I got home late Wednesday the winds have been blowing, and the temperature has been dropping.…
When we first moved into our old farmhouse in Heath in November of 1979, I cooked in what the previous owners called ‘the summer kitchen’ although there was no other kitchen. It was small and oddly shaped because of the stairway that went up to a loft/attic space. The 1930s era stove was on the north wall next to a small window that looked up the hill, across the field to an old apple tree. When the wind…
These apples may not be the most beautiful, but they are pretty sound inside which means I spent the afternoon peeling, chopping and boiling them down to make 5 quarts of apple butter, a delicacy I only discovered last year. Two quarts have already been passed along to my oldest daughter and her family. They like apple butter on black pumpernickel bread, we like it on French toast. There is hardly any way to use apples that is…
My father never felt dinner was over until he had eaten his apple. The apple was a ritual. He loved cutting an apple in half around the equator to show us, or any available children, the star hidden in the center of the apple. And he proved the adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. He rarely needed the services of a doctor until his short final illness. With news coverage of the H1N1…
Dandelions and violets in the flowery mead are still blooming. Johnny jump ups are scattered everywhere. Where do they all come from? I wonder what a johnny jump up seed looks like flying on the wind. I'm not sounding like much of a gardener so far. Many of the daffodils are starting to wind down, but others like this pheasant eye daff (Poeticus) bloom late. When I visited the daffodils at Tower Hill Botanic Garden last year I…