My Swedish grandfather said he could never get horseradish to grow. His troubles made me think horseradish must be a difficult crop. Not so. His failure was just one of those garden mysteries. Some people seem to have a chemical antipathy towards a particular plant, failing with that one while having success everywhere else in the garden. Our first spring in Heath I sent out my seed order and included an order for three horseradish roots. Then, with…
My orchid cactus lives in our main living space so it does not get the proper conditions to put on a real bloomin' show, but every once it a while it gives us a glamorous surprise. I was out in the garden enjoying the sun, and the breezes which meant no pesky bugs. While I was weeding the Herb Garden I saw that the chervil which self seeds several times over the summer is already up. And then…
Gail of Clay and Limestone is celebrating wildflowers this week and I wanted to get in on the fun. Fortunately I have one wildflower in bloom here at the End of the Road, coltsfoot, coughwort or Tussilago farfara. I usually call it an 'herb' because of its medicinal uses. Its leaves are used in an infusion or to smoke, in both cases to cure a cough. Of course the word 'herb' in its broadest sense means only a…
Every gardener is an individual with different dreams, desires, skills, interests – and constraints. Thus every garden is unique reflecting those differences. William Robinson (1838-1935) was a British gardener who propounded a new flower garden aesthetic, away from hundreds of annuals being bedded out each season, to a wilder, more informal planting of perennials, shrubs and trees, many of them natives. He wrote several books, most notably the influential The Wild Garden. That book went through several editions.…
It was a surprise to see Salvia on the front page of the NYTimes Sunday Styles section. Salvia has become stylish? However it was not Salvia officinalis, culinary sage, which is important in many holiday dressings and dishes at this time of the year that was getting this publicity, nor even the Christmasy red annual salvia (Salvia splendens) that is so common in many bedding plant projects. Unbeknownst to me, who does not keep up with Miley Cyrus…
For more Wordless beauties this Wednesday click here.
The other day when I was talking to my neighbor Bob Dane, he mentioned that he had harvested his garlic. "Oh, no, is it time?" I asked in a panic. Oh, yes. I had totally forgotten about the garlic and I did wait a little too long. The problem with waiting too long, and mid-July is a good time to check the plants, is that the garlic bulbs will break apart, and they will be no good for…
Bob Dane loves the blueberries Heath is famous for. He also loves the blueberry fields where they are grown which is why he has donated these sweet blueberry bud vases to the Franklin Land Trust to use as a gift for all those who donate $250 or more to the FLT and ear mark that gift "The Benson Place" to support the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) and trail easement that has been awarded to the Benson Place Blueberry…
“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…
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…