If there is anything more enjoyable than an afternoon working in one's own garden, it is spending an afternoon working with a daughter in her garden. Yesterday we visited Betsy for a garden consultation, nursery shopping and planting day. Betsy has done some landscaping around her house which is built on sand that hides many many stones. In fact the house is directly across the road from a granite quarry whose boulders form a major element of the…
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.…
This was the view of the newly planted Front Garden yesterday morning at 6:30 am. It was still snowing and the temperature was 32 degree. Windy. You can't see, but my tiny lettuce and broccoli transplants appeared to be damaged. The herbs did not mind the snow and by 10 am the snow was gone and temperatures had risen to 40 degrees. All is well - as far as I can tell. Today dawned with brilliant sun and…
Yesterday my husband, Henry, and I went out to The Curtis House in Ashfield to film a session with Gloria Pacosa of Gloriosa & Co. and Trillium Workshops fame for the Shelburne Falls Cable TV show Over The Falls. The subject was how to make beautiful container plantings. Mine is the red arrangement and Gloria's is one of fifteen herbal containers that she is making for a wedding next weekend. The show will be aired first on May…
The first plants to show green in my garden are the herbs growing right in front of my piazza. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – as well as dill, tarragon, chives, basil, lemon balm and black stem mint – are handy for seasoning my cooking, and for steeping a cup of tea. Other herbs are planted throughout the garden: black cohosh or cimicifuga racemosa; comfrey; scented geraniums, and lovage. Herbs fall into two main categories. It is the…
The calendar says it's spring, but I can drive past my snowy lawn and only DREAM of coltfoot growing at the side of my road. Coltsfoot, an herb, is one of the very first plants to bloom here on the hill. More dreaming - of daffodils - my celebration of the first day of spring. I'm off to the Western Mass Master Gardener's Spring Symposium. I will be sharing what I learn. On Sunday I'm off to the…
There were frosts and snows here in Heath, but in between we have been having the most delightful weather. Sun and warmth are such blessings at this time of the year that every ordinary (quotidian) task brings an awareness of the pleasures of the earth. I have my morning routine, beginning with feeding and watering the chickens who are enjoying this weather even though it does not prompt them to lay eggs. I'm down to two or three…
John and Mary Ellen Warchol cannot take a visitor on a tour of their display garden without urging smells and tastes. “Lemon basil makes a fabulous pesto. Taste,” John says. “Taste this. The smaller leaves are very flavorful,” Mary Ellen says. “Mmmmm. Thai basil really is different. Spicy,” I agree. I did not taste all 40 of the types of basil the Warchols grow but I gained a new appreciation for the variety of flavors that…
B is for Bee Balm, otherwise known as Bergamot and Oswego Tea is more properly known as Mondarda didyma. It has been used as a tea for centuries and is still found in herbal tea blends, and other flowery tea blends such as Earl Grey. The Shakers grew bee balm commercially because of its many uses as a tea and culinary herb. It also was used medicinally for colds and sore throats. It is the leaves that are…
I was flattered to get an e-note from CSN Stores saying that the commonweeder had the kind of readership that they were trying to reach. They proposed a Giveaway and I am very happy to pass that on to you. Their website Teak, Wicker & More offers a whole range of outdoor furniture which includes just about everything you need to make your gardens hospitable and comfortable. They have firepits and grills, planters, and of course, patio furniture. They…