On December 6, the Feast of St. Nicholas, I will celebrate my Fourth Blogaverary! It wasn't an ideal time to start a garden blog, but I had just learned about blogs and 'met' Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening, Carol at May Dreams Gardens and all the Ranters at Garden Rant. I was lucky to meet such stars early on because they have taught me so much and continue to inspiremme. I even got to meet them all at…
“Come ye thankful people come, Raise the song of harvest home: All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin.” Well, we had our first winter storms, and not quite everything was gathered in this year. Many farmers lost substantial portions of their crops. Now the eternal cry of farmers and gardeners is heard in the land, “There’s always next year.” Yet as we arrive at Thanksgiving this year, still struggling with storm damage and losses, we…
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…
Over the Columbus Day weekend we sat out on our friends’ patio in the golden sunset before going indoors for a wonderful supper. As we admired the fields and the pond our friends told us they had decided to build a pergola over the patio, much as we had, to provide cooling shade on hot summer afternoons. The question was, what should they plant to provide that shade? We have a wisteria growing on our pergola (which some call…
We enjoyed our 13 year old granson's company all last week - a very busy week. There was canoeing, dinner parties, cake baking, mowing lawns, feeding chickens and all manner of End of the Road activities. One day we returned to Birch Glen Stables which is practically around the corner for his second riding lesson. The first was last year, but he had not forgotten how to groom and put on the saddle. This year the lesson was…
Yesterday we went to Tyngsboro to celebrate the Fourth of July with friends, but most especially to celebrate our daughter's 50th birthday with her family. This is our third child to celebrate a 50th, the last two girls are not far behind. The birthday cake provided by Diane's best friend showed a hill with Diane on the downside. Diane laughed and asked me if I remembered the cake she had made for me on my 30th birthday? It…
I picked these Van Sion daffodils myself, and son Chris and Michelle brought these beautiful tulips to put on the Easter dining table, but the surprise came when I went to water the houseplants and saw that the little geranium plant I salvaged last fall had suddenly sent up a lovely blossom that was all but lost in the dead foliage of the jasmine. A surprise is always welcome when it is so pretty and pink. Can you…
In spite of Saturday's snow and sleet which continued most of the day, after a warm night with temperatures constantly increasing, Easter Sunday dawned warm and sunny and blissful. This is all that was left of the snow. The breeze was gentle and it was a perfect Easter Sunday. One of the first fences we removed over the past months was the wire fence that formed the 'fourth wall' of the Sunken Garden. These dayliles grew along the…
I wish I had known about Saint Gertrude of Nivelles in Belgium (626-659) last week. It is National Women's History Month and Saint Gertrude with her cats could have shared the stage with St. Patrick and his snakes on March 17. At the age of 10 Gertrude stated she would have no other bridegroom but Christ. In 639, after her father died, her mother established a double monastery, one for men and one for women at Nivelles. She…
I have barely begun my shopping, but I admit that much of my shopping is done in the bookstore. On the other hand many gardeners like to get plants - or gift certificates for plants to be used in the spring. I did let a comment slip about how many new roses I'd like in the spring. Fountains and birdbaths attract the birds, but they are also a beautiful ornament in the garden. Of course some things wear…