Forbes Library Leads Off Garden Tour Season

  • Post published:05/29/2013
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Julie Abramson' s garden  is just one of six garden that will enchant garden lovers on the Forbes Library Garden Tour on Saturday, June 8, from 10 am til 3 pm. Julie's is a collector's garden that features some notable trees, clematis, and a colorful array of perennials and a rock garden. I was intrigued by the description of a rustic arbor covered with climbinbing hydrangea, PLUS two other arbors covered with roses, honeysuckle and clematis. Pure romance!…

Beautiful No-Mow Yards by Evelyn Hadden

  • Post published:12/05/2012
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What has your lawn done for you lately? That is the question asked by Beautiful No-Mow Yards by Evelyn J. Hadden and published by Timber Press ($24.95). My husband would answer “Not much.” He was happy to find a strong boy to give the lawn a final mowing just before Thanksgiving. The lawn requires a fair amount of time and equipment to keep it mowed, even on the irregular schedule we manage to keep. We never fertilize or…

Safe Lawn Suggestions

  • Post published:08/31/2011
  • Post comments:3 Comments

We have more lawn than we would like, and more lawn than people like Susan Harris, one of the Lawn Reform instigators, recommend, we have been working to eliminate lawn. I have the Rose Bank and the Daylily Bank, to cut down on mowing and  therefore energy use. I am moving the pretty groundcover, barren strawberry (Waldenstenia), into an area along the edge of the lawn. And I am trying to turn the whole front lawn into a…

Monday Record 5-23

  • Post published:05/23/2011
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There isn't much to report about progress in the garden. This report is full of  rain, showers, downpour, drizzle, rain, spitz and fog.   Fortunately a showery day did not deter the Yestermorrow crew who came to Katywil to hold an Earth Oven Building workshop.  The stone foundation had been completed two weeks ago and Saturday was going to see building of a wood fired oven. The workshop participants had to get deep into the mud (earth) and…

Another Lawn-less Garden

  • Post published:05/17/2011
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Yesterday I attended a reunion of the book club I helped found in 1965. The book club continues, and the book under discussion was Per Petterson's I Curse the River of Time.  I very much enjoy Petterson's books, and indeed many of the chilly books of the Scandinavian writers, but it is ironic that this book of lonliness and the failure of emotional ties was the topic among a group of women friends meeting over tea and cake…

The First Mowing

  • Post published:05/09/2011
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Grass loves cool weather and rain. We have had both in abundance which means it was time for the first lawn mowing. The strip of lawn in front of the house looks neat, and so does the main lawn. Henry even managed to get into the Sunken Garden. I thought it was still pretty wet.  The late Elsa Bakalar, friend and mentor, said one of the tricks to preparing a garden for a Garden Tour is to keep…

Lawn Pesticide Awareness Day

  • Post published:05/06/2011
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My lawn might not inspire anyone who demands fine turf, but it is safe for the children who play on it, and my water supply. It has lots of clover which is very green and beautiful. How did clover become a 'weed' in the garden? I do not know. Canada has been more aware of the dangers of lawn care chemicals for longer than the U.S., but that is changing.  With organizations like Safe Lawns and the Lawn…

Ohhhh – Look at that!

  • Post published:05/04/2010
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Ohhhhhh - Look at that! I cannot tell you how many times I uttered those words, and Le Flaneur listened patiently, turned and followed my pointing fingers at heucheras, sailboats, meat packing establishments, roof top restaurants and etc., etc., etc. We took the train into the city and set off to explore an array of Parks.  We began at Battery Park, South Ferry, where people can get ferries to Staten Island, or Ellis Island or the Statue of…

Monday Record April 4

  • Post published:04/05/2010
  • Post comments:7 Comments

The main task for these past few beautiful days has been setting up the new garden in front of the house which gets protection from the wind,  and sun early in the season. I thought I could plant hardy vegetables here and start my harvest early.  Once again I used the lasagna method of starting a new garden.  First I put down old chick house cleanings in lieu of finished compost.  We did not get chicks last year…