Midsummer Morning One big white peony enough for a bouquet. by Carol Purington My tree peony blossom is pink, but it is big enough for a bouquet. Carol's haiku are so evocative that I must include another on this Muse Day Monday. End of the row The child's strawberry basket still empty. This haiku seems to me a perfect depiction of a child's innocent greediness and the sweetness of summer. Thank you Carolyn…
Things are blooming here at End of the Road Farm. The Sargent crab in the Sunken Garden is magnificent. So are the dandelions. It is so wet we haven't been able to mow here yet. The lilacs are also in full fragrant bloom. On Saturday I worked at the Shelburne Falls Area Women's Club plant sale, which includes many many divisions from our famous Bridge of Flowers. Now it is time to plants my new beds. I also got…
Rose season has begun. My purchases from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas arrived in good shape. The Double Red Knock-Out will join two others on the bank at the end of the house where I hope they will grow into a large clump. Pink Grootendorst which is billed as a large moundy rugosa will also go on the bank. I also shopped in my own garden and dug up some roots from my Dart's Dash, a low rugosa…
Last week’s heat wave woke everyone up. There was enough breeze to keep the black flies down, and make it possible to work in the unexpected 80 plus degrees heat. I always start working close to the house. The Herb Bed is protected from the winter winds and the soil drains well. I weeded the entire length and spread around some rotted horse manure I got from a neighbor’s farm. The Red Fire lettuce…
Tynan arrived to spend part of school vacation with us and we devoted ourselves to art, the garden, and celebrating Earth Day at the eleventh most beautiful waterfall in Massachusetts. First, off to Umass, my alma mater, to visit our friend Dan at the new Studio Arts building. He gave us a tour of the undergrad studios where we saw all kinds of art, collage, drawings, assemblages, paintings, clay sculptures, and even a work made with black…
Grandson Tynan, at 11, is almost 5 feet tall. Gardens are not the only places where growth is amazing.Tynan arrived to spend part of school vacation with us and we devoted ourselves to art, the garden, and celebrating Earth Day at the eleventh most beautiful waterfall in Massachusetts.First, off to Umass, my alma mater, to visit our friend Dan at the new Studio Arts building. He gave us a tour of the undergrad studios where we saw all…
Gray and chilly. Temperatures in the 40s with winds gusting at 14 miles and more. There is still one pile of snow in The Sunken Garden. Still, I got a lot done over the past week. First I found out that the old daffodils growing here when we bought our house in 1979 are Van Sion, a heritage variety. I have Kathy Purdy of Cold Climate Gardening to thank for the ID. Van Sion is a beautiful…
Gray and chilly. Temperatures in the 40s with winds gusting at 14 miles and more. There is still one pile of snow in The Sunken Garden. Still, I got a lot done over the past week. First I found out that the old daffodils growing here when we bought our house in 1979 are Van Sion, a heritage variety. I have Kathy Purdy of Cold Climate Gardening to thank for the ID. Van Sion is a beautiful frilly…
With the sky so blue, and the pussywillows so fat, I can almost believe spring is coming. But the Weather Station recorded a temperature of 29 degrees at 7 this morning. At 11:30 we are up to 46 with gusting breezes of up to 15 mph. The skies were not so blue yesterday on Easter Sunday, but we were inside most of the time feasting and visiting. On Saturday we got some chores done outside, mostly working on…
This morning I am beginning my Monday Record - noting as completely as I can what is doing in the garden. The snow is nearly gone everywhere, except in the Sunken Garden. The weedy grass is just beginning to green up. I was tempted by a 6 pack of lettuce seedlings a couple of weeks ago when the weather was very mild. On March 31 I could wait no longer and set them out in the herb bed…