Stone Meadow Gardens, Ashfield – More Daylilies

  • Post published:07/23/2018
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I was very happy to learn that Stone Meadow Gardens is a daylily farm near me, less than half an hour away in Ashfield. After checking out their online catalog I zipped right up there this past Sunday. I knew that I would find more than the three daylilies I needed from among the 500 varieties Phil Pless and Linda Taylor have growing. Stone Meadow Gardens is open on Friday through Sunday until August 5. However, you can…

New and Interesting Perennials This Spring

  • Post published:05/04/2018
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What new perennials will you plant in your garden this year? I don’t mean brand new on the market, but new to you. Last fall I planted more than 100 crocus bulbs: white, yellow and purple. These are not new varieties, but I have never planted crocus before. In my new garden I can’t plant many bulbs because the garden is wet and bulbs would rot. But the bit of lawn in front of the house allows a…

An Early Bloom Day – before hard frost

  • Post published:11/06/2017
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Will my garden be blooming on November 15. the official Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? Maybe not. Therefore, I went around the garden today taking photos of the flowers blooming this very unusually warm November day. We have yet to have a hard frost although some plants were bitten and succumbed. This is what's left on this gloomy day with a temperature of 50 degrees at 4 in the afternoon Daylight savings left, Eastern Standard time arrived and so…

Mysteries of May in the Garden

  • Post published:05/14/2017
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With the turning of the calendar page I am out in the garden investigating the mysteries of May. Young shoots are everywhere. Surely they have names. I stand looking at the swath of a bright green, crispy ribbed ground cover that has taken its assignment to cover the ground very seriously. I have no idea what it is called. I vaguely remember looking at it last fall as I removed autumn leaves and wondered if some of the…

May – A Golden Month

  • Post published:05/03/2017
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It's May and the flowers that bloom in the spring are beginning to show themselves. Lots of gold in May, not counting the dandelions. The barren strawberry plants on The Hugel are thriving and blooming. They are not really strawberry plants at all. It's just that Waldsteinia have strawberry-like foliage and flowers. Trollius laxa is a more lackadaisical form of Trollius europaeus, which is taller and even more golden. It is also called globeflower which is more prominent…

Autumal Blooms in Early October

  • Post published:10/06/2016
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There are more autumnal blooms in my garden than I expected. I am trying to capture many of  them for my climate record. We expect autumnal blooms like asters, but surprises are like the roses and zinnias. Asters and beesBy the time the sun came out and warmed the garden the bees came out to forage. There are still plenty of pollinators in  the garden when the  sun is out.  Other blooming plants include coneflowers, geraniums, cardinal flower,…

Choose Plantings for Your Favorite View

  • Post published:07/02/2016
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Do you have a favorite chair? Is it near a window? Does your dining table sit near a window? Do you enjoy the view from your window? Oddly, our new house in Greenfield does not have many windows that look out at the garden. Only one upstairs window (in my office) gives a view of the back yard. The kitchen window is too high to see much of anything except the most westerly area of the garden. Fortunately…

Review of New Garden in May 2016

  • Post published:06/01/2016
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The view of the new garden from the office at the beginning of May shows a good recovery from April snow and frigid temperatures. You can see the nearly wood filled hugel at the back border. A big May project was collection logs for the hugel at the west end of the garden. This load came one of the two Hawley friends who donated logs to the project. We are so lucky to have good Hawley friends -…

Peonies – Beauty without Fussing

  • Post published:05/29/2016
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  This year there were a lot of peonies, including a woodland peony, for sale at the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale.  This is a testament to the health of the peonies on the Bridge and in our gardens. They thrive and eventually have to be divided. In the olden days, peonies were cut back and divided in the fall then replanted into a sleepy autumn garden. Nurseries sold peony roots in the fall and gardeners spent the…

P is for Peonies on the A to Z Challenge

  • Post published:04/19/2016
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 P is for Peonies. Peonies are fabulous! Peonies are  glamorous! Peonies will bloom  for generations. Peonies are easy care. In the olden days you had to plant peony roots in the fall, but nowadays you can buy potted plants in the spring - and possibly even get a bloom your first season. I have bought and planted many peonies, but most of the names have been lost. The Peony Border in Heath had about two  dozen varieties. I…