Planting Japanese Iris – Pruning Trees

  • Post published:07/21/2012
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One of the benefits of the summer garden tour and event season is the chance to meet new people with unique passions and knowledge. When I attended the Western New England Japanese Iris Show in Shelburne Falls at the end of June. I saw exhibition blossoms of beautiful Japanese irises grown by local gardeners, stunning arrangements, and was inspired. Japanese iris bloom from mid-June into July, coming into flower when the Siberian and then the bearded iris seasons…

Chamomile or Pineapple Weed

  • Post published:07/19/2012
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Chamomile is an herb used in many herbal tea mixtures designed to relax and lure the drinker to sleep. I first heard of chamomile tea when I was read Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. After Peter returned from his adventures with Mr. McGregor his mother dosed him with chamomile tea and put him to bed. I tried making chamomile tea when I was a young child, but having no access to real chamomile my attempts were unsuccessful and…

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 15, 2012

It's Bloom Day and this is the big show in my garden right now, the daylily bank.  I have records of the names of these daylilies, but I'd be hard put to identify them all now. Many of the roses just have a bloom or two, but The Fairy will go on and on. I have one in each of the Lawn Beds. The Purington rambler rose, an old un-named rose, has been and will be exuberant for some…

Fourth of July – Red, White and Blue in Bloom

  • Post published:07/04/2012
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Red roses. Red and white roses. White Mothlight hydrangea. White Switzerland shasta daisies. Blue Connecticut Yankee delphiniums. Falling over, but unbowed. For more Wordlessness this Independence Day Wednesday click here.

Bloom Day – June 2012

End of the Road Farm is now officially Zone 5b, with winter temperatures down to -15 degrees. I think that is pretty accurate. When we first moved here I put us in Zone 4b, with temperatures down to -25 degrees. Thirty years ago we would have those bitter temperatures for days at a time, not just a day or two. Even allowing that winters are generally milder, we had a very early spring, after a mild winter. The…

Salvia – Annual, Perennial, Shrub

  • Post published:06/06/2012
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  Salvia is a large genus of plants that includes shrubs as well as perennials and annuals. I have the beautiful Salvia May Night in my Lawn Bed, but I also have culinary sage, Salvia officinalis, in my Herb Bed. There are many reasons to love salvia. It is an undemanding plant that will bloom again if it is sheared back after that first springtime bloom. There are also many cultivars, many in shades of blue, some in…

Rose of the Day – Therese Bugnet

  • Post published:06/01/2012
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Therese Bugnet is the Rose of the Day. And this line rhymes. Therese Boo-nay is the Rose of the Day. Even though I do have three whole years of high school French, it took me many years to realize it was not Therese Bug-Net. Oh well. Miss Rochelle is no longer here to be scandalized. Therese Bugnet is a rugosa and it is the rugosas that are not only the hardiest roses in my garden, they are about…

Renovating and Planting Continue

  • Post published:05/22/2012
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Renovating and planting the lawn bed continues. I had to wait until after the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale before I made my final 'design' decisions.  This is the end of the Lawn Bed, all cleaned out of a nearly dead potentilla and lots of weeds. I also removed two clumps of ornamental grass that had been grown in pots last summer and just stuck in this bed in the fall. "Just sticking" a plant somewhere is always…

The Bridge of Flowers on National Public Gardens Day

  • Post published:05/11/2012
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In 2004, when the Bridge of Flowers was nearing its 75th anniversary, Elaine Parmett, a member of the Bridge Committee, decided to find out just who and how the Bridge of Flowers began. “I was a historian so I did research and learned it was Antoinette Burnham in 1928 who complained about the way weeds had taken over the abandoned trolley bridge. She wondered why they couldn’t have a flower garden instead. Her husband, who worked for the…

Bridge of Flowers – National Public Gardens Day Coming Up

  • Post published:05/09/2012
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The Bridge of Flowers is our local public garden, open and blooming every day from April 1 - October 30. Free! Universally accessible. I'll be celebrating National Public Gardens Day, May 11 this year, with a stroll over the Bridge of Flowers. What will you do? I've been almost Wordless, but for real Wordlessness this Wednesday click here