Daylilies are as beautiful as the day, and come in all the colors of the day, pale pink dawns, watery yellows of a sunshower, brilliant golds of noon, and all the ruddy shades of sunset. Richard Willard who grows about 500 daylilies at Silver Garden Daylilies says that when people think about orange daylilies they think of the common roadside variety, and “yet there are beautiful big orange daylilies with seven inch blossoms that you can see from…
Some people count the beginning of spring when farmers start sugaring. Up here in Heath the Berkshire Sweet Gold folks have been hard at it for a couple of weeks, but the snow is still deep in the fields and in the woods. It hasn't looked like spring. Hasn't felt like spring. But today the temperatures rose into the 50s and the sun was bright. I stopped at the Greenfield Farmers Coop for some potting soil and admired…
Ellen Ann Willmott is no longer as famous as Gertrude Jekyll, yet . . . "Ellen Willmott soon made a name for herself in horticulture, and helped to finance expeditions to acquire new plants. Queen Mary, Queen Alexandra and Princess Victoria visited her, and her garden became famous throughout Britain and beyond. She was one of two women awarded the RHS Medal of Honour in Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Year, 1897. The other was Gertrude Jekyll." This from…
I am still in the middle of reading and planning season. Two very different books have sent my imagination into high gear. Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars: Grandma’s Bag of Tricks by Sharon Lovejoy ($14.95 Workman Publishing) is ostensibly for grandmas, but among the 130 activities described and illustrated with engaging photos and charming drawings, many will engage mommies and daddies as well. The opening chapter, Preparing Camp Granny, gives advice about welcoming a visiting grandchild so that…
The Chinese Year of the Tiger has been rung in with drums and dancing, and jiaozi, the delicious stuffed dumplings that are said to be shaped like silver money and symbolize a year stuffed with good things – and riches. We have celebrated many Chinese New Years since our first trip to live and work in Beijing in 1989. While there we learned that while there are 12 animals in the 12 year Chinese zodiac, the full cycle…
Elsa Bakalar was my friend. This morning I got the call that I had been dreading. Elsa passed away peacefully on January 29. We moved to Heath in December of 1979, but I did not meet Elsa, who also lived in Heath until I began writing a weekly garden column, Between the Rows, for The Recorder. I had heard about Elsa and her garden and finally got up my courage to ask her for an interview. It must…
Tom Fischer, Editor in Chief of Timber Press, has created a small, inexpensive book with more than 100 gorgeous photographs by Clive Nichols of 100 plants in the ranges of 10 colors - scarlet, orange, lime, blue, mahogany, and more! My garden, full of roses as it is, is heavy on pink, but when I look through this book I can't help imagining a color themed garden. Lots of people have blue and white gardens, which are easy…
Last October I joined with friends, and family including Jake and Susan Bakalar, Elsa's nephew and his wife, and 'honorary daughter' Marie Hershkowitz who had been a student of Elsa's, to celebrate Elsa's 91st birthday. It was a jolly affair with a buffet brought by Jake and Susan, cards, stories, and tributes. And laughter. And champagne. Two weeks ago my husband and I visited Elsa at the nursing home and again had a jolly time. The menu was…
The Perennial Plant Association has named the beautiful blue Baptisia australis as its Plant of the Year. I am very familiar with this plant, although I have never grown it. Friends have this hardy and adaptable perennial (zones 3-9) in their gardens, and I have admired it on the famous Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls. It is commonly known as false indigo, a reference to the lovely color of the lupine-like races of blossom. An important blue…
I'm starting to make up my list of Plants to Buy for the spring, and I got stopped right at the first page of the Bluestone Perennials catalog. A is for Achillea or yarrow. I already have "The Pearl" in my garden and I love it. It is pretty in the garden and useful in bouquets. I have another pink yarrow, but I don't know the name. When I first started gardening I was only familiar with the…