Centaurea Montana Persists

  • Post published:06/03/2010
  • Post comments:6 Comments

I left the full frame of this Centaurea montana so that you can see how it persists in spite of grass, roses, nettles and various other weeds. We planted Centaurea montana  more than 20 years ago - and then decided that spot, a small bank, was not a good place. We mowed everything down.  The Centaurea didn't notice and it continues to come up every year. It is not invasive, just persistent. Centaurea montana is also called perennial…

Bloom Record for Today

  • Post published:05/28/2010
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Last year this nameless tree peony did not bloom at all, but this year there will be three blooms.  My dark pink tree peony only had one blossom, but paler pink Guan Yin Mian had 15 blossoms!  Not all at once - which is a good thing. This is the common white beach rose. I have several bushes in a kind of hedge. It has taken quite a beating over the past couple of years, but I think…

First Rose of Summer

  • Post published:05/27/2010
  • Post comments:5 Comments

In the cool of the early morning I wandered down The Rose Walk and  found that Dart's Dash has put out its first blossom. Rugosas are the first roses to bloom in my garden, but this is especially early. I've been watering which the roses love and temperatures in the 80s and today in the 90s have persuaded the roses that summer might almost be here. Dart's Dash is a low growing rugosa, but has the rugosa's vigor…

Two Tobaccos

  • Post published:05/07/2010
  • Post comments:6 Comments

On Tuesday, my friend Le Flaneur and I went to the New York Botanic Garden in the Bronx to see the exhibit Emily Dickinson's Garden: The Poetry of Flowers. Two large rooms in the Enid Haupt Conservatory were given over to an interpretation of Emily Dickinson's garden at The Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is only about 45 miles from us in Heath. There were wonderful plantings of the flowers that grew in her garden, some of which…

Ohhhh – Look at that!

  • Post published:05/04/2010
  • Post comments:9 Comments

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…

Busy Weekend

  • Post published:05/03/2010
  • Post comments:2 Comments

I am writing this on Sunday, just before I set off for adventures in Norwalk, Connecticut and New York City - lots of gardens everywhere - so my Monday Record is a little early. I am afraid some of my more ephemeral blooms will not longer be lovely on Bloom Day, so here is Epimedium rubrum. I keep promising myself I will divide it, but no action so far. I thought this was a cut leaf bleeding heart, that is…

The Color of Spring

  • Post published:04/06/2010
  • Post comments:9 Comments

These daffodils are growing into a rose bush - or the bush is growing into the daffs, I'm not sure which. These bulbs were here when we moved in 30 years ago. They are unusual in the slim pointed 'petals' of the perianth, and the fluffy doubleness of the cup. There is also a slight greenish tinge in some petals which I enjoy. I have Kathy Purdy to thank for identifying these daffs which are an heirloom variety…

Plants – and Chickens – on the Table

  • Post published:03/18/2010
  • Post comments:8 Comments

Interior designer Charlotte Moss, writing in today's New York Times, says she "eschews matching dishes and serving pieces."  I'm right with her.  White dishes are a basic and table settings can be changed delightfully with linens and accessories, but my daughter bought me these befruited dishes for summer meals.  And I always think if a chicken or two can be added to the table so much the better.  Although it is hard to see the pretty glasses are…

Constance Spry

  • Post published:03/16/2010
  • Post comments:5 Comments

The name Constance Spry doesn't mean much to most Americans. Gardeners may know the Constance Spry rose, one of the first of David Austin's English roses, but not know the woman behind the rose. Constance Spry was born in 1886. She had varied careers in health, joined the civil service during World War I and was headmistress of a school teaching young teen aged girls who worked in factories. It was not until the 1920s that she began…

Mistaken Rose

  • Post published:02/22/2010
  • Post comments:7 Comments

I've ordered Therese Bugnet again.  She is a rugosa that Heirloom Roses lists with their Damask roses because of it double form. It is not only very hardy, it is very fragrant.  Unfortunately, the first time I ordered it, the rose that was delivered looked nothing like this.  I confess I didn't notice at first. I forgot what the catalog photo looked like, but I have learned over the years that mis-labelling does happen, even in neighborhood garden…