While we Greenfield Garden Club members were on a trip to Waltham, MA, to see the Lyman Greenhouses we also visited Stonehurst, the beautiful house built for summer visits by Robert Treat Paine. I am calling this the reception room, but you can see there is a little room where the entry door is before coming into this large space. There is built in seating, and a beautiful golden marble fireplace, but am not really sure how the space…
In March gardeners need flowers so members of the Greenfield Garden Club set off for the historic Lyman Greenhouse in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was so exciting to be able to walk under this tropical vine as we began our tour of the greenhouse. There are literally thousands of plants in the greenhouse of every variety. Most of them are houseplants, some familiar and some dramatic and strange. The greenhouse is filled with orchids, succulents and many other beautiful…
My husband and I just returned from a celebratory trip to the southland. We visited an uncle in Gulfport, drove through very wet bayou country in Mississippi and Texas, and then on to beyond the big Houston metropolis where towers of the city are a showy exclamation point in the flat landscape. We were off to Sienna Plantation where daughter Kate and her family live. We had come to Texas to participate in a solemn ceremony as grandson…
When I visited the Boston Public Garden on September 2, I ran into this demonstration right under the magnificent statue of George Washington. It made sense to hold a demonstration for independence under the statue of one of our own founders of an independent nation, promising liberty to all, but I couldn't tell what the demonstration was all about. It was not until one woman held out this banner than I even knew the issue, but still I did…
The Boston Public Gardens begin at the foot of the Boston State House. First is the Boston Common where cattle once grazed, then the Boston Public Garden, the oldest botanic garden in the nation, and finally the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Here are a few photos from my recent visit. Frolicking tadpoles in the Boston Common Frog Pond watched over by parents and the frog statues! The Boston Public Garden, established in 1837 is the first botanic garden…
On April 16, 1989 my husband and I flew to Beijing where I had taken a job with a women's magazine. There I first learned of International Women's Day where it is a big event. And certainly I learned a lot about the life of Chinese women while working as a 'polisher' for Women of China English Monthly. I worked with translators (whose English was excellent) who translated articles about women in China's history, and the women who were taking…
During our trip to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art I found a new way of looking at meadows and art. The plan is to turn Mass MoCA's rear access utility road into a green space and a work of art. The Rounds are created by using rammed earth and dry-stacked stone. The Rounds provide places to sit and visit and picnic in the midst of wildflower gardens. Thyme is a another featured plant in this meadow. I…
That's Tinky Weisblat's blueberry cake and frosting. More food coming out of the kitchen. We built up our strength before heading of Mass MoCA Not My car. I look good in it though. Off to our favorite museum, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, with grandson Rory. This sculpture is made of discarded barriers from the Canada-US border. You can ride it, and I did. The O Canada exhibit was fabulous! Grandson Rory is NOT responsible for the crash…
Can you guess? I am in Boston! On March 13 I help judge entries at the Boston Flower Show! Come and see it beginning March 12. More news and views to come.
While the ground is covered with snow and temperatures hover at zero, I've been trolling through photos of my visit to Seattle last July (with 70 other garden bloggers) and especially noticing ornaments in the garden, some plain and some fancy. Many of us have birdbaths in our garden - even me - who has not ornamented my garden in any thoughtful way. It is not a big step to go from a simple birdbath to a fancy…