Eric Greene grows fabulous dahlias, among other wonderful plants, but says he is “the laziest gardener in the world” but he really means he is an efficient gardener. He doesn’t want to work any harder than necessary. His lazy techniques result in an amazingly large garden that shares his in-town property with a swimming pool enclosed on two sides by shrubs, enormous vegetable and flower gardens, a gigantic compost pile and a small front lawn. When I first…
These two stupas at Wilder Hill Gardens on Shirkshire Rd in Conway will be dedicated this Sunday, September 4 from 3-5 pm. There will be Tibetan dancing, food and fun for young and old(er). Come and help celebrate. This is also a chance to see Lilian Jackman's beautiful gardens. There is no charge, but donations are welcome. I can't wait. I have written about Lilian before here and here and here
Shade. Green shade. With the recent 90 degree days I have been thinking that every garden has to have shade. I thought I had a very shady garden, but my husband and I did a shade study. We took photos of the back garden every couple of hours to see how shade moved across the space. It turns out that most of the garden gets six to seven hours of sun which counts as the full sun required…
The view from the window in mid April doesn't tell much about the plantings, but if you look closely you will see a few cut up log pieces along the back of the garden. Our neighbors had a tree come down and shared their logs with us. The Hugel has begun. The Hugel is our hugelkultur effort to control standing water in the garden. We'll see how it works. May arrives with the green of spring. It looks…
For the past three days I've been travelling around the Minneapolis-St. Paul area with 60 other garden bloggers including my sister Massachusetts bloggers Amy Murphy (OF GARDENS) and Rebecca (THE SUSTAINABLE-ENOUGH GARDEN). We've seen beautiful plants, stunning design, and some real surprises. The enormous Prairie Dock leaves we saw in a field at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden were among the many amazing plants we saw on our tour. We found red baneberry in the wetland area of…
Shadow. My husband and I have not been in complete agreement about how shady our back garden is. The question is how will our shade loving plants fare if the garden is not as shady as I think it is. Hence, our Shadow Study. Shadow is not only an afternoon phenomenon. Our house is sited directly facing east which means the house throws a long shadow in the morning. The shadow is moving, but the South Border and…
The Annual Greenfield Garden Club Tour gives us the opportunity to see many styles of garden to inspire us, and give our imaginations something new to consider. This serene front yard planting belongs to Andrea Hall. Andrea also set up a handsome fountain in a backyard nook by the back door that follows through on a circular/curving theme in other sections of the garden. Notice all the hostas which she loves. Of course, some gardeners take a very…
Elise Schlaijker’s extensive gardens will be a part of the Greenfield Garden Club’s annual garden tour which will be held on Saturday, June 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Schlaijker is one of those gardeners who loves food gardens and flower gardens equally, although she admits that the big 30 x 30 foot vegetable and fruit garden was her first priority when she moved to Greenfield eight years ago. I wrote about Schlaijker when her gardens…
Thirty-five years have passed since I planted my first rose bush in Heath. In the months before our move from New York City I read and re-read Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katharine White. It was her experience and thoughts about roses that particularly touched my dreams of a romantic garden in the country. I had never grown roses, and never even really paid much attention to roses. My dreams and limited experiences had been with…
With my first Peach Drift roses I am celebrating my first real Garden Blogger's Bloom Day in the Greenfield, Massachusetts garden. Peach Drift is a fairly low growing, long blooming, disease resistant rose. Oso Easy Paprika shares a small bed with Peach Drift. Paprika is a little outside my usual color palette, but when I saw it blooming at the nursery I could not resist. I am so excited to be able to add Kordes roses like Zaide…