I live in a ruraltown of 750 souls in the western corner of Massachusetts that sits on the Vermont border. On the Fourth of July in 1981 I happened to meet two other friends at the spinning wheel in the town museum. We were celebrating the holiday, but got to complaining that we never went out to dinner, we couldn't afford to, and besides there were no good restaurants closer than 40 miles. Actually there were no restaurants…
In spite of the warm fall, with only one real frost, the garden is beginning to die. Its demise seems to have been hurried by the three days of rain we just had. All these photos were taken in the rain. This is the very last daylily of summer. Ann Varner is a real trooper. Behind her you can see there are a few Buttercream nasturtiums crawling around, and it has been so warm that even the canna…
My husband was amused to wake up yesterday morning and find me - and the gray cat - out in the garden weeding in between drizzly sprinkles of rain. I have been trying to weed for weeks, but somehow there hasn't been time. And there wasn't much time yesterday either, but you can get an idea of what is blooming right now: Miss Lingaard phlox hasn't quite given up, a pink phlox is in full flower, as is Blue…
Three perennials that get A plus grades in my garden are achillea, otherwise known as yarrow, antirrhinum or snapdragon and astilbe. My first awareness of achillea was the roadside weed, or wildflower, depending on your point of view. Roadside yarrow is usually white with the typical achillea flat topped cluster of tiny flowers. The ferny green foliage is pretty even when the plant is not in bloom. When I began to learn about perennials from my garden mentor…
The past few days have been cool (50s) and wet. Sometimes very wet. We got another 2 inches of rain. The sun came out for a few minutes last evening so just a portion of my Bloom Day photos show that summer light. This is Salvia 'May Night' in full bloom in the northern Lawn Grove. The new tree, only partially seen, is a weeping cherry. We moved the Sourwood tree that has been in that spot for…
The Bridge of Flowers is blooming and blooming, ready for admiration, but you can see that greens are important too. Azaleas are just beginning to blossom, and Solomon's seal is still blooming. Iris season is just beginning. That's a dramatic combo with a yellow iris and orange azalea. The Bridge of Flowers loves azaleas. Surely it is clear by now that the Bridge of Flowers does not depend on a single type of flower. The bulb season is…
Under new leaves my daughter's daughter - newborn crying in my arms That she may walk the Woman's Trail unafraid I name her Rising Moon. by Carol Purington #41 in The Trees Bleed Sweetness: A Tanka Narrative This poem by my friend Carol Purington is from her book of tanka written in the voice of a Native American woman who might have lived in these hills where her family has farmed for more than 200 years. I…
The March-April issue of The American Gardener published by the American Horticultural Society includes a wonderful article about the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden and its curator, Peter Kukielski, by Patricia Taylor. The article explains how this famous rose garden at the New York Botanical Garden became sustainable. I interviewed Peter Kukielski in the fall of 2009 and wrote about him here. The article gives the names of rose breeders who have developed disease resistant roses, roses that need…
Could we be making our cars out of mushroom roots, mycellium, instead of petroleum based plastic? Maybe soon. One of my most popular posts is about Mycotecture, making strong, rigid insulation out of mycellium from Ecovative, and now David Pogue, host of the PBS Nova series Making Stuff, learns that the Ford Motor Company is making plastic parts for their cars out of wheat grass, and mycellium. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqTBFd-qRJU I wonder whether mushroom/mycellium farmers will be able to get…
Some say that almanacs have been around for thousands of years, but perhaps the oldest American almanac most people are familiar with is Poor Richard's Almanac published by Benjamin Franklin long before he fiddled with kites and string or became our Ambassador to France. Baer's Almanac is new to me, but the editor's give a bow to Franklin with a few of the aphorisms that helped to make him popular. How about "A slip of the foot, you…