Merry Christmas!  And holiday wishes  for every good thing for every one.

Books are the perfect gift for every occasion, and every season. Here are a few of the garden books I have enjoyed this year  Slow Flowers: Four Seasons of Locally Grown Bouquets from Garden Meadow and Farm  by Debra Prinzing is an encouraging book. Debra’s 52 weeks of bouquets from local flowers from ‘garden, meadow and farm’ are full of surprises and inspiration for those of us who are fearful and reluctant flower arrangers. She says she always put…

We have a winner! A copy of Cultivating Garden Style: Inspired Ideas and Practical Advice to Unleash Your Garden Personality  by Rochelle Greayer, AND a copy of The Roses at the End of the Road  will be sent out directly to Jan McGuane Adam - a pillar of the Greenfield Garden Club. Congratulaations, Jan!

Wouldn't we all like to peek into the new year ahead? Sometimes we can look forward to certain events with a fair amount of certainty - a baby due in May?  A graduation? A special anniversary? Maybe even a new garden? The 2015 UMass Extension Garden Calendar is a great holiday gift for any gardener who is already thinking how the new year will unfold as s/he promises to be really organized and get chores done on time. The 2015 UMass…

The view from the bedroom window shows that I have been working out in the Lawn Beds, and not picking up after myself, and the arrival of the first hard frost. The weather warmed up but there was another lighter frost on October 13. The gingko trees are slowly turning gold, color has nearly all left the rest of the distant landscape. Since the 13th we have had about 7 inches of rain in three rainfalls. There has…

While visiting cousins in Vermont I made a stop at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington, Vermont. As a retired librarian  I always stop in to visit libraries along the way. The Fletcher Free Library was founded in 1873 by Mrs. Mary L. Fletcher and her daughter, beginning with $20,000. Half was to be spent on books and half for an endowment. What a wise woman Mrs. Fletcher was to know that a library would need that ongoing…

Recently I was sent a pair of Honey Badger Garden Gloves to try out. These gloves are made by a small company in Atlanta, Georgia. Before they sent them they asked if I preferred to have the 'claws' on the right hand or the left hand. I chose to have them on the right hand, my dominant hand. This offer came fairly late in the season but I still had a whole long peony bed to clean out.…

The UMass Extension Garden Calendar for 2015 is now available. This excellent, and beautiful, calendar contains excellent information about garden chores throughout the year. Reminders of when to plant, when to mulch, when to prune, when to fertilize and much more. On some days you will get information about which plants attract pollinators, definitions of words like 'layering," and transplanting advice. I appreciate the fact that the low gloss paper takes my own notes very easily. The opening…