Garden Planning takes a new direction after you have decided how much time you have, what activities you want to enjoy in the garden, and what the garden needs in terms of soil improvement. You will also have decided whether you want a strictly ornamental garden, or if you want to include edibles. In urban and suburban settings the first consideration is the front yard. Most front…
One of the benefits of membership in the American Horticultural Society is the arrival of The American Gardener every other month. This month the cover photo was of an Eryngium or sea holly, and the amazing news that this is a relative of parsley. This isn't exactly one of the weird and wonderful facts I love to collect, but I certainly found it unexpected. The delightful and informative article by Barbara Perry Lawton catalogs a number of…
While we were living in Beijing we became fascinated with the ginkgo tree, sometimes called the maidenhair tree. This is an ancient tree and fossilized leaves dating back 270 MILLION years have been found. They saw the rise and fall of the dinosaur. Today it grows in many temperate and sub-tropical areas of the world because it is so unusual and beautiful and because it is so adaptable. It even tolerates pollution and is used in cities as…
For me garden planning is difficult because I am always rushing about with a new idea for a new project. Things work out in the end, but I understand the unfettered enthusiasm that a new gardener, or a gardener with a new space, feels as she looks out at that space. However, I know that the best way forward is to move thoughtfully, and maybe with a pad and pencil in hand. First, inventory your…
What is a mystery melt? Yesterday morning we had snow showers, and cold temperatures all afternoon. When I went out to the henhouse I noticed this mystery melt that ran from the top of the slope towards our wellhead. I thought it was so strange to have such a clearly demarked area when the cold temperatures kept the veil of snow intact everywhere else. We have a lot of water on our hill with intermittent streams that have…
December 8 - The view from the bedroom window has been varied all this month. Temperatures ranged from a windy zero degrees on December 17, but on December 8 it was mild with a mere dusting of snow. December 15 - Three or 4 inches of snow on the 13th and another 10 inches on the 14th. We barely made it home after Gourmet Club that night, the road was unplowed and the snow was still falling thickly.…
My Heath Calendar cannot begin with flowers. The only flowers at the End of the Road are a few Christmas cactus blooms and a wonderful pink cyclamen. February is still cold and snowy. This 'possum found shelter and a snack in the compost bin next to the hen house. March and still no blooms in Heath. Still the Talcott Greenhouse at Mt. Holyoke College and the Lyman Plant House at Smith College are full of bloom and hope…
There is a pile of seed and plant catalogs next to my chair so garden planning for 2014 has begun. I already have existing gardens, the big fenced Potager, the blueberry patch, the Herb Bed, the little Front Garden for early vegetables, the Daylily Bank, the Rose Bank, the Shed Bed, the Rose Walk, the Peony Border, and the two Lawn Beds, north and south, which means my garden planning is in the nature of review and renew.…
The Lyman Plant House at Smith College looked as frosty as anyplace during the recent Polar Vortex. Outside. Inside the Lyman Plant House there is humid warmth and lush growth. Once past the brilliant greenery I passed into the Palm House where I might have been in the jungle. The brilliant January sun shone through the dense palm foliage, but all below was in shadow. I sat on a bench and rested, and debated whether I should follow…
Slow but sure is the gardener's motto when plants first go in. This is the beginning of the Daylily Bank in the Spring of 2009. We decided on this solution to a bank that was hard to mow. At my time of life five years pass in the blink of an eye. This succeeded beyond my dreams, with daylilies added row by row for four years. For more (almost) Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.