Last summer I visited Bruce Cannon's fabulous garden. His potting bench is one of the elements that impressed me. He took an old stainless steel sink and built his potting bench around it in the shade. The faucet does work, but the water just drains out onto the ground. Yesterday I was talking to my friend Bob who is one of our town's volunteer fire fighters. Last fall the fire department held a practice and burned down an old…
“I’m not old enough to have shrubs!” a friend wailed at me one day while we were looking at her garden and she was trying to figure out how to make it more manageable. Well, small blooming trees may be the answer for those of us who are getting older. We might realize that a mixed border that includes small trees and shrubs will demand less work. The ornamental small blooming tree I have in my garden…
Yesterday I listened to bits of Puccin's operas at our local Senior Symposium put on by Greenfield Community College. This is an engaging and enlightening series of programs featuring wonderful scholars and speakers like William Fregosi, who was for many years the technical coordinator for Theater Arts at M.I.T. He talked about Giacomo Puccini's life and times. Work! Scandal! Fame! Passion! Incredible success! His estate is still collecting royalty payments for three of his operas including Turandot. Two…
No snowdrops. Just another foot of snow. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
With Ready, Set, Grow! Timber Press is giving away books, lots of books, and a Moleskine journal to record your success as you put all the inspiration and advice to work in your garden for the next three months. Each month, March, April and May they will be giving a library of books away in a lottery. All you have to do is click here and enter. Whether you win the library or not, by checking this website…
Lawn Gone: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick (Ten Speed Press $19.99) will get you thinking about how to reduce or remove your lawn, not only because there are more sustainable alternatives, but because there are so many beautiful alternatives. A greensward of fine turf is a pleasant thing, but it is a lot of work! And, in the end, not all that interesting or useful. How much more pleasant are paved walkways…
This little white cyclamen on my bedroom windowsill has been blooming and blooming for two months. At least. Our bedroom is very cool, down to 55 degrees at night so the cycalmen has been very happy here. I really need a cold bedroom to sleep well. My husband tolerates it. I might turn the heat up during the day while I am working on the upstairs computer, otherwise I spend my of my day downstairs near the woodstove…
For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
On February 25 I took a photo of the tulips I was forcing. This little pot of bulbs was clearly not developing at the same time. But even as the most advanced tulip began to decline, the others were just coming into bloom. As I watched the decline of my tulips, the colors changing, the petals crinkling I was reminded of a practice at a meditation center I once read about. On the first day of a week…
While the rest of us have been shivering in our snowy landscapes, Russell Billings, Director of the Talcott Greenhouse at Mt. Holyoke College, has been busy cooling and slowly warming hundreds of bulbs and other blooming plants coaxing them to a perfect stage of bloom. On Saturday, March 2 the doors of the greenhouse will open to the public to present Primavera, this year’s bulb show featuring glorious tulips and daffodils as well as many plants of the…