Acidanthera, now officially named Gladiolus callianthus, was an impulse buy this spring. I have admired it on the Bridge of Flowers and when I saw a bag of ten little bulbs at Shelburne Farm and Garden I popped them in my basket. Acidanthera is a tender bulb which means it will have to be dug up in the fall - or be treated like an annual and simply left in the ground. It does not have the rigidity…
Over the weekend I spent time weeding the Lawn Beds. There were spots that had few weeds because the plants had developed into such large clumps that the weed seeds had no place to land. Some clumps were so big that it was clear it was time to do some dividing. As a general guideline perennials need to be divided every 2 -4 years. A clump will outgrow its spot and start crowding the plants around it. Sometimes…
Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, and once again I am surprised at how much is still blooming in the garden. I am so glad to have this ongoing Bloom record. Echinacea and Russian Sage are in full bloom, as is the pink phlox just peeking in. I have a coupe of huge blooming clumps but no good photograph. The September sun is shining brilliantly on the garden and I am enjoying it on these cooler, breezy days. I…
Warm Colors Apiary will once again hold its annual "Honey Festival". Warm Colors has been hosting the Honey Festival for more than twelve years. The festival is a celebration of the Honeybee and our native pollinators. It is an opportunity to recognize the many contributions beekeepers, and their bees, make to agriculture and the health of our environment. Bonita and Dan Conlon open their eighty-acre apiary to the public to enjoy its beauty and explore its wildlife habitat.…
It was raining when I arrived at the Franklin County Fair this past Saturday, but to some Fair goers it was just another attraction. The Roundhouse is full of flower, fruit and vegetable exhibits, as well as handcrafts: quilts, knitting, canning etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Handwork is not dead in our part of the world. There are prizes for specimen flowers, arrangements and houseplants. There were fruit specimens and fruit arrangments. Fruits and vegetables preserved for the long New…
Tillage radish is a cover crop I had never heard of until this summer. One of the amazing things about the tillage radish is its rapid growth. After my neighbor Rol harvested his garlic he planted this bed to tillage radishes in mid-July. Already the wide row is completely covered with lush foliage that will die down once we have a killing frost. The long daikon radish roots that have developed will also rot over the course of…
Green manure is a crop that is planted in the fall; its purpose is to improve soil fertility and tilth in the spring. I have just seeded a fall green manure mix from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in three of my newly weeded and watered (thanks to the rain) garden beds. This mix contains annual seeds like crimson clover, annual rye grass and yellow peas, as well as winter rye and hairy vetch that will go dormant but begin…
September gold fills my garden at this time of the year. I have whole fields of goldenrod. It's a good thing that goldenrod is not responsible for allergies. "One of the most colorful plants we see blooming in roadside ditches and gardens in late summer is goldenrod (Solidago sp.). Hay fever symptoms seem to be worse when it is in bloom so it often accused of causing hay fever. One look at goldenrod and a little logical thinking…
My friend Kathryn O. Galbraith was recently presented with a Growing Good Kids 2012 award from the American Horticultural Society for Excellence in Children's Literature. This book, beautifully illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin depicts the myriad of ways that we all, people, birds, and animals as well as the wind and the rain plant the beautiful and fruitful gardens that grow along the roadsides, riversides and meadows. I wrote about Kathryn and her book when it first came…
There is no sun this morning, but the morning glories in the mist and rain are very happy. They have been told it will rain for three days. They hope this doesn't mean three days of deluge.