A couple of weeks ago I was invited to sign my book, The Roses at the End of the Road, at the majestic Springfield City Library, along with a group of other local authors. These book signings are one of the ways that the Springfield City Library supports authors as well as readers. We do need each other - authors, readers and libraries! Gerry Garner was a great light at the event. This great-grandmother (we both have great-grandaughters…
Hypertufa is a concrete and peat moss mixture used to make garden troughs and ornaments. Hypertufa troughs are often used for succulent or alpine plant collections and can be a charming and useful element in the garden. You can make your own. I am not sure how Smith College made their troughs, but hypertufa is a great DYI project. Not being very adventurous in the craft area I am happy that the Bridge of Flowers committee has organized…
Shoots are up, plants are leafing out. It is time to start keeping the Monday Record. The only bloom in the garden are these Van Sion daffodils that are growing against a stone wall - in back of the Buckland Rose. I thought I had dug out all the bulbs before I planted the rose here, but I was wrong. I wrote about how I identified this daffodil here. One reader said these were the ugliest daff he…
If there is anything I enjoy more than gardening it is books. And eating. Therefore you can imagine my pleasure when I made an unscheduled stop at the Forbes Library in Northampton last week and found this Edible Books contest display near the circulation desk. According to the Books2Eat website "The International Edible Book Festival is a yearly event on April 1 throughout the world .This event unites bibliophiles, book artists and food lovers to celebrate the ingestion…
It seemed a little early but on March 6th I started some seeds indoors. Now, three weeks later it seems like it might have been totally unnecessary. I have neighbors who tilled sections of their garden and have already planted a number of cold hardy plants: lettuces, spinach, snap peas, carrots and beets. Who can gauge the risks in times like these? I might have been too cautious in starting my seeds, but my neighbors may have been…
My walk across the sunny Smith College Campus yesterday was a golden spring garden. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
Yesterday my earliest daffodils began to bloom - just in time for temperatures to plunge from their unseasonable summer highs. Nothing is certain in a garden. How many times do we have to relearn this lesson? The following takes me back a couple of weeks - before we were all boldly planting seeds. Beginning tomorrow days will be brighter longer. The sun will not set until 6:46 pm. It will seem like spring has arrived – even though…
Spring was in full bloom inside the Seaport World Trade Center where the Boston Flower Show and BLOOMS! featured display gardens with reflecting pools, landscapes fit for a hobbit, Japanese maples, fountains, school gardens with veggies and flowers, as well as rooms filled with specimen plants and flower arrangements awaiting the intense gazes of the judges. This year I was not attending the flower show merely as an admirer, but as a volunteer judge. Earlier this spring I…
Coltsfoot started blooming three days ago on the Rose Bank. This is the first flower in my garden and this year it is much earlier than usual. I wrote about Coltsfoot's properties as a medicinal herb here on April 17 in 2009. Coltsfoot is also known as Coughwort and is known as a remedy for coughs and other respiratory ailments across several culture. I wrote about it as a wildflower here last year on April 26. I wonder…
The weather has been strange, but a benefit is The Bridge of Flowers is now open during the day. Official opening April 1. I'm almost Wordless this Wednesday, but for real Wordlessness click here.