Between the fact that the weather has been so oddly warm, today at 7 am it is 55 degrees, and our efforts to prepare for a kitchen update, I forgot about Bloom Day - not that much is in bloom. Still, I dashed out into the gray dawn. Certainly it is the end of rose season. Does this Thomas Affleck bloom still hanging on count? An unexpected stop at Wilder Hill Garden in September sent me home with…
Readers often have favorite authors and are not content with reading the author’s books. They want to know where and how the author lived, what made them the writer, the person they were, what influenced them and what supported them. In recent years, after a tough beginning, I have come to enjoy Eudora Welty’s books. I confess it took listening to an audio book of her stories including “Why I Live at the P.O.” and heard those southern…
It was Martha Stewart who first introduced me to winterberry, a native deciduous holly. Since it was Martha who pointed it out in an arrangement I thought it must be exotic, and not something I could grow. I was wrong. I did buy and plant five winterberry plants this spring, four female 'Winter Red,' and one male 'Southern Gentleman', but this photo is of a clump of winterberry growing by the side of the road. Those roadside shrubs…
The Solar Dancer greeted all those who gathered at Greenfield Community College last Saturday to hear about and discuss our current local food production and food security and the ways that it might be stepped up. It was an exciting day because we live in a fortunate area that has lots of good farmland, with old (in the sense of established) and new farmers. These farmers operate farmstands and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and participate in area Farmers…
This fall I mentioned to my husband that I was amazed at how many beeches there seemed to be in the woods all of a sudden. How had I not noticed all these beeches before when so many of them grew right along the roadside and still retained their leaves when most of the other deciduous trees were bare. I knew that beeches kept many of their leaves until the old leaves were pushed off by new leaves…
Sometimes a chrysanthemum is just a mum, but sometimes a chrysanthemum is Art. Artistically grown chrysanthemums will be on display during Smith College’s annual Fall Chrysanthemum Show which will run November 5-20 in the Lyman Plant House. A $2 donation is suggested. On display will be the stunning chrysanthemum cascades and other skillfully pruned and supported chrysanthemums, some in pillars, and some trained to a single stem with a giant bloom. Like the spring Bulb Show the Chrysanthemum…
When I joined 70 other garden bloggers in Seattle this past summer, one of the first places we visited was the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanic Garden which is a part of the University of Washington. There were familiar plants, and not so familiar plants like these cardoons, which are related to the artichoke and make for some sophisticated eating. Like many botanic gardens there are trial beds and educational projects like this green roof. It looks like it…
We don't usually have snow at the end of the season, but it has been a remarkable and difficult year with extraordinary weather. I think the Bridge is ready for a rest. See you on April 1, 2012.
We had about four inches of snow yesterday and while no one was happy we all thought it would disappear pretty quick. It did melt away in the lower elevations, but not here on our hill. Then this afternoon it began to snow again - thick and fast. By 4 in the afternoon we had about 6 new inches of snow, and I went out to check the application of "poor man's fertilizer."' Then after supper we sat…
When I walked through the garden the other day I realized how many red berries I have in the fall. Three years ago I noticed for the first time that my holly, ‘Blue Princess,’ and my cotoneasters had finally started producing berries. That berry production has gotten more prolific and beautiful each year. Hollies are dioecious plants, which means they need separate male and female plants to cross pollinate and produce fruits. While there are many holly cultivars…