Last summer there was no Forbes Library Garden Tour. The Covid-19 pandemic threw all our expectations and schedules and plans up in the air. The special events in every season that promised excitements and camraderie were cut down to Zoom gatherings. But now, at last, we can again thank the Forbes Library for the beautiful Garden Tour with its many delights. (more…)
The birdbath in our garden is located so that we can look out from the kitchen window and see what the birds are doingl The birdbath is located at the edge of our energetic yellow twig dogwood which is currently rich with seeds. We understand that the birds need a little privacy. Our yellow twig provides lots of privacy. We can recognize a bluejay when we see one, which makes us very happy. (more…)
A front page story of Sunday’s New York Times shows a young man, Peter Treiber, Jr., standing in front of his vegetable truck at a farmer’s market. The side of the truck was painted with our Stars and Stripes flag, a perfect design for the Fourth of July. But no one was stopping to buy his honey, wild bergamot or sunflowers. At last he stopped a customer to ask why no one was shopping with him. “She said, ‘Oh, you know, I wasn’t so sure about you. I thought you were some flag-waver something or other.” Mr. Treiber was not happy to think that our flag could have this dichotomy between the ways people now thought about our flag. Our Flag! (more…)
Pollinator Week may be over, but we must think about Aesclepias and Lobelia cardinalis every week - along with other flowers that will attract pollinators. We are all familiar with the common milkweeds of the field that bloom, and the flowers that produce green seed pods turning brown as they mature. When mature the pod will split open and we can see 50-100 seeds, each seed attached to a white, fluffy 'coma' or parachute that can send the…
When we moved to Greenfield I was already concerned about planting a garden that would welcome pollinators, or which there are many. Today is the first time I have ever heard of Pollinators Week and Pollinators Month. I have planted many flowers that welcome pollinators - bees, bugs, and butterflies. Asters come in many sizes and colors. I will start with these low growing asters, Woods Blue, bloom in the fall - and they are spreaders! A friend…
The Coral Drift rose brought us into Garden Bloggers Bloom Day as one of the first bloomers in my garden. The weather has been alternately hot and very cool, very dry and very rainy, but Coral Drift endures - and will continue into the fall. This is a small rose, about two and a half feet tall, but also plump and lush. I brought the Alchemist rose from Heath, as a reminder of those days, but she didn't…
Healing Gardens. Ever since humans walked this earth, they fell and cut themselves, or felt so sick they couldn't get out of their beds. It did not take long for humans to try and find ways to repair those cuts and find something to drink or eat that would make them feel better. Over thousands of centuries we searched for ways to cure our ailments and problems. Nowadays we have doctors and nurses and hospitals with all kinds…
June is bustin' out all over with roses and surprises. In my Heath garden the roses did not start blooming until mid June. But today several roses are blooming, and their are lots of buds ready to open. The Carefree Beauty Rose was a Griffith Buck rose developed at the Iowa State University. It is just one of the many roses he developed to be hardy and long blooming. Folksinger, another Buck rose in a tender bronze shade.…
It is always nice to have a little herb garden by the kitchen door, but I had never thought about caring for Herbal Houseplants ($24.99 Cool Springs Press) that would work in the kitchen - and in the living room. Susan Betz has given us a handsome little book that opens new worlds of the herbs that will grow indoors, and that will also show us how to use fragrant herbs like patchouli and lavender, or just have…
Rose season has begun and the energetic Thomas Affleck rose has begun his very long season of bloom. I can usually count on Thomas Affleck to offer me flowers into September. What strength and beauty he has. I will say that my Thomas is at least five feet tall. The Oso Easy 'Paprika' rose is one of the strong, long blooming roses. It is only about two feet high with months of bloom. The shades of 'Paprika' shift…