|
|
 January 25, 2019 View from the office I have not been keeping up with my monthly view from “the office.” My plan was to keep track of the weather, and the growth and changes in the garden. When we bought out house the view was very much like this, so we knew there was a lot of wet in the backyard. We are still learning how very wet and flooding it can be.
 March 1, 2019 view from the office We did not welcome snow in March.
 April 13, 2019 Snow is gone, We were glad to watch the flooding drying out, but it is still wet. By the end of the month we were able to get more compo-soil, 4 yards, and begin building up the raised beds. It was clear they needed to be higher.
 June 6, 2019 Spring looks wonderful The new elevations of the planting beds are not to clear, but we did raise them There are not too many flowers, but we are very happy to welcome spring.
 July 14, 2019 stop gap plantings The center bed and northern bed needed to be redone because the fall, winter and spring downed many plants including my beautiful weeping cherry and pagoda dogwood. I am thinking of making a least the center bed into a cutting garden with some annuals. I’ll get started early next year.
 July 29, 2019 July is ending It amazes me how much things can change in just a couple of weeks. We have had to do some watering, and hope for more rain and a less blistering August.
 Canada lilies in the Hawley Bog woodland photo by Will Draxler Years ago I tried visiting the Hawley bog, but gave up when the walkway gave out. I had to wait to really see the bog until Sue Draxler offered to be my guide.
Sue Draxler was my neighbor when we lived in Heath. She was a very special neighbor because she loved the natural world and generously shared her knowledge of the world around us. Her love of nature showed itself in many ways, in her art works, and in exhibits of wood or insects created by her sons, Will and Alex, for display at the Heath Fair. Not only were those exhibits informative, they were beautifully arranged and labeled. This was a reflection of Draxler’s 20 years of working as a naturalist for an environmental center in New Jersey, and volunteering with other groups.
Draxler told me “Even as a child I enjoyed exploring the natural world. I would try to identify and make lists of the birds, bugs, and plants that I found. I think I told you that it was in the New Jersey Pinelands that I became enamored of bogs so I was delighted to discover the Hawley bog so nearby when we moved to Heath.”
Last week Draxler invited me to walk through the Hawley Bog with her, and her son. Will is 16 and a student at the Academy at Charlemont where he has been gaining greater and greater skills with a camera. Draxler said this was a good time to visit the Bog because the orchids would be in bloom.
 Rose Pogonia – Hawley bog orchid photo by Will Draxler I didn’t know much about bogs beyond the fact that they were perpetually wet places. I certainly didn’t know I could find orchids in a bog.
Neither did I know that the Hawley Bog is considered one of the best examples of a natural New England Bog. It covers an area of 65 acres; 25 of those acres are cared for by the Nature Conservancy and the Five Colleges, Inc. The colleges use the bog as a living classroom and laboratory for research. This fragile wetland includes a mat of peat moss 30 feet thick that floats on the open water of a glacial lake. A 700 foot walkway through the Bog was renovated a few years ago to make it available to students and to interested nature lovers.
Draxler, son Will, and I met early in the morning to drive to the Bog. We parked at the well marked entrance to the woods and began to walk. Within very few minutes we stopped admire bright and dainty Canada lilies, and to sign in at a weather proof box nailed to a tree. The Nature Conservancy likes to keep a tally of visitors and where they come from. We had not far to go through the woods to step on the walkway.
 Witches broom is a fungus that can grow on trees and shrubs Draxler explained that this first section was really a wet meadow. As we walked we could see that the land beneath the walkway getting wetter and wetter. It all looked very green. I did recognize the mountain laurels, but Draxler had to point out the odd collection of brown and green sticks growing on a branch. “Do you know about witches’ brooms?” she asked. No, I did not. She had to explain that this deformity was caused by fungus or viruses and it could attack trees or shrubs. I noticed many more witches’ brooms on trees and shrubs as we walked.
Then Draxler pointed out a pink orchid. This is when I learned about how to look carefully. These pink orchids were no bigger than my thumbnail. That day we only saw Rose Pogonia with its pink crest and fringed lip. Later I learned that there are about 30,000 species of orchids around the world. Large and small. As we walked we saw more and more of these tiny pink orchids. It was very exciting. Draxler said there had not been so many in bloom the previous week.
 Yellow loosestrife, only 8-10 inches tall photo by Will Draxler I did recognize meadowsweet with its dainty white panicles, but Draxler patiently pointed out the Royal fern and Ostrich fern by name, as well as the delicate little yellow loosestrife, and the heart-shaped leaf of water arum. I pointed out the odd grass with little fluffy tips but it was Draxler who provided the name – cotton grass. We also saw a small meadow rue which was actually a tall meadow rue, Thalictrum polygamum, which has no petals, but starry bursts of while threadlike stamens.
 Meadow rue – photo taken by Will Draxler Very different from the meadow rue in my own garden. As we walked there were fewer trees and shrubs, Will silently following, stopping to take photographs of the varied plants. We had to look very carefully to see the tiny sundews that were sending up tiny flowers. The pitcher plants were bigger and more familiar. Bogs don’t grow many plants because the bog soil is very acidic and has little nutrition. Carnivorous plants can happily grow in a bog because they get nutrition from their prey.
We came to the end of the walkway, where it turns around and returns. From here the view is of a vast expanse of some low greenery. It was hard not to think about the thousands of years that it took to make this bog. Layer after layer of sphagnum moss grows and dies, but it does not completely decay.
We began to walk back. There was lots of greenery, grass-like plants that we did not name. However, Draxler did give me a rhyme that might help me identify the species. “Sedges have edges, rushes are round, and grasses have knees that bend to the ground” referring to their jointed nodes. I loved the rhyme in all its versions, but alas, we did not classify any of the ‘grasses’ we found.
It was two hours later that we returned to the car with a plan to return in August and in the fall, so we can both see the progression of the seasons. I cannot have a more congenial guide and teacher than Sue Draxler. Eventually, I will share those visits and lessons some time in the future. ###
Between the Rows July 20, 2019
 Peonies have long stems and have a variety of colors and forms, perfect for a cutting garden The rains started last August. The rains continued during our long cold spring. The effect on my garden was that a number of plants drowned including my beautiful double weeping cherry. The view from my kitchen window was now bleak and empty.
To remedy the situation now and for the future we first needed to raise our already raised planting beds. Spring rains kept us from beginning this project. To raise the height of the beds we needed more soil and our beloved Martin’s Compost Farm could not supply that soil because the rains put a stop to their operations.
Finally, Martin’s Farm was able to deliver four more yards of compo-soil and we moved load after load to the two planting beds. Once again we had barren beds. What to do?
We began by planting a water-tolerant quince bush surrounded by water tolerant sedums, yarrow and silvery Artemisia in the most northerly bed. The water tolerant Aesclepius tuberosa, the ornamental native orange flowered milkweed, and cardinal flowers were thriving. Even so, we did add more soil to the area around these plants.
I took a different approach with the second bed, which is right in front of my kitchen windows. We hadn’t decided on a planting scheme and decided that for this year we would plant annuals on this small area while we devised a plan. In went seedlings and starts of cosmos, snapdragons, zinnias, marigolds, and two clumps of dianthus. Needless to say it doesn’t look like much right now.
 Annual cosmos comes in a variety of colors. Long stems, lacy foliage Then, one day I looked at the second bed, about eleven by eight feet, with its little flowers and thought I might turn it into a permanent cutting garden bed. The flowers in a cutting garden are chosen because they easily make pretty bouquets. Snapdragons, cosmos, and zinnias are certainly good bouquet flowers. It would be lovely to be able to share my garden by giving friends and family an occasional bouquet.
A cutting garden can make use of perennials, annuals and even herbs in a bouquet. Most gardens have perennials suitable for a bouquet. The question is will there be enough for bouquets and the flower garden. A big question.
The summer perennials that come to my mind are peonies, yarrow, phlox, helenium, gaillardia, dahlias, asters, and black eyed susans who each have their own blooming season. There are also perennials like Lady’s mantle that has gray-green ruffled leaves that make a pretty collar around a bouquet.
I think many of us are familiar with the practice of judiciously cutting back perennials early in the season to create more lush blooms later in the summer. When you prune those perennials cut them carefully and remove most leaves.
Annuals with long stems are best for many bouquets. I am always careful to choose long legged zinnias. To keep annuals blooming through the season I’ve been told that blooming annuals should be cut back once, or even twice a week. This practice will keep new flowers coming.
This regular cutting of flowers to use in bouquets means learning where to make the cut. When you are beginning to harvest annual flowers, the first cut should be made above three or four side shoots. This will generate more strong flowering shoots which will be cut back in their own time. Be careful to cut back stems that are growing towards the center of the plant to keep stems from being overcrowded.
 Red zinnias – and annual with long stems. Vibrant color There are many annuals that can be started by seeds, or seedlings bought at the garden center. Just a few of the annuals for a cutting garden include gomphrena, phlox, love-lies-bleeding, Mexican sunflower, china asters, nigella, the red flanders poppy, China asters, Shasta daisies and other ‘daisy’ flowers like osteospurmums.
Herbs like rosemary, dill, sage and oregano can also have a place in a bouquet. Herbs provide pleasant scents and attractive foliage.
 Yarrow – a strong, long stemmed achillea I’m known for running out to pick a few flowers to stick in a vase and calling it a day. This kind of bouquet will be pretty for a day or two. However, making a bouquet that will last for a few days takes some preparation.
The best time for cutting flowers is early in the morning or in early evening when the flower stems will be full of water. Use a very clean pail or container with clean lukewarm water. Use a sharp snips or garden clippers to cut flower stems at about the same length so they will not crush each other in the pail.
If a plant has floppy stems I have heard that some gardeners roll the stems in newspaper to hold them erect. Don’t crowd the flowers in your bucket. Maybe you’ll need two buckets if you are making a large bouquet. Also think about whether it is necessary to have a separate container for each flower you are gathering.
The bucket of flowers should be left in a cool place for at least three hours, or overnight.
I have never been very successful using floral foam, but many people swear by the help foam provides. Others like to use a bit of balled up chicken wire to hold the flowers in place.
My cutting garden has not been carefully thought out this year, but it has given me food for thought for next year.
Between the Rows July 13, 2019
 Hellstrip, Tree belt
Coneflowers, daylilies, centaurea, yarrow I DON’T KNOW WHY THIS DIDN’T GET POSTED ON THE 15th – BUT I’M HERE NOW.
The climate is much on my mind as I celebrate Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day here in western Massachusetts. Last summer was very wet, and the wet continued this spring. I lost many plants and I am in the process of re-designing (and I use the term loosely) and replanting. The last three weeks have been very hot (high 80’s and 90) and very dry. Is this a promise that we will have hotter drier summers? I have had to water the hellstrip which was beginning to get crispy. Even so, I think it looks lush and wonderful, with lots of flowers yet to bloom.
 Daylily border section on the south bed The daylilies are doing well. I love daylilies because they tolerate wet sites, and they are doing well this hot summer.
 Elsa’s Mystery Daylily Last summer I went up to the Stone Meadow Gardens in Ashfield daylily farm determined to add some interesting colors to my collection. I was successful. In addition, the owners Phil Pless and Linda Taylor gave me a piece of this tall yellow small daylily named Elsa’s Mystery. They knew I was a good friend of Elsa Bakalar, as they were. They said Elsa named this daylily because she had lost its real name. I am delighted their collection gave me the richness of color that I was looking for, and a memento of a dear friend.
 A cheerful daylily from Stone Meadow Gardens  Blue Paradise phlox This phlox is slowly taking hold. I think it might need a little more sun.
 Kordes Polar Express The roses are taking a little rest. There are few blooms, but I am hoping that with some deadheading there will be a second flush.
 Buttonbush It is hard to remember that those spiky balls are buttonbush flowers. The buttonbush has thrived with all the rain, but you can see that the flowers are getting brown in their centers. I think they will not last long.
 The North Planting Bed The is the most northerly of the three raised planting beds. This section of the bed suffered from the flooding of the garden. No more perennials or pagoda dogwood. The Aesclpias and not-yet-blooming cardinal flowers and that amazing golden mat of sedum are all that was left of this area. New plants include a quince bush, obedient plants, yarrow and helenium.
 Delphiniums I don’t know if it is cheating, but these delphiniums were knocked down in the wind yesterday. I had to let you see them. The color is extraordinary!
 View from the office I’m adding this View from the Office so you can get some idea of most of the garden, including the Center and North Beds. I’m thinking maybe I will make that area of the Center Bed a cutting garden next year.
I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for making it possible to share our gardens and see what is blooming all across our great land. Go on over to see it all!
More pix – just for fun
 Daylily on the hellstrip  Lavender daylilies on south hellstrip  Double orange daylily  Deep red and gold daylily – which the camera does not really catch  I seem to have several doubles, and frilled daylilies
 My husband Henry and me, toasting our neighbor Wendy and her lush garden. Gardening in the summer can be hot and dirty. But a reprieve is the reward. It’s time to put away our tools and wash up. It’s time for a tranquil cocktail hour in the garden. Time to sit with a spouse, and time to sit with a friend in the midst of your garden beauty. The ideal place for the cocktail hour is in the shade with birds chirping, and floral fragrances carried by the breeze.
When I was browsing my bookshelves the other day I noticed that I had three books that inspired me to think more about the delights of a cocktail hour.
The Cocktail Hour Garden by C.L. Fornari
 Cocktail Hour Garden by C.L. Fornari The first book, C.L. Fornari’s book The Cocktail Hour Garden covers just about every aspect of making that hour delicious. She suggests ways of creating evening landscapes for relaxation and entertaining. She describes the way the late afternoon sun provides backlighting through her foliage. That same sun can throw artistic shadows of well placed perennials.
Like all of us she welcomes the birds and butterflies into her garden with feeding and watering places. She also suggests the kinds of flowers that can provide food for them and beauty for you at the same time. Fornari provides great information about the birds and the bees with generous lists and descriptions of appropriate plants like asters, coreopsis, liatris, joe pye weed and more.
She also reminds us that the sound of moving water is soothing and calming. It also attracts the birds. This is perfect music for the end of the day.
If your cocktail hour begins or extends into the night she touches on the white flowers like phlox David, white zinnias, and Star Cluster coreopsis that will add a soft glimmer.
The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
 The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart The second book is by Amy Stewart who has written fascinating books about plants. These include Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Perhaps to provide a balance, she also wrote The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks. There are recipes for fermented and distilled drinks from margaritas to Moscow Mule, to Blushing Mary.
There are recipes for syrups, infusions and garnishes from prickly pear syrup to limoncello. She even gives a template with suggestions on making up your own cocktails.
Stewart’s book is a delight because she is not just a knowledgeable bar tender. She also knows a lot about botany, the plants that are used in these libations. For example, her recipe for Royal Tannenbaum gets its name because of the pine liqueur that is added to London dry gin with a sprig of rosemary. Did you know there are eight distinct gins, or that there is a liqueur made from the arola stone pine resin? Nor did I.
Stewart is a great researcher. She talks about many of the plants most commonly used in alcoholic drinks. In addition, she adds historical and medical notes. She includes fascinating bits of information about physicians and scientists who 400 years ago and more discovered and used birch sap in making medicines – and a good addition to ale.
After reading a few pages of The Drunken Botanist you’ll be able to regale your cocktail hour companions with intriguing stories from agave to wormwood.
Harvest by Stefani Bittner and Alethea Harampolis
 Harvest by Bittner and Harampolis Finally, the third inspiring book on my shelf is Harvest: Unexpected projects using 47 extraordinary garden plants by Stefani Bittner and Althea Harampolis. The book, with its beautiful photographs, is arranged by season, spring, summer and fall.
I always have rhubarb in my garden. It has beautiful foliage, and I will need it for my rhubarb-strawberry pie filling. Bittner and Harampolis begin their book with a recipe for rhubarb quick pickles. The pickling liquid includes peppercorns, chilies and apple cider vinegar. It takes only 48 hours to pickle. The ladies suggest it as an addition to a cheese plate. You can also use a piece of rhubarb as a swizzle stick for your drink.
Some recipes use familiar ingredients like poppy seeds, feverfew, oregano, and lemon balm for eating and drinking. Others are for tinctures or other medicines. For instance yarrow flowers and leaves can be transformed, with the help of brandy, into a tincture to be taken by mouth, or on your skin. Tinctures are very strong so only a bit is used at a time.
I thought the recipe for pomegranate margarita would be a good suggestion for the cocktail hour. The pomegranate margarita is a beautiful pink drink that requires tequila and triple sec as well as pomegranate juice. Maybe even some pomegranate seeds.
Of course some of us may have a few aches at the end of a day in the garden. Bittner and Harampolis have the recipe for a colorful calendula infused essential oil for a massage, or for dry skin.
Last week my neighbor Wendy Sibbison invited my husband and me to join her for a cocktail, at the end of the day. She followed up with grilled chicken, homemade bread, and, as it happened, a delicious mango sorbet. All I had to do was bring the salad. We sipped her special gin and tonic, ate everything on the table, and enjoyed the cooling breeze as we admired her climbing roses and clematis.
Are there garden cocktail hours on your schedule this summer?
 Here I am among the delpniniums, peonies and lilies Between the Rows July 6, 2019
 Green and gold groundcover We all know that groundcovers cover the ground. However,the problem is that there are good groundcovers and bad groundcovers. If you are like me you spend a bit of time cursing the weedy plants sneaking over our ground. I have two responses to the problem. Sometimes I weed casually, then put down paper or cardboard topped with bark mulch. Sometimes I cover the ground with good low growing plants that do a good job of holding weeds at bay.
 Tiarella – Foam Flower Actually, there are many blooming ground covers. I have long used foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) that spreads by runners. The flowers are airy racemes on wiry stems and will bloom for about six weeks in the spring.
 Waldsteinia – barren strawberry In addition, I use barren strawberry (Waldsteinia) which is definitely not a strawberry plant. However its shiny dark green foliage is strawberry-like as are the little yellow flowers that bloom in the spring. I’m told they can be up to eight inches high, but the dense mats of foliage in my garden never get that tall. You can use this around walkways because it can tolerate light foot traffic.
 Alchemilla mollis However, all sorts of plants can be called ground covers. I use lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) around some of my roses. Lady’s mantle is a lusty low growing perennial with soft frilly light green leaves that can be six inches across. It can reach a height of about 12 inches with flower stalks holding chartreuse blossoms that last most of the summer. It spreads and grows thickly enough to keep out most weeds. And it is very pretty.
Tiarella, Waldsteinia and Alchemilla thrive in full sun or part shade and spread energetically in rich soil.
Primroses (Primulla) produce their pretty flowers in the spring, but their dense foliage does not allow weeds to take hold. Primroses prefer at least some shade, and a moist area. This means they are absolutely perfect for my wet garden.
Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia) covers dry ground happily. It is very attractive in rock gardens. The silver-gray flowers on foot tall stems are thought to look like cat’s feet, but the velvety foliage is dense and flat. It is not only pretty, and good for dry sunny areas, it is poisonous to deer and rabbits. And they know it and avoid it.
Epimediums (sometimes called bishop’s hat) are wonderful groundcovers. They have green and reddish foliage on wiry stems and reach a height of eight to twelve inches. The appeal is their dense growth and the miniature flowers that come in an array of colors and forms in the spring. They welcome sun and shade and prefer a moist site with rich soil. Given good soil they will spread nicely. They should be cut back in the fall. We are fortunate to have a wonderful epimedium nursery in Phillipston, Massachusetts https://epimediums.com with hundreds of beautiful varieties.
Chrysogonum virginianum, much better known as green-and-gold, is new to me. The name is self descriptive. There are low green leaves with golden flowers in the spring. They prefer some shade and moisture. Not a problem in Greenfield these last months. I became acquainted with this lovely little plant when it was included in the meadow garden plantings at the John Zon Community Center. It is beautiful right now.
I never thought of Coral bells (Heucheras) as ground covers because of their height. The foliage is often about 10” high, but the flower stalks can be two feet high. Each clump will gain in width, but they do not spread by runners. Groupings of several plants do serve well as ground covers.
Violets are always found in lists of ground covers. Many call them weeds, but there certainly are areas in many gardens where it is easy to give up the fight and let the violets have their way. With strict limits, of course. Violets grow densely and keep out other weeds. In addition violets are the only food to nourish frittilary butterfly larvae.
The list of blooming ground covers is long and includes familiar lamb’s ears, ajuga, , mazus, creeping baby’s breath, hostas, fringed bleeding heart, wintergreen and partridgeberry.
 Fringed bleeding heart – Dicentra eximia Obviously, groundcovers come in many forms including shrubs and vines which I will not touch on today. However, I’d like to mention the family of sedums, or stonecrops. I have some edging areas where I have grown sedums. Unfortunately, I have lost their names, if I ever knew them
Many of us are familiar with low growing hen-and-chicks and the taller, more substantial Autumn Joy that blooms in the fall. Those are common sedums but there are countless unique sedums available in nurseries. Of course, we often have neighbors who are willing to share their ever increasing sedums. Or we can buy them at plant sales.
In my own garden I have several sedum varieties, including two low creeping sedums.
 Sedum spurium Sedum reflexum has bright golden needle-like leaves that outshines any other sedum in its brilliance. It grows vigorously and the color is an eye-stopper.
Sedum spurium is comprised of creeping succulent florets. My nameless variety is green with a touch of red, but the Dragon’s Blood variety turns rich shades of red in the summer and is popular because of its dramatic presence.
Do you curse the weeds? You might want to add some groundcovers to your plantings.
Between the Rows June 29, 2019round
 Thomas Affleck rose blooms into October Gertrude Stein said “A Rose is a rose is a rose,” suggesting that “it is what it is”, in modern parlance. However, there is evidence that the rose existed 32 million years ago. Clearly it has changed over those millions of years, first by Mother Nature, and later by explorers, horticulturists and gardeners who found new roses and the magic of hybridizing.
My own view of the rose has changed radically over the years. Early on I had very little experience with roses that were usually upright bushes that the owners were always pruning, and fussing with pesticides. I had no interest in fussing over an uptight bush with poisons in my hand.
When we were preparing to leave New York City for Heath in 1979 I read Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katherine S. White, the wife of E.B. White, one of my favorite authors. Katherine was a great gardener and a wonderful writer as well. Onward and Upward begins with a chapter about the Roses of Yesterday and Today nursery, as well as other garden catalogs.
 Folksinger, a disease resistant rose by Griffith Buck I immediately sent for my own Roses of Yesterday and Today catalog. Thus began my fantasies of a rose garden on my Heath hill. I wanted these antique roses for their beauty and romance, but they are also practical because they are hardy and resistant to disease. I had no desire to have demanding roses – or any other flower for that matter.
The first rose I planted was Cuisse de Nymph, translated as Nymph’s Thigh, later expanded to Passionate Nymph’s Thigh, although some gardeners were too modest and called her Maiden’s Blush. The Passionate Nymph survived 35 years by our front door, right under the roof where she suffered icy winters with icicles falling on her. I gave her a very fond farewell when we left for Greenfield.
 Zaide – a Kordes Rose, disease resistant, long blooming The Rose Walk began with roses like Rosa glauca, a truly ancient rose with reddish foliage and very small single pink flowers. Even though I eventually had many glamorous roses, most visitors to the Annual Rose Viewing were particularly struck by this tall and unusual rose.
From the Roses of Yesterday and Today I ordered roses that existed before 1799 including the candy striped Camaieux, Belle de Crecy which can take on a mauve tone, pink Celsiana, and the tall indestructible pink Ispahan.
Later I planted more modern, but still old roses including some that came from China like Madame Isaac Perriere, a bourbon rose that did not bloom quite as extravagantly in Heath as it might have in a gentler climate. It is the China roses that gave hybridists longer blooming roses.
Roses are always being created by hybridization, to bend to fashion, but also to create hardiness. Griffith Buck, who became a professor at Iowa Sate University after WWII, created a family of hardy roses that were also disease resistant. Several of these roses are sold under the heading Earth Kind. One of my favorite Buck roses is Applejack. It bloomed and welcomed us all at the head of our driveway.
 Lion’s Fairy Tale – a Kordes rose At least 30 years ago Germany forbid the use of poisons in the rose garden. Kordes began to hybridize disease resistant roses like the lush and creamy Polar Express, and pale apricot Lion’s Fairy Tale, which are thriving in my Greenfield garden.
Fashion continues to change what we want in a rose. Nowadays garden nurseries carry hardy Knockout shrub roses in many shades, as well as the new ‘landscape’ roses. These low growing roses have a long bloom season. Sometimes they are called groundcover roses, which gives a clearer idea of the intent of the hybridizer.
Lush David Austin roses are understandably in favor. I enjoyed my years in Heath with the sturdy pink Mary Rose.
 Drift Coral rose, a low growing ‘landscape rose.’ In my new garden I have a tough red Knockout, and two low landscape roses, Oso Easy Paprika and a Peach Drift rose.
I only took one rose with me from Heath to Greenfield. This rose was a gift from the Purington family in Colrain. They had given me other roses from their old farm, but the rose I called Purington Pink was always sending out babies. It was easy to dig up and transplant some of those babies in Greenfield, and leave the mother bush to the new owners of our house. Purington Pink is a rose of friendship and could not be left behind.
I did not bring The Fairy with me to Greenfield, but I did buy and plant a new one. This pink polyantha is loaded with sprays of little frilly pink flowers, and she loves Greenfield.
I cannot grow many other roses now because roses do not like wet feet. Our yard is very wet, and floods in winter and spring. The roses I have are planted in the limited dry area.
Local nurseries understandably have a limited selection of roses. I have bought most of my roses from nurseries like Chamblee’s Rose Nursery, Antique Rose Emporium, and Roses of Yesterday and Today.
For those who are interested in roses and want to find hardy disease resistant varieties I want to recommend the book Roses Without Chemicals by Peter Kukielski. I met Kukielski a number of years ago when he was the curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. He knows about lush, gorgeous roses!
Between the Rows June 22, 2019
 Garden Conservancy Open Days in Petersham “The mission of the Garden Conservancy is to save and share outstanding American gardens for the education and inspiration of the public.” That is the simple mission of the Garden Conservancy. In practice, it means providing financial support to protect selected American gardens chosen for their beauty and significance.
There are a number of these beautiful historic gardens not too far from us. Ashintully in Tyringham is the only one in Massachusetts. It is the creation of John McLennan, Jr., a classical musician and composer. He and his wife Katherine spent 30 years designing a garden that includes fountains and bridges, stone stairways, forests and flowers, places to admire panoramic views, and places to sit in the shade of great trees and enjoy the breeze. McLennan gave the Garden Conservancy a large part of the estate before his death in 1996. The gardens are open only Wednesday and Saturday 1-5 PM.
Since I spent part of my young life in Vermont I am very glad that the Garden Conservancy has chosen to support Justin Morrill’s garden in Stafford, Vermont. He served in Congress as a Representative and then as a Senator. He wrote the Morrill Land Grant Acts that were signed by Abraham Lincoln. These acts established federal funding for public colleges in every state. As a graduate of the University of Massachusetts I am very grateful for this gift. There are now 105 other institutions of every flavor including state universities and agricultural colleges.
Morrill (1810-1898) designed his own gardens with serpentine pathways, graceful flower beds and beautiful trees including an orchard.
The historic house is open for tours from May 25 through October 13, Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Tours are conducted on the hour. Admission is $6.00. Self guided tours of the garden are free to everyone during open hours.
 Bloedel Reserve – the Japanese Garden One of the most beautiful landscape gardens I have ever visited, the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Washington, is supported by the Garden Conservancy. On 150 acres there are natural woodlands as well as beautifully pruned trees in the Japanese Gardens. Of course, there are also brilliant flower gardens, a quiet reflecting pool and green vistas. My whole experience was of serenity, beauty, mist and rain.
Of course with a substantial list of beautiful gardens financially supported by the Garden Conservancy the question is how do they do it?
 Garden Conservancy Open Days – Hellebores The answer is finding skilled and congenial gardeners, asking them to open their gardens for one day. The Garden Conservancy website includes information about all of this year’s Open Days gardens organized by state and month. Usually several gardens in a single area will be listed together. You can enjoy a whole day of visiting a variety of unique gardens.
Rorer and Buell Gardens
 Buell Rock Garden and Greenhouse for succulents Last weekend I visited two Open Days gardens in Petersham. I went to the Rorer and Buell Garden first. It has a welcoming garden in front of the house. Here are shades of green hostas, primroses, epimediums, and even a climbing hydrangea scrambling up a majestic tree.
Around the house were rock gardens, and stone troughs. The family makes good use of all our New England stone. In addition there were flower beds, lots of peonies, and vegetable beds. Blueberry bushes, too. No one at the Buell house is going to go hungry.
A wide path was mown across and around the meadow. The invitation is to a hill crowned with large stones and a tranquil view. There was a stone bench that allowed you to ponder the woodlands in one direction, or take in the serenity of the mown fields in the other direction.
When I strolled back to the house, I stopped to peek into the attached substantial low greenhouse. It was filled with all manner of succulents.
The Lockhart and O’Donnell Garden
 Koi Pond in the Lockhart Garden The Bruce Lockhart and Helen O’Donnell garden is only about five minutes away. The approach is through the woods. I knew I had arrived when I saw the lush hedge of hobblebush viburnam at the edge of the road. These viburnams were the backdrop of the shady, graceful Woodland Walk . Here blooms columbine, hellebores, bloodroot, hostas, foam flowers and peonies.
In comparison, other flower beds were planted in geometric squares. One of those squares was a comfortable gazebo that looked over a koi pond. There are fields and woodlands beyond as well as an orchard complete with bee hives.
We are always learning when we visit other gardens. The Lockhart garden tour included a Digging Deeper talk. Lockhart explained that after a new septic field was installed he was left with a little hill. His response was to plant that hill with all manner of pollinator plants and grasses to create a Meadow Garden with mown paths for strolling through it. Not everything on his planting list was in bloom. We saw camassia, alliums, and grasses. The goldenrod, liatris, perovskia, veronicas, salvias, and coneflowers will come into bloom later.
Log on to www.gardenconservancy.org for information about Open Days which continue into the fall.
Between the Rows June 15, 2019
 Rose viewing from the dining room table, Purple Rain, Thomas Affleck, Folksinger After long wet and cold months we may finally celebrate the arrival of official spring on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day here in Greenfield, Massachusetts. All of a sudden the budded roses burst into bloom, and before the weekend is over I think even more roses will be blooming.
 Oso Easy Paprika landscape rose Paprika is one of the two low growing landscape roses in the garden. Peach Drift is the other. Both were eager to welcome the spring.
 White siberian iris Siberian irises are blooming here and there in the garden. They are among the water tolerant plants that we count on. Now for a walk through the garden.
 Mountain Laurel beginning to bloom. May Apples and barren strawberry are no longer in bloom  Japanese primroses are a little hard to see under the Norway spruce and behind ferns, but they love that swamp.  Goatsbeard at the back of the hugel reaches for sun, and hides a runaway Japanese primrose.  One of two honeysuckles are blooming and climbing. I love Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day and Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for inventing this wonderful way of seeing what is in bloom across our great nation.
 Woodslawn Farm cows in the meadow June is National Dairy Month. I could not think of a better person to celebrate it with than Bob Purington. Purington is the eighth child of the late Herb Purington and his wife Barbara. He is also a member of the seventh generation to tend the Woodslawn Farm, founded in 1784 in Colrain. This 385 acre landscape includes woodlots, fields for corn and hay, and pasturage for about 75 cows, each one with a name. For over 200 years Purington’s family has provided milk for for the community – and beyond.
 Woodslawn Farm contented cows in the free movement barn I visited Purington in early May when the cows were not yet able to go out to pasture. He gave me a tour of the barns. I could see things had changed a lot since I helped feed my Vermont uncle’s cows back in 1950. First of all there is no barn for the milking cows. At least, not as I know barns which included four walls, windows and doors. Woodslawn Farm cows have a free-movement barn. They are not locked in stanchions during the day; they can walk around, snack on their feed, and take a nap on nice bedding. This open air barn is their home summer and winter. Their metabolism and heavy coat keeps them warm enough as long as they are protected from winter winds.
The old barn, the kind I was familiar with, still exists and shelters pregnant cows towards the end of their time, as well as the young calves. It also houses the 5000 bales of hay that will help get the cows through a long winter.
There are no heavy milking cans to lug around in this modern set up. Purington said his progressive father installed a new type of equipment in the 1960. He took me to the milk house which is a large separate room with several milking machines. Six stations make it possible to milk six cows at a time. The cows walk in and take their place at a station, wait patiently for the milking machines to be attached. The milk runs through hoses and is sent to the milk tank. Then the cow strolls off and other cows take her place. Needless to say the farmer is still very busy hooking and un-hooking the cow and making sure the milk is properly being pumped into the tank.
Cows are milked in early morning and early evening. It takes about two hours to feed and milk, and clean up each time. Cows now produce more milk than they did in 1950s due to genetic improvements as well as changes in their diet. We have all seen those large white bundles at the edge of hayfields. This is haylage, made of high moisture grass that is very nutritious, a part the cows diet in season.
I admired the pregnant cows, and the very young calves in the barn. Calving goes on all year long. All cows get the services of a person who performs artificial insemination.
 Bob Purington and the free movement cow barn Herb Purington had the help of seven sons and five daughters during his decades of farming, and of course, his wife. Bob Purington has five children, and of course, his wife Joyce at his side. One son lives on the west coast, but two sons and two daughters live nearby, with seven grandchildren. It is his son-in-law, George Gutierrez, married to his daughter Alison, who works everyday with Bob. However, everyone joins in when there is work to do. Farming requires more work than most of us consider when we are buying our gallons of milk.
The day we spoke Bob was busy checking and fixing the fences. The cows are allowed to leave the barn during the day as soon as the grass is tall enough. Purington has about a dozen different pastures for rotational grazing. This means moving the PVC plastic stakes and fencing around. “Our fences along the road are made of wood because that looks nicer, Purington told me. I thought that was sweet gift to those who drove past.
The cows are now out in the fields. Purington said they are so happy to get out onto pasture. They romp and kick up their heels, so happy with fresh feed and more room to roam.
Feeding the cows requires many fields for hay and corn. There is 70 acres manured and given over to corn for silage because those fields are too wet for pasture.
“When we were kids we only got two hay cuttings. Now we get three cuttings and even four on some fields,” Purington said. “We usually plant corn before hay, planting around May 15. We’ve been using a no-till planter for about 15 years. It not only conserves CO2 it doesn’t dig up all the stones. A big improvement over using a moldboard plow. “The harvested corn will turn into silage.
“Once the corn is planted it is time for the first hay cutting which will be completed by July 4. This chopped hay will go into the silo. Then we start all over. The second and third cuttings will go in the square bales and put in the barn. Often there is a fourth growth and we put the cows out to pasture on that field. Cows can often be out on pasture into November,” Purington said.
When I asked Purington what his favorite job on the farm was he hesitated. Finally he said, “I enjoy the work of every season. I enjoy putting up the fences, and putting the cows out in the spring. What is important is keeping this a farm, and keeping the land open.
When I think about the family energy and work input on a farm I think a single celebratory month a year is a modest thank you. I am glad to be reminded of how much we owe our farmers. After all, no farmers, no farm, no future. Thank you, Bob!
Between the Rows June 8, 2019
|
Garden Bloggers Fling Austin 2018
|
Click here to see the latest on my book...
