On Thursday morning I looked out into the dark morning and saw frost – first on the frosted Knock Out red roses. Knock Out roses are very sturdy. This red rose bush has been blooming all season until now. It has been a hard year with intermittent rain and hot days, but this rose has persevered, though without its usual vivacity. I was worried if anything else had survived. (more…)
Marta McDowell gives us us a view of Frances Eliza Hodgson’s whole life, but the focus is on her book The Secret Garden and the gardens she created. When Unearthing the Secret Garden by Marta McDowell showed up in my mailbox I was thrown back into the past. My family moved from a Vermont farm to an apartment in Stamford, Connecticut. I entered the John J. Ryle elementary school and fell in love with my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Lupinachi, who read to us every day after lunch. My favorite story was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and I have never forgotten Mary, Colin and Dickon who discovered a secret, and untended garden. Now Marta McDowell has brought us Unearthing the Secret Garden – The Plants & Places That Inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett (more…)
Knock Out roses are famous for their dependability, the long bloom season and their loveliness. My Knock Out Red Rose is a substantial bush and while it is not covered with blossoms there are more scattered on the bush. (more…)
For the third year the Greenfield Garden Club has offered a hard cider tasting. We have been learning about the difference between ciders. Sweet ciders that are available in supermarkets come straight from the apple press. Hard ciders require fermentation. The ciders at our party had about 5.7% of alcohol. Our part of the world has become an important place for those who enjoy hard cider. That is my husband carrying in a gallon of sweet cider, for…
I’m not sure how we got to October with blooms! It’s been hot! The rains have been torrential. Nothing was sure. We don’t have a lot of blooms, but we begin Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day with my ‘Firelight’ hydrangea. The name is because it gets pinker and pinker in the fall. the ‘Fire’ in Firelight is slightly exaggerated, but it is wonderful to watch the shades of ‘red’ increase through the fall. (more…)
In her book, Garden Allies: The Insects, Birds & Other Animals That Keep Your garden Beautiful and Thriving, (Timber Press $24.95) Frederique Lavoipierre opens up amazing worlds of the creatures who may live in our garden, creatures who will benefit the garden! We learn about so many creatures from soil-dwelling micro-organisms to bats. For example: Did you know that the common woolly bear caterpillar is really the larva of a tiger moth? (more…)
There seems to be no end to beauty on the Bridge of Flowers in Massachusetts. This is Dahlia Season and many visitors have been arriving to admire the beauties of autumn. (more…)
Sun Science was not what I expected when I stopped at the Post Office for stamps. I browsed and began to realize that I have chosen many beautiful and honoring stamps in the past. In my stamp sleeve I currently have American Gardens, Women Vote-19th Amendment, Caffe Latte, Herb Stamps, Tiffany Lamp, Wild Thing, Flowers, Panther, and Mary Cassatt stamps. I have used many more stamps noting important people and days, but I have never seen, and bought, stamps about our Sun. (more…)
It is Autumn and time to look at asters – like Alma Potchke! The beauty of asters is that they will bloom when there is very little color in the garden. This is a favorite aster of mine because I am reminded of Elsa Bakalar who first showed me this aster. She had quite a lot in her own Heath garden. I also like this aster, and other asters, because they do attract pollinators. Lots of buzzing around these flowers. (more…)
I am familiar with Independence Day, but I did not know about Constitution Day. Neither did I know that there was "I am an American Day." That day was suggested by William Randolph Heart - and others - in 1940. Congress then designated the third Sunday in May as "I am and American Day. I can imagine there were a lot of people in that year, and continuing, who wanted to declare their love of the United States.…