The Little Bulbs: A Tale of Two Gardens by Elizabeth Lawrence is what inspired my interest in snowdrops, but it took many years before I actually got any planted. This is partly because I was confused by their blooming time. In Elizabeth Lawrence's southern gardens they bloomed on Candlemas Day (February 2) and sometimes "more than once known them to take advantage of an 'amazing interlude' of mild weather in January to slip out of the half frozen…
The vegetable garden is in. It doesn't look like much but it includes lettuce (from starts that should be ready to harvest next week) beets, chard, cilantro, sugar snaps and sweet peas, radishes, lettuce mix and zucchini , as well as broccoli, brussel sprouts, tomato and cucumber seedlings.In the garden extension on the other side of the raspberry patch I have winter squash, crookneck squash, yellow and green filet beans and a potato barrel. It is even less…
Blooms everywhere. I have two blooming rhododendrons, Boule de Neige and Rangoon, but a friend who lives in Hawley has 300! He recently invited the Greenfield Garden Club to enjoy the rhodie pictured above along with others in shades of red, yellow, salmon, and white. If they needed more variety they could wander off into the fragrant grove of 70 lilacs. Jerry invited everyone back for another Garden Open Today when he is hosting a delegation from the…
Obviously this is not a photo of me in the garden on Sunday morning, but there I am on my Sunday Morning Gardener show which I record in Beverly, Massachusetts on northshore104.9.Aurelia Nelson who works for the station is my partner and with the help of our producer/engineer Jay Foss we have a jolly time talking to callers, and experts like Paul Tukey of Safe Lawns and Marie Stella, garden historian and designer. Last week we were talking…
Recently I was reading Garden Rant, one of my favorite blogs, where Michele Owens talked about the magic of apple trees and said that she is one of two people whe knows who bought their house because of the blooming apple tree in the yard.I can understand this because in the spring of the year my fields are dotted with old apple trees, all in bloom right now. I can't help thinking of the former residents of this…
We are always trying to eliminate lawn, and the labor of mowing. Unfortunately more lawn always seems to pop up somewhere else, but this is the latest lawn elimination project.In a moment of madness I planted a lot of daffodils in the lawn - never calculating that this area of lawn, in front of the peonies and rhododendrons, could not be properly mowed before the other plants were in bloom. Daffodils in the lawn were very pretty. The…
I'm a day late with my Bloom Day posting. Curses to the computer and phone gods! Here is what is in bloom at The End of the Road. An ornamental plum. Chokecherries. Old apple trees, one of which is at the edge of the lawn sheltering the Cottage Ornee. The ancient white lilacs just started. A single primrose. So far. I have to mention the dandelions in the lawn. And violets. I may eventually get photos here. Keep…
Our first dandelions appeared on May 6th, after the violets in the lawn. This seemed early to me. After a very long winter, spring is arriving in a rush.It is the dandelion I was thinking of when I named my website and blog. Although it is the scourge of those who strive for fine turf lawns, I look at it's cheerful face and see a reflection of the warm which I have been longing for.In addition, because of…
The daffodils were dripping in my own garden when I left for Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston. It was the weekend of the Daffodil Show and the Primrose Show. I got to walk the long border of the Systematic Garden holding all 11 classes of daffodils, more properly known as narcissus. The Systematic Garden has numerous other beds laid out to hold varieties of one type of plant. Then it was down the steps to the Daffodil…
The daffodils are in full bloom and the three and a half inches of rain we got over Monday and Tuesday have given the grass a jolt, and everything else. The forsythia is blooming which means I should be planting potatoes, but it is cold outside. It is snowing outside! Not a lot, but enough to keep me by the fireside. I should have known it wasn't spring quite yet. We don't have a single dandelion in the…