Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy One of the best books in my collection is Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy (Timber Press $27.95). Dr. Tallamy, a professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, explains the importance of native plants in even in a small suburban garden. In an area that is as open and wooded as ours we…
I love watching the birds in my garden. Which is not to say that I know them by name or type. When I look at the birds outside my window I see big birds and little birds. I see blue jays and robins, just about the only birds I can identify. I can also identify hummingbirds because the only hummingbird I am likely to see is the ruby throated hummingbird. I can hear the woodpeckers. I enjoy having…
On the first day of January 2020 there is a view of foot or more of snow all around the house Frigid. Temperatures slowly rose to 60 degrees. Snow melting and leaving a flood on the north side of the garden all the way to the house. There is still a little snow in front of the house because this is a very shady area. But even here the warm temperatures melted much of the snow. The weather…
It seems like the whole town of Greenfield has been making New Year’s Resolutions to work energetically with trees and plants to make this a more beautiful and more environmentally sensitive town. The Greenfield Tree Committee has been at work since it was founded in 1998 by Carolyn MacLellan. In 2002 Greenfield was designated as a “Tree City” by the Arbor Day Foundation, a distinction renewed every year since. Nancy Hazard has been involved with the Tree Committee…
Emily Dickinson (1830-1883) and Collingwood Cherry Ingram (1880-1981) were both gardeners, but lived at different times with very different gardens. Two new books, Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life by Marta McDowell(Timber Press $24.95) and Sakura Obsession: The Incredible Story of The Planthunter Who Saved Japan’s Cherry Blossoms by Naoko Abe (Knopf $27.95) take us into different worlds.
Here we are on the first day of 2020. What will the year bring? You can't tell from the photo of the backyard garden because it is early and the sun isn't there yet. The three inches of sleet, snow and ice came falling over the past couple of days, but now the sun is beginning to shine and at 10:30 am the temperature is 45 degrees. This is a good way to start the new year. The…
I cannot imagine Christmas without a Christmas Tree to decorate and enjoy. So many ornaments carry memories. During our 2 years in Beijing, China as 'Foreign Experts' we learned about some of the historic stories and tales. Monkey King is the main character in the book Journey to the West. This is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. We met…
I am a reader but garden books never had a big place in my life until our family was preparing to leave New York City for the wilds of Heath. By happenstance I was given Onward and Upward in the Garden (1979) by Katharine S. White with an introduction by her husband E.B. White. I had tended vegetable gardens, but never gave a thought to flower gardens. However, that is where Mrs. White’s heart lay. The very first…
Last week the Historic Deerfield Annual Christmas Wreath Workshop was held at the Deerfield Community Center. The room was alive with energy, Christmas carols and cookies. The air was filled with the scent of evergreen trees. Piles of holly berries, kumquats, teasels, pine cones were everywhere. For years volunteers of every age have descended on the Community Center to make merry and create beautiful Christmas wreaths. Tinka Lunt told me that twenty years ago Scott Creelman, a member…
Why mast years? This year a heavy crop of acorns is falling on the ground. Just look under any oak tree, or walk across the campus at Greenfield Community College. These acorns are the most visible crop of tree seeds which are also called ‘mast.’