It's been quite a year in the garden here in western Massachusetts. A long wet spring has led to a hot dry summer. I dug out our sprinkler and put it to use. The butterflies and bees have been visiting the cardinal plants which made me happyl The Aesclepius is right next to the cardinal flowers and they are very good friends. The daylilies are nearly done in this bed but the rudbeckia and phlox will get us…
Many of us have seen an image of the Green Man, his face made of hawthorn leaves and acorns, symbols of fertility. Many of us have no idea of why such an image might exist. And yet this ancient symbol was found in cultures older than the Roman empire, expressions of birth and death. The carving of a Green Man in what is now Iraq may date from as early as 300 BCE (Before the Common Era). There…
The title of Christin Couture’s Nearest Faraway Place exhibit might sound confusing to many people. For Christin Couture that Place is about more than a shadowy woodland, and rushing river water. “The view is like a theater. A theater is always changing. This view I have is of the changing seasons and weather. I never tire of this scene. The location is the anchor of all the paintings. Everything else is changeable,” she said. For nearly 15 years…
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. We did not welcome snow in March. We were glad to watch…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…