While on my recent weekend of touring amazing gardens in Texas, I found that three of my fellow tourists, from New York and Rhode Island, had visited the Bridge of Flowers. Not only did my new friends appreciate the beauty of the Bridge in joyous bloom, they admired the way the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club, and their Bridge of Flowers subcommittee, have cared for the Bridge, and enlisted the support of a wide community to create a…
The Texas sun seemed to be shining on these glowing golden primroses on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. The garden had hardly any blooms when we left for Texas on May but our return on May 8 was astounding. I am going to give a thorough pictorial record of our May 15 blooms. I'm behind on my spring clean up and weeding so you'll likely see plenty of weeds. These primroses are increasing nicely. The tall Japanese primroses will…
Greenfield’s Energy Park is a gem in the center of town. Main Street is all bustle and work, but a short stroll down Miles Street takes you to the peaceful gardens and shade of a town park created in 1999. Sandy Thomas was the director of the Northeast Sustainability Energy Association (NESEA) housed in the former railroad switch house building in the blighted area left by the demolition of the railroad station. In 1999 the town had a…
I am returned from Austin, Texas Garden Tour where we saw succulents small - and LARGE. This agave was at the Nature's Garden organic nursery. We didn't even mind that it was still raining (pouring) as we wandered among the gardens - and the plants for sale. We saw Art in the garden - LARGE and small. I am just teasing now but soon I'll show you wonderful public gardens like the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and…
What new perennials will you plant in your garden this year? I don’t mean brand new on the market, but new to you. Last fall I planted more than 100 crocus bulbs: white, yellow and purple. These are not new varieties, but I have never planted crocus before. In my new garden I can’t plant many bulbs because the garden is wet and bulbs would rot. But the bit of lawn in front of the house allows a…
The layered garden is created by arranging plants from the ground up beginning with groundcovers ranging from delicate tiarella, epimediums, and lamium to taller plants like ferns, and even low growing shrubs like cotoneaster and very spready junipers. The layers continue upwards with an herbaceous layer of perennials and annuals, followed by a shrub layer and ending with trees. Layers will spread out across the garden space. For example, I have planted two river birches in one of my…
April is National Poetry Month and Carol Purington, Colrain's noted haiku poet has donated a matted set of poems describing the Bridge of Flowers through its seasons. It is available by writing to bridgeofflowersmass@gmail.com. Carol has written several books of haiku describing life on a family farm, the essence of the seasons, the love of family, joy and sorrow. Carol, and her friend Susan Todd also put together an anthology of poems, Morning Song: Poems for New Parents.…
Every spring we gardeners stand in the sun as we breathe deep and fill our minds with plans for new projects, using new techniques and planting new plants. This year my new project is a small straw bale bed for vegetables. However, I have been reading Niki Jabbour’s new book Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor and Fun (Storey $19.95) and my ideas about what to plant are shifting.…
The idea of using a straw bale as a planting medium attracted me a number of years ago. I bought a two straw bales, gave them a good soaking, punched holes in the bales with my Japanese hori hori knife, put a cup or so of compost into the hole, and then put my tomato seedlings in the holes. I watered the bale and watched the tomatoes grow. They grew slowly, and produced a very few tomatoes. I…
Richard Wilbur (1921-2017) winner of Pulitzer Prizes for Things of This World (1956) and New and Collected Poems (1988),was named the second Poet Laureate of our country and won many awards and prizes. I knew Richard Wilbur had long lived in our corner of western Massachusetts, but I never expected to get a letter from him. And for that I thank Carol Purington and Susan Todd who were longtime friends of his. Carol and Susan were putting together…