If you want to have spring bloom in your garden you have to get to work right now. Crocus, scillas and snowdrops are three of the earliest spring bloomers in the garden – or lawn. You have to start thinking about planting them in the fall if you want them spring bloom. I planted very few crocus while living in Heath, but now that I am living in town with a sidewalk next to the front lawn and…
At the moment I am celebrating Garden Bloggers Bloom Day with a burst of heat - after rain storms and night temperatures that went down to 35 degrees. But many plants are hitting their stride, like this coreopsis - one of several. It turns out the cardinal flowers I planted last year - are a different color than the cardinal flowers I planted this year. But no matter. My mentor, Elsa Bakalar, assured me all shades of red…
Laughing in the garden doesn't always come easy. But what can you do after gnashing your teeth over the squash borers, weeping over the discovery of leaf miners in the beet bed, growling at the Japanese beetles in the roses, or pulling up garlic mustard for the umpteenth time? I imagine the gods laughing at me. But those who are wise will laugh and stiffen our backs for the next onslaught. I thought of this when my friend…
Kylee Baumle can date the beginning of her passion for monarch butterflies to September 17, 2006, the day she found a tattered Monarch butterfly with a tiny sticker on its wing in the field where the United Flight 93 Memorial stands. Most of us remember with horror, and pride, the passengers and crew of that flight that crashed on September 11, 2001. The sticker listed the monarchwatch.org website, a phone number and a set of three numbers. Baumle…
The end of August view from the upstairs window shows not only a full garden, but my most recent project of a wine bottle hose guard on the left. Also in the center of that bed is a beautiful glass "flower" given to us by the sister of a dear friend. You can't see it very well here, but as soon as I see the sun shining on it I'll give a better photo. I wanted to get…
Last week I wrote about several neighborhood gardens that would fall into the category of The Foodscape Revolution which also happens to be the name of a book, The Foodscape Revolution: Finding a better way to make space for food and beauty in your garden by Brie Arthur. Arthur would have applauded the Chicoine/Ayers garden which eliminated grass completely from the tree strip, as well as the front and side yards. Most of the back yard was also…
My neighbor Wendy came over to our house to watch the solar eclipse. You can see our scientific arsenal, a colander, a red plastic dish pan filled with water and a big stainless steel bowl filled with water. We did not have any of the special glasses but we heard that you could watch the eclipse as a reflection in water, even if it was only a bowl of water. You can also hold up a colander with…
The edible garden tour arranged by Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener of TempleIsrael took us to several gardens within walking distance of my house. The first garden we visited is a very pretty small garden created by Lisa Ranghelli and Bram Moreinis. This was their first garden and they showed their wisdom by saying they thought it best to start small. We admired the design, the assortment of vegetables and the exclamation points of marigolds. But we also noticed a…
Here is the August Bloom Day report. The summer of 2017 has been relatively cool, with only a few days that went over 89 degrees. We also had rain - almost sufficient to my desires. The hellstrip in front of the house is full of bloom - daylilies, bee balm, yarrow, coneflowers, and marigolds. Weeds and fallen sycamore bark as well. Several of the roses are blooming again. Folksinger, a Griffith Buck rose, is the most enthusiastic. Thomas…
What is a weed? How do I get rid of weeds? These are two of the questions gardeners agonize over. I own a wonderful book, Weeds of the Northeast by Uva, Neal and DiTomasso, that offers a page of extensive information of about 160 weeds, and a facing page of photographs showing those weeds in their various stages of development and flower form from baby seedling to seed at the end of the season. I use this book…