Shadow. My husband and I have not been in complete agreement about how shady our back garden is. The question is how will our shade loving plants fare if the garden is not as shady as I think it is. Hence, our Shadow Study. Shadow is not only an afternoon phenomenon. Our house is sited directly facing east which means the house throws  a long shadow in the morning. The shadow is moving, but the South Border and…

The Annual Greenfield Garden Club Tour gives us the opportunity to see many styles of garden to inspire us, and give our imaginations something new to consider. This serene front yard planting belongs to Andrea Hall. Andrea also set up a handsome fountain in a backyard nook by the back door that follows through  on a circular/curving theme in other sections of the garden. Notice all the hostas which she loves. Of course, some gardeners take a very…

  Elise Schlaijker’s extensive gardens will be a part of the Greenfield Garden Club’s annual garden tour which will be held on Saturday, June 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Schlaijker is one of those gardeners who loves food gardens and flower gardens equally, although she admits that the big 30 x 30 foot vegetable and fruit garden was her first priority when she moved to Greenfield eight years ago. I wrote about Schlaijker when her gardens…

Thirty-five years have passed since I planted my first rose bush in Heath. In the months before our move from New York City I read and re-read Onward and Upward in the Garden by Katharine White. It was her experience and thoughts about roses that particularly touched my dreams of a romantic garden in the country. I had never grown roses, and never even really paid much attention to roses. My dreams and limited experiences had been with…

With my first Peach Drift roses I am celebrating my first real Garden Blogger's Bloom Day in the Greenfield, Massachusetts garden. Peach Drift is a fairly low growing, long blooming, disease resistant rose. Oso Easy  Paprika shares a small bed with Peach Drift. Paprika is a little outside my usual color palette, but when I saw it blooming at the nursery I could not resist. I am so excited to be able to add Kordes roses like Zaide…

The South Border did not exist on the day we closed on the house. But we had ideas. On June 3 we planted three hydrangeas, Limelight, Angel's Blush and Firelight, as well as two lilacs, deep purple Yankee Doodle and double white Beauty of Moscow. Shrubs were planted in the ground with the the addition of Martin's compost. Once shrubs were in the ground we built the lasagna beds around them with cardboard and compost so  that we…

  The Forbes Library Garden Tour is this Saturday, an opportunity to see unique private gardens. If you are lucky retirement from the everyday world of work is an opportunity to make happy changes, and possibly even make a dream come true. This opportunity has been beautifully and artfully used by Paul Redstone, and Jesse and Jack Martin. They both gave up country homes and properties and moved to ‘the city,’ Northampton, where they now live next to…