elsa bakalar - Commonweeder

Flowers and More Flowers

What a weekend. While I am waiting for the snow to melt I had a glorious weekend thinking about - and looking at flowers! On Saturday I got to meet…

Reading and Planning

I am still in the middle of reading and planning season. Two very different books have sent my imagination into high gear. Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars: Grandma’s Bag of…

Poison and Charm

Things go bump in the night at this time of the year, but in her new book, Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities (Algonquin…

Wedding and Work

First I have to say the very most important event of the past week was the wedding of my cousin Jay and his beloved Juliet in a beautiful garden in…

Bee Balm – ABC Wednesday

B is for Bee Balm, otherwise known as Bergamot and Oswego Tea is more properly known as Mondarda didyma. It has been used as a tea for centuries and is…

A Long Season of Bloom

“June! Finally I’m going to have flowers,” a friend said after bemoaning how long it took for spring flowers to arrive in her garden. While it…

Columbus Day Weekend

All the festive events for the holiday weekend actually began on October 8th when friends gathered with Elsa Bakalar, our most famous and generous local gardener, to celebrate her 90th…

NE Flower Show in Boston

Water, water everywhere at the New England Flower Show. There were still ponds, splashing waterfalls, jetting fountains, dripping pillars and balls. It seems we must all have water in our…