Time to Compost – Harvest the Biomass on the Ground

  • Post published:11/24/2015
  • Post comments:7 Comments

As far as I am concerned the leaves that fall in the fall tra-la are as welcome as the flowers that bloom in the spring. When I lived high on a windy hill in Heath all the leaves blew away. I helped a neighbor rake leaves, and took them away to my compost pile. I loved picking up a few bags of leaves that people left in front of their houses when I came into Greenfield to shop.…

Autumnal Container Arrangements

  • Post published:09/05/2015
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  The Heath Fair is over. Facebook is full of photos of kids going off to college and kindergarten for the first time. You can hardly get into the supermarkets for the ranks of rigidly potted containers of mums by the doors. It must be fall. Time for an autumnal arrangement. Chrysanthemums are certainly the iconic autumnal plant, but other plants can also perk up our summer weary gardens or containers. I took a tour around the area…

Sampler of White Flowers for Summer and Fall

  • Post published:02/16/2015
  • Post comments:4 Comments

Last week I talked about some of the white spring flowers, but a whole array of white flowers bloom well into the fall. I can only mention a few. White Flowers for Summer One of the more unusual white flowers that grows in my garden is Artemesia lactiflora. Most of us think of artemesias as having silvery foliage and insignificant flowers. My Artemesia lactiflora grows in a very upright clump with reddish-maroon stems and very dark toothed foliage.…

Surprises on Wordless Wednesday

  • Post published:11/12/2014
  • Post comments:2 Comments

This pot of pansies was all but forgotten until the sun shone on it this afternoon. This large clump of chrysanthemums is still blooming so energetically that it refuses to be forgotten. For more Wordlessnes this Wednesday click here.

Fall Clean Up in the Garden

  • Post published:10/26/2014
  • Post comments:3 Comments

  The weather has been kind to those of us who procrastinate and go about fall clean up in the garden with a little less energy than we once had. Right now I am buckling down and in the midst of working through my to-do list. I got an early start in the vegetable garden in late September. I pulled out finished squash and bean plants and put all that biomass in the compost bin. All the empty…

Berries for the Birds

  • Post published:10/13/2014
  • Post comments:1 Comment

Many of us plant berry bushes, but do you specifically plant berries for the birds? Feeding the birds is a enjoyable activity, but because I have always had cats I have planted high bush cranberries, holly, and cotoneaster instead of putting up bird feeders. However, my first reason for planting these shrubs that produce autumnal berries is because they are beautiful. In addition to the plants I have deliberately put in my landscape I am lucky to have…

Asters and Mums – and Sheffies

  • Post published:10/10/2014
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Returning from a few days away I was happy to see that the asters are still blooming. These sunny quilled mums don't look like the cold and the rain bothered them at all. The Montauk daisies have started to bloom! Do think I can now say that the Sheffies, my late blooming Sheffield daisies, are finally blooming?  I leave it up to you.

When Will My Sheffield Daisies Bloom?!

  • Post published:10/04/2014
  • Post comments:3 Comments

It is hard to believe these are Sheffield daisies. They could be any chrysanthemum - except that my chrysanthemum is blooming. I look closely at the Sheffield daisy buds to see if they look like they might be ready to open, or at least to be showing color. Why are they so late to bloom?  The summer was very cool for the most part. And dry in late August and all through September, but I did occasionally give…

Dinner Theater at the End of the Road

  • Post published:10/01/2014
  • Post comments:5 Comments

A different kind of Dinner Theater. At this time of the year we are sitting down at our dining table in front of  big windows that look out across the lawn, to the hills beyond, and into the sky for supper right at sunset. The show is brief and doesn't take us  all the way to dessert, but it is spectacular. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.

Dahlia Season on the Bridge of Flowers

  • Post published:09/30/2014
  • Post comments:2 Comments

As a member of the Bridge of Flowers committee I am always happy when a visitor eloquently admires dahlia season on the Bridge of Flowers. Or any bloom season. Recently the Fine Gardening Magazine website featured a number of photos of the Bridge, and comments by Andy Engel of Fine Homebuilding Magazine - who finally followed the signs to the Bridge. To see his photos click here. I have taken my own photos of the Bridge this season.…