Right now the roadsides in our area are blooming with the late purple aster, Aster patens. I think I have identified this aster properly, although as you can see the color of the blossoms is NOT deep blue violet. The crooked stem aster, Aster prenanthoides, has the more accurate 'pale violet' flowers, but not the crooked stem or teeth on the leaves. Can anyone give me a better ID? Thank you Gail at Clay and Limestone for hosting…
The days are growing shorter. When I drive down my road I have begun averting my eyes from a maple branch that has burst into flame. Autumn is officially upon us. And yet there is a lot of bloom in my garden. One of the benefits of annuals is that many will bloom well into the fall. I have pots of snapdragons, petunias, osteospurnum and ‘Million Bells,’ a healthy blooming border of an annual salvia around the Shed…
Paul Hicks has been farming in Charlemont just about since the day he was born 54 years ago, following in his father’s and grandfather’s steps. Now grandsons Tucker and Brody (aged four and two) are out in the barn and advising their father on how to drive the oxen. Of course, the farm has changed over the years. Paul’s father Richard and his uncle Walter had dairy herds. My husband and I got to know them because they…
Our area is still picking itself up after Irene left her gifts of washed out roads and bridges, flooded basements and houses. We have been fortunate here at the End of the Road because we never lost power and the water that ran into our dirt floored basement, ran out politely without making a fuss. We thought our only problem was hoping the popcorn supply would last through Sunday afternoon while we read our books. In fact we…
Sometimes in the summer we are annoyed by the bugs buzzing around our heads. We swat. We worry about the bees bumbling in the flowers and move children away. We get out spray cans of insecticide. What we need to do is think about the importance of bugs, often vital pollinators, without whom we would not have beautiful gardens, delicious fruits and vegetables, and a healthy life. Ever since honey bees have gotten so much publicity because of…
I just celebrated my 71st birthday and my daughter (my 50 year old daughter!) said that I was now “well into my 70s.” I’m not quite sure how to take that; in my own mind I am barely over 16. However, my muscles disagree and tell me I am definitely over 16, and even over 50. Fortunately I was able to visit with Rose Deskavich, sister member of the Greenfield Garden Club and mistress of a beautiful Greenfield…
Spring and summer, planting and growing seasons, are busy times for the gardener especially when you add in Tour Season. For me Tour Season was especially exciting (and exhausting) this year because our garden was on the Franklin Land Trust Farm and Garden Tour, and then the following week I was attending the Hawley Artisan and Garden Tour, and the Greenfield Garden Club Tour, both on the same day – while many people were able to add on…
Twenty-seven years ago Norm Hirscheld of Greenfield visited a permaculture farm where he met his first red wigglers (Eisenia foetida). “I was awestruck by how you could get rich black compost from vegetable scraps right in your house,” he said. He decided right then to become a worm farmer himself and built a wooden box, providing holes for ventilation, and put in a sufficient amount of wet shredded newspaper for bedding. He sent away for his pound of…
Twenty-seven years ago Norm Hirscheld of Greenfield visited a permaculture farm where he met his first red wigglers (Eisenia foetida). “I was awestruck by how you could get rich black compost from vegetable scraps right in your house,” he said. He decided right then to become a worm farmer himself and built a wooden box, providing holes for ventilation, and put in a sufficient amount of wet shredded newspaper for bedding. He sent away for his pound of…
Three perennials that get A plus grades in my garden are achillea, otherwise known as yarrow, antirrhinum or snapdragon and astilbe. My first awareness of achillea was the roadside weed, or wildflower, depending on your point of view. Roadside yarrow is usually white with the typical achillea flat topped cluster of tiny flowers. The ferny green foliage is pretty even when the plant is not in bloom. When I began to learn about perennials from my garden mentor…