The leafless landscape seems dead, but dormancy is only a false death. In the 1/24 issue of the New York Times Michael Tortorello takes us on a wintry horticultural tour of gardens in New York City and learns that death is not what winter brings. I grant you, the activity he sees in Central Park and other places is rather different from the dormancy I can see in my frozen snowy landscape, but still, his guides make…
Thirty years ago Diane Kurinsky and her husband Steve Gross built a house on a plot of land in Wendell that included fields and woodland. The land was a blank slate where they have managed to create a domestic landscape that welcomes and invites the visitor, luring her on to one delight after another. When I drove up I parked my car in the circular drive that curves around a large ‘bed’ that Kurinsky calls the heather garden.…
Even after yesterday's frost my potted datura is still blooming You can see that this plant has buds, blossoms, green seed pod, and ripe seed pod bursting. A better view of the seed pods, one still green, one already burst. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
One of the benefits of the summer garden tour and event season is the chance to meet new people with unique passions and knowledge. When I attended the Western New England Japanese Iris Show in Shelburne Falls at the end of June. I saw exhibition blossoms of beautiful Japanese irises grown by local gardeners, stunning arrangements, and was inspired. Japanese iris bloom from mid-June into July, coming into flower when the Siberian and then the bearded iris seasons…
Red roses. Red and white roses. White Mothlight hydrangea. White Switzerland shasta daisies. Blue Connecticut Yankee delphiniums. Falling over, but unbowed. For more Wordlessness this Independence Day Wednesday click here.
End of the Road Farm is now officially Zone 5b, with winter temperatures down to -15 degrees. I think that is pretty accurate. When we first moved here I put us in Zone 4b, with temperatures down to -25 degrees. Thirty years ago we would have those bitter temperatures for days at a time, not just a day or two. Even allowing that winters are generally milder, we had a very early spring, after a mild winter. The…
The Bridge of Flowers is our local public garden, open and blooming every day from April 1 - October 30. Free! Universally accessible. I'll be celebrating National Public Gardens Day, May 11 this year, with a stroll over the Bridge of Flowers. What will you do? I've been almost Wordless, but for real Wordlessness this Wednesday click here
As I walked across the Bridge of Flowers yesterday I was suddenly aware of a sweet fragrance. Looking around and sniffing first in one direction and then another I realized the fragrance was coming from this Viburnam carlesii, just beginning to bloom. This shrub is also called Koreanspice viburnam, and the fragrance certainly certainly is spicily sweet. It is not a surprise this is a member of the honeysuckle family. It is not fussy about soil, but I…
I hope you can see how yesterday's heat - 88 degrees - is making the forsythia bloom as it never has before. We also have a lot of wind which is drying, but blossoms keep coming. All of a sudden the wild cherry trees in the chicken yard have burst into bloom. Last year we gambled on this weeping cherry, bought at Home Depot where I do not buy many plants, and it came through the winter and…
Bloom Day and I have the most respectable forsythia ever. Which isn't saying too much. A little rain would probably have helped. We haven't had any real precipitation since two inches of snow on March 8. The Van Sions, an old early blooming variety were here when we moved in, have been blooming for a couple of weeks. Now other daffodils are just starting to bloom as well. Lots more to come. Rain would help. I have little…