High schools are off this week so we had the chance to go touring colleges with grandson Rory. It was pouring all during the UMass-Lowell campus tour, but we were undaunted, and got to see the O'Leary Library, the bookstore, a dining hall, a classroom and lots of students very busily going about their business. We were also fortunate enough to speak to one of the faculty members who gave us lots of good advice. While we were…
Banish the winter blues and get In the Pink at the Annual Bulb show at the Smith College Lyman Plant House. This annual show, always fabulous, is running from now until Sunday, March 16. It is no surprise to me that the powers that be would choose In the Pink as the theme for this year’s show. I love pink, as anyone who strolls down the Rose Walk can attest. But there is something spring-like about all shades of…
I was surprised to find these autumn crocus in bloom right out in front of the house next to the wisteria trunk. And under overgrown lemon balm. I keep promising to move them to a better spot, but invisible as they are in July when that move should occur it never happens. Maybe next year. Since I have not been out to weed or care for the garden in what seems like weeks, there were other surprises like…
The suddenness of spring caught me by surprise yesterday. After two days of being kept inside by sometimes torrential rains, I went out and saw that the ajuga, escaped into the lawn years ago from an old flower bed, is in full and startling bloom. This area has not been mowed yet because I made the mistake of planting daffodils here and must wait until they have finished blooming and ripening. Only a few daffodils are still in…
Last spring was early and hot and on Bloom Day there was a lot of bloom. Things are moving slowly this Bloom Day. This is an area of my lawn reduction project. Waldsteinia has spread over the past three years and I'm underplanted with daffodils. Waldsteinia is a beautiful plant and it is just coming into bloom. It is not any kind of strawberry plant. These miniature daffodils are some of the daffs growing amid the barren strawberry Some daffodils…
All of a sudden this year I realize I have lots of daffodils, and lots of kind of daffodils. I thought I could try to identify some using the Brent and Becky's Bulbs catalog, where I bought many of the daffodils, but that system is not working. Some of my daffodils will not bloom until later in the month. Do I know all the variety names? No. I can't identify the 'weed' in my flowery mead of a…
The bloom season is just beginning here at the End of the Road. At an elevation of 1700 feet, it takes longer to arrive than in the valley. Even now bloom is slow as the night temperatures remain in the 30s and we have had no rain. This bloom season I am going to try and keep a running record of bloom on the first of the month as well as the fifteenth of the month Bloom Day,…
This little white cyclamen on my bedroom windowsill has been blooming and blooming for two months. At least. Our bedroom is very cool, down to 55 degrees at night so the cycalmen has been very happy here. I really need a cold bedroom to sleep well. My husband tolerates it. I might turn the heat up during the day while I am working on the upstairs computer, otherwise I spend my of my day downstairs near the woodstove…
While the rest of us have been shivering in our snowy landscapes, Russell Billings, Director of the Talcott Greenhouse at Mt. Holyoke College, has been busy cooling and slowly warming hundreds of bulbs and other blooming plants coaxing them to a perfect stage of bloom. On Saturday, March 2 the doors of the greenhouse will open to the public to present Primavera, this year’s bulb show featuring glorious tulips and daffodils as well as many plants of the…
Outside snow is blowing across my hill. Inside the greenhouses at Mt Holyoke and Smith College tulips are beginning to bloom. On March 2 the greenhouses welcome the public to the Annual Bulb Shows. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday morning click here.