Happy Birthday Gertrude Jekyll

  • Post published:11/29/2012
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Gertrudy Jekyll (1843-1932) was one of the great British gardeners. It is her gardens and writings that essentially define the British perennial garden to this day.  This is the 169th anniversary of her birth in in London. Though she did travel throughout England, Europe and even the United States she spent most of her life in Surrey, England. There she built her final house and garden, Munstead Wood, with Edward Luytens, the well known architect.Most of the photographs show…

John Bunker and David Buchanan on Cider Day

  • Post published:11/05/2012
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John Bunker and David Buchanan gave a couple of talks on Cider Day all  about their experiences with finding and planting heritage apples. They also got to sell their books. I knew about David's book, Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter,  but I didn't know that John had also written, and illustrated, a book about the apples and orchards of Palermo where he lives in Maine. Not Far From the Tree: A Bried History of…

Taste, Memory by David Buchanan

  • Post published:11/02/2012
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  David Buchanan and I met at the Conway School of Landscape Design (CSLD)  reunion in September where he gave a six minute talk about what he had been doing since he graduated in 2000. He talked as fast as he could, and I listened as fast as I could, but I was glad I could slow the journey when I received a copy of his new book Taste, Memory: Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter.…

Time to Think About Spring and Spring Blooming Bulbs

  • Post published:10/13/2012
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  While attending a wonderful art show featuring my friend Trina Sternstein’s paintings at the Forbes Library I couldn’t help using the library services as well. I was searching in the garden section for a book on trees, but I came away with Anna Pavord’s big book, Bulbs. When I got home I found that the mailbox was full of bulb catalogs, from John Scheepers, Van Engelen, and Old House Gardens. That made for a very dangerous night,…

The Unexpected Houseplant by Tovah Martin

  • Post published:10/07/2012
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We’ve had frost and feel the outdoor growing season closing. Tovah Martin, author of The Unexpected Houseplant: 220 Extraordinary Choices for Every Spot in Your Home reminds us that we can now concentrate on the indoor growing season. I confess that I have never been much of a houseplant person. In the past I have grown spider plants, asparagus fern and grape ivy in pots hanging by holders I macramé-ed myself, supermarket cyclamen, avocado pit seedlings and occasional…

Lessons from the Conway School of Landscape Design

  • Post published:10/05/2012
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I am not a graduate of the Conway School of Landscape Design (alas) but I am an admirer of the school, its teachers, principles and curriculum, and of the work its 600 grads have done around the country, and the world. As part of the celebratory 40th Reunion weekend I attended a program of Lighning Talks. A number of alums from different years were given six (6!) minutes to describe their recent work. Ginny Sullivan is an alum who lives in Conway.…

An Autumnal Wedding in Heath with Cake

  • Post published:09/24/2012
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Yesterday I finished making a cake, to serve as ONE of the wedding cakes, for the wedding of our good friends Lyra and Ed. This is an All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake with Mousseline buttercream frosting from my favorite cake cookbook, the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. When I bought this cookbook I was particularly taken by the love story Rose tells in her Introduction and I can never resist repeating it when I am serving a…

Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn Galbraith

  • Post published:09/05/2012
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My friend Kathryn O. Galbraith was recently presented with a Growing Good Kids 2012 award from the American Horticultural Society for Excellence in Children's Literature. This book, beautifully illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin depicts the myriad of ways that we all, people, birds, and animals as well as the wind and the rain plant the beautiful and fruitful gardens that grow along the roadsides, riversides and meadows. I wrote about Kathryn and her book when it first came…

A Creative Community Shows Off at the Heath Fair

  • Post published:08/23/2012
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Our creative community got to display its imagination and skill at the 95th Annual Heath Fair from August 17-19. The Hall exhibits range from flowers, flower arrangements, vegetables and fruits on a plate or in jars, cookies, bread, maple confections, eggs, ciders, honey, quilts, knitted or crocheted hats, sweater and scarves, lego constructions, photography, art of every sort - and all categories are organized by age. Ribbons and money can be won by everyone! I spent a lot…

Welcome Rain – Welcome Book by Charlie Nardozzi

  • Post published:04/23/2012
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After a dry winter and an extremely dry spring we finally have rain - two and a half inches in the last 24 hours.  I've been reading away the rainy hours with Northeast Fruit and Vegetable Gardening by Charlie Nardozzi. It has been a perfect rain. Hours of rain have penetrated the thirsty earth without washing away newly dug and seeded beds. The seeds and seedlings I planted just before the rain are really happy. More rain is…