There is very little color out in the snowy garden. These last scarlet berries on the highbush cranberry (a native plant) are a dramatic exclamation. I guess I didn't do all the necessary dead heading last summer. This seedcase was left on a tree peony, a remnant of the last season. But look . . . could these be buds on that same tree peony? A promise of the new season? The lilac buds are beginning to swell…
As I prepare for the new year I have been thinking about the importance of conservation, about preserving the best of what we have for the benefit of the next generations. Today I am posting a piece I wrote three years ago after talking to an inspiring conservationist and speaker. My inspiration is a gaggle of grandchildren, two of whom love to play in the old apple tree in our field, home and pantry to birds - and…
“We live where there is so much possibility in the landscape,” Marie Stella said to me as we stood on the deck of Beaver Lodge, her house in Ashfield, looking through the woods down to the beaver pond. Stella has entered into most of those possibilities, using native plants, planting vegetables and fruits where a lawn might be expected, harvesting rainwater, using stone from the house site to…
“Green your garden” sounds like an unnecessary admonition, but as the discussion about global warming heats up (pun intended) gardeners are looking at ways to lower their gardens’ carbon footprint. Because digging the soil releases carbon into the atmosphere no-till cultivation methods have gained new advocates. In addition to saving human energy, sheet composting/lasagna gardening has become more popular. Another way of reducing the carbon footprint of the garden is to reduce the size of the…
Rose season has begun. My purchases from the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas arrived in good shape. The Double Red Knock-Out will join two others on the bank at the end of the house where I hope they will grow into a large clump. Pink Grootendorst which is billed as a large moundy rugosa will also go on the bank. I also shopped in my own garden and dug up some roots from my Dart's Dash, a low rugosa…
Even though snow has been recorded in Heath in every month of the year, including August at the Annual Heath Fair, this 'snowy' lawn is actually comprised of drifts of mayflowers. At least I thought they were mayflowers, but when I looked them up to find the botanical name I found that the name mayflowers refers to trailing arbutus, Epigaea repens. When I asked my husband what he called those tiny blue and white flowers with a golden…