Bridge of Flowers Season Ends

  • Post published:11/01/2011
  • Post comments:2 Comments

We don't usually have snow at the end of the season, but it has been a remarkable and difficult year with extraordinary weather. I think the Bridge is ready for a rest. See you on April 1, 2012.

Bridge of Flowers – End of Season

  • Post published:10/26/2011
  • Post comments:6 Comments

Chrysanthemums were planted in September. We want the Bridge to be full of bloom all season. I am so happy to see roses still in bloom. I am also happy to see a quiet river behind these dahlias. The dahlias are important at this season. But the weather has been so relatively mild that even the begonias are still blooming. The gardens will be put to bed and the official garden season ends on Sunday, October 30.  Have…

Lyman Plant House and Smith College

  • Post published:10/24/2011
  • Post comments:5 Comments

Last week I visited the Lyman Plant House at Smith College in preparation for a column and post about the Annual Chrysanthemum Show which begins Friday, November 5 with a talk by Smith alum and author Paula Dietz about the gardens she has visited and written about in her book, On Gardens. The Smith Botanical Garden and the Lyman Plant House are treasures for the whole community to use. The Lyman Plant House is open every day (except Thanksgiving and…

Ray and Melanie – Heath and Heather

  • Post published:10/19/2011
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Gardens are planned, grow and develop over time as dependably as any single plant. Ray and Melanie Poudrier’s garden could be said to have begun when Ray’s father bought land in Hawley in 1942. Ray’s father joined his mother and their brood of thirteen children on Hawley summer weekends to see the latest developments. The family grew a vegetable garden, had an orchard and a blueberry patch. They even rented a cow for the summer to have milk…

Maize Maze

  • Post published:09/17/2011
  • Post comments:4 Comments

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…

Lorene Forkner’s Garden

  • Post published:08/16/2011
  • Post comments:3 Comments

Lorene Forkner, one of the organizers of the fabulous Seattle Fling, invited us to her own garden which is not large, but filled with enough plants and art of interest to keep me inspired for the next decade. I cannot help it. It is the roses that catch my eye first. This rose cluster was so heavy it would have been on the ground in my garden, but Lorene whipped up a support. My question is - did…

Will You Adapt?

  • Post published:08/13/2011
  • Post comments:4 Comments

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…

How I Spent My Vacation

  • Post published:08/06/2011
  • Post comments:6 Comments

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…