Flashing Flowers

  • Post published:04/05/2011
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During our visit to Missouri City Anthony, my 14 year old grandson, volunteered to do a Flash project for my blog. He took four of the flower photos I took during the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Tour and at Cindy's garden in Katy and turned them into a twirling delight. You can see each photo 'full size' by clicking on the thumbnails at the bottom.  If only he lived closer we could collaborate more often. [swfobj src="http://www.commonweeder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Grannys-Picture-Viewer1.swf" align="left"…

The Corner in Katy

Cindy MCOK, lives in Katy which is is not far from Missouri City where my daughter lives. When I told Cindy we were coming to Texas she invited us, my husband, daughter and me, to visit her garden. I thought it would be fun to feature Cindy's garden on Three for Thursday which she started.  When we first made plans she said she thought the poppies would be in bloom. And they were!  We were still a distance…

We’re in Texas

  • Post published:03/28/2011
  • Post comments:5 Comments

I got to Houston just in time for the Garden Conservancy's Open Garden Days.  My daughter Kate (R),  Melissa the Houston Garden Girl (center) and I set off to see many beautiful gardens surrounding beautiful houses in some of the historic neighborhoods in the city. I can't show you all 500 photos I took, but I want to give you just a taste of what we saw.  More will show up over time. It is azalea season in…

Harvard’s Glass Flowers

  • Post published:02/19/2011
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While the northeast is blanketed in snow and ice, even in Cambridge, Massachusetts, amazing flowers made of glass are blooming at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. In a darkened room on the third floor of the museum, glass cases sparkle, carefully lit to best show off grasses with their seed heads, delicate wildflowers, cocao plant and seed, one of the economically important plants on display, and more familiar flowers like rhododendron, mountain laurel, iris and dahlia. Each…

Another Chance to Win – Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer

I remember when I first learned about perennials and thought - what a great idea, I'll never have to replant again. LOL.  Even if pernnials didn't have to be divided, or die, most of us still have to move plants, add plants or remove plants in our attempts to have a garden that pleases the eye and the heart.  For my full review you can click here, but I can tell you briefly that The Perennial Gardener's Design…

Three Societies for Thursday

  • Post published:11/18/2010
  • Post comments:2 Comments

It's time to renew memberships!  What are you a member of? My most local membership is in the New England Wildflower Society because their propagation operation and nursery are so close by. An individual membership is only $50, for which you get free admission to the famous Garden in the Woods in Framingham, discounts on workshops and lectures, discounts at Nasami Farm and in the Gift Shop. NEWFS also participates in a Reciprocal Admissions Program that will give you free…

Elise Schlaikjer

Elise Schlaikjer has named all the houses she has lived in Phoenix House, but when she moved to Greenfield, just two years ago, the name was especially apt. It took a fall and a head injury, but Schlaikjer decided that after 23 years in Michigan it was time to move nearer her daughter Laura, in Greenfield. At the age of 73 she was ready to start a new life, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, reborn and…

Holy Shit!

  • Post published:10/23/2010
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When I was a child being driven from New York City to my uncle’s dairy farm in Charlotte, Vermont, I was sure I knew the minute we crossed the state line because I could smell the scent of manure in the air. For me, Vermont meant a perfumed cow barn and manured fields; I could think of no lovelier fragrance. I still feel that way. Gene Logsdon, farmer, anthropologist, cultural critic and author of Holy Shit: Managing Manure…

Masters of the Garden

  • Post published:10/16/2010
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Whenever I have a question about gardening I know where I can turn. My neighbor, Bob Bourke, has been a Master Gardener for about seven years. Since his 60 hours of training he has answered a lot of questions for lot of people, but he has also judged vegetables at the Youth Building at the Franklin County Fair, and built a Question Wheel for the Master Gardeners Fair booth. He’s worked for the Spring Symposium and visited many…

Counting the Days

  • Post published:10/05/2010
  • Post comments:1 Comment

We gardeners are always counting the days - til spring, til time to plant tomatoes, til the  first peas or lettuce, til the first frost . . . I could go on and on.  One good way of counting the days is with the help of the University of Massachusetts (of which I am a proud alum) Garden Calendar for 2011. The Calendar is put together by the  UMass Extension Center for Agriculture. I am so grateful for…