The Heath Fair begins for me on Thursday when a loyal crew sets up the Friends of the Heath Library tent, after which we bring in our exhibits. This year I was in charge of bringing in exhibits for Anthony and Drew, and Tynan, as well as my own. Talk about hectic. When we arrived at the Fair on a sunny Saturday morning we found we had lots of winners. All the boys had won ribbons and Rory's…
I don't think a cutting garden is really supposed to look like this. A cutting garden is supposed to give each plant room to breathe. But here are scarlet bee balm, Hot Crayon Color zinnias from Renee's Garden, bachelor's buttons, gomphrena, and Hot Biscuits amaranth from Seed Savers looking like they are at a crowded cocktail party. Golden rod and tansy and mint in the surrounding field - all blooming. I thought Gomphrena would be great for bouquets…
My neighbor Kara read my directions for making a lasagna garden - followed them, and this is what she got. A beautiful lasagna herb garden. She will not need to add another layer of cardboard and soil to maintain this next year. On the other side of the grass path, wide enough for a lawn mower, Kara planted mostly annuals. After the harvest she may want to add another layer of cardboard, water it well, and add a…
Garden phlox can be one of the stars of the summer garden. I bought this unnamed pink phlox paniculata at the Bridge of Flowers plant sale last year and it looks great this year. There is no sign of mildew, but I can't say whether that is because of the weather, or whether this is a mildew resistant variety. Many gardeners avoid phlox because of the mildew which is common, but mildew does not hurt the plant, and…
Yesterday I spent the afternoon and evening preparing for, and enjoying a memorial for Elsa Bakalar, my friend, neighbor, colleague, and garden mentor who passed away in January at the age of 91. The flowers at the buffet supper in Jan and Cal's party barn were provided by The Passionate Gardeners, Mary, Susan and Eileen, gardeners who had come to learn from Elsa, and continued to help her in her garden- until that garden had to be given…
Potted hostas at Mike Shadrack The ‘long bus’ turned so sharply off the paved road and onto a dirt track that all 40 of us garden bloggers collectively held our breath. Fortunately our driver was a real pro and soon we were driving through the woods where Kathy and Michael Shadrack, hosta experts, awaited us. When the bus stopped Mike Shadrack leaped on to welcome us to his home and gardens. With a nod to Frank Lloyd…
Now that I have begun a Daylily Bank I have been paying more and more attention to the daylily family. Hyperion is a tall classic bright yellow daylily. Mine was given to me many years ago by my dear friend and mentor, Elsa Bakalar. Ice Capades, a pale icy yellow, joined Hyperion on my new Daylily Bank last summer. The Daylily Bank was my excuse for buying several new daylilies like Siloam Double Classic. This grows to about…
Last fall I planted six lilies in the herb bed right in front of the house. Three Henryi lilies which are gold, and three white Henryi lilies, all from Old House Gardens, one of my favorite bulb suppliers. White Henryi was the first to blossom, dazzling white with its golden throat. Then this lily bloomed. I've got a bit of a prop to hold up the blossom so I could photograph it. It is neither the white or…
Last year I bought 3 golden Henryi lilies and 3 white Henryi lilies from Old House Gardens. The reason is obvious. My husband's name is Henry. When I was in Buffalo I saw a golden Henryi in Elizabeth Licata's garden - but I didn't recognize it because it was at least 6 feet tall! I guess I have a lot of work to do on my soil. My lilies are barely three feet tall and the stems are…
Here is part of the crowd of 70 garden bloggers at the Buffalo Botanical Garden. I was familiar with the blogs of some of these gardeners like Frances (lower left) of Fairegarden, and Susan (center in blue with hat) of Sustainable Gardening Blog, and Helen (in white under the camera) of Toronto Gardens. Susan is one of the Garden Ranters; she and I worked briefly for an Australian organic gardening website Organic Gardener which made us virtual colleagues!…