Right now I have two sage plants in my herb garden right in front of our house. I have a Salvia officinalis plant that has survived several winters, and a brand new meadow sage, Salvia verticillata Evelina. I have since learned that there is a showier S. verticillata named Purple Rain with deep purple flowers. Soon I will add two or three six packs of the annual Victoria Blue salvia which I use as a kind of…
The cameras are rolling in Shelburne Falls. The camera dolly was ready on the Bridge of Flowers early this morning, but it was covered with camouflage netting. The dolly was covered with camouflage netting to hide it from the circling helicopter that was taking aerial shots. The Bridge of Flowers flowers were unimpressed. They bloom like this, cameras or not.
The suddenness of spring caught me by surprise yesterday. After two days of being kept inside by sometimes torrential rains, I went out and saw that the ajuga, escaped into the lawn years ago from an old flower bed, is in full and startling bloom. This area has not been mowed yet because I made the mistake of planting daffodils here and must wait until they have finished blooming and ripening. Only a few daffodils are still in…
For the past 12 years Carol DeLorenzo has been the guiding vision behind the changing bloom seasons on the Bridge of Flowers. However, she didn’t start her professional life thinking about flowers. “After I graduated from the College of the Atlantic, I got a fellowship that allowed me to spend a year traveling around the world, focusing on agricultural issues. When I returned to the United States I got a job as co-manager of a community based farm.…
One thousdand perennials are ready for the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale on Saturday, May 18. When the starting bell rings at 9 am (no sales before that hour) the buying begins. From this photo you might be able to pick out lady's mantle, candelabra primroses, hostas, Solomon's seal, ferns, and bleeding hearts, pink and white. I can tell you that there are also peonies, fairy bells (new to me) campanulas, yarrow, achillea, shasta daisies, and some shrubs…
Last spring was early and hot and on Bloom Day there was a lot of bloom. Things are moving slowly this Bloom Day. This is an area of my lawn reduction project. Waldsteinia has spread over the past three years and I'm underplanted with daffodils. Waldsteinia is a beautiful plant and it is just coming into bloom. It is not any kind of strawberry plant. These miniature daffodils are some of the daffs growing amid the barren strawberry Some daffodils…
The Greenfield Garden Club Extravaganza is a wonderful plant sale and is held annually on Trap Plain at the corner of Federal and Silver Streets, Greenfield on Saturday, May 11, 2013 from 8-1. Hardy perennials from members' gardens, annuals, herbs, and hanging plants for Mother's Day will be sold. There will also be soil testing by the WM Master Gardener volunteers, a Green Thumb Tag Sale, and a Garden Gift Drawing. The Garden Club members have potted up…
This is the season of digging, weeding and planting. The priority this weekend was to get plants dug for the two big plant sales coming up. The Greenfield Garden Club, of which I am a member, will have its plant sale on Saturday, May 11 at Trap Plain, at Siver and Federal Streets, and the following weekend, May 18, the Bridge of Flowers will have its plant sale at the Trinity Church's Baptist Lot in Shelburne Falls. This…
Yarrow is more properly known as Achillea. Achillea 'Paprika' is just one of a large family of flowers that are not fussy about location or soil. They love the sun and butterflies love them Achillea "The Pearl' is a slightly unusual form of achillea - or yarrow. Achillea 'Terra Cotta' grows right next to my front door. I do want to say that I have seen the same yarrows growing in other gardens and the exact hue of the color…
X is for Xeric. Xeric plants are those adapted to an extremely dry habitat. While the weather/climate in my area is definitely changing with periods of drought, and heavier rains when they come. I am paying more attention to those plants that are drought tolerant, if not really xeric. These Gaillardias are a wonderful perennials that have done beautifully in my garden. After checking a list of drought resisant plants I was happy to see that I have a number…