As we slip into June I also slip into high gear preparing for the Annual Rose Viewing at the End of the Road which is always held the last Sunday in June, this year June 24 from 1- 4 pm. Roses, with cookies and lemonade in the Cottage Ornee. It looks like a good year for the roses, but even when the winter has taken a toll, I love welcoming people to the garden because sharing the garden…
Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) was a painter who gained great fame. He lived in the time when French artists were inventing Impressionism, but his own work is representative. American-born James Abbott McNeill Whistler introduced him to England where his still lifes became very popular. He spent many summers in Normandy with his wife, Victoria Dubourg who was also an artist. They tended a garden, growing many flowers, including roses ,that found their way into his paintings. He was so…
The Roses are in bloom at the Flowers' house - rather the garden belonging to Carolyn Flowers and Jim Lapore. Roses and clematis are starring right now so Carolyn opened the garden today for a special rose viewing because when her garden opens again for the Greenfield Garden Club Farm and Garden Tour on July 7 the roses will have finished their fragrant season. I realized a couple of years ago that the rose I call Apothecary is…
Therese Bugnet is the Rose of the Day. And this line rhymes. Therese Boo-nay is the Rose of the Day. Even though I do have three whole years of high school French, it took me many years to realize it was not Therese Bug-Net. Oh well. Miss Rochelle is no longer here to be scandalized. Therese Bugnet is a rugosa and it is the rugosas that are not only the hardiest roses in my garden, they are about…
Purington Pink is the first rose of summer this year. The blossoms are modest, pale pink, fading quickly to almost white. The thorns are anything but modest, spiny and prickery. Like all of four of the roses that the Purington family gave me, this one is a strong grower. Just what we need here on the hill. Of similar prickliness is this rose, also from the Purington's Woodslawn Farm. I think it is a Harrison's Yellow, because it…
It is planting season. I have been planting roses. That means I have been digging holes. And I have been dreaming of a book, first published in 1952, that I often read to my young children, A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by a young Maurice Sendak, who has recently departed our world. Sendak’s lively children are shown digging, energetically planting a garden and jumping and sliding in the mud while yelling doodleedoodleedoo. I’ve…
Benefit plant sales are a traditional spring event. Gardeners can spruce up their gardens and benefit various community organizations. Which will you choose? Or will you choose them all? Have you thought about giving your mother a gift certificate (one way or another) so she can pick out some flowers herself? This Saturday, May5 the Greenfield Library will open its plant sale at 9:30 am on the front lawn. It will close by 12:30, unless everything is gone…
When I asked readers to tell me about some of the plants they absolutely had to have in the garden, I got a variety of answers. Linda Tyler said she had to have coral bells, heucheras, in her garden because there is such variety in the foliage color and size. Tyler did not specify which varieties she has in her garden, but a quick look through the garden catalogs like Plant Delights Nursery shows photos of Tiramisu with…
Congratulations to Laura Bell! Succulent Container Gardens and The Roses at the End of the Road will be on their way to you - as soon as I get an address. I know you will enjoy them. I also want to thank all the other commenters for visiting and making these past four years such an enjoyable time.
Today is the last opportunity you have to win a copy of my book about life on and off the Rose Walk, and Debra Lee Baldwin's book, Succulent Container Gardens: Design Eye-Catching Displays with 350 Easy-Care Plants. Click here and leave a comment by midnight tonight, December 6. I will announce the winner, chosen at random tomorrow morning by 9 am. Four years ago, on December 6, the Feast of St. Nicholas, I gave myself a present that…