Annual Rose Viewing June 30, 2013

  • Post published:06/29/2013
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  I was inviting a new friend to our Annual Rose Viewing. She looked at me in absolute amazement. “You can grow tea roses in Heath?” No, I cannot. Tea roses will not grow in Heath. The word rose is not synonymous with the words tea rose. Mostly I have rugosas, albas, damasks, shrubs and farmgirls. Since 1980 when I planted my first rose, Passionate Nymph’s Thigh, I have planted  over one hundred roses.  More than half of…

Walking in Our Woods with the Mass Audubon Society

  • Post published:06/21/2013
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  I’ve always known we have many different types of bird habitat here at the End of the Road. We have fields that surround our house and the garden. We have a wetland and a pond. Mostly we have woods, about 35 or so acres, surrounding the house, fields, and wetlands. I have walked in our woods. I have taken grandchildren up the lane, part of the old road to Rowe that was discontinued decades ago. The tree-lined…

Honeybees in the Air

  • Post published:06/08/2013
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  Honeybees are in the air, literally and figuratively. A friend, Edward Maeder, who just moved to an old house in Greenfield suddenly saw clouds of honeybees and saw that a swarm had settled into the barn attached to his house. He raced to visit Don Conlon of Warm Colors Apiary to find someone who could help him. A local beekeeper who had also been at the Apiary returned with Maeder and said that he and a friend…

Bloom Day May 15, 2013

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…

Life Under Our Feet – and Fruit Over Our Heads

  • Post published:05/13/2013
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There is life under our feet. I have talked about living soil from time to time, but in his New York Times essay yesterday  Jim Robbins says that "One-third of living organisims live in  soil. But we know littel about them." Well, of course I know about worms and  bugs and the mycellium that I can see, and I know the soil is full of microbes, but to think that one-third of ALL living organisims live in the soil…

Digging, Weeding and Planting Season in High Gear

  • Post published:05/06/2013
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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…

Y is for Yarrow on the A to Z Challenge

  • Post published:04/29/2013
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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 – and Drought Resistant Plants

  • Post published:04/27/2013
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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…

S is for Sustainability on Earth Day 2013

  • Post published:04/22/2013
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S is for Sustainability this Earth Day. Yesterday I introduced Tom Benjamin who designs sustainable, low maintenace landscapes to an attentive audience at our local 'Little e' (not the Big Eastern Exposition in Springfield) where the theme was saving energy.  The topic was Reduce Your Lawn and Increase Your Leisure. Since I have been writing about low-mow landscapes I was interested to hear how Tom calculated the benefits. There are many. The first benefit, according to my husband, is…

Q is for the Quietness Rose on the A to Z Challenge

  • Post published:04/19/2013
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 Q is for the Quietness Rose, one of Griffith Buck's best hybrid roses.  There is hardly any more to say after noting that this is a carefree rose, fragrant and beautiful. All you need to do is cut it back in the early spring because it blooms on new wood. The Quietness rose is one of the most admired roses on the Rose Walk. This is a rose for people who say they could never grow roses because…