March 26th, 2014 § Comments Off on New for Spring: Gardening Seminars Sponsored by Walker Farm in Vermont § permalink
Springtime, Garden Dreaming: Garden Design by Michaela Harlow, Stonework by Dan Snow
It’s been a maddeningly cold and dreary late March here in New England, and like many green-thumbs, I am beginning to feel more than a touch of cabin fever. I want to get out and get going in my garden! But with wintry temperatures and heavy snow-cover, I find myself searching elsewhere for springtime inspiration.
 Sweet, Springtime Inspiration for this Year’s Garden Designs in the Greenhouses at Walker Farm in Dummerston Vermont
One of the highlights of March’s calendar is my annual visit to beautiful Walker Farm in nearby Dummerston, Vermont to help plan their springtime gardening seminar schedule (see listing of this year’s events below). And as usual, after we settled upon our dates and topics, Karen Manix took me on a delightful walking tour of the farm’s gloriously verdant greenhouses; currently filled to bursting with the promise of a new season ahead. My winter-weary eyes lit up at the sight of perky pansies, exotic tropicals, jewel-like succulents and the latest in annual delights for this season’s artful container and bedding combinations. What a great a great antidote to late winter’s dirty snowbanks and grit-coated walkways! Got a case of the mud-season blahs? Come join us for some springtime inspiration, laughs and professional horticultural and garden design tips. This year’s offerings include something for every gardener; from the vegetable grower to budding orchardist, to the perennial design enthusiast and container gardening connoisseur.
 Select, Plant and Grow a Backyard Orchard All Your Own with Help from Scott Farm’s Orchardist and Manager, Zeke Goodband. See Seminar Schedule Below for Details
 Learn to Design and Maintain Beautiful Perennial Gardens, Or How to Use and Place Your Containers in Creative Ways, See My List of Design and Maintenance Offerings Below
 Build a Great Vegetable Garden from the Ground Up with Professional Tips from Organic Farmer, Jack Manix
Spring 2014 Workshop / Seminar Schedule:
Free Spring Garden Seminars at Walker Farm, Dummerston, Vermont
These are popular weekend events & space is limited to 30 people per seminar. Please call or email Walker Farm to reserve your seat in advance
April 12th, 2014 – 10amÂ
“Spring Forward: Get Your Mixed Border in Tip-Top Shape with Professional Pruning & Perennial Maintenance Tipsâ€
Garden Designer Michaela Harlow
April 19th, 2014 – 10am Â
“Building a Better Vegetable Garden from the Ground Upâ€
 Jack Manix, Organic Farmer and Owner of Walker Farm
April 26, 2013 – 10amÂ
“Do-It-Yourself Garden Design for Non-Stop Colorâ€
Garden Designer Michaela Harlow
May 3rd –Â 10amÂ
“Fruit Trees: Selecting, Growing and Pruning Varieties for a Home Orchardâ€
Ezekiel Goodband, Orchardist and Manager of Scott Farm
May 10th – 10amÂ
“Raspberries, Blueberries and Strawberries, Oh My: Creating and Maintaining the Berry Patch of Your Dreamsâ€
Jack Manix, Organic Farmer and Owner of Walker Farm & Ezekiel Goodband, Orchardist and Manager of Scott Farm
May 17th, 2013 – 10amÂ
“Pots in the Garden: Designing, Planting and Placing Seasonal Containers in the Gardenâ€
Garden Designer Michaela Harlow
 Succulent Containers are a Low-Water, Low-Maintenance, High-Impact Choice for Busy Gardeners
And Walker Farm’s Selection of Unusual Succulents is the Best in I’ve Seen in New England
Photography & Text ⓒ Michaela Medina Harlow/The Gardener’s Eden. All photographs, artwork, articles and content on this site (with noted exceptions), are the original, copyrighted property of Michaela Medina Harlow and/or The Gardener’s Eden and may not be reposted, reproduced or used in any way without prior written consent. Contact information is in the left side bar. Please do not take my photographs without permission. Thank you!
Do you enjoy The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through affiliate links. A small percentage of each sale will be paid to this site, helping to cover web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you so much for your support!
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March 22nd, 2014 § § permalink
Calla Lilies Blush on the First Morning of Spring
Spring may have officially arrived, but Winter isn’t giving up so quickly. Snow squalls wrapped my hilltop in a swirling, downy-white blanket this morning and wind whipped my clanking compost bin down the walk. Oh White Witch, won’t you loosen your chilly grip and leave us to the thaw? We’ve piles of snow yet to melt before we can begin our work.
The winter-weary squirrels and discouraged songbirds huddle beneath conifers, and meanwhile, beside the fire, we wrap ourselves in fluffy chartreuse blankets and dream of grassy lawns and sunny gardening days to come. New garden seminars are being planned for this spring at Walker Farm, and I’ve been busy flipping through catalogues and garden supply websites; all the while dreaming and scheming . . .
 Curled Up on Quiet Weekends with Gardening Catalogues and Books
 Luminous Lilies Brighten March’s Moody Gloom
 Design Inspiration for the Mind’s Eye. On My Coffee Table: Gardening Titles by Louisa Jones and New Garden Design by Zahid Sardar
Photography & Text â“’  Michaela Medina Harlow/The Gardener’s Eden. All photographs, artwork, articles and content on this site (with noted exceptions), are the original, copyrighted property of Michaela Medina Harlow and/or The Gardener’s Eden and may not be reposted, reproduced or used in any way without prior written consent. Contact information is in the left side bar. Please do not take my photographs without permission. Thank you!
Do you enjoy The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through affiliate links. A small percentage of each sale will be paid to this site, helping to cover web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you so much for your support!
March 20th, 2014 § § permalink
Anticipating the Spicy-Sweet Fragrance of My Favorite Springtime Blossom: Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
Welcome Spring! The Vernal Equinox —day and night of equal length— occurs at 12:57 pm EDT today, March 20th, signaling the official start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. And although my Secret Garden is coated in yet another fresh layer of snow and ice today, I know that soon the melting will begin.
Already, songbirds are returning to New England; seeking nesting places to raise their young. And the buds are swollen to near-bursting on Vernal Witch Hazel and early Viburnum branches. Take heart, cold climate, gardening friends! Before we know it, the rush will be on to rake up, mulch up and begin planting in ernest. I can hardly wait!
 And the Beautiful Warmth of Spring Mornings in the Garden
Photography & Text â“’  Michaela Medina Harlow/The Gardener’s Eden. All photographs, artwork, articles and content on this site (with noted exceptions), are the original, copyrighted property of Michaela Medina Harlow and/or The Gardener’s Eden and may not be reposted, reproduced or used in any way without prior written consent. Contact information is in the left side bar. Please do not take my photographs without permission. Thank you!
Do you enjoy The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through affiliate links. A small percentage of each sale will be paid to this site, helping to cover web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you so much for your support!
March 13th, 2014 § § permalink
 Indoor Eden: Moth Orchid Beside the Bedroom Window (Phalaenopsis)
I truly love all four seasons, and I do find winter to be especially beautiful in New England. Â However, enough is enough. It’s been a particularly cold March thus far, and I am more than ready for spring.
It’s nice to get a bit of a break from weeding and maintenance, but there are more than a few things that I miss about my garden during the cold, dark months. The absence of light and color is tough, but it’s the dry air and lack of natural fragrances that I find most difficult to bear. Humidifiers help to add moisture to my home and of course shopping trips to the florist for fresh-cut flowers and new indoor plants also help to brighten the monochrome palette of the season. But what about earthy fragrance? Remember the scent of damp moss, warm pine needles and the sweet, spicy odor of springtime blossoms scattered upon the walkway? Remember the heavenly aroma of hyacinth, the silken caress of perfumed peony petals and the dewy brush of fragrant, freshly-mown grass against bare ankles?
 Fresh from the Florist: Heavenly, Scented HyacinthÂ
 Pale Violet Tulips on the Dressing TableÂ
 Golden Morning Light Warms the Ice-Clad Viburnum and Paper Birch Trees
 Weekly Ritual: Fresh Flowers from the Florist
I am very much looking forward to the awakening of springtime senses. But for now —while we patiently wait for the thaw— there are lotions, potions and bottled fragrances. A very generous friend recently sent me a surprise box containing delights from San Francisco perfumer, Ineke. Her ‘Floral Curiosities’ collection of fragrances came packaged in a beautiful ‘Scent Library‘Â book. I was immediately smitten with the botanical theme, but when I spritzed on the amazingly accurate floral fragrances? Swoon! I felt as if I’d been transported to a misty, June morning in the garden. IÂ adore ‘Scarlet Larkspur’ and ‘Poet’s Jasmine’, but so far, ‘Sweet William’ (slightly spicy), and ‘Briar Rose’ (wild and rambling with subtle hints of green apple), are my favorites. And then there was a bottle of ‘Hot House Flower’, an intoxicating, feminine, gardenia number not included in the ‘Scent Library’. Like a trip to a steamy, jungle paradise, it’s warm, exotic and deliciously heady. Thank you, dear friend!
 Favorite Gift of Fragrance: Ineke ‘Floral Curiosities’ Scent Library {Miniature Book with ‘Scent’ Library Cards, Includes Samples of the Following Floral Fragrances: Sweet William, Scarlet Larkspur, Briar Rose, Poet’s Jasmine and Angel’s Trumpet}, and Botanist’s Travel Sprays {Each Scent Bound in a Beautiful ‘Book’ Box}
I’m also mad for ‘Moss‘, a silken hand & body cream from K. Hall Designs. With 5% shea butter, it’s soft and silky but non-greasy. I love to share this cream with my gardening friends in wintertime. The fragrance reminds me of a forest floor; earthy, fern-filled and slightly musky. Perfect for those of us struggling through the last days of winter …Pining for the verdant gardens of springtime.
 My Wintertime Favorite: Moss Hand & Body Cream by K. Hall Designs
Products mentioned and reviewed in this post are unpaid, and purely based upon the personal opinions and preferences of this author. No promotional product or compensation was received from any source.
Photography & Text â“’  Michaela Medina Harlow/The Gardener’s Eden. All photographs, artwork, articles and content on this site (with noted exceptions), are the original, copyrighted property of Michaela Medina Harlow and/or The Gardener’s Eden and may not be reposted, reproduced or used in any way without prior written consent. Contact information is in the left side bar. Please do not take my photographs without permission. Thank you!
Do you enjoy The Gardener’s Eden? You can help support this site by shopping through affiliate links. A small percentage of each sale will be paid to this site, helping to cover web hosting and maintenance costs. Thank you so much for your support!
