Plant Spotlight
-
Flower arrangements, flowering shrubs, Forcing Branches in Winter, Fresh Cut Flowers, garden tools, Indoor Table Arrangements, Plant Spotlight, shrubs, Shrubs/Trees for Forced Flowers, Vases, Viburnum, Winter Garden, Woody Plants
Bringing Nature’s Beauty Indoors: Force Early Blooming Branches for a Bit of Springtime on a Winter Day…
Forced Blossoms – Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ An Early Whiff of Spring Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’,  forced in a turquoise vase… What a gift! A beautifully warm, clear, blue-sky day in midwinter. I am itching to pull on my boots and go play. The frost coated snow drifts outside sparkle and tempt like cream-puffs with sugar icing. I have so […]
Read More -
Gourmet Garden, Herb Gardening, Indoor Gardening, organic gardening, Plant hunting, Plant Spotlight, Planting Techniques, Potatoes, Recipes, Root Cellar Storage, Seeds, Storing Winter Vegetables, Vegetable Gardening
Gourmet Gardening: Seed Potatoes – Plus an Easy Recipe for Oven Roasted Fingerlings with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan Cheese…
Oven Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan in an oven-table baking dish by Emile Henry… Look a little tempting? I confess I just finished off my second bowl of fingerlings about an hour ago. Mmmm. Delicious. As you may remember, last week I touched on the subject of gourmet potatoes in my post […]
Read More -
Bowls, cactus, Flower arrangements, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Gifts for Gardeners, House Plants, Indoor Gardening, Indoor Table Arrangements, Plant Spotlight, Plants for Texture, Pots
It’s Fiesta Time & A Cactus Bowl Centerpiece adds Life to a Party …
Cactus bowl centerpiece with desert rocks and decorative straw flowers… It’s fiesta time in my kitchen. I am planning a holiday party with a menu of Mexican-inspired dishes. To set the mood for margarita sipping and chip dipping, I decided to create a celebratory cactus-bowl centerpiece. Making a dry, table-top garden filled with desert plants […]
Read More -
Apples, Cookbooks, Cooking, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening
Baby it’s Cold Outside! Warm Up a Bit – Sweet Butternut Squash Soup, with a Kiss of Apple Confit and Creme Fraiche…
Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Confit and and a dollop of Crème Fraîche… So what am I doing outside these days? Oh all sorts of last minute, before-the-snow-flies chores and holiday decorating. Up until today, it has been unseasonably warm in New England, and I have been delighting in the temperatures while gathering greenery and […]
Read More -
Christmas Trees, Conifers, Holiday Decorating, Plant Spotlight, Tree Farms, Trees, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
Holiday Traditions: Visiting a Tree Farm Guest Post by Nanette Pigaga…
The Forest Illuminated, Photograph © 2009 Michaela at The Gardener’s Eden I have never been much of a Black Friday enthusiast. Frankly, I would rather snuggle up by a cozy fire with a good book, or a notebook and pen, listening to Erik Satie and sipping hot, mulled cider. But if you are going out today, […]
Read More -
Asian Natives, Autumn Color in the Garden, Ferncliff, flowering shrubs, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Ground Covers, Japanese Maple, Late Autumn Garden, North American Trees, Perennial Close-Ups, Perennials for Autumn, Plant Spotlight, Plants for Texture, shrubs, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs for ornamental fruit, Trees, Trees for Fall Foliage, Viburnum, Winter Garden, Woody Plants
Autumn Brilliance Part Three: Plant Partners for the Late Show and Early Winter Marquee…
Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ in late October By late October, much of the foliage in the forest surrounding my garden has passed its peak. Although the woods are still basking in the glow of golden birch and poplar, lemony striped maple, rusty red oak and amber colored beech –  the vibrant orange and red maple leaves […]
Read More -
Bulbs, Cooking, Garlic, Great Blogs, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
A Thousand Mothers Set into the Earth: It’s Garlic Planting Season…
‘German Red ‘ garlic bulb from Wild Shepherd Farm, Athens, Vermont The ancient Greeks and Romans often called garlic the ‘stinking rose’, and in eastern Europe it is sometimes referred to as the ‘Russian penicillin’. Allium sativium has been praised for it’s worth by many as ‘better than a thousand mothers‘; blamed for bad breath, gas […]
Read More -
Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Berries, Bird Friendly Gardens, Birds, Butterflies and Moths, Color in the Garden, Dried Flowers, Exotic Plants, Fantasy Flowers, Ferncliff, flowering shrubs, Foliage, Fresh Cut Flowers, Garden Design, Hardy shrubs, Hummingbird/Butterfly, Hydrangea, Late Autumn Garden, Old Fashioned Flowers, Plant hunting, Plant Spotlight, Raindrops, shrubs, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs for ornamental fruit, The Seasons, Unusual Plants, Woody Plants
Autumn Brilliance Part Two – Plants for Spectacular Fall Color…
Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Issai’ (Purple Beautyberry) Could a gardener be diagnosed with OCD if she compulsively checks her ornamental shrubs for changing berry color? Can a collector’s passion for a particularly beautiful cultivar cross the line, where she becomes a stalker of plants? Sometimes I fear I’ve gone too far; slipped off the raft; teetered past […]
Read More -
Native North American Woodlands, Native Plants, Naturalistic Garden Design, North American Trees, Plant Spotlight, shrubs, Woody Plants
Behold the Beauty in a Technicolor Dreamcoat: Rhus Typhina, our North American Native, Staghorn Sumac…
Rhus typhina ‘Tiger eyes’ â“’ Michaela at TGE Wow. Will you take a long look at Lady Rhus typhina? Isn’t she beautiful ? And she is such a keeper. What gardener wouldn’t welcome this stunning, autumn beauty with her technicolor dreamcoat? But there is a catch. I am afraid this lady has a bad reputation. It’s […]
Read More -
Ferncliff, Gardening Inspiration, Great Growers and Nurseries, Perennial Close-Ups, Plant Spotlight, Spring Blooming Bulbs, Spring Flowering Bulbs
I Believe in the Promise of Tomorrow…
A basket of mixed narcissus bulbs, ready for planting The first member of my family’s next generation was born a few short weeks ago. His name is Morgan; my sister’s first child and my first nephew. When I met Morgan on the morning he was born, August 13th, my heart felt like a swollen dam, […]
Read More -
Ferncliff, flowering shrubs, Plant Spotlight, Roses
Romantic Love and Beautiful Surprises…
Rosa ‘Bibi Maizoon’ (AUSdimindo, David Austin English Rose), and Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ â“’ Michaela at TGE To be a gardener is to suffer the occasional disappointment… the inevitable loss. The Cornus florida crushed by ice. The Acer palmatum girdled by rodents. On the other hand, nature will give as much as she takes. And often, […]
Read More -
Ferncliff, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, ornamental grass, Perennials for Autumn, Perennials for summer, Perennials for Winter Interest, Plant Spotlight, Plants for Light Effects, Plants for shade, Plants for sun, Plants for Texture
Autumn and Everything After……. Designing Beautiful Late Season Gardens with Ornamental Grass…
“Autumn is a Second Spring, When Every Leaf is a Flower” – Camus A Grouping of Miscanthus sinensis, ‘Morning Light’, ‘Variegatus’, and Miscanthus ‘Purpurascens’ in Mid-October at Ferncliff Pennisetum alopecuroides, (fountain grass), with sedum and juniper in the entry garden at Ferncliff  in early September, just before the inflorescence appear. Much as I would like […]
Read More -
Cooking, organic gardening, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
Tears of Joy: In praise of the Onion…. and my favorite French Onion Soup!
Spanish Sweet and Stockton Red onions at Harvest If the end of summer is bittersweet, then I will credit the humble onion for some of the sugar. On a chilly autumn day, I am a complete pushover for a bowl of French Onion soup topped with a thick layer of gooey, delicious Gruyere cheese, (see […]
Read More -
Cocktails, Cooking, Herb Gardening, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Summertime Cocktails, Vegetable Gardening
Liquid Pleasures of the Late Summer Garden: Part Two, How I Came to Know the Cuban Mint Julep…
Mel’s Cuban Mint Julep/ AKA The Mojito I simply can not believe this is the last weekend of August. Where has the summer gone? Here in New England the weather pattern has shifted right on cue and the nights are already getting cooler. Geese are gathering on the water. Labor Day weekend and the Harvest […]
Read More -
Cooking, Herb Gardening, Perennial Close-Ups, Plant Spotlight, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening
Liquid Pleasures from the Late Summer Garden. Part One: Keeping Cool with Lemon-Mint Sun Tea…
Lemon-Mint Sun Tea in the Garden The dog-days of summer have arrived, and it sure is hot outside today. Gardening is hard work, and it’s easy to over-do it on a sweltering day. Digging, weeding, dividing, lifting, mulching: all physically demanding tasks. In the summer, I always protect my head and skin with a straw […]
Read More -
Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Plant Spotlight, Plants for shade, Pots, Shade Gardening, Tropical Plants
Hello Lover…
Cape Primrose, (Streptocarpus ‘Black Panther’) in the Secret Garden at Ferncliff I love a little flirtation in the garden. Yesterday, my cape primrose ‘Black Panther’ reminded me of just how much fun it is to be teased and surprised. I was dutifully weeding the Secret Garden path when I noticed something dark and mysterious peeking […]
Read More -
Ferncliff, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Native Plants, Perennial Close-Ups, Perennials for summer, Plant hunting, Plant Spotlight, Plants for sun, Tim Geiss
August: Seeking the Thrill of High Summer…
~ A bee visits Rudbeckia hirta “Becky mixed” in the perennial garden ~ Is it just me or does it feels like summer is passing too quickly this year? Here we are at the full Sturgeon Moon, (rising tonight, August 5th,at 8:56 pm EST), and it seems like the warm weather is just getting started […]
Read More -
Cooking, Organic Disease Control, organic gardening, Plant Spotlight, Vegetable Gardening
Simple Pleasures & Hard Won Treasures
Salad of sun-ripened ‘Orange Blossom’ tomatoes and basil. The beautiful gunmetal-glaze plate is by artist Aletha Soule. There is nothing in this world quite like the flavor of a sun-ripened ‘Orange Blossom’ tomato picked fresh from the garden. For my lunch today I enjoyed a salad of home grown tomatoes and basil, seasoned with extra […]
Read More -
Ferncliff, Ferns, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Paths, Native Plants, Perennial Close-Ups, Plant Spotlight, Plants for shade, Shade Gardening, Woodland plants
Ode to a Fiddlehead…
The woodland path at Ferncliff – Image â“’ Michaela Medina – The Gardener’s Eden Call me a fiddle-head, it is true. I have a long standing love-affair with ferns. Ostrich and Cinnamon, Maidenhair and Lady, Autumn and Christmas; even their names delight me, and I can never seem to get enough of this delicate, feathery species. My […]
Read More -
Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Native Plants, Plant Spotlight, Woodland plants
June Flowering Shrub Spotlight : Our Native Mountain Laurel, Kalmia Latifolia
Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia, ‘Pink Charm’) in a naturalistic planting between boulders… One of the great native shrubs of North America, mountain laurel, (Kalmia latifolia), is also a beautiful and versatile garden plant. Â With nearly 100 cultivars ranging in size from the diminutive, (12″ high plants suitable for small spaces and rock gardens), to the […]
Read More