Recent Posts
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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 […]
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Ferncliff, flowering shrubs, Garden Design, Native Plants, Naturalistic Garden Design, Woodland plants
Sweet-Scented August: Clethra Alnifolia
Clethra alnifolia, North American native “Sweet Pepperbush’ Some of the most beautiful late-blooming shrubs remind me of that childhood tale, “The Ugly Duckling”. Late to leaf out, looking perhaps a bit twiggy and awkward in June, these stars of the late summer garden take their time dressing up for spring. Sweet pepperbush is one of […]
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Aletha Soule, annuals, companion planting, Cutting Garden, Fresh Cut Flowers, Garden Design, Great Growers and Nurseries, Richard Foye, Tim Geiss, Vegetable Gardening
Bringing Nature’s Beauty Indoors: Flowers Just for Cutting…
~ A bouquet of dahlia and calendula brightens my windowsill ~ One of the great pleasures of successful flower gardening is, of course, the access to seasonal, fresh cut flowers for the dinner table, desk and elsewhere in the home. I also really enjoy bringing an exotic bouquet to my host or hostess when I […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Artful Garden Objects, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Paths, Garden Visits, Inspirational Gardens, Sculpture
Design Inspiration: A lesson in planning, editing and restraint… my visit to the private garden of Phyllis Odessey and Peter Mauss.
~ The Stone Garden House sculpture, by artist Dan Snow, at the  Mauss~Odessey Garden Beautiful, isn’t it? Visiting this magical garden last weekend, created by my friends Phyllis and Peter, was truly inspirational. Phyllis Odessey is an incredibly talented garden designer with a knack for making large open spaces seem both intimate and calm. Her […]
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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 […]
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Ferncliff, Garden Design, Perennial Close-Ups
Romancing the Garden: Indigofera…
Indigofera kirilowii, laden with raindrops Poetic. Indigofera absolutely glows in the damp, darkness of rainy days and the shadowy, low light of early mornings and late afternoons. This is a romantic flower; reminiscent of castle-bound heroines and hidden, walled gardens. The weeping form and cascading flowers create a slightly wistful, but classically beautiful presence. Although […]
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Beneficial Animals and Insects, Frogs and Toads, organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, snakes, Vegetable Gardening
Maybe the Princess was On to Something: A Gardener Falls in Love with Reptiles & Amphibians, Scales, Warts & All . . .
Photo â“’ Michaela at TGE While I have certainly kissed my fair share of frogs in life, I can not say that any of them turned into princes. However I have never tried to kiss the warty, slimy amphibians residing in my garden, so it may be that they are the true royalty after all. […]
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Cooking, Great Blogs, organic gardening, Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetable Gardening
Stop! Put Down That Hoe, and Let’s Eat! Great Food Blogs to Stir Your Imagination and Wet Your Appetite…
June harvest: red chard, arugula, oak leaf and red rumple lettuce.. As I walked back from my kitchen garden on this wet afternoon, colanders and baskets filled to the rim with chard for rissoto and mixed greens for salad, I felt a deep gratitude for all that I have in this life. I can not […]
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Bug Protective Clothing for Gardeners, organic gardening, Organic Insect Control
Hey, BUG OFF !
While I genuinely believe that every living thing on earth has it’s purpose —I am a nature lover, after all— there are times when some residents of my garden do try my patience. For one thing —particularly in a rainy year— there are the mosquitoes. It’s bad enough that these whiney bugs buzz my ears […]
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Great Growers and Nurseries, Plant hunting, Rare Plants, Tropical Plants
The Old School House Plantery …… Vermont Growers with an Internet Following for Rare Garden, Greenhouse and House Plants…
Aisles of unusual and rare plants at the Old School House Plantery, Brattleboro, Vermont. Impatiens zombensis (click to enlarge photo) During the recent, prolonged rainy period in Vermont, John and Diane Miller of The Old Schoolhouse Plantery in West Brattleboro, kindly invited me over to have a look inside their greenhouse. I pass by the […]
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Garden Design, Garden Paths, Garden Visits, Inspirational Gardens, Public Gardens, Travel
Finding Inspiration in Public Gardens … The Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts…
Above, The Bridge of Flowers viewed from the bank of the Deerfield River. Â Below, a gravel path leads through The Bridge of Flowers in June… Visiting public gardens has become something of a luxury for me over the past few years. I am a professional gardener and designer, and the busiest season in my line […]
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organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, Vegetable Gardening
Help, my garden has been slimed ! Organic methods for controlling slugs and snails…
S L U G S Â ! If you live in New England like I do, you are more than ready for a dose of sunshine ! The east coast has been having a long stretch of rainy weather this month, creating many wet-weather challenges for vegetable and flower gardeners. One of the most destructive groups […]
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Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, pruning
Pruning Lilacs: Now is the Time, and Here are the Keys to Keep This Old-Time Favorite Looking It’s Best…
Syringa vulgaris, “Mme. Lemoine”, double, white Of the many questions I am asked by gardeners during consultations, seminars and social gatherings, the most frequently posed is: “When should I prune my lilac?”, often quickly followed by, “How do I prune my lilac?”. These are both very good questions because the well-timed, correct pruning of this […]
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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 […]
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Composting, Garden Maintenance, Garden Science, organic gardening, soil science, Vegetable Gardening
Composting Basics, for Beginners…
Compost Love Learning to make your own compost is one of the most economical and effective ways to build fertile, organic garden soil. Fortunately, it is also one of the simplest garden skills to learn. Plants grown in compost-supplemented soil tend to be stronger, healthier and more disease resistant. Organic garden compost adds valuable nutrients […]
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Artful Garden Objects, Bowls, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Pots, Sculpture, Urns and Vessels
Sculpture and Artful Objects in the Garden…
Every now and again, I encounter a place in a garden where something seems to be missing. Usually, the space is calling for artful punctuation. I have discovered that sometimes the design element  I am looking for in a garden isn’t a plant at all. On occasion the smooth terra cotta surface of an urn, […]
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Annual Flowers, annuals, companion planting, Garden Science, Organic Disease Control, Organic Insect Control, Planting Techniques, Vegetable Gardening
Companion Planting in the Organic Vegetable Garden
Chives and thyme in the potager Companion planting is a very old-world, organic gardening method. Unfortunately, much companion planting knowledge has fallen out of use and favor in modern times due to a focus on efficiency. Of course on large farms efficiency is very important, but in a home garden I prefer to concentrate as […]
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Garden Design, Planting Techniques, Plants for shade, Spring Flowering Bulbs, Woodland plants
Bluebells on a rainy day…
Hyacinthoides hispanica,’Excelsior’, (Spanish Bluebell), shown here with Pulmunaria saccharata, (Bethlehem sage), and emerging hosta. Native to Spain and Portugal, this blue-beauty is perfect for naturalizing and for planting between late-emerging perennials and beneath trees and shrubs in the garden.  Bluebell bulbs are planted in autumn. A woodland flower by nature, the Spanish bluebell prefers a bit […]
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