My New Hampshire Garden

Summer Alliums

2011-08-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

I am very fond of alliums and am a great fan of the huge spring varieties especially Globemaster.
But the allium season isn't limited to spring, there are also varieties for summer and fall.
One of my favorites is allium tanguticum. The flowers are small but the blooms are abundant.
Unlike the spring blooms that grow from bulbs these alliums grow from tuberose roots and their foliage stays green and healthy all season so the plants are never an eyesore in the garden.
Here I have photographed them in soft focus to accent the airy, ethereal quality of the bloom.

Achillea Ptarmica

2011-08-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

Achillea ptarmica or Pearl Achillea is a late summer favorite.
The little white blooms remind me of a baby's breath but a little more substantial. It is a great garden filler adding airiness to the border.
Plus it is very easy to grow, a good spreader but not invasive and drought tolerant.
What more can you ask?

Dahlias

2011-08-11T16:41:00.001-07:00

Dahlias are the last great blooms of the summer, as beautiful as peonies and iris. I appreciate having these spectacular flowers as summer wanes.
Here is New Hampshire dahlias are not hardy. I start them in early may in trays of loose potting soil, just early enough to have a little sprout of foliage. I have had trouble starting them directly in our cold, wet spring soil.
To hold them over they have to be dug up in the autumn and stored over the winter. I use vermiculite which needs to be a little damp. I must admit I often lose my dahlias over the winter, they sometimes shrivel, sometimes rot. But they are beautiful so I keep buying new roots each spring.

Feverfew, a Summer Delight

2011-08-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

I love all the white daisies of summer, the simple flowers of the fields.
Feverfew are one of my favorites with their tiny flowers and yellow centers. They self seed all over the garden but their airy blooms don't seem to interfere with other flowers.
A handful make a beautiful bouquet.

Even as the flowers bloom I am preparing for fall in my Beadedwire shop. I am very pleased with this mohair scarf with its big flower pin.
A froth of lace and flower.

Approaching a Gallery with Your Art Work

2011-06-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

It is almost the end of peony season, my favorite time of year in the garden - the peonies, herbaceous poppies, iris are over for another year. I know there are wonderful flowers to come, the daylilies and phlox and daisies and of course the dahlias but I am always sad when the great June flowers are finished. And we have passed the summer solstice so days are now going to grow shorter
But the garden is reliable, it will bloom again next year. And my peonies bloom on in my photographs.

I wanted to talk about bringing work to galleries for review or jurying. I am on the jury committee of the Walpole Cooperative Gallery and see so many artists who hurt their chances of acceptance by their presentations. So I thought I would share a few tips:
1. Check out the gallery or shop well. Does your work fit with the work shown? Is is redundant with a lot of the work there. You need a space with a similar esthetic to yours but a space where your work will be unique and add to the blend. Find out the gallerie's polieies both for submitting work and for commission. Is the commission so high that it would make your work too expensive to sell?
If there is a process for submitting work follow it carefully.
2. Be confident and proud of your work. I have had artists come in and ask ME which things I thought were good, even criticisizing their own work. This is NOT the time for a critique. I am not going to want your work if you don't even like it.
3. Bring in a current, cohesive body of work. I want to know what you are doing now, I am not looking for a hodgepodge of work you've done over the past twenty years. Show me one or two strong series.
4. Presentation is very important. At our gallery we want to see the art ready for sale, framed, on jewelry displays, tagged and priced. We recently had an artist come in with necklaces in plastic baggies, expensive necklaces she was asking $600 and more for. We were really shocked that she brought them in in baggies. She was not caring for or respecting her work.
Some galleries and shops initially prefer a book of photographs - it should be beautiful and elegant. If the gallery want a disc of work provide that but also some hard copies to wet their appetitite. If they ask for an artist statement and/or resume provide these. Even if you have little to add to a resume prepare something that shows your history with the medium.
5. Be polite of course and don't call and ask for updates, the process can be slow.
If you are not accepted don't make a fuss or argues about it. We have accepted people who have applied a second time but those who were hard to deal with are remembered, we know we don't want to work with them!
I hope this helps! Applying to a gallery can be scary, everyone gets rejected at times. But a local gallery can be a great source of income and artistic support.

Walker Farm

2011-06-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

Just a few years ago gardeners had few choices when shopping for annuals - petunias and marigolds and bright red salvias filled the garden centers.
If you wanted interesting annuals you had to grow your own from seed.
But now nurseries have sprung up offering extraordinary diversity in both perennial and annual plants.
My favorite is Walker Farm in Dummerston, Vermont. (By the way Johnny Depp has a home in Dummerston so the possibility of a sighting is also a draw).
They have a wide selection of perennials, arranged by flower color, shrubs, herbs and heirloom vegetables. Table after table of annuals. But my favoirite is their greenhouse filled with exotic annuals, hanging baskets and potted delights.
I visited yesterday - having little money I bought only some cosmos to fill in bare spots in the garden - but had a wonderful time with my camera. It was like visiting a museum or gallery, a feast for the eyes.

Allium, Garden Onions

2011-06-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Alliums are a huge family - it includes table onions, chives and the gorgeous garden "onions".
The latter come in many varieties from the tiny yellow allium molly to the huge football sized allium christophii. I love them all. They are very easy to grow, the majority are bulbs that are planted in the fall just like daffodils and tulips.
Like tulips they are sometimes eaten by little animals - I would have thought the onion taste would deter them but apparently not. The most long lasting I have found is the huge and regal Allium Globemaster. They are expensive but just a few bulbs make a big show.
Coincidentally my John Scheepers bulb catalogue came in the mail today - I am going to try some new alliums for next summer.

Scent of Lilacs

2011-05-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Many people add music to their blogs. During lilac season I wish I could add scent.
There are few scents that compare to the old fashioned lilacs. I love the new hybrids, the blooms are big and voluptuous but to me the scents are not quite as beautiful.
I can't imagine a New England spring without lilacs, they only bloom for a week or two but what a glorious time.
And I love the big old bushes with their gnarled and twisted branches all year, especially in winter.
They need little care, an occasional sprinkle of lime and a little light pruning and they will grow for generations.
Entoxicating, heady, I love to get drunk on the smell of lilacs.

Yin and Yang

2011-05-11T06:16:00.001-07:00

I have been impatiently waiting for my tulips since I planted them last autumn; their promise sustained me during this long difficult winter.
And I am not disappointed, they delight all my senses, bright, gorgeous color, heady fragrance, I even love the silky thick feel of their petals.
So I am in photography heaven.

We have difficulty growing tulips here, they are candy to all the little critters who live in the garden. This year I bought little plastic pots that are used for growing vegetables hydroponically, they were very cheap on Ebay. I planted each tulip in a tiny pot. Very successful, I don't think I lost more than a couple, so I will be using this planting method again.

Meanwhile, I have been thinking of my first photography love, black and white photography. I always loved the magic of watching pictures emerge in the darkroom. So I have started work on a new series of images printed in a vintage style in soft sepia. I call these two Rose Shadows.

But knitting brings me back to the brights, my newest listing in Beaded wire, a bright cherry red scarf.

Yin and yang, sunshine and shadow.

Daffodil Hill

2011-05-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places is Daffodil Hill in Chesterfield, NH. A private garden which is open to the public but barely known, it is spectacular each spring.
Thousands of daffodils are planted here and overhung with star magnolia, creating a magical world.
Star magnolias are not as lush and fragrant as the southern magnolias, the flowers are thinner and more delicate. But they are hardy and very beautiful in shades of white and pink.
We finally had a few days of sunshine this weekend for gardening, a treat this cold, rainy spring. Back to rain this week though, I can even hear a little thunder as I write.

April Showers

2011-04-27T05:46:00.000-07:00

This has certainly been a dismal spring weatherwise, rain and clouds almost every day. But of course we are lucky here considering the terrible and deadly storms that have swept across so many parts of the country this month.
We are way behind, only the early daffodils are blooming and the grass is just beginning to turn green. I hope these April showers will bring the promised May flowers.
Meanwhile perhaps some bright orange will add a little cheer to the day.

Daffodil Days

2011-04-20T05:12:00.000-07:00

The little crocus have passed but the daffodils are coming into their glory. In my garden the daffodil season lasts through much of April and May - I have very early varieties, many midseason blooms and then the old daffodil poeticus and its hybrids for late in the season. I am particularly fond of the late flat cupped daffodils but love them all, the classic yellows, the split cups, the frilly doubles and all the little miniatures.
And of course I can't resist the jonquillas with their spicy aroma.
Unlike the fussy tulips, these are truly a full proof flower. They are poisonous so the little animals never eat them. Once planted they will come back year after year without any fuss or bother. The only trick to getting flowers every year is to leave the foliage to die off naturally. The foliage is necessary to feed the bulb to make next year's flower so if you cut it off you will get nothing but foliage the next spring. Once it begins to yellow you can cut it off to make the garden neater.
Happy Spring!

Big Skys

2011-04-13T05:18:00.001-07:00

Early this week we learned that my friends little granddaughter, who just celebrated her first birthday, is dying of Tay-Sachs disease.
I have been paralyzed with anquish for the family and shocked by the unrelenting cruelty of the universe.
Perhaps it is simply the human condition to react more strongly to the close and personal than to the horror of earthquakes and tsunamis and war, far away and hence less real.
It is hard to find solace, hard to even imagine how the parents of this child can cope and survive the anguish they face.
I have no answers but look to the sky, nature may be cruel but she is also astonishingly beautiful

Eco-Tawashi

2011-04-05T10:30:00.001-07:00

Despite yesterdays snow, yes it did snow here yesterday, there are signs of spring. The lovely little crocus in the lawn are my favorite. Despite their tiny size they are probably the most welcome of all my flowers each year. I call this photograph Do You Believe in Magic?
But it is still too cold and wet to do much work in the garden and I am thrilled to have received a much anticipated shipment of Eco-tawashi yarn from Japan.
I ordered this yarn right at the time of the devasting earthquake and tsunami so had little hope that it would ever arrive. But my supplier was not injured and shipped the yarn as soon as she was able to return to Tokyo
This is a very special yarn unique to Japan and used to make traditional eco-tawashis, magic pot scrubbers. It is an abrasive acrylic yarn with deoderizing and anit-bacterical properties.
The Japanese crochet this yarn into lovely scrubbers in gorgeous pattterns.
They are called eco-tawashi because they are used to clean pots, casseroles, dishes glasses etc. without soaps or detergents so are great for the environment.
And they do work like magic. I gave the first tawashi I crocheted to my husband and he has been raving about it ever since. Our glass casseroles look like new and our glasses and pots shine.
I have crocheted them into flowers: roses and chrysanthemums, since tawashis must be beautiful and well as effective. They are available for purchase in my Beadedwire Etsy shop.

My "Studio"

2011-03-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my "studio" which is really just our sun room but a beautiful space for photography. The left side of the room has four large windows that face south and there are two skylights to add more light.

You can see my simple set up - I create a "lightbox" using a white umbrella or sometimes a muslim cloth to filter sunlight when I don't want direct sun. Sometimes I have the umbrella right on the shelf, sometimes I hang it from a string acoss the window. All very inexpensive and low tech. I actually got the umbrealla as a freebie from a charity soliciting a donation.

I use the umbrella for product photography with a few simple props. Old mirrors or a white plate and my model.

When I am photographing flowers as in the lily and peony bouquests here I often just go with the light, overexposing to avoid deep shadows and to create a very airy, light feel.

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By the way my crocus and hellebore are finally in bloom though it is snowing on them as a I write. But I am hoping spring will really come soon.

Still Waiting for Spring

2011-03-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

My best friend Elaine lives in Connecticut - she is busy cleaning up her garden, crocus and snow drops and hellebores are blooming.
I am so envious, we are still encased in snow and I woke up to hail and sleet this morning.
And of course the dire news in Japan.
So I am dreaming of my gardens from other years and hoping spring will come again, the crocus first of course. My front lawn is full of crocus, I plant hundreds of them each year, hoping to increase the bloom though even hidden in the lawn they are tasty and expensive food for the little creatures living underground. I plant snow crocus, the tiny crocus that come in such an amazing array of soft colors and bloom with the snow drops. The hellebore is probably blooming under the snow.
And then of course the daffodils and tulips will come.

But for now there is just snow and mud. I have been knitting and crocheting like crazy, working on cotton hats and scarves for spring for BeadedWire. Slouch hats, cloches and skinny scarves.

Irish Days

2011-03-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

My husband is Irish and we spent a wonderful vacation in Ireland a few years ago. A magical vacation in a magical land.

One of our favorite places was Tonakeera Point on the West coast, one of the world’s most beautiful secrets. Acres of green meadows overlook sandy beaches and purple hills. Even on this rare sun filled summer day we (and the sheep of course) had this story book world to ourselves.

These photographs are available in my Etsy shop as prints or cards for St. Patricks Day.

Copyright
For those new to my blog, I began a series of discussion about copyright last week. I am a retired attorney, although intellectual property was not my area of expertise, as an artist I have done research in the area and want to share a little.
Please refer to my last post for a some basic information on what can and can't be copyrighted.

Today I thought I'd dive into a confused topic that has been endlessly discussed in Etsy forums: copyrighting patterns and the products made from those patterns. Sewing patterns, knitting patterns, crochet patterns, felting patterns etc.
There are two distinct questions - can the pattern itself be copyrighted? - can the item made from the pattern be protected by copyright?
The answer to the first is probably yes, the answer to the second is almost certainly no.

Copyrighting the Pattern
Keep in mind that as we discussed last week an idea cannot be copyrighted, only its tangible fixed form. In addition a simple list of instructions cannot be copyrighted.
The copyright law requires "minimal creativity" and a mere list of instructions may not meet this standard. There should be ''substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions'. This does not mean that you need to write like shakespeare but a little more than
1. k3, p.4. would probably be best.
And remember it is the finished written pattern that is copyrighted - how it is set out, explained, illustrated etc. not the idea or process behind it. If someone purchases one of your sweaters for example and creates their own pattern to make the same sweater they have not violated your copyright.
However, if someone purchases your pattern, they CANNOT copy and destribute copies. They can lend the original to a friend but they cannot make their friend a copy and they certainly cannot sell copies.

Copyrighting items made from a pattern.
The simple answer here is that copyright does not extend to the items made from the pattern.
Patterns are purchased for the very purpose of making the item in the pattern.
We often see on commercial dress patterns, books of patterns, and patterns sold in on line stores like Etsy statements that the items can only be used for personal use and forbidding sale of the finished product. Reference is often made to copyright.
But there is nothing in the copyright law to prevent sale of these items. This would require both the copyrighting of ideas and the copyrighting of useful objects - both clearly NOT covered by copyright law. You cannot copyright a hat, which is a useful object, so you clearly cannot copyright a hat someone else made from your pattern.
On the other hand, it may be possible to limit sale of the items made from your patterns under contract law. I don't know of any court cases where this issues has been considered (though there may of course be cases Im not familiar with) , often there is not enough money involved to bring cases like this into the courts. Copyright language should not be used in any attempt to limit the use of the pattern contractually.
Perhaps language like: By purchasing this pattern you agree xxxxxxxxxx.
For any chance of success this language must be in a place where it can be seen BEFORE purchase.

One final thought, remedies for either violation of your copyright in the pattern or your "contract" for item use are limited, so please remember that once you publish your pattern it is largely out of your control.

Scanned Flowers

2011-02-23T04:41:00.000-08:00

The snow has melted a little and the big icicles have fallen from our windows. The icicles were so huge they shook the house as they fell sending my dog and cats into tizzies.

But the snow is still so deep I can't get leave the drive way and road.

I have been working on my botanical prints, flowers and foliage that I scan directly into the computer, photographs made without using a camera.

I have developed a technique that creats a sheer, almost x-ray effect, luminous. I especially like the transparency of the foliage in these images.

They are available on Etsy now in various sizes or as cards.

COPYRIGHT
As some of you know I was an attorney in my prior life, art of course is a little less lucrative (hah!) but a lot more fun.
I often have a hard time reading the Etsy forums because of the all the incorrect legal advice and misinformation given there. So I think I will begin a little series on copyright and trademark - some of the basics and especially some of the issues that come up again and again like copyrighting patterns and the creations made from patterns, using licensed fabrics, etc.
First of all keep in mind that law is complicated, there are often no clear answers. Law has two main sources - written laws - the constitution and statutes and case law - the law as it is interpreted by the courts. Lawmakers cannot foresee all the complicated human situations that will arise so the courts must interpret the law on a case by case basis, creating legal precidents that are themselves reinterpreted by other courts. Anyway just keep in mind that there are rarely black and white answers.

What can be copyrighted? Any original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. For the visuals artist this includes:
paintings, photographs, prints, reproductions, maps, drawings, charts, diagrams, sculpture, models, wall reliefs, jewelry.

What cannot be copyrighted?
1. Ideas or other intangibles. An idea cannot be copyrighted only its expression.
For example, you are a photographer and you come up with the original idea of photographing a sunset (let us assume this has never been done before). You can copyright the actual photo you took but not the idea of photographing sunsets. All the other photographers in the world are free to steal your idea and photograph a million sunsets, and then copyright their photos.
2. Useful objects, anything that is primarily utilitarian.
You CANNOT copyright, hats, glove, clothing, toys, toasters, pencils, purses etc.
There are sometimes other legal issues with knock offs of clothing, purses etc. but they are not copyright issus.
There is a major exception - if the useful object has art work on it, that art work is protected by copyright. So if you put your painting on a t-shirt, the t-shirt design cannot be copyrighted but your painting is protected.

Spring Chickens

2011-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems to be talking about spring but we still have four feet of snow on the ground and icicles hanging over all the windows.

While I wait for my crocus to bloom I've been knitting little chicks, blue birds and cardinals. They bring me a touch of spring.
A lovely woman in upstate New York bought four of the cardinals and shared a wonderful story.
She has had a pair of cardinals living in her yard for two years. The female has a broken beak so the male cracks open the seeds in the bird feeder and feeds her. That is my idea of a great marriage!

Dreaming of Parrots

2011-02-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

There is nothing but white outside my windows, though I can barely see the snow through the 6 and 7 foot icicles hanging in front of my windows. So much snow, its been at least 10 years since we've had so much. Plus the weather people are calling for bitter cold over the next few days. At least my road (dirt) won't start to thaw into a soupy, slidy mess.
I am keeping busy knitting and crocheting for Beadedwire and have begun a project photographing sea shells.
But mostly I dream of spring. In October I planted 150 parrot tulips bulbs. And began dreaming about them and spring.
I have a hard time with tulips here, they make delicious food for all the little creatures. Usually I plant them in big pots (the big rubber ones that shrubs come in.) But this year I bought little plastic pots that are supposed to be used for hydroponic gardening and planted each bulb in its own little pot. I am going to be broken hearted if this plan isn't successful.
Parrot tulips are my favorite, they rank with peonies and irises as one of the great garden flowers. Flamboyant, almost decadent, over the top - it is a pleasure to think of them under the snow waiting to fill the world with their extreme beauty.

Summer in Spring

2010-05-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

We discovered a possible tragedy in the garden yesterday. I mentioned that many perennials that had emerged too early had been damaged by last weeks frosts.
We have a beautiful red Japanese maple right behind the house in front of the garden. It is a lovely litle tree that my husband has lightly pruned to a bonsai shape, though much larger.
But all of the foliage is dead, another victim of the early warm spring and later frosts. The tree is alive and we are crossing our fingers that it will recover. The loss of this tree would be devasting.
Meanwhile the peonies, iris and poppies are beginning to bloom, again at least a week early. The bloom will be brief if we get the record heat predicted for mid week. I'm planning to cut them quickly for big bouquets to photograph.

Spring Hazards

2010-05-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

I think all gardeners enjoy complaining about the weather but this spring has been particularly difficult. Here in Northern New England we generally have a spring that lasts from five minutes to a few days between the long winter and summer. But this year the spring came very early and it has lasted for months. This should be a joy but there is always a price. The warm weather brought early and lush growth. Then last week we had night after night of killing frost and many of my perennials were hit hard. Hostas, Japanese anemones, some of the heucheras normally don't emerge til late in the season and grow slowly in our cool springs. But this year they came up weeks early and grew fast.
My anemones, a favorite and very special Autumn treat were killed to the ground though there are a few new shoots which should save the plants. I am not going to have much of a show this fall however. The hostas are a mess, big soggy piles of dying flesh. I will cut then back when all danger of frost has passed.
Now we are back to hot weather with even hotter predicted for later in the week. Global warming or merely New England weather?

Meanwhile I am scanning flowers as they open. Here is the iris cristata again. I love the way it looks like it has been x-rayed. And a double tulip scanned front and back.

I call this mohair scarf Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. It is like wispy gossamer lace, soft shades of grey and gold. I am offering it for sale on Beadedwire though it will be hard to part with it.

Spring flowers

2010-05-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Iris cristata is a favorite spring flower. It is a tiny iris, only a few inches tall with a fleeting bloom but it spreads prolifically even in shade. And the flowers are so beautiful. It is also a trouble free ground cover.
In the evening I have been beading rings. I use Delica beads in a simple peyote stitch and then embellish with larger seed beads, triangle beads and crystals.

Gold Leafed Bleeding Heart

2010-04-27T16:53:00.001-07:00

I searched for the gold leafed bleeding heart for several years and finally found one last summer. I am a sucker for gold and chartreuse foliage and this plant lives up to my expectations. The gold foliage looks fresh and pretty, perfect for spring and a lovely foil for the blooms.

The top picture is not a photograph, I scanned the flowers directly into the computer on my scanner for a sheer almost x-ray effect.

Anemone nemorosa

2010-04-26T19:05:00.001-07:00

Despite the very early spring and unseasonable warmth the daffodils and forysthia are still blooming stongly.
On the other end of the scale from these vibrant, flashy spring stars are a great favorite of mine, Anemone nemorosa. The tiny flowers are only about an inch across and a few inches tall. But their beauty and elegance belies their size. Plus they grow into nice sized patches. Though they take a while to establish and need some protection from aggressive neighbors when small they are easy to grow in light shade.

Polaroid Manipulation

2010-04-18T18:47:00.001-07:00

I bought an old Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera about 10 years ago. The SX-70s were produced in the 1970s. They use a film called Time Zero film because it was developed by Dr. Land to remedy the problem of Polaroid film that took almost a week to completely "set" or dry. Thus the name Time Zero, because the film was supposed to dry in no time.

Fortunately for fine art photographers, this instant dry film did not live up to the claim.

Time Zero film does not completely set for a day or two and in the meantime the surface can be moved around, manipulated by hand.

I used knitting needles and crochet hooks to manipulate these two photographs. I like the dreamy, painterly quality in the images.

Unfortunately, a few years ago Polaroid was sold and the new company discontinued production of this wonderful film.

Like many others I immediately began to buy and hoard film and still have a stash in my refrigerator. But last week on my trip to Daffodil Hill I found that my packet of Time Zero film was bad; no image produced at all just a brown mess. I tried another packet when I got home and it was usable but now I am worried that this film may not last. When it is gone, it is gone and with it this lovely art form.

Rain Days

2010-04-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

I have been so spoiled by this incredible spring, perhaps the most beautiful spring I can remember. Warm, clear sunny days. All of the flowers coming early.
Aren't the forsythia gorgeous against the turquoise sky?
It began to rain last night and the forecast is for days of rain ahead.
But my friend Elaine is right, this spring is coming too quickly, some cold rainly days will help to slow it down to a more normal pace.
And then the tulips will begin to open.

Blue Flowers in Spring

2010-04-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

Daffodil Hill was gorgeous last weekend. The carpet of yellow was overhung by soft white and pink magnolia.

Here at home I don't have early azalea or other early flowering shrubs so there is not a lot of color to offset the daffodils, forsythia, and primroses. But I do love the little blue flowers that add their soft hues to the brilliant yellows . The pushkinia and chiondoxa are first, then the scilla and muscari.

The muscari, or grape hyacinth, were one of my mother's favorites: there are dozens of varieties available from pale to deep, almost black versions.

The scilla in the second picture are scilla hispanica or Hyacintoides hispanica. Botanists or horticulturalists always seem to be reclassifying and renaming my favorite plants. But these little blue bells are lovely despite the cumbersome names. The blue version is the most common but I also like the soft purply pinks.

All of these little bulbs are easy to grow. You just plant them in the fall when you are planting daffodils and tulips. They are cheap, so plant a lot to make a statement.

Lady Bugs and Wasps

2010-04-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

Wasps overwintered somewhere in the house walls and many are having a hard time finding their way out. So we are killing a dozen or so a day. The house is also full of lady bugs who also overwinter with us and I have become fascinated watching them devour the dead wasps. Who knew? They burrow inside the carcasses and leave only bits of their shells. They work industriously without conflict or quarrels.
The forsythia are blooming early. When winters are cold the buds are not hardy here and we only get bloom below the snow line. But this year after our mild winter they are gorgeous. The star magnolias have also begun to bloom. The photograph was taken "through the viewfinder" of my old Kodak Duoflex Camera.
I am going to Daffodil Hill in Chesterfield tomorrow rain or shine. The daffodils are planted over with magnolias; the bloom is fleeting and I don't want to miss it.

The Earliest Spring

2010-04-05T09:45:00.001-07:00

Whether it is global warming or just typical unpredictable New England weather, this is earliest, warmest spring I can remember. Record warmth and more coming. It has stopped raining so I've been in the garden every day. The vinca is blooming. It can be an invasive pest but it is a nice ground cover in the right spot and the flowers are lovely in early spring. Unfortunately at my last home it had invaded a beautiful hillside that was covered in blood root flowers in early spring. I hope the vinca has not destroyed them.

The daffodils are opening very early and very quickly. I have very early and very late bloomers so the daffodil season usually spans most of April and May. I'm worried that this year the bloom will be compressed into a few weeks because of the warm weather.
Truly a wonderful carefree flower, queen of its season. The daffodil here is from my series Watergardens, flowers photographed underwater.

Our cooperative gallery, the Walpole Artisans Cooperative is hosting a cupcake social for moms on the Saturday before Mother's Day. My friend Loribeth made these incredible cupcakes for the event. She uses old sweaters which she felts and adorns beautifully. You can visit Loribeth on her blog maminkagirl.

Its Still Raining

2010-03-29T05:57:00.001-07:00

An early spring, but it has been very cold the last few nights and it is raining again today. It looks like it will rain all week. So there is little chance that the garden will dry out and be workable this week.

I am enjoying last summers blooms . This is Chrysanthemum koreana Sheffield. There is some confusion about its classification, I think it is now actually classified as Dendranthema rubellum .

This is an old fasioned chrysanthemum very hardy and easy to grow. It has a tall open growth pattern much more graceful and elegant than the little stiff mounds they sell at the grocery in the fall. These should be planted now if you want these graceful daisies next fall. Clara Curtis is another old fashioned bloomer, taller and later with a cooler toned flower. They take no care and seem to live on forever.

I have just listed the photographs on etsy as a set for a special sale price.

Dreaming of Lilacs

2010-03-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

Although spring is early and mild it is also windy and wet. All of my crocus are beaten down by rain and wind. A sad sight. But the daffodils have big swollen buds. Everything is early this year, my mums will be opening in June at this rate.
But I am having trouble waiting for the garden. Last night was cold and the garden is very wet so working there will have to wait at least a few days.
Meanwhile I am dreaming of lilacs, looking through last years photographs. These three capture the mood of spring, soft and dreamy.
They are also offered on Etsy at a special price as a set.

Star Magnolia

2010-03-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

Magnolias will probably not be blooming in New Hampshire for at least another month. But I have been sorting through photographs from last season. These four are all Star Magnolia ( Magnolia stellata) an early blooming variety with flowers that are smaller than its lush sisters. It is very hardy and easy to grow and the blooms are exquisite in their simple way. These were photographed on Daffodil Hill in Chesterfield NH. The magnolias bloom with the daffodils creating a magical scene. Unfortunately they bloom at the height of black fly season so nets and bug spray are necessary gear.
These four photographs are offered on Etsy as a set for a special sale price of 4/$40.

Spring

2010-03-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Spring has come early this year. And for those of us in northern New England it was an easy winter with few storms or cold weather.
But spring is always welcome here however fleeting.
My snow crocuses and hellebores are in full bloom and the coltsfoot blooms along the road.
Coltsfoot can be a nasty weed spreading fiercely. The flowers and seed heads look like dandelions but it blooms much earlier when any color is welcome. Not a plant I would want in the garden but pleasant along our country road.
I have been making mosaics from last summers blooms, delicate ethereal images. They are available on Etsy as mosaics or individual photographs.
Too wet to work in the garden so I continue to knit and have some new cotton scarves for spring and summer.

Crocus Impatiently Waiting

2010-03-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

Wednesday the first crocus opened in my front lawn. Always a banner day in my garden. But it has been dank and dark with sleet this morning so no more crocus. The little snow crocus are so small they would have little impact in the garden later in the season but they are such a joy in dreary March where there is nothing else to see but mud and old snow.
They are miracles of hardiness and bloom through late snowfalls, ice, wind.
They are easy to grow and cheap to buy. I like to plant a few hundred each fall. I just make holes with a gardening knife and toss in the little corms. They are food for squirrels and other critters but they have a harder time finding them in the lawn than in soft garden soil.
While I wait for more flowers I am knitting and crocheting. I love the my new triple ruffle cowl, available on Etsy.

Filipendula Rubra

2009-07-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

Filipendula rubra is an imposing plant when it is happy in the garden. It prefers damp, even boggy soil. With adequate moisture it will quickly grow into a lush mass.
I created a small bog garden a few years ago with a rubber pond liner buried about 1 and 1/2 feet under rich soil. The little garden is only about six feet long. Unfortunately I planted some filipendula in this garden along with more delicate plants, Japanese iris, trollius etc. By the end of the first summer the filipendula had filled the little garden and eaten most of the other plants. I dug out the filipendula and put it in another somewhat drier garden with some raspberry wine monarda. But the last few summers have been very wet and the filipendula and monarda have create a wild and colorful mass that I just leave to its own devices. Weeds are no match for these happy giants. In the bog garden the filipendula returns each spring but I am quite ruthless about evicting it.
The lovely cool, sunny weather continues. Heaven.

Lady Bells

2009-07-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Adenophora liliifolia or lady bells is a lovely, graceful weed. It grows every where in my garden, especially where I don't want it. I can't imagine an easier flower to grow. It is hardy from zone 1 to 10! It prefers sun but grows well in shade. About two feet high the lovely spires don't need staking. The soft blue purple never clashes with neighbors.
We have finally had a few days of sunshine after a long month of rain. It is cool though which is fine with me. My husband is fretting because there may be no tomatoes this summer but I will gladly give up the vegies for cool weather.

Apple Blossoms

2009-05-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

It has been so mild this spring that the flowers seem to be ahead of schedule. I already have a few peonies, iris and even poppies open in the garden, flowers that usually come in June in New Hampshire.

The fruit tree blossoms have passed. They were beautiful in mass and as individual blooms carrying the promise of fruit next fall. The deep pink maroon of the unopened buds is lovely with the chartreuse of the new leaves.

It is a dry spring and I had to drag out the hoses today to water seedlings and transferred plants. I bought many large annuals last week that I hope will quickly fill garden gaps. I planted tithonia, the new double click cosmos, larkspur, agrostemma, hollyhocks in six packs, annual asters, verbena bonariensis, and lavatera. Now I will anxiously hope for rain.

Find of the Day: I love the simplicity and the elegance of the lines and shape of this handcrafted sterling silver gingko leaf ring from esdesigns on Etsy. The ring will be made to order in any size.

Lilacs

2009-05-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

Lilacs are the state flower of New Hampshire. I grew up in Southern Connecticut where lilacs bloom in April but here they don't bloom til the second week of May. They are welcome at any time; it is impossible to imagine a New England spring without the scent of these beauties.
I like the newer hybrids with their huge blossoms and rich colors but for aroma I don't think the old fashioned lilac species can be beat. Old lilac trees can be huge and unless they are pruned you can end up with blooms across the top that can only be enjoyed from a second story bedroom. But an old gnarled lilac bush is a lovely site even without bloom.
Be careful if you do prune because the blooms are formed on old wood, if you prune too much there will be no flowers in the spring.

Find of the Day:

Landing in Flowers is a ttv (through the viewfinder) photograph by Barbara Carter from her bird series. It has a beautiful subdued painterly quality, tranquil, elegant. Ttv photography is difficult with stationary objects, amazing with this living creature.

Visit Barbara Carter's Etsy shop to see all of her bird images.

The Last Daffodil Days

2009-05-11T09:31:00.001-07:00

Yes in northern New England we still have a few lingering daffodils in mid May. I thought the very hot April days we had a few weeks ago (90 in New hampshire in April is not normal!) would shorten their season but the cool rains which followed seem to have prolonged the blooms.
I am very partial to the pink cupped beauties like the daffodil in the first picture. Another frilly ballerina.
The doubles are as lovely as a rose or peony.
Last summer was very wet and cold and I had a difficult time keeping up with the garden. The weeds thrived on the wet climate and my neglect so I am just now seeing the garden through the weeds. It is a huge job but very safisfying.
I am also doing some consolidation, there is just too much garden for one person to manage especially the beds carved out of the back field. I am giving them back to the field so the plants have been moved to older beds except for the peonies which I will move after they bloom.

Find of the Day:

A room full of stars, magical. I would love these stars in any room; imagine a sun room or green house full of stars, decorating the ceiling, dancing in the plants and flowers
These are hand crafted Moravian paper stars from the Starcraft on Etsy.

The First Daffodils of 2009

2009-04-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited my daffodils have begun to bloom! Today I worked in the garden (with help from my little dog Rory) raking off leaves and weeding.

i took the top picture today using the TTV method, shooting through the viewfinder of an old Kodak with my digital camera. It is a little unwieldy holding both camera but very interesting.

The second photo is a daffodil photographed under water through the side of a vase. The frilly petals remind me of a tutu so I call this one Yellow Ballerina.

Find of the Day:

This is such a pretty necklace, the little glass flowers remind me of daffodils. The necklace is made of sterling, Czech glass flowers and Swarovski crystals. You can see it and more lovely jewelry at AliBaliJewellery on Etsy.

The Little Iris

2009-04-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

The little iris have begun to bloom in the lawn with the crocus and chionodoxa. There are many varieties, the one pictured here is Iris histrioides 'George' which is a deep red purple verging on magenta.
But these iris come in many colors all shades of purple and blue, yellow and white. You can see a wide assortment in the Bent and Becky's Bulbs catalogue.
Unfortunately they are not very perennial for me and I have to replant them every few years. I think this fall I will try them in garden soil rather than the lawn; maybe they will be happier there.

Find of the Day:

Another new form of art, at least for me. This is traditional Japanese Temari, which means 'hand ball' in Japanese. It is an ancient art originally created to make balls for children.

This temari was created by Barbara Suesse, author of Japanese Temari:A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Art (available on Amazon). The ball is filled with rice hulls, covered with soft yarn and then embroidered.

So beautiful it takes your breath away. More of her work can be seen and purchased at her Etsy shop,
Japanesetemari.

Snow Crocus

2009-04-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

The little snow crocus are still going strong in my front lawn. They have been joined by the larger purple crocus and other little bulbs but are still the stars in my eyes. I love the exquisite markings though they are so tiny you must get down on your belly to appreciate them.
I will plant more this fall for my pleasure and sadly the pleasure of the many little animals who love them just as much as I.

Find of the Day:

I have never seen anything like this; I am amazed by the ingenuity and creativity of artists like Jennifer Maestre who made this pendant.

It is made of pencils, this is not a drawing or painting or photograph, it is actually pencils carved and arranged then laminated and covered with epoxy. Beautiful, and original. Her work can be seen and purchased at her Etsy shop jenmaestre.

Glory of the Snow

2009-04-02T16:14:00.001-07:00

My snow crocus finally have some company in the garden: Glory of the Snow (chionodoxa), puschkinia, and the little iris reticulata.
I am very fond of the chionodoxa which flower so early and so reliably. Although I like the little blue ones I especially love the slightly taller pink version, c. forbesii 'Pink Giant'.
For years I have pronouced chiondoxa with a soft ch, but at a party my friend Abby was talking about her blooms and pronounced it with a hard ch like a K. At first I did not even realize what flower she meant. We of course had a "discussion" of the proper pronunciation. Turns out, of course, that I was wrong (I almost always am in such matters). The correct pronounciation is Chionodoxa=KI-o-no-DOX-a. The KI is a long i. From Gr. chios (snow) and doxa (glory). Thank you Abby.
In any case they are a lovely easy flower and don't seem to get eaten by the little animals who live under the garden, I guess they are not as tasty as crocus.

Find of the Day:

I am always astonished by the work of glass artists: isn't this bowl amazing? Gorgeous, organic shape, and it is beautifully photographed. I would love to have this on a glass shelf in a window.

This bowl in by Heather Palmer of San Francisco and is available from her Etsy shop.

Through the Viewfinder

2009-03-29T12:03:00.001-07:00

I have been intrigued by the "through the viewfinder" or TTV photography I have seen on Flickr and Etsy. TTV is a way to use antique film cameras digitally without having to buy or process film. I have been a great fan of "toy" cameras, Dianas and Holgas and Dories since the early 80's but it is becoming more expensive and difficult to buy and process 120 film.

TTV photographs have some of the look of the photographs from the little plastic cameras.

So I bought an old Kodak Duaflex on Ebay for $15.50 and have tried a few TTVs. The Kodak Duaflex (like the more elegant and expensive rolleflex) has a big square viewfinder on top of the camera. You point your digital camera at the viewfinder and actually photograph the viewfinder.

Some photographers make elaborate contraptions that are like long tubes to go between the digital camera and the viewfinder to screen out excess light. I will need to make something if I decide to pursue this area of photography. You can see the glare in the crocus picture especially. If you are interested in finding out more about TTV photography I recommend the Flickr group Through the Viewfinder which has a wealth of information.

Anyway these are my first attempts at TTV. It is certainly fun, I will see what happens when I bring this set up into my garden.

Find of the Day:

What a gorgeous photograph, TTV at its best I think. The photograph, A Song for Spring, is by photographer
Irene Suchocki and is available from her Etsy shop.

Calla Lily

2009-03-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

I am hoping that I can stop buying flowers and start picking them in my garden soon. But early spring is painfully slow in New Hampshire and so far all I have in the garden are snow crocus and some snow.

We have a little grocery store on Maine Street and I stopped in a few days ago for some cookies. Outside were pots of daffodils and crocus and other flowers; I could not resist a pot of callas. The clerk informed me that I could just put them in the ground and they would come up next year like tulips. Well yes I said that is probably true in Florida.

No callas are not hardy in New Hampshire or other cold climates, only being hardy where there is no frost. But they are easy to grow in a pot and if you are attentive you can hold them over from year to year. They like lots of water.

Callas are much beloved of photographers and artists. I photographed these with my Lensbaby. Buying flowers is not an indulgence for me, I need them as I need food.

Find of the Day:

This is a platinum print, a print made in a darkroom with traditional methods but using platinum-palladium metals brushed onto paper rather than the more standard silver papers. In addition rather than exposing the paper using a tiny negative in an enlarger, the artist creates a large negative the size of the final print and contact prints it onto the paper. The process is lenthy and labor intensive but the final product is exquisite.

Unfortunately, all I can show you here is a digital rendering of the original print which can only hint at its beauty.

Few people are able to make these beautiful prints today, I encourage all to support this traditional art form.

This calla is part of a limited series from artist Luca Paradisi, an Italian artist working in Ireland. His work is available from the Etsy shop Fineartplatinum.

Forcing Branches

2009-03-21T12:21:00.001-07:00

These Korean azaleas are so pretty, I have fallen in love with them. My friend Elaine sent me branches through the mail in early march. They were wrapped in wet paper towels to keep them moist. I put them in water and in a few weeks they began to bloom, all pink and frilly. What a joy, especially this time of year when it is still cold and dank and muddy in northern New England.
The botanical name is azalea mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink'. (Not to be confused with rhododendron yedoense, which is also called Korean azalea). This is a tall azalea which thrusts upward rather than mounding. It needs the same acid soil and dappled shade as other azaleas. It is an early bloomer which makes it a great plant for forcing. Elaine thinks it would be hardy here (she is in Connecticut about a zone warmer I think) and is rated for zone 5 . A flower this beautiful is certainly worth trying even on my cold hillside.
Forcing branches into flower is easy, all you have to do is pick them in late winter and put them is a vase of water out of direct sunlight. I think I will try to be more experimental next year and try things beyond the ubiquitous forsythia (though that is a wonderful flash of yellow in the house when outside it is still all snow and mud).

Find of the Day:

I seem to be featuring a lot of soap on this gardening blog but who can resist soap as beautiful as this? These gorgeous translucent bars could be a centerpiece on the table.

The soap is called Ocean Rain and is a glycerin based soap. Only $4.75 from karenssoaps on Etsy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T06:34:00.001-07:00

I am sure that the gardens are in bloom in Ireland today, while we are still mired in snow and mud.
My husband is Irish and we had a wonderful vacation there several years ago.
The beach picture was taken at Tonakeera Point in Connemara, one of the world's most beautiful secrets. We had this lovely spot to ourselves even on a sunny day in July.
Irish gardens are beautiful; the second picture here shows the Burren from the Greggins Castle garden.
Think green today! You can see more of my Ireland photos on Etsy.

Find of the Day:

blimey limey squishy delicious fiber batt

How about some Irish merino wool batting fopr your crafting needs? And what better color for St. Patrick's Day than this gorgeous chartreuse with a little hot pink, wow!

This batt can be ordered direct from Ireland from Maisiehandspun on Etsy.

Mud Season

2009-03-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

In northern New England we have five seasons, summer, autumn, winter, spring and mud. Mud season comes at the end of winter, a few miserable weeks before spring truly arrives, while the frost in the ground thaws.
Today is beautiful, sunny, tantalizing. Little purple crocuses bloom in my lawn. But I am still stuck indoors. The back hill is completely covered in old snow and everywhere else it is mud. I live on a dirt road on a steep hill. Driving during mud season is a challenge, no one can visit without four wheel drive. The garden is soup.
There are compensations, the little crocus, fat little buds on shrubs and trees, and of course this is also sugering season.
But I am still inside with my winter flowers, cyclamen, orchids, geraniums. Beaufitul and elegant flowers, but how I long for the bright yellow daffodils, still weeks away.

Find of the Day:

I had the hardest time chosing from this California artist's beautiful sculptures. In addition to rings and other jewelry she also has simple sculptures in organic shapes, anemones for example. She sculpts each piece from clay so each is a little different. This red rose is a favorite, simple, modern, stunning. And the prices are affordable, only $16 for this elegant ring. Available on Etsy from FancifulForm.

It's Still Too Muddy

2009-03-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

After finding crocus blooming in the lawn yesterday I am suffering from severe spring fever. But the garden (and my dirt road) are a muddy mess and it will be a few weeks before I can start doing any serious garden work, much longer before I can enjoy my favorite parrot tulips.
Meanwhile I am finding solace weaving flower rings. Here are my two latest. The first is made with very soft colored delicas in rose and peach and pale violet and embellished with three little lucite flowers.
The other is hot, hot pink and is so bright you almost need sunglasses to look at it.
More of my flower rings can be seen (or purchased) on my Etsy shop Beaded Wire.

Find of the Day:

Can you believe this beauty is soap? It is called Lovely Tulips soap and the colors were inspired by the artist's mother's tulip garden. The soap is only $4 and is available from the Etsy shop EpicallyEpicSoap.

The First Day of Spring

2009-03-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I know it is not officially spring but my first crocuses opened today and that is always the first day of spring in my garden. I don't think there is another flower that is as thrilling as these first tiny blooms.
The first crocus are the tiny species crocus just a few inches tall. So far only the the soft purple ones have opened but in the next weeks I will have a parade of purples and yellows and whites many with bronze and brown markings. They have wonderful intricate designs well worth croaching down in the wet muddy ground to inspect and enjoy.
I have been planting 1000 species crocus each fall into my front lawn, though I lose many each year to the little animals who share this hill garden with us. Crocus are extremely easy to grow; the only problem is protecting them from the animals who find them so delicious. Planting lots and scattering them threw the lawn helps. None will come up in my garden unless I plant them in pots or other protective devices.
But to me they are priceless and worth any amount of trouble for the joy they bring each spring.
The second "photograph" here is a scan of my crocus done last spring on my flat bed scanner.

Find of the Day:

I love this print, simply called "Spring Collection" by British watercolorist Jan Harbon. All of the colors and symbols of spring form a joyous wreath around the little crocus. Delicate, exquisite painting. The print is available on her Etsy shop JanHarbon.

My Favorite Mail Order Plant Catalogue

2009-02-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I mentioned that I prefer to buy plants locally whenever possible. I have had mixed success with mail order plants. The big potted plants you can buy at local nurserys cannot be shipped in the mail, the cost of shipping would be astronomical. So the plants that come by mail are bare root or small.
Even with small plants shipping is expensive. It is hard to part with a $10 or $15 shipping fee for a $10 plant. But nurseries can't ship for less, plant material and dirt are heavy. I tried selling plants on Ebay one spring and found I was losing money with most sales because I underestimated shipping costs.
But I do order from one mail order catalogue regularly, Gilbert H. Wild and Son. They send me sale catalogues several times a year and the prices during these sales are unbeatable. For example, Stella de Oro daylily is always $1.oo, Happy Returns $2.00. And the plants are always strong and good sized. I have bought most of my daylilies from their sale catalogues and they have all been excellent plants.
I also buy my peony roots from their sale catalogue, very reasonable prices and their roots are larger than several other catalogues I have tried that sell roots for two or three times the price. I like to buy three roots of a peony variety and plant them together to get a big plant quickly so a good price is very important. I don't have the patience to wait for a little $30 root to grow into a decent sized plant in five years.
I think I will try their iris this year, World Premier with dark purple falls and white frilly tops is calling out to me.

Find of the Day:

Joy in Mid-Air, what a perfect name for these lovely, ethereal earrings. These fiber, wire creations are quite large (4 1/2 inches) but almost weightless . Dancing blooms to brighten up a winter day. They are available in a variety of colors from Hypho on Etsy.

Coneflowers

2009-02-06T13:22:00.001-08:00

Another very cold stretch of weather, it did not get above 14 degrees yesterday. I am taking solace with seed and plant catalogues. Last summer one of the most successful additions to my garden was one of the new coneflower hybrids. These new coneflowers come in lovely colors with lovely names. Sunset, Sundown, Summer Sky, Harvest Moon and many more.
I bought Sunset last year and it was great, it is much shorter than my other purple coneflowers which grow to three or four feet. Sunset stayed less than two feet and flowered all summer.
These new coneflowers are available from many mail order catalogues though I prefer to buy locally when possible since the local plants are bigger and stonger. I bought mine last year at Bay State Perennials in Hadley Massachusetts, a wonderful local nursery with a large and interesting selection.

Find of the Day:

Despite my dreams of flowers and summer gardens it is still winter and wouldn't it be lovely to have this lush scarf to keep you worn? This is a Las Lopez design hand knit by the artist in Argentina. But despite its exotic origen it is available with a click on the Etsy shop Laslopezlas. What a wonderful extravagance to wrap yourself in pure luxury.

I Bought Myself a Bouquet

2009-02-04T12:31:00.001-08:00

I took my daughter back to college a week ago and stopped at Atkins, a great produce market in Amherst. Of course instead of buying vegetables i bought a bouquet of pink striped amaryllis, a huge bouquet of three stems with many flowers on each stem. Only $9 for the whole bouquet.
I have had wonderful fun photographing these flowers everyday all week long. Of course the bouquet changes each day as new flowers open and others mature.
Today there is only one perfect bloom left and I think I will destroy it scanning it on my flat bed scanner. A week of entertainment for $9, less than the price of a movie or even a cheap restaurant meal.

Find of the Day:

Doesn't this pretty necklace look like a flower? I am constantly amazed by the creativity of artists. This necklace is made by a fabric artist in England but can be purchased easily from her Etsy shop Tinctory. It is made from off white silk smocked with white cotten thread. A beautiful new use for a traditional sewing technique.

Feverfew, Classic White Daisies

2009-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Feverfew, Tanacetum parthenium, is a popular herb but also I think a lovely garden flower. Some people may scorn it as a weed, and it does self sow quite readily, but I think the little white daisies are a always welcome in the heat of summer. And they are beautiful in a mixed bouquet or by themselves in a jug.
But it is early February now, no need of cooling flowers. However, if you want them this summer February is not too early to sow them and grow them on under lights for blooms this summer. Feverfew is very easy to grow from seed, just put the seeds in little pots of dirt and they will grow.
Feverfew is a perennial but not long lived though you will probably have them forever unless you are a more diligent weeder than I am as they sow themselves around the garden. Small plants, they can fit themselves in most anywhere and do no harm.

Find of the Day: Not quite a daisy but these lovely petals make a unique and beautiful lamp. This lovely lamp is the ultimate in recycling since it is made from plastic bottles hand cut into petal shapes. Each petal is also hand painted with pretty designs. Amazing, actually astonishingly creative.
This lamp is available from the Etsy shop Gulguvenc.

Edible Flowers

2009-01-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

I found an interesting article today on
Whats Cooking America about edible flowers. Of course it made me think of summer and wish for spicy nasturtium petals to sprinkle on my rather dull winter salads. Nasturtiums are so pretty and full of sunlight. Daylilies are also edible and I think they are fried in batter in Japan for a special delicacy. I know the coneflowers in this bouquet have medicinal value (echinacea) but I am not sure they should be eaten. They are not included on the Whats Cooking America list.
Even a dandelion would be welcome in January. Dandelion and their greens are also edible and I have even seen seeds for large dandelions being offered in seed catalogues. I don't need any special seeds, the ones that sneak into my garden grow into monsters in the rich garden soil.
I am actually fond of these bright yellow weeds. We are not lawn people and my husband only mows the lawn when there aren't any wildflowers blooming in the grass. Since this is not a favorite task it works out well for him especially in the spring when the lawn is full of violets and ajuga.

Find of the Day:

It may be hard to find nasturiums in January but you can still eat a flower today. I love cupcakes and this orange chiffon cupcake looks like a peony but surely tastes much better. And you don't even have to bake it (I at least could never make this pretty a cupcake) you can order it on Etsy from Suite106Cupcakery.

Another Valentine

2009-01-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

I don't think there is a flower more closely associated with Valentine's Day and love than the red rose.

I don't have many roses in my garden, many are not hardy here and even the very hardy rugosas suffer a great deal of winter kill on my west facing hillside garden. And then there are the rose chafers and Japanese beetles. I do have a few old fashioned roses, the ones that don't need much care.

But I do love them and buy myself bouquets (or try to get my husband to buy them for me) often.

The top picture is one of my Valentine cards. The second a mosaic of roses which was a pleasure to make.

Find of the Day:

I think this is the prettiest soap I have ever seen. A perfect gift for your valentine, a ruby red bar of soap sprinkled with rose petals.

The soap is handmade by Swanmoutain Soaps on Etsy. An unbelievable buy for $6.

Bleeding Hearts for Valentines Day

2009-01-24T09:51:00.001-08:00

It was 8 below zero last night and it is supposed to be colder tonight. Instead of thinking of the cold I will think about Valentines Day and spring Bleeding Hearts.

Bleeding Hearts are an old cottage garden favorite and a perfect flower for a Valentines Day card. They grow easily in the shade garden and look particularly nice on a bank or the top of a stone wall with their flowers hanging down.

The old fashioned bleeding heart is a native of Japan but there are native bleeding hearts as well. The individual flowers are simpler and less dramatic but they bloom all summer and have pretty foliage that does not die back in summer heat. They also like shade.

The little pink flowers on the bottom of this locket are native bleeding hearts. (The locket can be found on my Etsy jewelry site, Beaded Wire.)

Find of the Day:

I think these woven thread earrings look like hearts. I have no idea how she does these but I think they are lovely. They come in many colors, these are called Ruby.

Available from the Etsy shop, SincearJewelry.

Tulips

2009-01-24T07:55:00.001-08:00

I wrote about the three plants I would take to a desert isle yesterday. The third was tulips. I must admit that one of my criteria for flowers is how photogenic they are, and tulips are perhaps the most photogenic of all flowers. They come in many shapes and colors and forms and are all beautiful. Parrot tulips, like the pink parrots in this photograph are wild with color and frilly form. But the simple singles like the reds in "Tulips in Snow", the second photograph, are also striking flashes of color.
Tulips are not hard: you just put them in the ground in the fall and the next spring you have beautiful blooms UNLESS they are eaten first. Unfortunately they are choice food morsels for the little animals that live below our gardens. My friend Mary and I once stood in my garden amazed watching a tulip being sucked down into the ground for someone's lunch. There are a number of ways of dealing with these critters. I plant my tulips in the big rubber pots that you buy shrubs in at nurseries, sunk into the ground. I leave the tubs in the ground and replant them each fall. During the summer I fill them with annuals. Other possibilities are soaking them in Ropel before planting or putting each in a little plastic mesh bag (like you buy sacks of oranges in). I used to do the latter with lilies before the red lily beetles came to New Hampshire.
I replant my tulips each fall because they don't come back well the next year, the bulbs split and the blooms are smaller and weeker each subsequent year). Expensive annuals but who can resist?

Find of the Day:

Aren't these origami tulips astonishing. I have tried origami but always given up in frustration.

Think of the talent and work to make this lovely everlasting bouquet.

These are made by an artist in Cork, Ireland and are available for purchase on her Etsy shop ArguingTheMobius.

Only $20 for 15 blooms on bamboo stems.

Three Plants for a Desert Island

2009-01-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

I was visiting gardening blogs this morning and came across an interesting idea on ShirlsGardenWatch: choose the three plants of all the plants in the world that you would take with you if you were stranded on a desert island.
Looking at the beautiful posts answering this challenge with their wonderful rare and often exotic choices I thought this would be very difficult, if not impossible. How to choose just three plants from all the plants I love?
But it turned out to be fairly easy. First I knew my plants would have to be flowers. I love foliage in my garden but I could not live without flowers, everyday all year long. And the queen of all flowers for me is the peony, I don't think I could live in a place where I could not have peonies. Don't ask me to choose a particular cultivar however, I love them all.
And I must have irises, irises in every form, bearded iris, Dutch iris (like in the picture here), Siberian iris, Japanese iris, the little bulbous irises of early spring. I want them all.
My third choice was more difficult. Tulips or poppies? They are both so extraordinarily beautiful. but I finally decided on tulips which come in such an endless variety of colors and styles.
As you can see I have some of these flowers with me even in the dead of winter. Along with seed and bulb catalogues and beads they get me through til the spring.

Please visit Shirls blog to see all of the wonderful ideas from other gardeners.

Find of the Day:

Wahoo, since this is a day for spring and summer flowers, this shimmery chartreuse skirt shouts sunny days. Young and fresh as a day in May without the black flies.

The skirt is handmade by VigilanteLabs in Brooklyn and is available on Etsy.

Old Fashioned Mums

2009-01-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

Writing yesterday's post on Autumn reminded me of one of my favorite fall flowers, the old fashioned tall chrysanthemum. I like the pretty potted mums that are sold everywhere in the fall but they are not hardy in my cold garden. However, the simple tall mums are very easy and very hardy and grow quickly into large clumps. They don't seem to mind frosts and I have had them blooming at Thanksgiving when we did not have early snow or ice storms.

I think there is some confusion about their precise botanical name. I have seen them listed as Chrysanthemum rubellum in some catalogues but in others they are not chrysanthemums at all but Dendranthemas. I have been dreaming over the Bluestone Perennials catalogue today and there they use both names.

I have two varieties in my garden 'Clara Curtis' with deep pink flowers and 'Sheffield' which is a warmer, peachier pink. Both have simple daisy flowers. The first picture is Sheffield, the second Clara Curtis., taken with my Polaroid SX-70 camera.

You may be able to purchase them from a local nursery or even better take some slips from a friend. They are available from many mail order sources including Bluestone.

Find of the Day:

Wear flowers in your hair any time of year. This hat is stunning with its beautiful flowers and elegant flapper cloche shape. It is hand crochected and available at Mellisam4715 on Etsy.

Autumn Memories

2009-01-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

Watching the inaugeration yesterday filled me with pride, seeing all of America's promise and potential; America renewed as a beacon of hope throughout the world.
Thinking back over the campaign I also remember the spectacular foliage season we had in New Hampshire this fall, the most brilliant, long lasting color we have seen in many years.
Prior to this fall we have had several disappointing seasons. There is much speculation and little agreement about the reasons. I do know we had a few early frosts this year which some say are necessary for a burst of dramatic color. Without these early frosts the leaves just seem to fade to brown.
The first photograph shows foliage reflected in the Ashuelot River. The second shows the 200+ year old maples along the west side of my old homestead. My house was built in 1796, and I think the Maples must have been planted at about the same time. How thoughtful of the original settlers to plant these trees for us to enjoy hundreds of years later.
Planting trees along the western edge of your homestead was common in New England, a protection from cold winter winds from the west and a cool canopy for the summer.

Find of the Day:

Isn't this scarf spectacular? As glorious as a perfect Autumn day. The rich colors are hand painted onto velvet: available from MelissasMelange on Etsy.

Amaryllis

2009-01-19T09:29:00.001-08:00

A night without snow. I still need sustenance from the cold and noticed that my amaryllis bulbs are beginning to send up their stalks. I never tire of these amazing voluptuous blooms. They are now available in dozens of colors from the pure reds to pale greens and whites, stripes and variegations, singles, doubles and even miniatures. I have never seen an amaryllis that was not beautiful.

Amaryllis are very easy to grow when you start with a new bulb. You just pot it up in normal potting soil with the throat bare and give it a little water occasionally. Not too much water or you may get leaves but no flower. A little bottom heat can help too.

On the other hand there are many different ideas on how to hold the plants over to the next year and get them to flower again. The most common approach is to water regularly and fertilize heavily after flowering and through the summer. Then in the fall withhold water and let the bulb die back. Then begin watering lightly til the new flower bud emerges. This approach works but I have never had the bulb produce as many big flowers as the the first year.

I have also read to put the bulbs into the ground in late spring when frosts are over and repot in the fall to get big fat bulbs and many flowers. I tried this one year but forgot to dig them up in the fall so all I can tell you is that amaryllis are definitely not hardy through a New Hampshire winter.

Find of the Day:

Wow talk about dramatic and elegant, who would want to wash with this soap? I just want to look at it.

But it is made with olive oil and other natural oils to make your skin soft and healthy. Scented of black licorice.

From Savor on Etsy.

The Fragrant Path

2009-01-19T06:25:00.001-08:00

It snowed again last night, just a few inches this time. I am continuing to ignore winter and dreaming about next year's garden. Seed catalogues are a great help but also a terrible temptation.
One of my favorites is The Fragrant Path, a work of love by Ed Rasmussen in Nebraska. There is a web site, Fragrant Path Seeds but you must order by mail. The catalogue is old fashioned, no gloss, no pictures but a wonderful variety of flower seeds and detailed, interesting, and honest descriptions of the flowers.
The emphasis of the catalogue is fragrant flowers, mostly old fashioned open pollinated varieties. The seed packets are inexpensive ($2.00 or $1.50) and very generous.
The first picture here is Dianthus Superbus an old fashioned perennial pink that is gorgeous to see with its feathery, deeply cut petals in many colors and equally beautiful to smell. I bought the seed from Fragrant Path which offers many varieties of these lovely flowers.
Dianthus are supposed to like a limey soil but I have had no problems growing them in my acidic New England garden. I do throw on a little lime once a year or so. They are not long lived perennials, I think they flower themselves to death. But they are easy to grow from seed so are inexpensive to keep replenished.
For those like me who love to read about gardens Louise Beebe Wilder's classic book The Fragrant Path is a must. You can find it on Amazon.

I think everyone loves the fragrance of old fashioned lilacs. The hybrids also have the lilac aroma but I don't think it is as strong or pure as the species. The newer lilacs do have some advantages, a range of purple colors, bigger flowers and more compact, tidier bushes. I like the huge old gnarled lilac bushes but with fifty acres I have room for them.
Lilacs are easy to grow, they like a little lime scattered at their feet every few years. Be careful when pruning or deheading lilacs, it is easy to cut off the bud for next years flowers. Some people prune out one third of the growth each year to keep them controlled and to encourage flowers on the lower limbs. Only do this with mature plants.
I call the second photograph French Lilac because when I was a girl we called all of the dark purple lilacs French lilacs. By any name it is a gorgeous, mysterious flower full of scent.
Both of these photographs are from my series Botanicals, simple photographs that emulate old botanical prints.
You can get a copy of the Fragrant Path catalogue for$2 from the Fragrant Path, P.O. Box 328, Fort Calhoun, Nebraska 68023. Even if you don't want to buy seeds this is great garden reading. If you buy seeds you will get it for free the next year.
This carnation (pink) may not be fragrant but it is very pretty and it will not fade. It was crocheted by Suili. Her Etsy shop, Suili, is full of gorgeous crocheted flowers if you want to make an everlasting bouquet. Far more elegant than the usual paper or silk flowers.

It's White Outside

2009-01-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

It's snowing again, a very soft powdery snow that is easy to shovel though not quite as pretty as the heavy, wet snow that creates the most magical snowscapes.
The gardens are safe under their blanket of snow but I am worried about my Oakleaf Hydrangea. You can see its flowers in the fall bouquet featured on the Jan. 13th post below. This past summer the blooms were spectacular but last winter it barely went below zero. I suspect the recent nights of 12 below zero weather have killed the flower buds, at least the majority which are above the snow line. Many summers we only get blooms along the bottom edge of this shrub. Where is global warming when you need it?
Last night was almost warm, with a low of 9 above zero.

Snowed in I like to bead. This bracelet is crocheted with thin silver wire and silver seed beads in different sizes and tones. You string all of the beads onto the wire before beginning and then pull them into the stitches as you crochet.

You can see more of my bracelets in my Etsy jewelry shop, Beaded Wire.

Find of the Day:
I am completely enthralled by Heather Knight's ceramics and had a terribly difficult job chosing which piece to feature. The forms are organic and elegant, mostly white with an occasional splash of color. There are pears and fungi, ripple bowls and petal plates. Visit her Etsy site Element Clay Studio and be astonished.

Orchids are Forever

2009-01-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

A relatively balmy night, it only went to 9 below zero. Snow is predicted for tomorrow.
So my thoughts remain in warm places with tropical flowers.
These wonderful orchids are tropical and have a special warmth for me since they were a gift from my best friend Elaine (since high school!) who has sent me orchids for my last three birthdays.
The first photograph, "Out of the Mist" is a reflection in an old mirror, the second shows the same orchid under water.
I cannot give much advice on growing orchids, I am not very good with potted plants in general. However, they flower for months if they are not overwatered or totally abandoned.

Here is my little toy poodle Rory in a sweater Elaine knitted her for Christmas. Warm and frilly, I think she is so elegant with pearls and ruffles across her rump.

Find of the Day:
I am amazed by this woman's art, these are real orchids, immortalized in resin. She is a Brazilian designer who sells her work throughout the world including her Etsy shop Bella Brazilian Design

All of here jewelry is made from real flowers, many from orchids and roses. Astonishing and beautiful.

Exotic Plants for New England Gardeners

2009-01-16T07:05:00.001-08:00

When I got up this morning it was -12 degrees outside, though it has gotten warmer throughout the morning and it is now close to 0.
But yesterday my Brent and Becky's Bulb Summer-Flowering Bulbs Catalogue came so my mind is full of exotic flowers.
Brent and Becky's is the most complete source I know for fabulous, unusual bulbs starting with several pages of Alocasia, the giant elephants ears in blacks and chartreuse and strips. These extraordinary plants grow leaves that can reach 2 feet across. They like wet conditions to do their best.
The bulb listings proceed through the alphabet to Zantedeschia, the elegant calla lily. I think I will purchase Cameo, which is a soft blend of pale yellow and rose or perhaps Pink Persuasion another blend, this one in shades of dark rose and burgundy. (Callas also thrive in wet ground.)
On the top of my list however is a plant I haven't dared try yet, Gloriosa superba "Rothchildiana', also know as climbing lily. This is a vining bulb with incredible recurved red petals with a tiny yellow edge.
Of course none of these exotics are hardy to 12 below so they have to be dug up and wintered over in the house or greenhouse.
Another exotic and tender favorite is the datura which I grow from seed (seed the first picture on this page.) because it is hard to find plants, especially of the more unusual varieties. Seeds are available for many wonderful forms, huge pure white trumpets and white trumpets edged in violet, big double yellows, deep purples. Once started these plants grow easily into big lush bushes with soft velvety leaves. Germination can be tricky. Freshly picked seed seems to germinate readily but otherwise I use seed treated with GLA, Gibberellic Acid-3. J.L. Hudson Seedsman has wonderful varieties of pretreated Datura seed.

Find of the Day:
I was planning on featuring an item with daturas or callas or some other exotice flower but came across this beautiful oil painting. What could be a more wonderful comfort in your home on an icy winter day than this ode to spring? The painting is by Kristina Laurendi Havens of Georgia. It is available for purchase from her Etsy shop, Krystyna81.

Whispers

2009-01-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

We are really in a deep freeze today. It is -2 degrees outside. But we have a deep snow cover so I am not worried about my garden. One January we had a major thaw and I found little violas that had been blooming away under the snow.
This week I hung a new show at our local cooperative gallery. The show is called Whispers and features flowers, bouquets and local landscapes all printed with just a hint of color, several with a draping of lace.
A few of the new images can be purchased from my Etsy shop, many more can be seen on my Flickr page.

Find of the Day:

I love this whisper of a flower. This pretty peony flower is a brooch, pin all hand sewn in organza by MGMart.

Go see her shop, it is amazement of feminine frills.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2009-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

We are having another severe winter in New Hampshire. December's ice storm was very damaging to trees (not to mentions the 1000s of homes including mine without power) and shrubs.
There is always the temptation to try to rescue precious shrubs and small trees from the ice. But trying to free small branches will only do more harm. Branches that may survive the ice will probably snap from any attempt to loosen them.
I think Henry Mitchell's advice in the Essential Earthman is the best:
"Whenever there are ice storms, pull the window shades down."
Of course ice can be beautiful, snow magical. So perhaps just a peak outside. My old apple tree is always lovely in winter.

Find of the Day:

One way to stay sane through the long winter is to fill the house with little plants: foliage plants, flowers and herbs.

Here are some lovely planters from my friend Virginia Wyoming. They are available on her Etsy shop, VirginaWyoming. Just $24 for the set.

Cosmos

2009-01-13T06:32:00.000-08:00

I love cosmos, I think they are beautiful massed in the garden or as cut flowers.
January is not a great gardening month in New Hampshire but it is a wonderful time to dream and fantasize over seed catalogues. I used to order hundreds of packets of seeds each winter and have 50 or 60 trays of seedlings reading for planting in the spring. Then the hard work of finding room for all of these little plants would begin.
I have slowly learned that I cannot have every plant in every seed catalogue and only allow myself a few choice selections each year.
Topping my list this year is the new Cosmos 'Double Click Rose Bonbon'. I am fond of simple single flowers but must admit to a weakness for lush, over the top double flowers. And these new cosmos are just sumptuous.

Garden Resources:

You can see (and buy if you'd like) the new Cosmos 'Double Click' at Thomas and Morgan Seeds.
Thomas and Morgan has one of the most extensive lists of flowers seeds. There are great pictures of all their listing. I use it as my flower bible.

Find of the Day: What a beautiful little painting of a cosmos by Coleen Olson. It is gouache on watercolor paper. A 5 x 7 print of this painting is available for only $20 on her Etsy shop Parrish.

Dahlias

2008-08-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

I think it rained every day in July and so far August has a perfect record as well. Running through the rain to my car yesterday I realized that the daylily season is coming to a close and I hardly had a chance to see the blooms. I am always saddened at the end of the daylily season, the end of high summer.
But of course there is much left to enjoy phlox and all the yellow daisies and especially one of the great beauties of the garden, the dahlia. I am not a great dahlia grower, the big ones that I love take quite a bit of fuss and bother. They have to be well staked or they make a terrible sprawling mess. They need rich soil in full sun. And they must be dug up each fall and stored for replanting in the spring. I am often tired of gardening by fall and have forgotten many an expensive tubor. The ones I do remember don't always make it through the winter, they can dry up and wither into nothing or rot if kept too moist. So far I have had the most luck putting them in damp vermiculate in an extra refrigerator. But they are so beautiful I keep struggling with them every year.
Luckily, my friend Elaine manages to grow magnificent dahlias in her husband's "vegetable" garden which is now devoted to the truly important vegetables - dahlias, tulips, annual flowers etc. She brings me wonderful bouquets. Both of these photographs are dahlias from her garden. You can even see a lovely yellow dahlia poking out from behind the white.

Flower Find These red flowers aren't dahlias but they are certainly beautiful. This is a print made by Debra Linker (http://www.debralinker.etsy.com/) from her original painting "Guardians". Like much of her work it glows, here with rich gold setting off luminous red.

Chartreuse

2008-07-31T06:15:00.000-07:00

I had dinner at my friend Virginia's the other night: she is a terrific potter and had new worked glazed in gorgeous chartreuse, my favorite color. I am a sucker for any plant with chartreuse flowers or foliage. It glows in the garden bringing light and air to even gloomy flowerless shade.

In the first picture there is a bouquet of chartreuse Lady's Mantle flowers and steel blue eryngium, a pretty but prickly flower. The garden shot shows the little iris cristata which blooms briefly each spring with the golden leafed grass hakonechloa macra "Aureola" and the beautiful chartreuse cultivar of thalictrum.

In choosing chartreuse plants you are limited only by the size of your garden and your pocketbook. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of golden hostas, and several gorgeous heucheras including 'lime rickey'.

Two pretty ground covers are vinca 'illuminatation' and lysimachia nummularia 'aurea', which is chartreuse in shade but bright yellow with too much sun. For a taller lysimachia there is 'goldilocks'.

The thalictrum mentioned above and filipendula aurea are lovely bits of golden lace. I have some chartreuse leafed columbines I grew from seed. The foliage is gorgeous, the flowers a rather drab blue purple. Herbs include golden oregano, several thymes and sages though I have had some trouble wintering all of these over in my cold garden. Centaurea 'gold bullion' and spiderwort 'sweet Kate' are both spectacular with their blue-purple flowers against the golden foliage. And the foliage of dicentra 'gold heart' is lovely with the little pink hearts.

Though not hardy there are many pretty chartreuse and gold varieties of geraniums and coleus.

There are beautiful chartreuse shrubs: several Japanese maples, philadelphus 'aurea' (mock orange), golden spirea, carytoperus 'Worcester gold'. The latter should not be hardy in my garden but has lasted here for several years.

Find of the Day

I usually like to include a flower find in my post. These earring are not flowers but I cannot resist the color, I have a purse that matches this lovely green. Paring the bright blue finding with this green is color genius. They are made by Strange Little Bird (http://www.strangelittlebird.etsy.com/).

Allium

2008-07-31T06:10:00.001-07:00

I am a great fan of alliums, the lovely ornamental onions. Most gardeners are familiar with the spring and early summer flowering bulbs. They emerge as great purple or white balls of tiny flowers and then their foliage dies away like daffodil and tulips foliage.
Although I have read that only people eat onions I have found that many of my alliums disappear after a few years. I don't know if they are dinner for my underground neighbors or the conditions in my garden don't meet their long term needs.
Luckily two of my favorites are very long lived. Allium Globemaster is a hybrid cross of A. Christophii and A. elatum. It is a huge allium with a 10" ball of little purple flowers that can soar 3 feet tall. Although it is expensive you only need a few for a spectacular display, a display that will come back year after year. Plus, the flowers are sterile so they last and last in the garden or in a vase, keeping there color for about a month.
But for a lasting dried flower they can't compare to their parent species, allium christophii. These huge silvery balls dry to spectacular dried flowers that last for years in a dried arrangement. A. christophii, alas, tends to disappear from my garden over time.

The alliums in the photographs are allium tanguticum, a less well know but very long lived species. The alliums I discribed earlier are classified as SUDS, summer-dormant species. As noted they act like typical bulbs and their foliage dies back after they flower. A. tanguticum is a SUTS, a summer thriving species. It does not flowers until July and the foliage stays pretty and green all season. It is a wonderful perennial with the clumps getter larger and larger each year. I think this can occasionally be purchased in pots at nurseries. I buy mine from the McClure & Zimmerman bulb catalogue, http://www.mzbulb.com/ and plant it in the fall at the same time as tulips and daffodils. This is not a huge allium, just a foot or so high but with dozens and dozens of pretty purple balls.

Garden Resourses;

The Perennial Gardener by Frederick McGourty
A wonderfully informative and entertaining gardening book. It has a very detailed and informative chapter about alliums, SUDS and SUTS.

McClure & Zimmerman
Quality Flowerbulb Brokers
http://www.mzbulb.com/
An excellent and reliable source for bulbs including many rarities.

Flower Find.
I am in love with Jennifer Morris's jewelry. (Please note if my husband is reading this, something to remember for Christmas) She makes the beads from polymer clay and each is a tiny work of floral art. Esquisite. You can see her jewelry at http://www.jennifermorrisbeads.etsy.com/.

Green Thumb/Black Thumb

2008-07-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me to include some gardening tips for those with black thumbs and I have tried to offer planting and growing information in each post. But I agree with Henry Mitchell's words in the Essential Earthman:
"Now the gardener is the one who has seen everything ruined so many times that (even as his pain increases with each loss) he comprehends--truly knows--that where there was a garden once, it can be again,...There are no green thumbs or black thumbs. There are only gardeners and non-gardeners. Gardeners are the ones who ruin after ruin get on with the high defiance of nature herself, creating, in the very face of her chaos and tornado, the bower of roses and the pride of irises. ..Defiance...is what makes gardeners." p. 3

Weather, soil, hard work, all are part of gardening. But in the end a garden is a precarious undertaking. Plants themselves have minds of their own. A friend gave me three divisions of sedum Autumn Joy, an easy and reliable plant. I planted the three divisions in a triangle in nice garden soil. Two of the divisions thrived , the third just sat there. I left the plants for three years with the two lusty sisters growing into huge plants while the runt barely held onto life. Same soil, same plant, who can explain it? I finally moved the runt to a new spot and there is flurished.

So I suppose the best advice to gardeners is to persevere, just keep planting and something will like you and grow. The coneflowers in these photographs are extremely easy , they seem to do well no matter how they are treated. There are also many pretty new hybrids in opulent colors and more restrained sizes.

Color

2008-07-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

A quiet pastel garden is lovely and restful. But I love color like this explosion in my friend Stephanie's garden.
Orange and magenta are not for timid souls but wow, they are gorgeous. My own front entry garden is full of California poppies in bright oranges and yellows growing in front of magenta purple phlox. Wear your sunglasses when you come to visit.

Flower Find.
And here is a hat for the brave. Isn't this beautiful? It is called "Dorothy Parker" and it does make me think of New York City in a more glamorous era. The hat is custom made by BoringSidney (now how could anyone who designed this hat possibly be boring??) and can be ordered at http://www.boringsidney.etsy.com/.

Sweet Peas

2008-07-24T07:31:00.001-07:00

Lathyrus odoratus, the annual sweet pea, is a favorite flower. The colors are gorgeous, the fragrance exquisite.

It is not the easiest flower to grow however. I start mine indoors but plant them out quickly so they don't become a tangled mess. Soak the seeds a few hours before planting. They need rich soil and cool, moist weather, which can be hard to supply in American gardens. The older varieties, often labeled "antique" have smaller flowers but are more forgiving of an imperfect environment. The first picture here shows a very old variety that is an easy grower 'Matucana'. What these old varieties lose in flower size they compensate for with their intense perfumes. You can smell this flower all over the garden.

There is also a very pretty perennial sweet pea, lathyrus latifolius. It is usually available in pink shades but I have a pure white (seen in the second picture) that is very pretty. This plant is very easy to grow and easily started from seed. It is dead hardy. It is a very strong grower and would be a great choice to hide an unsightly structure or fence. It does need a trellis or other support, it is not goint to hold on with suckers like an ivy. Unfortunately it has no perfume.

Flower Find

Another project for these endless rainy days or a cold winter evening might be these cross stitch sweet peas. The pattern was adapted by Jfrank1970 from a painting by Sue Woodfine and is available from her shop on Etsy, http://www.jfrank1970.etsy.com/. She also has other patterns available and can supply kits.

Will It Ever Stop Raining????

2008-07-24T06:35:00.001-07:00

One thing every gardener can rely on is that there will always be weather to complain about. An early heat wave cut short the daffodil season. This May we had barely a drop of rain, so we could moan about the drought. Of course the drought was broken in June in time for storms to beat the peonies and iris to the ground.

And July has brought endless storms and rain. I weeded the front garden during a brief interlude but a week later, with the lush tropical conditions, they are bigger and better than ever. I suppose they appreciated my giving them elbow room.
As Henry Mitchell says, "When we complain of weather we are always on firm ground. It is not imagination or idle dreaming; there is excellent reason for complaint....The first time a storm rips all the peonies to pieces-the gardener has waited two years and done a good bit of scratching about with wood ashes and has chopped out tree roots and has set up stakes-the pain is severe. Within a few years, however, the gardener begins to realize there has never yet been a single year in which everything did well. And (usually after forty years or so) he notices that no year is without some special splender. Most of us can remember years when the irises were unearthly in their perfection, day after day after day of flawless flowers. I have seen two such years myself in the past forty-three." The Essential Earthman p.9-10.

Garden Resource

Henry Mitchell is my favorite garden writer, if you have not read his books you are in for a treat. Mr. Mitchell wrote a gardening column for the Washington Post for many years and his books are compilations of these columns. They are full of grace and wit, wisdom and great information about gardening and plants. And many are laugh out loud funny. There is no garden snobbery here just love of gardens, gardeners and the natural world as seen in a little garden in Washington D.C.

The Essential Earthman

One Man's Garden

Henry Mitchell on Gardening

All are readily available on Amazon and at most local bookstores.

The Bracelet

This is how I spend my time on these endless rainy days, crocheting very thin Artists wire and beautiful beads together into sparkly bracelets. This one uses two colors of wire, dark plum with an edging of bright magental and Swarovski crystals, Czech fire polished crystals, and seed beads in a variety of colors and sizes. The bracelet and many of the photographs here are available from my shop on Etsy, http://www.judystalus.etsy.com/.

Lilies

2008-07-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Although daylilies are wonderful garden plants to me they don't compare to the true liles. Sadly, I have lost my lilies to the nasty red lily beetle that has invaded New England. It did not reach us in New Hampshire until a few years ago but the results have been devasting. I don't use pesticides in my garden and am not diligent enough to save the lilies by constantly picking off the bugs.
But I am beginning to see lilies again in local gardens so I think I will order some bulbs for fall planting and give it another try. Perhaps the bugs died off or migrated away after they had destroyed their food supply? I am going to just try a few bulbs and plant them near the front door so I can watch them carefully.
The lilies in this bouquet are asiastic lilies, the easiest lilies to grow. They flower early in the summer in many soft colors. They don't have much scent. The later lilies, the trumpets and the heavenly orientals have the powerful perfumes. I love the oriental lilies, with their gorgeous, exotic good looks and aroma. I can't bring them into the house however because their perfume gives my husband intense headaches.
The second phograph shows some hot pink orientals mixed with some double orange daylilies, not a bouquet for the timid.

Growing lilies
Aside from the horrible red lily beetle, lilies are not hard to grow, though the trumpets will need staking and some of the orientals seem to peter out after the first year much like tulips. Since they can be expensive this is not an endearing habit. For me it is worth it to plant at least a few.
They are planted in the fall at the same time as tulips and daffodils. Now is the time to order!
Lilies, like tulips, are a favorite dinner for the the little animals living under the garden. I usually plant mine wrapped in plastic mesh, the kind that you buy oranges and other produce in. The roots and flower shoots come right through but it is unappetizing to flower predators.

FlowerFind
This incredible bridal gown looks like an exotic lily with the beautiful trumpet spread out on the floor. The draping flow and the exquisite hem design take my breath away. The dress is called Medieval Fantasy Couture Reinactment Fairy Dress and it is handmade by Kathleen Crowley of San Francisco. It is made of silk charmeuse but can also be ordered in other fabrics. Truly a fantasy gown.

Bog Garden

2008-07-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to say that the birds have found my cherry tree. I saw a robin and a scarlet tananger munching away and the cherries are almost all gone.
I spent the morning weeding the little bog garden in this photo. It was originally a little pond but we did not maintain it well. It is only about a foot and a half deep and lined with rubber. When we decided to give up the pond we just filled the rubber lined hole with dirt. It is a perfect spot to grow plants that like very moist soil .
The yellow trollius shown here love the damp and grow exuberantly, they are almost three feet tall in this spot.
When I first planted the garden I planted filipendula but it loved the wet soil too much and filled the entire garden by the end of the first summer. All of the filipendula has been moved and I now use this little area for the trollius, iris ensata, and Siberian iris. All of these grow well in ordinary garden soil but love this boggy spot.

Flower Find

Who could not love a Jerry Garcia Grateful Dead Peace Crane? The red flower paper is gorgeous and it is embellished with glitter. Handmade by Localcolorist

Where are the Birds and Bees?

2008-07-10T19:08:00.001-07:00

It was great fun to photograph my garden from inside my cherry tree. (I am using my new Lensbaby soft focus lens which I love.) But I don't understand why I have all these cherries, every other year the tree is stripped by hungry birds before they even turn red. And a friend told me today that the birds have not eaten her blackberries this year. Should I be worried, where are the birds?
Everyone is concerned about the disappearance of honey bees. And apparently bats are threatened by a new disease;we haven't seen any bats this summer. There have been very few fireflies and no June bugs. What a loss if these are also at risk. We called fireflies lightning bugs when I was a child. My own daughter thought they were fairy lights. And how can it be summer without the June bugs banging on the screens?
Apparently the mosquitos and black flies are doing fine. Sigh.

I call the top picture the Bride. Hostas are generally grown for their interesting foliage but some of them also have beautiful flowers.

Flower Find
Isn't this the world's prettiest apron? If I didn't hate to cook I would buy it in an instant. It has flowers and a dragonfly on the pocket. Flowers and bugs. The apron is called Dragonfly and is handmade by PrettyDitty.

Maidenhead Fern

2008-07-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Ferns can be a wonderful addition to the shady garden. However, they should be used with care since many are very aggressive and spread by underground runners. They can easily over run the border. But many are wonderful feathery additions to the garden, staying lush and green all summer. The Japanese Painted fern is never a problem. My favorite is the Maidenhair fern which stays where it is planted, slowly growing into a nice sized plant The first picture shows the maidenhair fern in early spring when it is about to unfurl. The second was taken in my friend Marion's garden. She has planted several different fern behind her Japanese primroses for an effective backdrop. I don't fuss with my maidenhairs. plant them in ordinary garden soil in partial to full shade. The maidenhair seems quite drought tolerant and I don't water it unless there is an extended period without rain.
Flower Find
This maidenhair fern scarf is hand painted silk by Morgansilk. Her silk scarves are each a work of art.

California Poppies

2008-07-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

Eschscholzia californica. The California poppy is not a true poppy but it shares their lovely papery petals and form.
The native California poppy comes in lovely warm orange shades but the hybrids come in many shades of orange, red, creamy whites and pinks. There are singles and doubles, all very beautiful.
These poppies are quite hardy and even in New Hampshire can be started early by seed strewn outside or started in little peat pots that can be planted out in early May even before the last frost.

A Flower Find
If you prefer to wear your flowers what about this cute poppy skirt? Made by AnnaBlues of pumpkin colored corduroy over layers of netting and a wild flower print. Gorgeous.

Ordering Spring Bulbs – Tulips

2008-07-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Now is the time to order bulbs to plant this fall for blooms in the spring. Tulips are a dilemma, their allure is intense, they come in so many colors and sizes and shapes and their beauty rivals the great peonies and iris. The simple singles are elegant and jewel colored. The doubles are lush and voluptuous. And little compares with the parrots in their myriad flaming colors for pure flamboyancy. The tulips below are pink parrots.
So what is the dilemma? They are not hard to grow. You put them in the ground and next spring tulips appear. But they are not easy to keep. Aside from the little species tulips they are not very perennial; after they flower the bulbs tend to divide themselves into little bulbs. They can be dug up and grown on for a few years to make new big plants but I don’t know of anyone, other than the Dutch bulb companies, who do this. Or they can be left in the ground to come back as smaller and smaller plants and flowers each year.
But in reality, one doesn’t even get to watch the dwindling plants very often since they are great favorites of all the little creatures that live (very happily I am sure) below our gardens. Often they find the newly planted bulbs even before the first year’s flowers. Few gardeners really enjoy buying this expensive rodent food. So what to do? Not growing tulips is simply not an option, they are too beautiful, and in my opinion the most beautiful ones cannot even be purchased as cut flowers.

How To Grow Tulips
I have found a few “solutions” none of which are particularly satisfactory. They can be soaked in a rodent repellant before planting and if the infestation is not too intense most will come up the first year. (After that they become dinner). More successful is to plant them in big sunken pots. I have lots of the ugly big green pots that shrubs come in and these work very well. I simply dig a big hole and put in the pot. Then I put in about half of the soil, set in the bulbs and cover with the rest of the dirt. You can even do several layers if the pot is big enough or put a layer of smaller bulbs (crocus or chiondoxa or something) on top.
Sometimes I have a space right in the garden where I want tulips so I sink the pot right there. Otherwise I will sink them in the vegetable garden and dig up the pot in the spring and put it where I want it. You don’t need to cover the pot with chicken wire since the varmints go throw the ground sideways not from on top. You can use this method with crocus another great critter favorite but in that case I think the chicken wire is needed to protect the tiny bulbs.
You can leave the tulips in the ground in these pots and you will continue to get tulips for a few years though usually they will get smaller each year.

Great Swaths of Tulips
Occasionally I need to treat myself to a great swath of tulips. This is an expensive treat since I do it realizing that it is a one time event. The purple tulips garden in the first picture is an example of this. To me it was worth the effort and the expense, it was glorious and with all the different tulips it lasted for weeks. I bought tulips in all different shapes and sizes but all purples. Singles, doubles, mostly dark purple, with a few lilac colors. My husband removed the sod from the lawn in front of an old lilac and I planted the bulbs into the earth with a long trowel. Then we put the sod back on top. It is important to use ground that is not part of the garden so the critters will not find the bulbs the first year.
The first year was beautiful, the second year I had a bloom or two, none since. It was worth it to me but I won’t be able to afford it again at least until my daughter finishes college.

Resources:
There are many wonderful bulb companies. A favorite is , a true labor of love by founder Scott Kunst. is Old House Gardens. (http://www.oldhousegardens.com. The catalogue is devoted to the preservation of antique and rare bulbs, many of which would have been lost to gardeners forever without his efforts. The catalogue itself is beautiful both on line and in print. Many of the bulbs offered are not available anywhere else. He even has true Rembrandt or broken tulips, the focus of the great tulip frenzy. I read this catalogue from cover to cover. It is full of good information and dazzling descriptions. The drawback is that you will want everything.

A Tulip Find.

These little blue tulip earrings are vintage German beads from the 1940’s set on hand crafted ear wires by executeme ( http.www.executeme.etsy.com). They are only $20 and they won’t disappear over winter like the real ones. She has many other lovely flower earrings in her shop.

Annual Poppies

2008-06-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

The season is over for the great perennial Oriental poppies but it is not the end of the poppies this year. There are many wonderful annual and biennial poppies that flower later in the summer.
Papaver Rhoeas, the common annual poppy is a great favorite of mine. In its natural state it is flaming red but has been hybridized into many soft colors as well (Shirley poppies) in both singles and doubles. My photographs feature this poppy in its red and softer pink manifestations.
Another lovely annual poppy is papaver somniferum, the opium poppy. This poppy is the source of both opium and poppy seeds. Its big seed heads are often dried for winter arrangements. I believe this poppy also started out red but there is an army of hybrids including huge, fluffy mop heads in white, purple, pink. A particular favorite of mine is called Flemish poppy, a soft off white streaked with red that belongs in an old Flemish oil painting.
Papaver nudicaule, the Iceland poppy, is usually classified as a biennial but in cooler areas like my New Hampshire hillside it is more or less perennial It has the look of crepe paper and comes in warmer colors than Shirley poppies, soft oranges, yellows and whites.

Growing Annual Poppies
Poppies are easy to grow. They can be started by scattering seed over prepared garden soil in early spring: since they are quite hardy they can withstand mild frosts. I usually start mine inside under lights in March to plant out in early May. They don’t like transplanting so they should be started in individual peat pots or plastic pots. They reseed readily so plants emerge all over the garden adding little touches of color.

I love this shirt and its name, the Hippy, Trippy, Butterfly and Poppy Shirt. What a joy to wear these poppies and butterflies. It is made by Vigilante Labs.

Iris Again

2008-06-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with scanning flowers directly into the computer on my flat bed scanner rather than photographing them with a camera. I am seeking an ethereal, transparent effect, almost like an x-ray of a flower.
The little yellow iris I am using here has been with me all of my life, it grew in my grandmother’s and my mother’s gardens. One of the easiest iris to grow, it is not as showy as the big hybrids but also less susceptible to borers and wind.

I love the little iris pendant. It is a real iris petal preserved and embellished with crystals to make a unique necklace. The pendant and other flower petal jewelry can be seen (and purchased of course) at http://www.paperplanet.etsy.com/ .

Another incredible iris find is Iris, the dress, from Barcelona, Spain. Expensive ($285) but it is silk and so elegant. Many products have flower names but this one actually has the look and feel of its namesake. Imagine wearing a silk iris. The dress and other creations is at http://www.cocottecouture.etsy.com/ .

Grape Kool-Aid Iris

2008-06-23T18:22:00.001-07:00

I think today is officially the end of this year’s bearded iris season, torrential downpours have flattened the last stragglers, along with the late peonies and oriental poppies. I always mourn the passing of these magnificent plants.
I am fond of all iris and even have an iris tattoo on my leg. But one of my favorites is my Grape Kool-Aid Iris, a simple purple iris with a strong and lovely aroma, reminiscent of grape Kool-Aid. About fifteen years ago, maybe more, there was a flurry of letters in Organic Gardening Magazine, describing this iris and trying to track it down. A few years later I found an offer for Grape Kool-Aid Iris in the Flower and Herb Seed Savers Exchange from a gardener in upstate New York. He sent me some fat rhizomes and they have become a major feature in my early summer garden.

The photographs here are my grape iris, including a Polaroid Manipulation. This was taken with an old Polaroid SX-70 Land camera from the 1970’s using Time Zero film. The emulsion of this film does not set immediately and I move it around with knitting needles to create a painterly effect.

Growing Iris:

Bearded iris are simple to grow. The rhizomes are usually shipped in late summer and are planted flat just below the soil surface in ordinary garden soil, not too rich. I transplant them at any time after they flower, they can even be left to bake in the sun with roots bare for a few days without harm. The only problem I have with iris is weeds which seem to love to grow around them, under them, all over them. I have a lot of garden and weeds tend to get ahead of me so I just dig the iris out every other year or so and pull the weeds off the roots and then put them back into the ground. They don’t mind at all. Iris need to be divided every few years anyway. The dead, withered parts of the rhizomes can be cut off and each piece that has leaf growth can be planted as a new plant.

Garden Resource:

The Seed Savers Exchange and the Flower and Herb Exchange
Seed Savers is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds. They publish two fat catalogues each year full of member’s offers of seeds and plants, One is dedicated to vegetables and the other to flowers and herbs. This is a wonderful source for seeds, many handed down in families over generations, and also a great way to meet and share with other gardeners.

Grape Kool-Aid Iris

2008-06-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

A Peony Find

2008-06-22T13:22:00.001-07:00

Speaking of peonies, I saw this beautiful small clutch purse on Etsy. What a treat to carry a peony around with you!
The British Designer is RedRubyRose. You can see all of her little purses at http://www.redrubyrose.etsy.com/.

Peony Again

2008-06-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

It is perhaps unfair to other flowers that peonies are so beautiful. They are decadent and voluptuous.

I’m thankful that I took these photographs on Friday since we have strong storms today and most of these big mop heads will be ruined. We had no rain in May and the garden welcomes the water. But why does it always storm at the height of peony season? The very double peonies, the “bombs” often have trouble holding up their heads even in the nicest weather. I don’t think they can be staked but the round peony support hoops are a help. They have to be in place early in the season however. Once the flowers are open it is too late.

Peonies

2008-06-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

What better flower than the beautiful peony for my first blog entry? On my hillside in Southwest New Hampshire they are at the height of bloom now in mid-June. I grow dozens of varieties from big saucer singles to the voluptuous doubles that can barely hold up their huge blooms.

I find them beautiful in every way. An elegant garden plant with foliage that remains green and healthy long after the flowers are gone. Extraordinary bouquets. And beautiful even in the tiny details.

Growing Information:

Peonies are very easy to grow, at least in cold climates. The crown needs to freeze a bit to produce flowers so don’t plant them too deeply. The crown should be just below the soil level, too deep and there will be no flowers.
Peonies seem to last forever with very little care and can be seen blooming away on abandoned New England farmsteads .
They do take a few years to become established and put on a good show. Being impatient I usually buy plants in sets of three and plant them together in a small triangle. This way I get a big plant in a year or two.
Traditional advice is to plant peonies after their growth has died back in the fall but I have had great luck planting potted peonies in full growth in the spring. Similarly I have ignored advice to only transplant in the fall. I transplant throughout the summer without problem.

I don’t cut back old growth in the fall but leave it til the next spring. This is probably a very bad idea if your peonies tend to get diseased but mine never have. I reason that the old foliage gives them some winter protection but it is probably just laziness. Tree peonies which are shrubs, not herbaceous perennials, should, of course, never be cut back unless there are dead branches.