back to the garden

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Ann

Remember the patch of earth my Pops and I dug back in February?

Pops and Larry dig out garden on 2/27/12

Well, I planted some euphorbia, and then sowed seeds, which sprouted up in no time. Sweet peas, dill, bachelor’s buttons, poppy, Ammi majus…

Then I added some plants from Mostardi’s: foxglove, armeria, thyme, lavender, fennel, rosemary, delphinium, Russian sage, nepeta, lamb’s ear, eryngium…

Garden on 5/4/12

Red stemmed dogwood ‘fencing’

5/5/12 – Fertilized with Dr. Earth’s organic stuff

Since then, I’ve been watching my garden closely, watching things grow. Thinning, weeding, a little watering if needed. Then I went away for less than a week during a heat spell, and when I came back the garden seemed to be overflowing with plants!

5/31/12

Foxglove after a rain – 5/22/12

Bees love it

First Sweet Pea Blossom – 72 days after sowing seed (5/31/12)

the Overseer of Sweet Peas, placed by Pops

Delphinium 5/31

I did some editing today, and as if it’s not crammed full enough, I also sowed a few sunflower and Bells of Ireland seeds! I can’t wait to see the poppies, bachelor’s buttons, and Ammi majus bloom – soon, I think. I can’t believe how good it makes me feel to tend a few plants in a 4′ x 13′ bed. Now, where to put that clematis vine…

a taste of the country

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Ann

It was my mother-in-law’s birthday, so I made her two arrangements for her country house in the backwoods of New Hampshire. This calming collection of blues and purples includes hydrangea, delphinium, monkshood and lisianthus…and white roses and white lilac, with a little bupleurum and curly willow thrown in at the end.

The second arrangement I made was more of an Easter arrangement, with yellows and pinks, including foxtail lily or eremurus, stock, sunflower, daffodil, peony, and tulip.

Rutha was also really happy to receive a garden gnome who will give her a bit of luck out in her garden beds. (I guess I sort of believe in gnomes, since the Gnomes book was always lying around our house growing up and it’s so convincingly written and drawn.) Here she is reading another of her presents, Cat Fancy Magazine.

While visiting, we always try to get out for some walks since the air is so clean. On this afternoon’s constitutional, I saw this cute little yellow flower in bloom, looking a lot like a dandelion…but not quite. I knew it was in the Aster family, but that’s about it! Later I looked it up and found out it’s Coltsfoot, or Tussilago farfara. It’s often found along roadsides and in ditches, and is not native to North America, brought here by settlers from Europe who used it medicinally as a cough suppressant. (Some still do.)

But some of the real country action happened while we were sleeping. We gave Robert, my father-in-law, a Bushnell motion-activated infrared camera (with audio!) for Christmas this year. He strapped it to a tree a little ways into the woods near their house. So far the camera has captured a host of wildlife including fisher cats, squirrels, chipmunks, foxes, curious crows, and even a neighborhood dog. But a few days ago a coyote showed up, and here she is caught on camera!

I just love the way she peeks around the tree towards the end.

P.S. Check out the Soulsby Farm’s recent post on coyotes…lots of great info there.

baby bud vase arrangements

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Ann

Last week at falls flowers, Peicha gave me the go-ahead to design some mini arrangements for a baby shower. The baby on the way is a boy! So mom opted for all blues and yellows. I had a blast doing these! I used a huge variety of material including but not limited to: muscari, acacia, freesia, fritillaria, delphinium, seeded eucalyptus, cineraria, scabiosa seedpods, and dusty miller.