Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
The final strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) harvest of Sunday was also the first of our blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum). I have been spying them from a distance looking for when an entire berry rather than just one side becomes blue. Our birds have been cross with me as their attempts to penetrate the defensive veil encasing […]
As tomorrow is the Fall equinox, I thought that a scavenger hunt at Ann’s Place would be a great way to celebrate the changing season. I have put together a slideshow with the rules and the objects that people should search for in the different gardens and around the exterior of Ann’s Place. My ‘Where’s […]
Last week the strawberries came in: both domestic and wild. The domestic ones are familiar and tasty. Emerging from their straw bed last month, their pollinated flowers metaphorized into small whitish balls changing again into large, sweet red orbs. Charlotte, my granddaughter, can’t wait to visit us this time of year to survey and select […]
This growing season continues to mete out surprises. Last week the golden rod was blooming and this week the blackberries started to arrive in the middle of blueberry season. Not that Charlotte was complaining. Yesterday we went to pick blueberries and she noted, “Pompi (her name for me,) there are blackberries to pick!” Before I […]
All frosts are not created equal. The first often arrives in October as a sprinkling of powered sugar on the roof of my house and pickup truck. Unlike that sweet confection, it disappears with first light and is easy to miss if one is late to wake or not attentive. There are a few other […]
A week ago the last of the strawberries were harvested. The pickings were slim and even the chipmunks abandoned the vegetable garden looking for food. As I scoured the patch for the last time, removing the bird netting, I found a few perfect fruits reminding me how fortunate we have been this season with bountiful […]
When I lived on Long Island, strawberry season was always between Memorial Day and Father’s Day. In that short stretch, when we lived on Long Island, Juana would get me out to the Eastern End farms to pick strawberries for eating and jelly. It was one of her favorite activities now reminding her how she, […]
White birches are one of those trees that make their best mark in the winter. Against a landscape of grey detritus, they offer a clean and differing diversion to the eye. One of the nicest stands of betula papyrifera is on the way to Boston via I84 in the upper east corner of Connecticut (known […]
Though a heat wave is abating, the early signs of fall are in the air. A few leaves are beginning to turn and the sun has started to set over the hill much earlier than has been typical for the past few months. In another few weeks, the back yard will be in the shade […]
It’s been over two months since I last blogged and it hasn’t been for lack garden tasks. It seemed that whenever I sat down to write, something came up. In the last few months I have run a number of therapy classes on pounding flowers, carnivorous plants, fall salad seedlings, flavored vinegars and invasive plants. […]