Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
November is brilliant
The colors are turning here in a spectacular way. With every twist of the path I spy a new favorite plant to photograph. Gail and I can’t stop taking pictures of all the gorgeous trees … Read more.
Arthur Lamora
Arthur Lamora was Marjorie Lyon’s grounds man and chauffeur from around 1950 until she died in 1976. He lived in the north end cottage apartment of the garage complex with his wife, Evelyn. Arthur … Read more.
A little bit of everything
From T-shirts to winter coats – was it really just last week that we had temperatures into the 80s? This week has been quite the change. I had to pull out my winter work gear … Read more.
Textile Conservation in Marjorie’s Bedroom
Blithewold’s Collections Committee decided last year that it would develop a project to repair and conserve the textile collection in the Mansion, including bed coverings, furniture upholstery, and window treatments. Everything, by definition, is more … Read more.
Dreamy dahlias
Happy autumn! The light shifts and the nights get cooler, but there is still so much color here in the gardens. A lot of that color comes from dahlias and sages (Salvia spp.), which are … Read more.
Gone to Seed
While the light changes and we keep up with the last deadheading of the season, seeds begin to appear in the garden. They are everywhere, in every shape and size. Each plant has its own … Read more.
Charmed
August is exhausting, it has to be said. The extreme heat and humidity drains every desire I have to linger in the garden. It seems as though, here in little Rhode Island, everyone and their … Read more.
Color vision
Every once in a while, the plans we make for a garden turn out just as we hoped. That perfection doesn’t happen quite as often as I would like, but the unpredictable factor in … Read more.
Educating Marjorie
Marjorie Van Wickle was born in 1883 in Cleveland, Ohio. Little is known about her early education until the family moved back to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in 1892. There her parents, Augustus and Bessie Van Wickle, … Read more.
Night Blooming Cereus
Night Blooming Cereus One hundred years ago, on August 1, 1916, The Bristol Phoenix announced to the town that a rare horticultural event was taking place at Blithewold. Bessie had been cultivating a Night … Read more.