Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Weird and wonderful flowers

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens) is the best excuse I can think of to show off some of my favorite weirdos. I know my cup of tea isn’t to … Read more.

Flower-of-an-hour

I don’t know if all of our recent focus on potentially devastating weather is the cause of it, but this week I found myself particularly interested in one of the most easy-come/easy-go plants in our … Read more.

All grown up

I think I might have an inkling of how parents feel when they realize that their babies have grown up. It seems like the garden is suddenly full of teenagers. I have to crane my … Read more.

Pilgrimage

When you travel for work or with family, do you try to squeeze garden pilgrimages into your itinerary? This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending my cousin’s wedding in California and although the … Read more.

A frenzy

I think it might be safe to say that we’ve been even busier than bees in the last couple of days. And by “we” I mostly mean the garden volunteers. Gail, Tara and I placed … Read more.

Tough decisions

I can’t remember if the honor of choosing Blithewold’s sweet peas was conferred on me or if I grabbed it like a greedy toddler (“Mine!”) but it’s one of those tasks that I enjoy so … Read more.

Lingering

Some blooms just don’t know when to quit and others are coming back for more. Although we’ve had our frost – and even a light dusting of snow, I guess it hasn’t been quite cold … Read more.

Riding the wave

It almost looks like we could ride this heat wave straight into fall. The Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) have been dropping bright red tokens since mid-July; the scent of ripe grapes hovers on whatever little breeze … Read more.

Expected surprises

I’ve always wondered a little at the seeming redundancy of the phrase “unexpected surprise”. But I think I get it now. I came back from vacation fully anticipating certain changes and was still caught off … Read more.

Try to keep up

Before leaving on vacation, Gail didn’t write much of a to-do list for us. As she bolted out the door on the way to the beach she said only, “Just try to keep up with … Read more.