Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
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.
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.
Scratch N’ Sniff
With Autumn just around the bend, there will be many beautiful sights and sounds. The rainbow color change of the leaves. The crunch of fallen foliage under one’s foot. But right now, I’m leaning into this … Read more.
Deep winter
Last week’s blizzard seem to open the gate to a real winter complete with snow storm after snow storm, and hard-core cold. We’re being tested on our ability to stay upright on icy patches, and on keeping … Read more.
Maple candy
One day last week it seemed as if the switch that turns on the Japanese maples was flipped. We all noticed it. And I think we all tried to burn their color on our retinas … Read more.
On formality and fine tuning
Mother Nature dumped almost three more inches of rain on Blithewold this week and the gardens responded by growing with an exuberance bordering on, and even crossing over the line to loose, lush informality. I … Read more.
One step back…
…two ahead. By now there should be a spring in our dance step – and there is. I can tell because it squishes. This week another 2″ of rain fell. But on top of that, a … Read more.
Ahead of schedule
I don’t want to crow in case any of you are feeling swamped – either by the end of the garden’s season or in anticipation of the holidays – but as Gail would say, “we’re … Read more.
How we beat the heat
We didn’t. We just rolled with the sun’s punches, sweated buckets, and are still recovering. But even though we lost the fight in some respects — we lost a week with the volunteers, lost appetites … Read more.
Perennial planting spree
I think we outdid ourselves. In the last couple of weeks Gail, Betsy, the volunteers, and I planted about 700 perennials and a handful of shrubs. Going into our planning season this past winter, Gail … Read more.