Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
Pretty Leaves to Christmas Trees
The past couple of weeks Gail and I have had our attention divided between fall garden cleanup and Christmas decorating. Despite the drought this past summer, the trees have still managed to show a good … 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.
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.
The News
I love new plants. It always feels a little bit like Christmas morning when I see a new plant come into flower for the first time–except I have to be patient as it unwraps itself. … Read more.
Cosmos on my mind
It’s been a hot and humid July week. Any delusions I had of enjoying a cool, temperate summer have evaporated into the extreme humidity. However, on the bright side, flowers are bursting out … Read more.
Garden fireworks
Happy Fourth of July weekend! It’s that time of the summer when we finally begin to take a step back from our full-speed-ahead mode of May and June. Just when Gail, Sean (our intern this … Read more.
Ranunculus are here!
Spring is definitely in full swing here and already hinting at summer! It was so warm this week that the lovely spring blooms we’ve been anxiously awaiting buckled a bit with the first blast … Read more.