I was hoping that on this, my second ‘follow a tree’ post, the Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’ would have shed its winter coat. After all, the first week of April is over. But that hasn’t happened. Along with all the individuals I met up with, wandering around Montreal last week, (and wrote about here) his…
A few years ago, a huge tree blew down. The tree was at the edge of the lower garden, by what we call the dragon gate — a construction of vertical and horizontal pieces of painted wood that matches architectural elements on our house. The tree and the dragon gate marked the start of a…
I woke this morning to a beautiful winter’s day. The sky was blue, the sun was glinting on the newly fallen snow. Gorgeous. A glorious winter day, on the third day of spring. Except that it is meant to be spring. The vernal equinox has come and gone. Officially we are now three days into…
Lucy Corrander, an English garden blogger at Loose and Leafy, has invited bloggers from around the world to join her in ‘following’ a tree. Her invitation really caught my attention. It sounded like a great idea … a good monthly discipline and a way to focus on the changes that occur in a tree over…
I read a fair number of blogs related to gardens and landscape design. Recently, many of these have been full of glee about the approach of spring. They’ve showcased crocus peeping above ground and shown snowdrops in profusion. Phooey. Where I live, winter is still here and the only garden I see is snow. (Cue…
The end of January isn’t the obvious time to do a year-end review, but since 2013 is well and truly over, it’s now or never. And since next week marks the one year anniversary of this blog, and I plan to review some of the top posts and your comments about them, writing a month…
I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. But planning ahead for the garden is a regular winter activity. So this is what I plan (correction: make that hope) to do in 2014. 1. Clean up loose ends. This category includes more things than I like to think about. I often start new projects before the old…
After several more days of snow, our landscape is a study in black, white, and grey… Birch trees on the hillside: an arrangement in grey and black, minus Whistler’s mother. with the occasional touch of green… Spruce trees in the lower field and yellow. A touch of yellow on a broken ash tree. So many…
For the first time since I started writing this blog, a post is late, and by several days. Oh, well, it’s the holidays, you may think. But no, for almost a year now, I’ve managed a timely entry despite holidays, vacations and intense pressures to come away from the computer and enjoy myself. So it’s not…
My first attempt to use ornamental grasses was in a section of the garden I call the yin yang. An old resort hotel once stood on the property (to my amazement, I find I haven’t written about that… must do so soon. ) In front of the hotel was a low circular stone wall. Horse-drawn…