Bienvenu au Blog du GVAG

The drive ran in front of the hotel, barely visible on the far right of this old postcard.

Planting in Circles: The Yin/Yang

One of the first projects I tackled after we moved into Glen Villa in the late 1990s was what has become the Yin/Yang. A low, circular stone wall on the Big Lawn was full of overgrown highbush cranberry bushes. (I wish I had a photo to show you, but I don’t.) I loved the bushes with their…

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The upper field is full of buttercups in late spring.

Shrubs and Deer Fences: What Works and What Doesn’t

It seems I’ve been travelling forever. First almost a month in Italy (yes, it was wonderful), then a week in Toronto for the Garden Bloggers’ Fling (exhausting and wonderful), then a week with my sister for some together time on Long Island and in New York City (hot, humid and wonderful). Bur finally I’m home…

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The view to Villa I Tatti from the lowest terrace in the Italian garden.

I Tatti: A Garden Review

The Italian Villa I Tatti sits in the foothills east of Florence in a stony landscape pockmarked by quarries that supplied the pietra serena for Renaissance Florence. Built in the 16th century and renovated in the early 1900s for the American art dealer Bernard Berenson and his wife Mary Pearsall Smith, the villa and garden located…

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A poplar tree that grew at my grandparents

Following my Tree: June

Sometimes trees are part of a forest, sometimes they stand alone. As a child, the lone tree at the top of the field by my grandparents’ house in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia was a beacon, calling me out of the fenced farmyard and into adventure. The fact that it was a forbidden destination only…

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Sarah Nixon demonstrates how she uses locally grown flowers in a casual arrangment.

My Luscious Backyard

I’m in Toronto, Ontario for the annual get-together of garden lovers who write online about gardens and gardening. This is the eighth Garden Bloggers Fling — and it’s an exhausting and exhilarating few days of garden visits and garden talk. Our program started earlier this week with a visit to a downtown Toronto garden where…

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