Garden Design Lessons From Nature
There are lessons in garden design everywhere, but especially in natural areas. Here are a few that I was thinking about as I walked our dog in local conservation land. The other thing that the photo above teaches us about garden design is that we are well off when we...
I Love Senorita Blanca Cleome
Name: Cleome hybrid Senorita Blanca Type of Plant: An annual plant from Proven Winners, this is a special version of the garden annual Cleome, which is also called spider flower. This annual grows to about 36” tall and half as wide. The flowers are white but often...
Happy Birthday, Mom
It is fitting that I spent the morning repotting houseplants. It is my mother’s birthday today. Had she not died recently, she would have been 90 years old today. She comes to my mind on so many occasions, of course, but often when plants are involved....
October Garden Orzo Salad
Even as the gardening season moves toward a killing frost there can be a bounty of vegetables to harvest. Today I went into the garden to ask “What’s for dinner?” and here is just part of what I found. This meal is another reminder of the amount of...
I Love Zephyr Summer Squash
Name: Cucurbita pepo ‘Zephyr’ aka zephyr summer squash Type of Plant: A vigorous summer squash that produces delicious tasting squash with nutty flavor and firm texture all summer. I’m talking gangbusters through the summer and into the fall. Why I love...
Crispy Sweet Potato Cake
AKA: What to do with leftover sweet potatoes or yams. I had some garnet yams left over last week, so I decided to make them into cakes. These were so successful that I will go out of my way to prepare them again! Ingredients One large, baked yam or sweet potato cut...
I Love Bloomerang Lilac
Name: Syringa x ‘Penda’ aka Bloomerang® Purple Lilac Type of Plant: A re-blooming lilac shrub, hardy in Zones 3-7 Why I love this: There are many reasons to love this lilac. First of all, it’s smaller in size so you’re not likely to accuse it of “getting...
Fall Garden Pizza
It is late September and I’m still harvesting the freshest, most tasty food on earth. But at this time of year there is less of it. A small summer squash or two instead of ten to twelve. Side shoots of broccoli instead of several large heads. One pepper or...
Open Garden on Wednesday
Tomorrow, September 28th, my gardens will be open for the benefit of the Barnstable Education Foundation. It’s a chance for me to share what we’ve created one last time before fall, an opportunity to fund a few more innovative programs for kids that...