Barnsley House

What lovely inspiration in this video! Especially on a rainy day!

Lavender Wands

It's time! The lavender is ready to harvest. Mom and I made wands on Monday and Sewfisticated in Somerville had a lovely sale on ribbon, so here we go!

Here are some lovely instructions for making lavender wands.

Another fine local garden - Brookline

If you're in the neighborhood, do go and see the Minot Rose Garden in Brookline. It's just glorious! There are shady benches facing the roses that are perfect for a picnic. And the arch covered by climbing roses seems to be just the spot for a nap - if you're in a stroller, that is.

There are some lovely different varieties, and, though some are modern cultivars, they have lovely scents! So pick a warm day, pick up a picnic from the Clear Flour bakery nearby, and then give in to the heady scent of about 200 roses!

An embarrasment of riches

I wish it was June all year round! I filled many many vases with rose buds and put three on each flat surface of my home, but it still was just nearly enough. It is such a beautiful June, even with the rain. We found a bunch of mushrooms growing by the far wall. It's funny the way everything seems to enjoy a cool, wet spring - roses, foxgloves, mushrooms. The lavender will be blooming in another week!

The June garden is beginning - roses and more roses

The foxgloves survived!

The foxgloves survived their weedwhacker assault and then their abduction from the dangerous path they were trying to inhabit. Whew! Now just another 200 to transplant. Did anyone else have a foxglove year? My mother-in-law had new foxgloves in surprising places too.

The cutting garden!

We've dreamt of turning the bricked terrace in back of the potting shed into a cutting garden, with space for extra plants when things croak out in the front gardens.

And now we've done it! Mom's planted plenty of irises that needed a home, some lambs ears that were getting in the way under the york rose. Now I've contributed about 100 orphaned foxgloves, who sowed themselves into a gravel path and were almost murdered by an overly enthusiastic weed whacker. They have roots, even if they don't have a lot of leaves!

Catching up with Spring

Even if it's May, I still have to document the lovely spring we had! At least before it's summer.

The crocuses had a banner year. They spread further on the lawn than we've ever seen them. Mom and I debated adding yellow into the mix but decided to wait on it for now. We still haven't found out what variety of crocuses they are - despite Anna's bulb book. Not species - they're too big.



The scilla looked lovely as always, but are slowly creeping toward the neighbor's yard. All the chinodoxa already moved next door - I don't want to lose the scilla too!







As you can see - we had a wild winter with lots of branches down! One large limb on the maple in front, but no damage to the Japanese dogwoods or the pear trees. The pear trees didn't really bloom this year. They must be taking a break.

Pelargonium Heaven!

Mom and I have started collecting pelargoniums! They are the most giving plants. They winter beautifully, thanks to Mom's green thumb, in the sunny window upstairs at Dorothy's With some food, they bloom lovely pink blossoms with a spicy scent.

Another good read - Bulb by Anna Pavord

Hiding from the pollen for the past few weeks, and missing the tulips desperately, I dove into Anna Pavord's book, Bulb. It's big and heavy and full of varieties that make you drool.

Look up the Lilium Martagon or the whole allium section. I was flipping between John Scheeper's catalogue's price list and Anna's book. I think I'll be going in debt for bulbs this fall!