Waiting again...

The snowdrops are up! And were briefly covered in snow yesterday. We spread them around the grounds last year, so the patch is more patchy than usual. One fine experiment - we tried putting a few of the bulbs into a teacup with a little gravel on the bottom. It looked beautiful and they kept for a good week in a cool room

In the meantime, we've been feasting on two new gardening books:

Val Bourne's lovely book the Winter Garden. I like this one best for the wonderful pictures and clear categories of plants. I took a walk around the Arnold Arboretum after reading and felt quite the expert!

Rosemary Verey's The Garden in Winter This book has wonderfully clear instructions about tasks you can get done during Winter when your fingers are itching to go to work in the garden. The pictures are fuzzy but still inspirational.

The forsythia's doing a nice job of forcing this winter - thank heaven!

Enjoy!

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.