A New Year

It is hard to believe that we have been in our new home for a year. A new granddaughter was born last August and along with her brother has kept my wife and me very busy.   The garden has come along nicely  and I am looking forward to making more progress this year.  More woody plants are needed to give the garden some structure and these will be underplanted with shade perennials and bulbs.  I put in quite a few bulbs (mostly minor bulbs) last Fall and am anticipating a colorful Spring.  With many catalogs arriving daily I will be devoting my spare time to working on plant orders.

Update

I am finally getting a chance to post on my blog.  All the major projects are done for this year on our new home.  The roof was replaced along with a new heating and cooling system.  The worst one(for me) was tearing out the sidewalk to our front door which was twice as thick as it needed to be.  I did most of it with a sledge hammer. The new entryway is bluestone enclosed on two sides with a stonewall and boxwood.  I ripped out the overgrown foundation planting and replaced it with more interesting plants.  I still have a shrub border to finish this summer.

  Our biggest joy has been spending time with our grandson who just turned two.  He loves the outdoors and has great time in the dirt.  He also loves to go for walks with us and study the world around him. 

Spring at North Hill

Adonis

Last Saturday I spent the afternoon roaming around the gardens at North Hill in Southern Vermont.  This was a real treat since this  marks the first time the garden has been open to the public so early in the season.( This year the garden will be open every Friday and Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. through October).  The weather was perfect for the last day of April.  There were many small treasures blooming throughout the garden.  A nice seletion of Corydalis solida were still in bloom and the hellebores were at their best.  The most spectacular show was the thousands of daffodils planted in the upper meadow backed by a row of forsythia.

Hacquetia epipactis

The New Shade Garden

I spent the last week working on and off on the new shade garden . I had ordered compost and three pallets of stone the previous week for the project.  The hardest part was digging through all the tree roots.  With its southern exposer and high shade this area will be ideal for many of the spring emphemerals that I grow.  I had saved quite a few plants from my old garden which were wintered over in a friends garden.  I  put a small water feature  in the lower wall  which will add a nice sound of water in the background and give the birds a place to drink.

Early Spring at Berkshire Botanical Garden

 

Yesterday I went to hear Page Dickey speak at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge Massechucetts  She gave a great talk called Embroidered Ground (which is also the name of her new book) which delt with her 29 year old garden and how it has changed over the years.  After the program I walked around the gardens checking out the early bulbs and hellebores in bloom. 

Spring

Spring has finally reach us in upstate New York.  The early bulbs are blooming and the snow has departed.  My wife and I have cleaned up most of the yard and I have started some new gardens.  My plant orders will be arriving the second week of April.  The next step is to order soil and compost for the new beds.

Cold

This winter has been snowy and cold so far. We are supposed to go well below zero tonight.  The month of January has been a snowy one with at least one storm a week.  As much as I dislike winter it does give me time to read other blogs, study garden catalogs and work on upcoming talks that  I am giving this year.    I am having a half dozen  trees cut down that were in bad shape or in a bad location.  This will allow me  room to add  shrubs and smaller trees to help form the bones of the new garden.  

  

Moved In

We moved into our new house two weeks ago but just got Internet today. My first project was setting up my plant room in the basement.  The little cuttings and stock plants are now happy under lights waiting for Spring. The yard here has a lot of potential and I will spend the next few months planning the new garden. (also repainting the inside of our new home) The first big job next Spring will the front the house which will need a complete make over.  I still don't understand why people allow their foundation plantings to become overgrown..  The yew on the right blocks part of the garage door.  I will save the Rhododendron and make use of it somewhere else in the yard.

Moving On

After 22 years of living and gardening in the same place my wife and I have decided to move.  We are relocating less than an hour  away to live near our grandson.  Moving the contents of a house is hard enough but add the possesions of  a passonate gardener and life gets complicated.  Garden tools, pots, and other things are being stored at different places till Spring.  I potted up some plant material before the house was sold and heeled it in at a freinds garden for the winter. Many choice plants are being left behind but generous freinds have offered me divisions from their gardens next Spring.  Some  people think that I am crazy to leave my garden but I am looking foward to designing and building a new one. The new place is ideal for a shade garden which also happens to be my main interest. I will keep the garden smaller so my wife and I will have more time for family and travel.(Visiting other gardens)  The hardest part will be restraining my urge to keep adding more gardens and aquiring to many plants,                                                                                                

Sunday in November

Visit to North Hill

With the heat and drought this Summer I haven't spent much tme in the garden except for basic maintenance  The garden still looks pretty good despite the lack of attention.  Last Saturday  I took a ride over to neighboring Vermont to see one of the finest private gardens around.  The home of garden writers and designers Joe Eck and Wayne Winterwrrowd, North Hill is a spectacular garden carved out of New England forest over the last 30 years. A blend of formal and informal this garden is not only well designed but also contains a wonderful collection of many rare plants.  I have been visiting this garden every year for the past twenty years and never tire of it. The garden sits on a south facing slope and incudes a rock garden, many shade gardens a number of garden rooms and an amazing vegatable garden.  What I really like about this garden is the little details such as the carefully placed pots around the garden and the standards on the small terace.  There is a water feature tucked  along a path in one of the shade gardens.  Every detail is well thought out in this wonderful garden.

Cyclamen purpurascens

When it comes to hardy cyclamen most gardeners think of c. coum or c. hederifolium but for  northern gardeners cylamen purpurascens is the one that works best (at least for me).  I purchased mine about three years ago from the now closed Seneca Hill Perennials.  Nestled between epimediums and some helllebores , this cyclamen blooms every summer for at least two months.   Since it is evergreen I loosely cover it  with a few boughs of hemlock or pine  for a little extra protection during the winter.  Last year a small number of seedlings appeared near the mother plant. They should start blooming in a few years. 

After fours days in the 90's we got a slight break today.  Most of the time this past week was watering and more watering.  The rain last night help somewhat but we need more.  With the lack of attention due to the weather the garden has gotten a little unruly.  Hopefully tomorrow I can tackle the weeds and do some edging,  The daylilies are hitting their stride and bringing lots of color to the garden. I tend to favor the reds and oranges over the softer colors.  Some of the species lilies are also starting to come into flower.

Late June Ramblings

Last night we had a good soaking rain which perked up the garden.  Many of the mid summer perennials are starting to bloom now along with the annuals I planted. in May. One of my favorite clematis 'Betty Corning' is at peak bloom.  This past month has been a busy one in and out of the garden.  A few weeks ago I visited two wonderful gardens in upstate New York, hosted a garden tour a week later and finally last Friday went to the North Hill Symposium in Vermont. The Symposium is put on by Wayne Winterrowd and Joe Eck two inspiring garden writers and garden designers. The speakers this year included Thomas C. Cooper from the Boston area and Fergus Garrett of Great Dixter.  This symposium is always a great place for meeting fellow gardeners and getting new ideas for one's garden. 

Garden Tour

After weeks of  garden prep the day finally came.  I spent five hours answering questions and comparing ideas with fellow gardeners.  The crowd was a nice mix of novice gardeners and serious plant collectors.   It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new gardeners hear about their own gardens.  The Japanese stewartia started blooming earlier this year which was perfect timing for the garden tour.  The stewartia is my favorite tree for the garden with its year around interest.  Many of the potted arisaemas were also in flower on the terrace which attracted a great deal of interest.  With great weather and a nice crowd the tour was a great success for the museum.

Rain

After one of the driest Mays that I can remember we are finally getting much needed rain.  It is pretty strange to see lawns turning brown in the spring.  Every thing is two weeks ahead in the garden.  The good thing is my Japanese Stewartia should be in bloom for the garden tour I  am doing to benefit a local museum.  I love meeting fellow gardeners and sharing my garden with the public. 

Road Trip

The weather has turned very warm and dry for late May. Work and family has kept me from the garden until today.  I spent most of the day weeding,watering, and bringing plants up from the basement. Last Thursday my friend Drew and I took a trip to New York City to see High Line and Wave Hill.  High Line is the old rail line that is above the streets down in the meatpacking district of New York.  Once slated for demolition it is now in the early stages of being turned in to a walkway with gardens.   The first part opened last year and has become very popular.  On the way back we stopped at the gardens at Wave Hill for a quick look. I have been down to see this garden in the Fall a number of times so I was looking forward to seeing it in the Spring.  The garden was beautiful( I wish I had more time.) The staff at both gardens have done a wonderful job keeping everything in great shape.

Cold Night

Last night the temperature dropped to 25 degrees.  Normally this would not be a problem but with our early spring everything was two weeks ahead.  A number of trees and shrubs suffered leaf damage including Magnolia 'Butterflies' and Styrax obassia.  Some varieties of hosta also had frost damage too, but  overall the garden came through fine and the plants will recover.   I won't put any tender plants out for another few weeks.

Daffodils and more

 Spring came fast and furious this year and the garden has never looked better this early.  I have also spent more time in it. The compost pile in the driveway is over half gone. All my Spring flowering trees seem to be in sync this year with the redbud taking center stage right now.  The epimediums should peak this weekend in the back shade garden along with the primroses.

  Last Thursday I went up north to the Adirondacks with my friend Drew (Baneberry Garden Blog) to see thousands of daffodils planted over the last nine years.  Daffodil Dan with his partner Ruth have one hundred acres of woods that they are planting with daffodils ( about 300,000 so far) and other deer proof bulbs.  It was a spectacular sight walking the trails and seeing large swaths of white and yellow scattered under the trees.  While showing us around the woods Dan discussed the management of the woodlot and its soil while Ruth talk about the different kinds of daffodils and their care. (They try to deadhead all the flowers every year.) I think this will become an annual trip.

Spring Beauties