Tag: Designed Garden Journey
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Book Review: ‘The Bartlett Book of Garden Elements’
‘The Bartlett Book of Garden Elements: A Practical Compendium of Inspired Designs for the Working Gardener’ by Michael Valentine Bartlett & Rose Love Bartlett David R. Godine, Boston 2014 $40.00US ISBN 978-1-56792-426-8 When I think of garden elements, images of containers and benches come to mind. The Bartlett’s expanded that notion immediately. In over 1000…
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Sweet Autumn Splendor
The starry mass of the late blooming “Sweet Autumn’ Clematis welcomes visitors to Carlisle Center Park. It’s a great example of vertical gardening with the clematis’ amazing span across the fence. The planting also creates one ‘wall’ of the “outdoor room” I created for the conversation area. The massed plantings flank the benches and create the…
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Autumnal Pink: Alternate Palette
Orange, vermilion, scarlet, burgundy, and yellow–they’re the colors we usually associate with the fall garden palette. We rarely think about pink. As I walked within my garden this morning less than twelve hours from the Fall Equinox, I realized the predominant flower color is pink. And…
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Eary Spring Flowering Bulbs Add Much Needed Color
It happened this morning. I noticed it. Blue tones of black, white, and a range of grey. Textured shapes of sky, clouds and evergreen trees softly back-lit by the sun rising below the trees. Fleeting beauty framed by my bedroom window. Engrossed, I just watched. And then, the thinking crept in. I realized that I…
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Winter Festival in my Garden
Every year I find magic right in my garden after a snowfall. Saturday’s snow was just the right consistency for creating “snow flowers” that last awhile. A little wet so it lingers and when you shovel, you have to pause. What are “snow flowers” you ask? I learned about this concept in a novel I…
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A Leaf Lover’s Fall Foliage Combinations
I’m loving our New England Autumn. The leaves have been turning one by one– here and there– for weeks. Now it’s clumps of yellow, orange, and scarlet, and green gearing up to an amazing crescendo sometime soon. Here’s a few photos taken from my back garden. The garden’s fall foliage design shows off. Enjoy. And…
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Fall in New England
Songwriter Cheryl Wheeler sings “when fall comes to New England, the sun slants in so fine”. Indeed, and misty mornings greet the superb range of coloring in this part- shade garden. Rusts, yellows, greens, and blues all add to the texture of the different plant forms and masses. I always find it amazing that dying…
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Reading this morning’s paper
Reading this morning’s paper, I wonder at what I’m reading. Politics, violent unrest, people saving a farm stand, unique art exhibits that lead one inside oneself. I wonder what to make of what I read. How do i process this? How do I to use this information to make myself more—astute, kind, smarter, creative? Then,…
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Rewards of Composting in a Small Space
Out the kitchen door, to the right off the landing, I’ve positioned the compost bin for easy access. I’m rewarded with views of my back garden and this one of my front. It’s a view of the front I only see from this angle so it’s a treat. Today I was rewarded by pink dianthus…
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Spring Flowers Pull Me Outside
Mid-day yesterday I finally got outside to see what I had been admiring all morning from my office window. Not the best time of day to photograph, but today it’s about what I can share. And I can share my delight in the red tulips that capture my attention with their vivid cheerfulness. Coupled with…