Books
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Books, Container Gardening, Succulents, Succulents in Containers
You Can Judge This Beauty By Its Cover! Stylish Succulents: Summer Book Review
Stylish Succulents – Beautiful and Brainy It’s that time of year again: summer heat has taken its toll on neglected pots of annuals, your house-sitter forgot to water the hanging baskets, and the gorgeous Dahlias out by the pool were beheaded by deer. It’s mid-July, summer is just getting started! Now what? Well, let’s hope […]
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Books, Japan, Kyoto, Tea Gardens, Travel, Zen Gardens
Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto: Planning Garden-Destination Travel
A Tea Garden at Koto-In, from Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto. Photograph: John Einarsen Almost every passionate, ornamental gardener has a dream destination file; a box, drawer or folder filled with clipped photos, articles and maps of exotic landscapes waiting to be explored. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been caching field […]
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Books, Old Roses, Roses, shrubs, Vintage Roses
Vintage Roses. Oh. Vintage Roses . . .
Vintage Roses: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden There are books a gardener buys to further her education; design specific titles or academic tomes covering the nitty gritty details of horticulture like entomology, botany and soil science. Practical books. Then there are the books a gardener orders just for sheer, visual pleasure. This latter group […]
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Art Inspired by Nature, Artful Garden Objects, Asian Natives, Bonsai, Books, Decorating Ideas, Dish Gardens, Environmental Art, Ferns, Garden projects for kids, Gardening Inspirations, Gifts for Gardeners, Ground Covers, Hanging Baskets, Home, House Plants, Indoor Eden, Indoor Gardening, Indoor Table Arrangements, Japanese-inspired Gardens, Kokedama, Moss, Planting Techniques, Plants for shade, Plants for Texture, Terrariums
Create a Verdant Indoor Eden with Miniature Moss Gardens: Book Review
Miniature Moss Gardens: Create Your Own Japanese Container Gardens These last few weeks of winter can be the longest and gloomiest of the season. Just when the witch hazel begins to bloom, five inches of snow will fall and smother her glorious, golden petals. Late February and early March is my favorite time of the […]
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Books, Container Gardening, Cookbooks, Cooking, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Gardening without Lawn, Herb Gardening
Spring Planning with Rosalind Creasy’s ‘The Edible Herb Garden’
The Edible Herb Garden, Rosalind Creasy It’s late January. The ground is frozen, the hills are grey-brown and the garden is covered in ice. Convincing clients that now is the best time to create a landscape design for spring planting has never been easy. But it’s smart to begin now —when the snow is piled […]
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Books, Garden Art, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Japanese-inspired Gardens, Stone Sculpture, stonework
Visionary Landscapes: Japanese Garden Design in North America
The calming nature of Zen gardens and the allure of Japanese-style has been enchanting and seducing landscape designers and gardeners throughout the wider world for well over 150 years. Stepping into a Japanese-inspired courtyard is the perfect antidote to a day spent in crowded subways, noisy streets and stressful work environments. We crave quiet and […]
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Books, companion planting, Cookbooks, Cooking, Gifts for Gardeners, Gourmet Garden, Kitchen, Planting Techniques, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison, Plus a Springtime-Fresh Garden Recipe: Peas with Baked Ricotta & Breadcrumbs
Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison As organic vegetable gardeners, we know how important it is to become familiar with the various plant families and to develop an understanding of how they relate to one another in the garden. Botanical knowledge is key to avoiding many pests, diseases and cultural problems. Having recently reviewed the topics […]
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Books, Canning, Cookbooks, Garlic, Herb Gardening, Preserving, Preserving Herbs, Putting Food By, Recipes, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Dilly Dallying in the Pickled Beans: An Intro to Canning with Jennifer Audette
Delicious Dilly Beans Dilly Beans: Easy Entrance to the World of Canning    Guest Author - Jennifer Audette Here in New England, a moment exists each growing season when the stars align and your local farmstand, farmer’s market or (if you’re really amazing), own garden suddenly has all the necessary ingredients for the first batch […]
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Annual Flowers, annuals, Books, Color in the Garden, companion planting, Container Gardening, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Gardening Inspiration, Pots, Pots and Pottery, Succulents, Succulents in Containers, Un-Flower Pots, Urns and Vessels
Pots in the Garden: Designing, Planting & Placing Containers in the Landscape… Part One: An Introduction to Color!
Weathered to Sweet Perfection: The Red-Orange Hue of an Old Terra Cotta Urn Complements a Carpet of Springtime Blues (Muscari armeniacum in foreground and Phlox divaricata in background) Late spring is the time of year when I begin planting and placing pots in the garden. Over the years, I’ve amassed quite a collection of urns, […]
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Bark, Books, Garden Maintenance, pruning, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Tree Care, Trees, Winter, Winter Garden, Winter Gardening, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
Mild Days & Mid-Winter Pruning
Although the Ice and Snow are Beautiful, Winter Damage Must be Cleaned Up Every Year & Now is the Best Time to Tackle Major Structural Tasks (Above: Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’) … Although the old “prune in June” rule applies to certain woody plants in some situations —-those that blossom in early spring, such as lilacs […]
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Apples, Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Fruit for home gardens, Fruit Trees, New England, Orchards / Orchard Keeping, Recipes
Dorie Greenspan’s Simply Delicious French Cake with Heirloom Apples …
Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake from Dorie Greespan’s Wonderful Book of Recipes, Around My French Table I awoke this past Sunday morning with a kitchen full of heirloom apples from Scott Farm Orchard and nothing more important to do than brew a pot of coffee and bake a special birthday cake. No problem, right? Well, I suppose […]
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Bee-Friendly Gardens, Birds, Books, companion planting, Early spring flowering plants, Early Spring Garden Plants, Ferncliff, Native Plants, Naturalistic Garden Design, Nature, New England, Perennial Close-Ups, Plant Spotlight, Plants for shade, Secret Gardens, Shade Gardening, Spring Ephemerals, Wildflowers and Meadows, Woodland plants
Ephemeral Woodland Wildflowers & Return of the Ethereal Hermit Thrush…
Red Trillium (Trillium erectum) There’s no place quite like New England for experiencing three seasons in one day. Sunday morning I rose to find a chilly house and snow covered gardens. Soon –with the sun shining brightly outside– temperatures soared to 63°. Breakfast in the snowy garden … Well, why not? I threw open the entryway […]
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Books, Bowls, cactus, Container Gardening, Decorating Ideas, Decorating the Garden, Exotic Plants, Ferncliff, Garden Art, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Indoor Gardening, Inspirational Gardens, Plant Propagation, Plant Spotlight, Plants for sun, Plants for Texture, Pots, rock garden plants, scree gardens, Studio Garden, Succulents, Tropical Plants, Unusual Plants, Urns and Vessels
Dusting Off, Cleaning Out, Taking Stock & Getting Ready for Gardening Season… Plus Another Giveaway!
The bright gold of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is a cheerful welcome in a chair beside my front door. I like using natural baskets as decorative covers for inexpensive, recycled plastic flower pots. I do a similar thing with plants placed outside in summer, using everything from wooden crates and baskets to tin cans and flea market […]
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Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Cooking with Kids, Recipes, The Seasons, Winter
Vanilla Sky & Blueberry Breakfast…
Hot Popover Pancake with Summertime Blueberries Pulled from the Freezer Blue sunrise. This morning I awoke to find every windowpane blasted with frozen droplets of water from last night’s winter storm. Thunder, lighting, snow and freezing rain; it seems all four seasons passed through New England yesterday in the blink of an eye. And today […]
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Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Holiday Gifts for the Gardening Cook…
Gifts for the Gardening Cook I was out holiday shopping yesterday afternoon in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, and I found myself drifting like a snowflake —in and out of book shops and kitchen stores—dreaming of springtime gardens and fresh, leisurely meals on the sun-drenched terrace. Of course —as usual— while checking off my gift-list, I had […]
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Beneficial Animals and Insects, Books, Insects/Entomology, Late Autumn Garden, The Seasons
Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home…
Ladybird beetles seeking shelter in my studio siding for winter’s hibernation “Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home. You’re house is on fire, your children have flown”… Oh my goodness, but how that little ditty always freaked me out as a kid. Even now, although I do love it —especially when sung in a hushed and raspy […]
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Books, Bulbs, Ferncliff, Ferns, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Paths
Buried Treasures: From Ruby Tulips & Golden Narcissus, to Sapphire Bluebells, Some of Springtime’s Loveliest Jewels are Planted in the Cool, Autumn Earth…
A tisket, a tasket, a basket full of Narcissus. These bulbs were planted last autumn in my garden… Anticipation. True gardeners really know how to revel in the wait. We are, essentially, pleasure-delayers. Gardening differs from many modern-day activities in one significant way: it is not an instant gratification activity. Not at all. Gardeners do […]
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Annual Flowers, annuals, Books, Garden projects for kids, Plant Propagation, Plant Science, Seed- Saving, Seeds, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Closing the Circle: Save Your Seeds! Special Guest Post by John Miller ….. Plus Seed Saving Books & Resources
It may only be September, but guest-blogger John Miller of the Old Schoolhouse Plantery is already thinking about next spring… Come January, the main horticultural activity for many gardeners —myself included— is thumbing through the newly arrived seed catalogues; dreaming of warm summer days and freshly-picked produce from the garden. A trip to the supermarket […]
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Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Dining Outdoors, Ferncliff, Garden Rooms, Gourmet Garden, Potatoes, Recipes, Seeds, Terraces, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Dinner in the Sun-Drenched Garden… New Potatoes in a Bistro-Style Salad: Pommes À L’Huile from Patricia Wells
Pommes À L’Huile – Warm Potato Salad with Fresh Herb Vinaigrette Late Summer Dinner on the Terrace There’s something absolutely delicious about the last weekend in August. What brings on this delightfully hypnotic, wonderfully relaxing mood? Perhaps it’s the warmth of the sun radiating from the stone-slab terrace, or maybe it’s the color of the […]
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annuals, Books, Cookbooks, Cooking, Freezing Produce, Gourmet Garden, Herb Gardening, Preserving, Preserving Herbs, Storing Winter Vegetables, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Preserving the Harvest: Fresh-Frozen Herbs in Oil, Butter, Broth or Water…
Frozen Herb Cubes with Olive Oil: Photographs Copyright Michaela Medina – thegardenerseden.com At six o’clock this morning, I was rather annoyed to be awakened by a gang of squawking bluejays. But when I rose, I discovered a beautiful rainbow on the western horizon. Suddenly, I found myself feeling more than grateful for the wake-up call […]
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Books, Decorating the Garden, Dining Outdoors, Furniture, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Dining Rooms, Garden Rooms, Gardening Inspiration, Glamorous Gardens, Home, Inspirational Gardens, Lighting, Outside Architecture, Pergolas and Arbors
Inspiration Provence: Romantic Gardens, Casual, Country-Style Furnishings & Candlelit Dinners Beneath the Stars…
Michel Klein’s Garden – Image â“’ Provence Interiors by Lisa Lovatt-Smith Provence… What an incredibly evocative word. Even the sound of the letters, rolling sensuously across the tongue, seems to magically slow time. The Mediterranean landscape seduces with golden light; teasing as it flickers through massive plane trees. My memories of southern France are bound […]
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