Recent Posts
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Artful Garden Objects, Autumn, Berries, Bowls, Celebrations, Cutting Garden, Decorating Ideas, Dried Flowers, Flower arrangements, Flower Seeds, flowering shrubs, Fresh Cut Flowers, Garden Party, Holiday Decorating, Home, Hydrangea, Indoor Table Arrangements, Ornamental Berries and Fruit, ornamental grass, Shrubs for ornamental fruit, The Seasons, Urns and Vessels
Bringing Nature’s Beauty Indoors: Festive Autumn Centerpieces from Garden to Table…
Curious Dinner Companions: Dried Leaves of Sago Palm Add a Light, Golden Touch to Traditional Gourds and White Pumpkins At long last, it seems that the season of feasts and festivities is finally upon us. And like many of you, I am looking for ways to bring the garden’s bounty to my dinner table: pumpkins, […]
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Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Chartreuse, Color in the Garden, companion planting, Ferncliff, Ferns, Foliage, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Paths, Garden Rooms, Gardening without Lawn, Ground Covers, Late Autumn Garden, Native Plants, ornamental grass, Paths and Walkways, Perennial Close-Ups, Perennials for Autumn, Planting Techniques, Plants for shade, Plants for sun, Plants for Texture, rock garden plants, scree gardens, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Succulents, The Seasons, Unusual Plants, Walkways - Stone, Woody Plants
Behold the Beautiful Autumn Tapestry: A Kaleidoscopic Carpet at Our Feet…
Geranium ‘Brookside’ shows off in sensational shades of red and orange in mid-November Near-metallic gleam: Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Brilliance’ (Autumn Brilliance fern) Our native ground-covering Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge) provides beautiful and variable autumn color beneath shrubs along my garden’s entryway and along the shady parts of the path Now that I have accepted the skeletal […]
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Artful Garden Objects, Dried Flowers, Flower arrangements, Flower Seeds, Foliage, Garden Art, Glamorous Gardens, Holiday Decorating, Home, Hydrangea, Indoor Table Arrangements, The Seasons, Tropical Plants, Winter
The Gilded Table: Shimmering Gold Garden Remnants Make Holiday Dinner Settings a Little Bit Glamorous…
The Gilded Table – Golden Sago Palm Leaves by Candlelight Gilded Pine Cones Golden Sago Palm Leaves Shimmer and Glow by Candlelight Candle lit dinners, cocktails by the fire and evenings spent with good friends; it seems like I will be spending less time in wellingtons and more time in high heels this month! Yes, […]
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Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Cooking, Ferncliff, ornamental grass, Paths and Walkways, Recipes, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Shrubs with Colorful Twigs/Stems, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Spicy Cream of Carrot & Ginger Soup And the Last Rays of Golden Sunlight…
Spicy Cream of Carrot & Ginger Soup Alas, another late autumn weekend is drawing to a close; November sun flickering as it slips beyond bare tree-tops. The wood has been stacked, the bulbs all planted and sweet carrots harvested for soup. What a gift, these late-season days of warm weather. I love working in the […]
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Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Autumn Garden Chores, Bulbs, Children - gardening with, Children and Gardening, Color in the Garden, companion planting, Fragrance, Fresh Cut Flowers
November Garden: Late Autumn’s Sunny-Day Chores & Pleasures…
Glowing Tufts of Ornamental Grass (Miscanthus sinensis) My Trusty Old Garden Cart ( from Gardener’s Supply Company ) Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ (Switch Grass) – Golden Color Illuminated by November Sunlight Days of beautifully warm, sunny weather, a free weekend, and a list of end-of-season garden chores = Michaela in Bliss. I’ve had a really […]
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Asian Natives, Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Autumn Garden Chores, Ferncliff, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Maintenance, Garden Rooms, Planting Techniques, Reflections, Rodent Damage Prevention, Secret Garden at Ferncliff, The Seasons, Tree Care, Trees, Trees for Fall Foliage, Unusual Plants, Winter, Winter - Preparations, Winter Garden
Preparing the Garden for Winter: Protect Young, Ornamental & Fruit Trees from Gnawing Rodents…
My young Royal Frost birch (Betula populifolia x Whitespire ‘Royal Frost’) tree’s golden-orange foliage in November Several years ago, when my father had heart surgery at the VA hospital in Boston, I was away from home quite a bit during the last three months of the year. Preoccupied with my dad’s health and juggling various […]
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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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Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Chartreuse, Climbing plants, Color in the Garden, companion planting, Conifers, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Rooms, Hardy shrubs, Japanese Maple, Late Autumn Garden, New England, ornamental grass, Perennials for Autumn, Secret Garden at Ferncliff, shrubs, Shrubs for fall color, Trees for Fall Foliage, Unusual Plants, Water Bowl, Water Features, Woody Plants
The Grand, Fall Foliage Finale: November Photo-Notes from Ferncliff…
Acer palmatum x dissectum ‘Seiryu’ and Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’at the Secret Garden Entry in Early November It seems to me that the first week of November flew by in a complete blur. This morning I awoke to howling wind and the unmistakable sound of sleet blasting the windowpanes. In one short week, the vast majority […]
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Cookbooks, Cooking, Potatoes, Recipes, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
The Never-Ending Vegetable Harvest & Penne with Roasted Potatoes, Arugula and Rosemary…
Penne with Roasted Potatoes, Arugula and Rosemary from Alice Waters’ Classic Cookbook, Chez Panisse Vegetables Ah, New England and the sudden changing of seasons. It really feels like late fall now… There’s even snow and sleet in tomorrow’s weather forecast. S-n-o-w. I feel chilly just typing those letters. The word always has a certain weight […]
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Asian Natives, Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Bee-Friendly Gardens, Butterflies and Moths, companion planting, Fragrance, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Garden Maintenance, Gardening without Lawn, Ground Covers, Hoar Frost, Late Autumn Garden, Plant Spotlight, Planting Techniques, Plants for sun, Plants for Texture, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Woody Plants
Fire and Ice: The Flaming Red Foliage of Abelia Mosanensis Sizzles Beside Cool Blue Juniper Horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’…
Fragrant abelia (Abelia mosanensis) and Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’ (aka ‘The Blue Rug’) They say opposites attract —think Bogie and Bacall, Hepburn and Tracy, Lady and the Tramp, Bert and Ernie— in passionate relationships. Â And it’s certainly true that sparks tend to fly in nature, as well as on the silver screen, when something hot and […]
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Autumn, Native North American Woodlands, Native Plants, Nature, New England, North American Trees, The Seasons, Trees for Fall Foliage, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
Welcome November…
Young American beech (Fagus grandifolia) Â and eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) trees in the November morning mist November. Beech and cottonwood trees —colored butterscotch and rum— warm the misty hills and blue-grey clouds. The season has changed -almost overnight. At night the wood stove flickers and glows and the smell of pumpkin pie and mulled cider […]
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Celebrations, Halloween, Photographers, Spiders, Tim Geiss
Things Getting A Little Creepy ? Wishing You a Happy Halloween !
Jumping Spider (Araneae salticidae) Photograph â“’ Tim Geiss at poltergeiss.com We only look scary! These arachnids are a gardener’s friends. Although some spiders are venomous, most are environmentally beneficial creatures worthy of our respect and protection. Read more about the predatory jumping spider (Araneae Salticidae) —a common ‘guest’ in houses— Â and the soil-dwelling red velvet […]
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Ferncliff, Gnomes, Halloween, Secret Garden at Ferncliff, Secret Garden Room, Secret Gardens
All Seems Tranquil in This Garden …. But Beware: Things Change When Darkness Falls
A Pretty Little Pumpkin Sits in a Seasonal Display… And a Sweet Garden Gnome Rests, Nestled Amongst Over-Wintering Plants and Garden Treasures. It All Seems so Peaceful. But even Gnomes have secret desires, jealousies and ambitions. And sometimes, when you least expect it… It’s Night of the Living Gnome… He Has Another Side… He’s Been […]
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Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Bee-Friendly Gardens, Butterflies and Moths, Early Spring Garden Plants, Ferncliff, Forcing Branches in Winter, Gothic Garden, Halloween, Hamamelis, Hardy shrubs, Honeybee Friendly Gardening, Hummingbird/Butterfly, Late Autumn Garden, Native North American Woodlands, Native Plants, New England, Plant Spotlight, Plants for shade, Secret Garden at Ferncliff, Secret Garden Room, shrubs, Shrubs for fall color, Shrubs for Winter Interest, Shrubs/Trees for Forced Flowers, Trees for Fall Foliage, Vermont, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
Must Be The Season Of The Witch…
“When I look out my Window, Many sights to see. And when I look out my window, So many different people to be …That it’s strange, so strange.” “You’ve got to pick up every stitch, You’ve got to pick up every stitch, You’ve got to pick up every stitch …Mm, must be the Season of […]
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Autumn, Autumn Color in the Garden, Chartreuse, Ferncliff, Flower Seeds, Flowering Trees, Foliage, Native North American Woodlands, Native Plants, North American Trees, Plant hunting, Plant Spotlight, Plants for Texture, Raindrops, Woodland plants, Woody Plants
Golden Autumn Beauty & Springtime Silverbells: Our Native and Ever-Graceful Halesia tetraptera…
The Golden Leaves and Rusty Drupes of North American Native Halesia tetraptera, (Carolina Silverbell or Mountain Silverbell) Carolina silverbell. With a name like that, you’d invite her into your garden for the poetry alone, wouldn’t you? I did. Well, sort-of. Although I was familiar with the silverbell clan, I wasn’t really sure of which Halesia […]
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Autumn, Celebrations, Corn Mazes, Farm Events, Garden Science, Halloween, Mazes and Labyrinths, New England, Plant Science, Plant Spotlight, Planting Techniques, Vermont
“He Who Walks Behind the Rows”… Lost in a Labyrinth of Stalks & Tassels: Exploring the Art of the Corn Maze
“He Who Walks Behind the Rows”… Clouds gather, dark and low on the horizon. The daylight is fading. You’ve been driving through miles of cornfields and back country roads. Suddenly, something  —a child?— darts across the cracked pavement and into the corn rows. Immediately, you pull over and step from the warmth of your car. […]
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Ferncliff, Nature, North American Trees, Trees for Fall Foliage, Vermont, Woodland plants
October in Vermont: The Painted Forest
Red maple (Acer rubrum) with golden colored striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum), paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and American beech (Fagus grandifolia) A week of notes from the Vermont forest, where the kaleidoscope of color changes from day to day and hour to hour. Scarlet red maples leaves, now fallen and scattered about the mossy paths, swirl […]
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Autumn Color in the Garden, Color in the Garden, Foliage, Garden Design, Garden Design Photos, Naturalistic Garden Design, Plants for Light Effects, Plants for Texture, Shrubs for fall color, The Seasons, Trees for Fall Foliage
Autumn Light…
Edge of daylight… Autumn light, like golden honey dripping from branches, sweetens the chill of mid-October days. A stroll through the garden reveals a sunlit patch of earth —still empty. My eye follows the low rays, looking for opportunities to play with light and texture; a potential spot for a luminous shrub, feathery grass or […]
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Electric Garden Tools, garden tools, Gardening Inspiration, Green Living
The Electric Gardener: Guest Post by Ted Dillard of The Electric Chronicles…
“Get that evil, oily, smelly, loud machine out of my garden!† This was the response I got from a dear friend and gardener, as I pointed my 1967 Gravely tractor with the “Power Plow†attachment –– a tool that can only be described as a food processor for soil–– towards the task of turning her […]
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Cookbooks, Cooking, Nature, Recipes, The Seasons, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetable Gardening/Potager
Harvest Gold: Sweet, Sauteed Butternut Squash and Yam with Warm Spices…
Autumn nights are growing colder now; wood smoke curling from chimney-tops on still evenings. And although still vibrant, the forest is slowly shifting from red and orange to burnished bronze and rust. On walks along woodland paths, fallen leaves carpet the floor, and my feet kick up a familiar, October-crunch. Radiant as stained glass, the […]
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Beneficial Animals and Insects, Dragonflies, Nature, organic gardening, Organic Insect Control, The Seasons
I Spy a Beautiful, Scarlet-Red Dragonfly! Meet the Autumn Meadowhawk…
An Autumn Meadowhawk Dragonfly (Odonate sympetrum vicinum) Rests in the October Sun Look, it’s a red dragonfly! Actually, to be specific, this dragonfly is commonly known as an Autumn Meadowhawk (Odonate sympetrum vicinum). I got so excited when I saw this beautiful creature lighting beside me on a lichen-covered stone the other day, that I […]
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