Linkbait Sunday, Mar 15 2015 

gardening , acairfearann 20:12

Following on from an excellent presentation at our Land Trust’s annual meeting* by Dr. Kimberly Stoner from the Ct Ag. experiment station on native bees. I can’t wait for our crocus border! It always attracts the bees and now I know why. (early food source for overwintering bumble bee queens amongst others…and there are many different bumble bee species)

One of the best places for information:

http://www.xerces.org/

Take particular note of the publications menu, a lot of information in it.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I am the Land Conservation Commission Chair on the board for the land trust.

 

It’s raining Saturday, Mar 14 2015 

gardening acairfearann 20:56

And somewhere beneath all those feet of snow, those spring bulbs must be growing.

Gardening is a lot of patience, a lot of hope, for an uncertain reward. In some ways, it is the most honest of many modern individual pursuits. It is an uncertain balance between enjoying the immediate moment: the sunrise, the day lily; and the enjoyment of the potential future: the young tree, the gradual change of the seasons. It is also the past. The trees that have grown and died, the lawns that have risen and fallen.

I am currently reading a rather fun book on the history of tulips (and Tulipmania of course). It is interesting to consider the connection between an Ottoman emir some five hundred years ago, a Dutch merchant, and a gardener today. All hunting that perfect flower and that perfect land. That is a very human connection despite the very different people, very different times, and very different worlds.

 

Shadows Wednesday, Mar 4 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos acairfearann 21:51

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I do like our pergola!

 

Not winter Monday, Feb 23 2015 

gardening acairfearann 21:05

165

I wonder what the experiment will show this year? Right now this section of lawn is under about two feet of hard packed, wind blown snow.  I’ll have to remember to cut the line correctly, sheer happenstance when I did it last year!

 

Cabin Fever Wednesday, Feb 18 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos acairfearann 13:02

Ever noticed how it makes one procrastinate even more?

In lieu of something or other:

012

 

Winter Garden Friday, Feb 13 2015 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , acairfearann 10:49

020

 

Hidden Drive Friday, Jan 30 2015 

gardening and Landscapes acairfearann 09:13

Driveway? What driveway?

007

It is actually there, just beyond the young spruce. You are looking north across it. The odd, low evergreen is the Sargent’s Weeping Hemlock, looking flatter than usual due to ice. The curvy snag dead center is on the other side of the driveway. It actually is alive, it is a badly broken black cherry, I really need to prune its top if I am going to keep it.

 

Amaryllis Saturday, Jan 10 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 20:09

023

This was last year actually, so far this year both ‘Apple Blossoms’ are blooming, a deep red is definitely going to, and we will see about the rest. We tried marking them last year, but the markers are now illegible!

They spend the summer outside, (happy and green in the shade), a few months in the basement (dark and dry), and then spring into life in the winter with the judicious application of radiators and water. We even have babies from seed.  Have no idea how that will work. They do pretty well, the red one in the photo above was a surprise last year. We had kept him for years, but he hadn’t bloomed in quite some time, and then last year he finally decided to once again. The ones you buy at the store are awfully confused for several years.

 

Still cold Thursday, Jan 8 2015 

gardening acairfearann 18:36

well not really if one has lived a few years in Ontario. But, for the plants that one grows here….it is cold.  Actually, except for the hydrangeas (and agh! the roses), it will likely be a benefit as -6 F for a few hours should set some of the nasty bugs back. I am talking about you, wooly adelgid.

I finally turned my radiator on in my room, I thought seeing my breath was a bit much.

The new heater for the fish pond…well, less said the better. The fish are fine, but not because of the heater.

Otherwise, the indoor plants are happy, all of the jasmine have flowers. The amaryllis (which we can’t get to bloom At Christmas, though one did open on the 12th day of Christmas) are perking along, though we won’t have 100% bloom this year.

I know, gardening, all gardening 100% of the time, I’ll get back to history at some point here….

 

 

 

Tulip Tree! Thursday, Dec 18 2014 

gardening , acairfearann 21:09

Out of season, but I was looking for something else and came across this photo of the tulip tree looking like, well, a tulip this fall! They are lovely, fast growing, potentially massive trees. It is probably the ‘massive’ part that makes them a bit difficult for people these days. The New York Botanical Garden has an allee of single trunked, mature specimens which is just spectacular.

Around here, they are very common in the woods: eighty feet straight up with nary a curve. This one, for whatever reason, developed a low double leader, which may limit its height. Not a bad thing, they can hit 120 feet, which even for me is a bit of a muchness. This one is perhaps forty five years old and is about sixty five feet tall.

IMG_5975

 

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