Just Trying To Blend In

Often, the greatest entertainment in a garden comes not from the plants, but from unexpected sources.

Monadnock Region Open Days 2012

Don't forget that the Open Days garden tour for the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire is coming up this Saturday and Sunday, June 30th-July 1.

Color Bursts

Many of the iris, like this one that's just about to open, are still blooming.

Wet weather during the past several weeks has not been ideal for many of the early summer flowering plants. Some have gotten waterlogged and others have been totally flattened by heavy downpours. Nevertheless, having a diversity of plant life is one way to ensure that there will be a variety of color throughout the garden, regardless of what Mother Nature dishes out. Here's a look at a few of the plants that have been providing the color around here over the past week or so.

Birds In The Garden

Photo of Yellow Bellied Sapsucker courtesy Dominic Sherony for Wikipedia.org

I always thought that having plenty of birds in the garden was a good thing.  Well, not always.

Thinking of You: A Walk Around the Garden and Some Plant-Triggered Memories

Things are beginning to flower all over the garden now, adding splashes of color here and there.  It's nice to see something other than solid green for a change.  It's the peak of rhododendron color for us this week.  Flower buds, like those in the photo above, have finally opened completely.  We inherited many of our ancient rhododendrons from Mrs. Parker, the previous owner who lived here for many years, and their bright and bold colors always remind us of her.  There is a huge mass of them completely lining the west side of the house that are such a deep pink that when viewed as a whole they appear almost cherry red.

Out Now

In the Fall, we plant plastic pots with tulip bulbs, cover them with wire screen to keep the rodents out, and then heel them into vacant raised beds in the potager where they spend the winter.  Then, in the Spring, we simply remove them and pop them right into clay pots to provide some early color around the garden.  To see more of what's out in the garden right now, read on.

Turning Over A New Leaf: How Senescence, Marcesence, and A Little Immaturity All Make For A Greener World

New England gardeners always feel a little behind the curve in the Spring.  When gardeners further south have already moved well beyond spring bulbs and ephemerals, our trees are just beginning to show signs of green.  Well, I'm happy to say that it feels like we are catching up just a little, as things are really leafing out here now.  And, some of the new, emerging foliage on the trees and shrubs can be quite striking.  You see many more different shades of leaf color this time of year than you will see at the height of summer when the leaves are mature; the variation in hues only being surpassed in the autumn.  Here in the New England forest, we are lucky to have such a diversity of tree and shrub species that provide an endless variety of leaf size, form and color.

Hellebores Galore

I have often said that if I were only allowed to have one flowering plant, it would probably be a hellebore.  What's not to love about this plant?  It has beautiful glossy green foliage that hangs around all winter, it's amazingly frost resistant, the deer seem to hate it, and its flowers come in the most delicious colors that run the gamut from creamy whites, through deep pinks and purples, to almost black.

Rachel's Garden- Lavender

For more art from Rachel's Garden, click here.

To see what this is all about, click here.

Cirque du Swift

This past Thursday, Swift Corwin made his annual appearance here to do some tree pruning and cleanup from winter damage.  Watching him perform his craft is a little like watching an act from Cirque du Soleil; and just as breathtaking!  He travels through the treetops moving from tree to tree without ever touching the ground.  There are no ladders, no cranes, no booms, baskets, or cherry pickers. Only a rope, some safety rigging, and one strong and agile young arboreal acrobat who clearly doesn't suffer from acrophobia.