Magazine Gardening

Awesome Blog Alert:  Dirt Simple.  I think it's a sort of acronym for landscape designer Deborah Silver of the Greater Detroit area.  From what I can tell her clients are pretty wealthy and the design is mostly quite formal, definitely not my style.  However, this blog is a wealth of information about all things garden-related, from design to horticulture.  I highly recommend it.  Her container plantings are spectacular and I'm sure you'll glean some inspiration from them.

Her colleague, Rob, describes magazine gardening as that which shows no evidence of sloppy living.  Clipped, edited, staged, divorced from reality.  I bring this up because last weekend we went to four gardens on the Garden Conservancy Open Days schedule.  Our first garden was Margaret Roach's, of A Way to Garden blog fame.  I never really got into this blog, somehow.  I think it's the format.  If I can't peruse it easily it's not enjoyable for me to read.  However, she has a huge following, and is quite personable.  Two surprises, though:  her garden is not that large, and the back of the property rises quite steeply.  I asked my mother if she preferred going uphill or downhill (she complains about going down the steps to my back garden).

Margaret's front yard.

From way up the hill.

 Her house was built in the 1880's but the clapboards were perfectly smooth so I'm guessing they're new?

The next "house" was actually an estate that had been turned over to the State of New York.  It was way up high  in the mountains, in horse country.  It had various formal garden rooms, but I didn't feel well at this point so I didn't take any pictures.  I did see a Monarch butterfly in the cutting garden, though.  I haven't seen one in a long time.

The next house was kind of "jungle-y," again - not my style.  She said she was creating a native landscape.  A lot of her plantings seemed huge, and crowded.  But it was obviously well cared for.

The last house was Lynden Miller's house in Sharon, Connecticut.  She is a garden design who's worked at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  I saw her garden in Fine Gardening magazine. The pictures in this article made it seem like her garden was huge.  It was not.  It's changed some from the pictures but it's still beautiful.  I was also surprised that her house was on a busy street.

Of course I had to take pictures of her house.

 This garden was lovely - my favorite.

Bridge of Flowers

I've been a bad blogger. There've been a lot of things to say but no motivation to post. I've been in somewhat of a funk. I had planned on painting the porch this summer and doing some repairs, but per usual it's taken a lot more time than I anticipated. So I was finally at a point to start when I discovered that one of the footings had broken in half. The repairs will be astronomical, why I'm not sure.

Anyway, in July we went to this gorgeous place in the Berkshires in a village called Shelburne Falls. I believe Bill Cosby lives there. It's beautiful in every season, and well-maintained. It was built in 1908 as a trolley bridge.

There was construction going on.

The color of this delphinium is incredible.

I believe this is the town of Buckland.

It's Berry Season!

Strawberries weren't that great this year, but I baked a blueberry pie yesterday, and it was yummy. 

Don't know why I chose to photograph the pie with the edge hanging off the counter.  Hmm.

It's from Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts book, my fave.  I think the crust is the best part. Check our her pate brisee recipe.  (It's pie crust; she has to be all fancy and use the French term).  I learned the easy way to make pie crust from her television show.  She uses a food processor.  So simple. 

Martha insists that you cut out botanically correct leaves for the top crust.  I'm basically a rule-follower, so I did.  All of the pastry is brushed with a heavy cream/egg wash.

It's a little sloppy.  I was in a hurry.  We were going to the great Zocco's for wonderful Italian food, and my brother hates it when I'm late.  I'm always late.  I do break the "be there on time" rule, most of the time.  I'm working on it.

I Love Roses

What is it about them?  The romance, form, fragrance, abundance and longevity of blooms?  I have 19.  Here are what my favorites look like this year:

Livin' Easy.  Indeed.  It smells heavenly, blooms early, starts out soft orange then changes to a beautiful pinky-orange-coral color.  I never would have chosen this color due to my obsession with pink and white.  My dear friend Tina gave it to me when my beloved cat died. 

Lady Elsie May.  Never stops blooming.  It's a bright coral pink.  It's gotten HUGE.  I'm a "go big or go home" type of girl, so I don't prune it back.

Lovely Fairy Rose.  I don't know why I love the little clusters of blooms on fairy roses, but I have four of these in various colors.  This one is the biggest and best.  I love the carefree way it drapes.

And lastly, Dr. Huey, maybe because he came back from the dead.  If it's good enough to be rootstock for fancy roses, it's good enough for my garden.  It's a lovely, darkish red color, a rambler and only blooms once.

I'd like a couple more but I'm running out of room.  I want an heirloom rose that a local rosarian has offered free and another rugosa, for the hips for fall interest.  I have a serious rose addiction.