“Summer Is Come.”
By Philip Veronicastrum skirts one half of the pollinator garden As Lynn and I tramp the gardens, one question we sometimes ask each other is, “What’s thename of that plant anyway?” It can be a plant that we know and love and have cared for andadmire but—just at the moment—its name is elusive. Clethra, or …
A Short Post on the Longest Day of the Year
Dear Philip, Happy first day of summer! We are long overdue for a blog post. This is due in large part to me being in Toronto at the start of the gardening season here followed by a blasted two week isolation period that side-lined me well into May (truth be told, it was actually a quiet …
If One Could not Afford a Feast, it is Enough to Bring a Flower
Beach Meadows, January 5, 2021 (cell phone photos) Happy New Year Dear Philip, I titled this blog post from a quote taken from that incredibly beautiful piece on the solstice and winter you sent from The New York TImes. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/20/us/how-to-survive-winter.html?referringSource=articleShareWhat gorgeous writing and story-telling alongside images that inspired a kinship with the deep quiet of winter. I …
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A winding down
Jerusalem artichoke on the wane Beach Meadows, November 21 Dearest Philip, You’ve probably wondered where the heck I got to: I sent you off that batch of photos from September until Halloween and thought I’d type a bit to go with them. And then the U.S. elections hit full force. I blame sleepless nights courtesy of NPR’s coverage …
These are a few of our favourite things.
September 10, Port Medway A tangle of bottle brush grass and echinacea in the pollinator garden. Dear Lynn Time to go back to the big city for a bit. Things to do, people to see. Lynn, you asked if there were any particular images I would take back with me in my mind’s eye. One …
The Meadows
Port Medway, September 7 Monarch in a sea of knapweed in the first meadow, July. Lynn: Philip, I know you’ve wanted me to write about the meadows and I’ve been procrastinating; no reason except perhaps I’d expected more of a “show” in the meadows (there are three of them, behind the cottage, past the apple …
Uprush of Growth, Dog Days of Summer
August 15, Port Medway I’ve been reading “Heat Wave” by Penelope Lively. It’s set in the English countryside during the summer. This passage caught my eye: “The year has turned. That uprush of growth is done with. The place is full to the brim and somehow static. The trees droop over pools of shade. The …
A Pollinator Garden (courtesy of some grubs)
P : It was four years ago that Japanese beetles destroyed the turf under the cottage kitchen windows. Do you remember Lynn? I bet you do! A government of Canada website says, “The first Japanese beetle found in Canada was in a tourist’s car at Yarmouth, arriving in Nova Scotia by ferry from Maine in 1939.” …
This Ain’t Versailles
Our gardens in Port Medway? Cottage gardens. This ain’t Versailles. The famous gardens at the Palace of Versailles “convey the might of France, through their taming of unruly nature… The design harnesses water, earth, flowers, and trees to create vistas that stretch all the way to the horizon and seem to encompass the entire world …
A Glossary of Terms
Common vs Latin botanical nomenclature Allium, Salvia, Delphinium, Baptisia and Verbascum in the “popping” seaside garden. I’ve used mostly common names for plants in the blog but practice the Latin as more of a personal memory challenge which I employ on my walks with Philip who has a mind like a steel trap and whips …
At Last
June 23 Finally, in Port Medway… Two months later than originally planned. The flight from Toronto was a ghost flight – a pandemic plane with a handful of masked, sepulchral, passengers scattered through the rows of seats. Halifax airport, empty, half-lit… Persicaria, cottage garden with viburnum, barberry etc and seaside garden with meadow sage, false …
On Woodlands and Wetlands
Beach Meadows, June 8, 2020 Dear Philip, As promised, I’m sending along photos of the woodland gardens along with a gallery of the butterbur: marvel, nemesis. Once again, it is encroaching on the gardens so I guess I’ll be yanking some of that up in November. Nothing like a garden which can be at once a mindful …