Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
Hope!
Considering the weather we have endured the past two weeks, I would say my previous post was overconfident. Spring was not here yet. I was feeling hopeful and buoyed by the sunshine. It was naive … Read more.
It’s finally spring
Could it be? Is spring finally here at long last? Yes! In the past week I have seen honey bees gathering food from spring flowers – I have seen spring flowers! Iris, primrose, daffodils, snowdrops, … Read more.
Accident on the Road to Ravenna
In the spring of 1910 Bessie and William McKee were in Italy with their daughters Marjorie and Augustine. The family had traveled on the R.M.S. Carmania from New York to Naples, where they were met … Read more.
Teasing of Spring
Snow. Again. Though I was born and raised in Rhode Island, I still find March to be a total heart breaker. February teased with beautiful sunny days. Every where I looked I could see the … Read more.
Keep Your Hands Off My Trees!
A scandal in Hazleton at the Pardee Mansion on West Broad Street was reported in the Hazleton Sentinel on December 4, circa 1900. Linesmen from the Electric Light Company were attempting to cut down some … Read more.
For the love of trees
Life as a horticulturist has changed my perspective on winter. There was a time when I felt that winter was terrible and interminable. Not anymore. Winter is an important time for those who tend gardens. … Read more.
“What New York Women Eat When They Shop”
Among Bessie’s papers in the Archives is a full-page article that she carefully cut out from the Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1909. Reading it now, 109 years later, we might think that the article was … Read more.
Field Trip – Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Greetings from Brooklyn! It is important to get out and see the world outside our own greenhouses from time to time. With the goal of gaining fresh inspiration and information, Gail, Joe, and I recently … Read more.
Beginning the year with Begonias
Another year comes to a close this weekend. As Gail, Joe, and I prepare our thoughts for the next year, we seek to re-imagine the gardens in new ways. Before the flurry of January activity, … Read more.
Walter Kilham, Jr.’s Recollections of Blithewold
Walter Kilham was the architect of Blithewold. Bessie met him in Boston in 1903 when she hired him to make extensive renovations on her newly purchased Commonwealth Avenue townhouse. She was so pleased with his … Read more.
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