Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
Deadheads in the garden
Our Tuesday volunteer group has been known for years — for ever? — as the “Deadheads” because they work in the Display Garden and traditionally, the biggest summer chore in these gardens has been to … Read more.
Do-It-Yourself pollination
Yesterday working in the Rose Garden one of our diligent volunteer weeders gave us a rare opportunity to check out some flowers that were never meant to be noticed. As the gardens continue to explode … Read more.
SEPTEMBER 1903 – GERMANY AND AUSTRIA
Marjorie’s European Tour, 1903-1904 Taken from letters to her mother, Bessie In early September, Marjorie’s train steamed into Berlin where the temperature was 100 degrees in the shade. It was debilitating after the freshness of … Read more.
The sweetness of Concord grapes
There’s a particular scent in the air evocative of childhood and candy treats: grapes are ripening on arbors all over town. Almost every garden in Bristol has at least one grape arbor and Blithewold is … Read more.
The awesomeness of agastache
I am as fickle as any gardener. I’ll pick a new favorite color, fragrance, leaf, flower, and plant habit every other week (or day) and reserve the right to change my mind over the slightest … Read more.
Big changes
Do you remember the scene in Grosse Pointe Blank where Joan Cusack’s character describes going to her 10 year high school reunion? She said, “It was just as if everyone had swelled.” I couldn’t help … Read more.
Hold that thought
I’m off. Way off, as my mom would say. For the next two weeks I’ll be a million miles away (figuratively speaking) staring at the ocean for one week and pulling enormous crabgrass and pokeweed … Read more.
AUGUST 1903 – NORWAY, SWEDEN, AND DENMARK
At the end of July Marjorie left England by boat from Newcastle, sailing overnight to Bergen in Norway. The party of four – Marjorie, her cousin Dorothy, her friend Gertrude, and their chaperone/guide Helen Macartnay … Read more.
To be adventurous
Yesterday, Gail and I had the pleasure of a road trip to a garden in the wilds of southwestern Rhode Island that would have felt as far away as Borneo or any other exotic tropical … Read more.