Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Where are all the butterflies?

The airspace over and through the gardens should be all aflutter right now. The garden is alive to be sure — it buzzes and hums; it zings and whooshes and pips (we still have hummingbirds), … Read more.

Why grow THAT?

I have been very remiss in following through with a particular intention. I meant, weeks ago, to post a Save the Date! for a very special event this Sunday the 21st, from 1-3pm. Please tell … Read more.

Mulch ado

After something like 9 inches of rain fell on the gardens in the last week or so we haven’t had to worry too much (too mulch?) about soil moisture. But we’re nearly done planting (wahoo!) … Read more.

Friends don’t let friends plant impatiens

I have bad news and good news. The bad news is there’s a fungus among us. Impatiens downy mildew (Plasmopara obducens), the mysterious ailment that denuded and killed almost every busy Lizzie (Impatiens walleriana) back … Read more.

Live and let live

I’ve gotten a couple of questions in the last week or two about what we do in the gardens to manage pests and diseases. Although a lot of you already know the answer, I don’t … Read more.

An argument for roses

I have heard that there are gardeners in the world who don’t love roses and I think I can almost understand why. For starters, they’re pretty common and might not appeal to gardeners who prefer … Read more.

Write it down

All of the advice you ever read about sowing seeds includes a suggestion to keep a record of what you’ve sown when. I’m pretty sure my head would explode if we didn’t keep track. We … Read more.

Let’s grow natives

I’m still on seedheads. Yesterday afternoon Gail and I attended a workshop on propagating Rhody Natives (in caps because it’s an initiative spearheaded by the RI Natural History Survey and the New England Wildflower Society … Read more.

Cool veg

In the last post I mentioned that Gail and I just picked more vegetables for the East Bay Food Pantry. It’s no accident that we still have veg to pick. Back in the middle of … Read more.

Leaving it

After Tropical Storm Irene stripped the color from so many trees around here back in August I was pretty pessimistically convinced that fall color would be lousy this year. And maybe that’s why it has … Read more.