Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Hold Onto Your Leaves

October’s glorious foliage gives way to November’s leaf drop. All the beautiful leaves are now dancing around our feet as we walk the paths. Crunching leaves is such a satisfying sensation. However, if you are … Read more.

The Bug Days of Summer

I often think of August as vacation month. The traffic on the roads slows down, friends and family spend time at the beach, and school-age children relish the end of their free days. In the … Read more.

Quiet Thyme

Every garden begins with a dream. For us, the dream for what we now call the Garden of Hope began several years ago. We knew that we wanted to create a garden that would inspire … Read more.

Bouquets for Days

Slow flowers are on the rise.  You may recall that we highlighted this trend a few years ago when the esteemed Debra Prinzing spoke at our Gardeners Day luncheon.  (For more on Debra and slow … Read more.

Gone to Seed

While the light changes and we keep up with the last deadheading of the season, seeds begin to appear in the garden.  They are everywhere, in every shape and size.  Each plant has its own … Read more.

Awakening spring

This week the temperatures softened just enough to keep spring from hitting the snooze button again and made being outside in the gardens totally irresistible. We didn’t leave a lot in the Rose or North Gardens to … Read more.

Learn something new — on fertilization

When we get busy I’m apt to forget my quest to learn something new every day. But during the winter we have the time and plenty of opportunities in the way of classes, lectures, symposiums, … Read more.

Goodnight gardens

After some festive weeks spent preparing for our Christmas display and this week’s wreath workshops, it was pure pleasure to be out in the gardens again. Despite the chill that crept into fingers and toes. Earlier … Read more.

Slow Flowers with Debra Prinzing

You’ve probably heard of the Slow Food movement. I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t been making a conscious shift away from processed (fast) food to local, seasonable, sustainable whole-food sources. We’re eager to … Read more.

A rabbit’s eye view with Noel Kingsbury

We are so lucky that yesterday’s rain held off just long enough to take a ground-level tour of Blithewold’s gardens with British garden designer/plantsman/author, Noel Kingsbury. He showed us, plant by plant, exactly what to look … Read more.