Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Daffodil Dreamland

  The daffodils have returned and they are spectacular!  It seems that every day this week I have seen a new variety emerge.  Last year, Gail did her best to take a picture of every … Read more.

Spring’s Warm Embrace

After several grey days filled with rain – or the threat of it – we have emerged on the other side to find the air smelling clean, the trees budded, and the promise of many … Read more.

Some flowers for you

In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are some flowers blooming in the Blithewold greenhouses.  No long-stem red roses for us.  We take great joy in our unusual winter-blooming plants.  I hope they bring a smile … Read more.

A little bit of everything

From T-shirts to winter coats – was it really just last week that we had temperatures into the 80s?  This week has been quite the change.  I had to pull out my winter work gear … Read more.

Dreamy dahlias

Happy autumn!  The light shifts and the nights get cooler, but there is still so much color here in the gardens.  A lot of that color comes from dahlias and sages (Salvia spp.), which are … Read more.

Charmed

August is exhausting, it has to be said.  The extreme heat and humidity drains every desire I have to linger in the garden.  It seems as though, here in little Rhode Island, everyone and their … Read more.

Color vision

  Every once in a while, the plans we make for a garden turn out just as we hoped.  That perfection doesn’t happen quite as often as I would like, but the unpredictable factor in … Read more.

The News

I love new plants.  It always feels a little bit like Christmas morning when I see a new plant come into flower for the first time–except I have to be patient as it unwraps itself. … Read more.

Cosmos on my mind

    It’s been a hot and humid July week.  Any delusions I had of enjoying a cool, temperate summer have evaporated into the extreme humidity.  However, on the bright side, flowers are bursting out … Read more.

Garden fireworks

Happy Fourth of July weekend!  It’s that time of the summer when we finally begin to take a step back from our full-speed-ahead mode of May and June.  Just when Gail, Sean (our intern this … Read more.