thesalemgarden

My Lavender Is Loaded…

With bumble bees of course, and they are amazing! I’ve been kind of obsessed with these creatures this week. On Monday we discovered that our lavender plant at work was buzzing with them so the people that I work with and I have been enjoying them a lot. We’ve been watching them hard at work and talking about different types of insects and how important they are to our garden. We even took photos with our ipad and published our own blog post about them. When I got home I found myself doing the same thing here so I spent half an hour yesterday trying to get the perfect macro bee shot. Photographing bees is a lot like taking pictures of chickens, their always in motion so it’s tough to get it right. I think I’ll try using a tripod today and fiddle with the camera settings a bit more.

Unfortunately it’s becoming increasingly clear that bees are dying by the millions because of pesticide use. This article from the Boston Globe Magazine a few Sundays ago details one study and speaks to how difficult it is for the research to be taken seriously.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2013/06/22/the-harvard-scientist-linking-pesticides-honeybee-colony-collapse-disorder/nXvIA5I6IcxFRxEOc8tpFI/story.html

Check out the links to other articles just below too, then slow down and take a few minutes to watch the bees at work today.

Enjoy everything!

Michele

The Last Stop for Bees (greenphonebooth.com)
How You Can Help Prevent Another Mass Bumble Bee Die-Off (fracturedparadigm.com)
Pesticide Causes Largest Mass Bumble Bee Death on Record (guardianlv.com)

Salem’s Fourth of July in 130 Seconds

Yes, I’m always raving about the wonderful fireworks that we have here in Salem but do I ever get a photo of them? No way! I try, but I’m just not there yet. So here’s a great video of our 4th of July celebration as it unfolds. If you look closely your sure to see Michael and the kids walking on the wharf 😉 . Next post will be about gardening, I promise! Enjoy! Michele

Where I’ve Been

Here’s the view from my chair. This is my second favorite place to spend time in in the summer (of course the garden is first). I’m heading back down there now for the third day out of four!

When you get to Waikiki Beach (in Salem, Massachusetts) just turn left and walk about twenty five steps… I’ll be there!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

There’s No Place Like Salem Willows On the 4th!

We had our annual 4th of July visit and trek through the Willows neighborhood this morning. The decorations, the people and the party are all awesome! It’s so much fun because the whole neighborhood and lots of us from the rest of the city come out to enjoy the parade, the scenery and each other. We met our good friends, took a walk and had a relaxing pizza lunch under the willow trees. Tonight we’ll all head back downtown for the fireworks. Check out the great houses, beautiful views and happy people….

We love our 4th of July celebration here in Salem, Massachusetts!

Happy Independence Day!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

What’s Happening in the Garden-June 30

Good Morning! Happy Sunday! The sun is out and I’m ready to rock and roll out in the garden this morning! We’ve had pretty crazy weather here in Salem, Massachusetts. It’s often been sunny out, but then it rains. Then it rains torrentially, then the sun comes out. Then we have a thunderstorm. Then it’s sunny. It’s been pretty weird.

Since we’ve had so much rain we have lots of fungi scattered everywhere. This grass was freshly cut yesterday afternoon and by this morning this guy (and several of his friends) had appeared.

Down in the garden, the staked tomatoes are staked. I’m going to do a bit more pruning today. I’m taking away the bottom branches in hopes of keeping the diseases off of the plants. I wish I’d done a ground cover. If I find salt marsh hay in my travels today I may still add some in around these plants.

Good morning girls!

Tomatillo, that I started from seed. They were spindly, sad seedlings and I thought that they were a lost cause but I plunked them in anyway and here we are. I think I’ll spread them out a bit and see what we get.

We have tomatoes! This is “mortgage lifter.” Their said to reach three pounds and taste wonderful. I’m very excited about these! Notice the little velcro ties? I’ve never seen these before so I thought I’d give them a try. So far so good.

The brussel sprouts look happy…

as do the shallots.

And another sweetie tomato seedling that I’d given up for lost. Plants are more resilient than we think sometimes!

Cabbage, with cosmos for color…. Someone thought the cosmos were a weed yesterday, lol. He put them back.

More fungi… at first glance I thought that this was one of my long, skinny friends with a stripe on it’s back. I was pretty happy when I realized that it wasn’t.

Cauliflower is flowering. I’ve never grown cauliflower before and we love to eat it! Bush beans are coming along nicely. The snapdragons self seeded to help light up the chicken coop steps. The peas did their thing… they climbed in spite of the wind and rain! Horseradish…Banana Pepper..
Bee Balm ready to flower… and a greeting by the shyest cat in the world when I came back inside. See, family and friends, Mittens does exist… just a few of us ever see her.

Time to get out there! There’s weeding to do!

Enjoy everything!

Love, Michele

This Year’s Deck

Here’s our deck last year. It was a construction zone and kayak storage area. I felt very, very anxious every time I set foot out there.

It’s really cozy this year. We finished the office construction and found other storage for the boats. Then we put up a canopy, added furniture and I filled it with flowers. I feel that some type of “roof” is really important on a deck. It can be an umbrella or a canopy like this, or a really nice pergola, but it reigns the energy in and makes it feel good, kind of the way an area rug makes a difference in a room. It provides shade too.

There’s lots of color!

There’s also cucumber plants because I kept them out of the garden beds in the hope of outwitting the cucumber beetles.

Remember when we painted this bench last summer?

I planted a pot of succulents this year and I love them. Margaret Roach said that their everywhere and I have to agree. I’m seeing them in lots of posts and ads right now. Their very forgiving and easy.

I love this pink metal stool. We painted it on the same day that we painted the peach bench and the metal chairs that are near the cucumber pot.

I also put out a little pot of kitchen herbs. They were growing beautifully until Maddie (the cat) jumped out of the window and onto this planter on the deck railing. She and the planter went flying into the succulents. The herbs are coming back and their very nice to have on hand when I’m cooking. Fortunately Maddie survived her flight with no problems.
Aside from being a wonderful place to relax, the best thing about our deck is the view of the garden. We like to plan our day here over morning coffee, then we’re on the move until lunch or dinner. It’s a great place for a rest or for family time.

Did you decorate your deck or porch this year? It’s as simple as adding as many plants as you’ll enjoy taking care of, creating a roof of some sort and finding a chair or two so that you can relax a little bit.

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Salem Supermoon

There it is!

Here’s part of my process to get there…

To say that my photography career is a work in progress is the biggest understatement ever!

Keep learning and enjoy everything!

Michele

Waiting For Pick-Up Time, Ropes Mansion Style

This afternoon while I was waiting to pick up my daughter at school I had just a few minutes to walk through the garden at the Ropes Mansion on Essex Street. This is always a fun stop… it’s not a period garden, but more a colorful collection of plants of all kinds that are arranged for fun and pleasure. It’s a beautiful place to stop and rest in for a few minutes.

Life is good here in Salem, Massachusetts!

I hope that you enjoyed a garden today~

Michele

Wayward Wisteria (streetsofsalem.com)

The Mystery Rose, Revealed!

In my travels this weekend I saw the mystery rose. It was everywhere I looked, including all over Winter Island and even up at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester.

A little research identified it as the multiflora rose which is considered an invasive species. According to the National Park Service it was originally introduced into the eastern Us in 1866 as root stalk for ornamental roses, then it was used for erosion control and to contain livestock. The plant eventually became a problem because it reseeds and spreads aggressively, taking over space where it’s not wanted. The funny thing is that I see it appearing as a very welcome member of borders and gardens everywhere I look this week. I’ve been watching it establish itself in that border of ours for the past couple of years and I was kind of taken with it. I was even thinking about joining the people who trellised it before I started my research. My learning curve is endless, what can I say?

So the question is, is this a weed to me? I kind of think so. I need to work on that side of the yard (but you know how snakey it is, and how much I hate those things). Maybe this will be the last straw that inspires me to get in there to clean it up and reconfigure everything. I think I’m going to have to before “my pretty little rose” takes over and invades the whole garden.

What do you think? What would you do?

Michele

NATURE’S WAYS: Feeling invaded (wickedlocal.com)
Invasive species: ‘away-field advantage’ weaker than ecologists thought (sciencedaily.com)

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day- June 15

Happy Bloom Day! The fifteenth seems to come so quickly every month. I enjoy writing these bloom day posts because they help me to focus and appreciate my garden. I also enjoy them because I always take a wonderful trip around the world to see what’s blooming in everyone else’s garden! Grab a cup of coffee or tea and visit May Dreams Gardens to see what other gardeners have posted. It’s really a nice treat and you deserve it!

We’ve had so so so much rain here that I went out to the garden wondering if there would be anything at all to share today. I was happy to find that the usual June blooms are there, if not a bit weather worn and soggy.

Somehow the iris have made it through the rain…

This is a bit of a mystery rose. I didn’t plant it but it’s quite happy hiding among the iris and it seems to be getting more prolific every year. I don’t think it’s a weed, and it’s not too aggressive so I’m just kind of enjoying it. Here’s what happens to rhubarb blossoms when I host large family events that require almost all of my time and attention. Comfrey…White iris, still hanging on too. I honestly don’t know how.
Sage… Salvia… Sweet Pea… Rose Campion… White Cottage Rose Heather… Dianthus (weather worn dianthus, actually)… and Rosa Ragosa, one of my favorites…