horticulture – The Salem Garden

What’s Happening in the Garden- August 12, 2017

Hi everyone!

Here’s a few quick pics just to stay in the game. This has been the year of the bunny. We’ve been inundated with rabbits who have eaten everything! We do have decent rows of kale, swiss chard and Brussel sprouts but our harvest of beans, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini are very low. Michael’s been working hard to secure the fence and we’ve finally got a handle on them inside the fenced area, but the wider yard is their’s to roam! There’s also a lack of black-eyed Susan and many of the other perennials that we enjoy every year. I keep telling myself that the roots haven’t been eaten, so maybe these plants will come back stronger than ever next year.

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave me a comment or question. I love to hear from you!

Lots of garden love,

Michele

A Great Date at the Boston Flower and Garden Show 2015

We don’t get out on dates often, let alone for a whole day, so our day at the flower show was as romantic, relaxing and enjoyable as going to a spa.

It was all about spring. After our long, cold, difficult winter this little bit of spring felt absolutely decadent!
As we walked in to the Seaport World Trade Center the first thing we saw was this beautiful pop of spring color.

The primroses were circling this fire pit that we will be installing this summer…or not, but I think it’s a good idea :).

I love this settee! Who wouldn’t want to sit upon a bed of moss?

This light fixture was hung just above the moss settee.. perfect!Bonsai

Another beautiful seating area…

A whimsical birdhouseand a less whimsical but very interesting birdhouse…

and straight back to whimsey!

I tend to like the whimsey…

Spring was everywhere!The Newport Flower Show created a paper bride to publicize their upcoming show in June.

She was dressed with coffee filters, tissue paper, aisle runner and raffia.

Hello again spring!This fountain was lovely. The photo doesn’t really show it, but it’s about five feet across, so it resembles a small pond.

What’s a garden show without a classic O’Keeffe peeking out?I must have a bug hotel this year!And a beautiful fairy garden…

with felt birds,

a gated walkway.and a frog pond.

I loved these mushrooms. We saw them in the Marketplace at the show but Michael reminded that we have many children, many soccer balls and many pets in our garden so they would last for fifteen minutes, tops.On to bigger things… a sand sculpture..

…was being created. Love the head of broccoli!

This was the first time I’ve seen helleborus in person.

Heres one of the first exhibits that we saw. Horticultural therapy is front and center! I love it!!The Department of Corrections fast forwarded to the end of May. Thank you DOC! We needed that!

yes, and out of air too.

There was a cranberry bog and farmer who explained the process of growing and harvesting cranberries, an interesting exhibit for all ages!

A lovely bouquet of roses..

Just behind the lovely bouquet was a hands on demonstration about arranging roses.

I was very impressed with the hands on opportunities available at the show. It was much more interactive than I expected.

I just had to take a photo of this pretty flower cake for my oldest daughter, the baker.

As the keeper of goldfish in two tanks in two locations I could only think that this interesting tank looked like a huge maintenance challenge. Really huge.

Here’s another interactive exhibit that was created by a group called PlantSomethingma.org. Plant Something’s goal is to encourage people to enjoy the benefits of growing things. Everyone who passed through their custom built greenhouse had the chance to plant a mystery seed to take home. The type of seed is revealed by color after visiting their web site. It’s a pretty creative way to draw people in.

The PlantSomethingMA.com greenhouse was decorated with cool features like this rain barrel…

and this guy.

I love this use of succulents and ferns, an uncommon combination. This arrangement was in the competition area which was full of beautiful arrangements.

Be sure to stop and see the witch hat that was decorated by our friend Dave Eng of Dave Eng’s Flowers.

It was a great way to spend the day. I agreed with Michael that we would have enjoyed seeing more garden vendors in the Market area, but those that were there had a nice selection of plants, tools and accessories. The quality of the lectures and exhibits was outstanding. I enjoyed talks by authors Neal Sanders, who blogs at The Principal Undergardener and Betsy-Ann Golon who spoke about herb garden design. They were both engaging and full of ideas and information. While the food selection was a little bit limited, the huge turkey sandwich that we shared for lunch was delicious.

All in all, it was a wonderful, inspiring, colorful spring-like day.

We couldn’t have asked for a better date than that!

Get to the flower show! It’s there through Sunday!

Take the kids, take your mom or your sweetie… there’s really something for everyone.

Happy almost spring!

Michele

What’s Happening In the Garden- May 1

Happy May Day!

I hope that you had as nice a day where you are as we did in Salem. It was gorgeous out there!

I had to spend some time poking around outside and checking things out. Here’s what I saw in between dropping off and picking up children…

Lady’s mantle and siberian iris, with the bleeding heart in the background.

I pruned the beejeebes out of this poor butterfly bush the other day. I’m planning to move it way over to the left in the next few days. I ran out of time and steam when I started this project so I have to get back to it (or get Michael to help me, soon)…
The sweet peas are all in a row, ready for their climb up the fence and trellis…
Asparagus is peeking through! And we have this beautiful pile of red twigged dogwood branches. I have to decide what to do with them. I think that they would make a great little fence!The rhubarb is ready. I wish I liked rhubarb more. My mother-in-law makes the best rhubarb custard pie in the world! I should work at that.
The flowering pear tree that we planted last spring is turning out to be beautiful! The soloman’s seal is poking through. I need to clean up and get rid of the dead stuff around it, however that requires me to steel up my courage because it’s snake country over here, not across the yard, just over on this side ;)! There’s a pot of potatoes underway. This year I’m planning to add a little bit of soil at a time, as the plants grow. The radishes pushed through. Radishes are great to grow with kids because they germinate in 4-6 days and you can be harvesting them in just a few weeks. Here’s the view looking down through the dogwood tree. Dogwoods take several years to flower after transplanting. I think this is going to be the breakthrough year for this tree. I have a feeling that it will have been worth the wait. And finally, looking out at the juneberry tree. This is another example of patience paying off. I was very tempted to cut it down a year or two ago because it just looked so sad and sickly. We treated it with Treetone organic fertilizer last spring and fall and the comeback is dramatic. It looks quite healthy and happy this year!

Try to hang in there with your plants and trees. If your having difficulty with something in your yard go ahead and google for a solution, or ask me to help you find one.

My husband will tell you that I live for this stuff 🙂

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Great Achievement at Salem High and 1000 Varieties of Pears in Salem!

It’s nice to wake up at 5:45am to good and interesting news in the paper.

The front page story in today’s Salem News is about our high school’s AP program. The rate of students taking advanced placement classes has risen dramatically and the success rate on completion has too! Here’s today’s coverage of the Secretary of Education’s visit and the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative Program’s recognition of our students. This creative program provides cash incentive to students who pass the AP exams, and to their teachers. My oldest son has benefited greatly from this program and I hope that his siblings will too. The Salem Public School system has it’s challenges but the schools, students, parents and community are working tirelessly to overcome them. I’m so proud that my children attend the Salem Public Schools. Their education is amazing in many, many ways.

I also have to share this interesting letter to the editor, written by Jeanne Stella of Salem. It describes some of the horticultural history of the northern part of Salem and how the street names reflect that history. North Salem was once farm land and orchards. Imagine growing 3000 trees, with 1000 varieties of pears! You can read Jeanne Stella’s letter here. We are a city of gardeners. It’s in the soil and it’s passed down through many generations!

I’m hoping to do a little bit of Halloween touring later today and tomorrow. We’ll see where the kids and I land. Photos will be coming!

Enjoy everything!

Michele