Tuesday, May 28, 2013

memorial day gardening


this weekend is typically when we start laying out plants and the like in our garden in western massachusetts.  saturday and sunday were brutally windy and cold.  and we had to make up for lost time yesterday when the sun and warm air finally broke through the clouds and cold front.

new dahlia beds on the right

i was somewhat disappointed by our lack of physical activity due to the weather.  most of monday evening was spent planting 70+ dahlia tubers -- the bending and kneeling has me walking like Quasimodo.  we're doing field planted dahlias this year.  i think having them in the box last summer restricted the ability to grow wider and instead of pushing out giant blooms, they competed for sunlight.  i'm testing my theory out with two 5' x 20' feet beds; i'm giving them more room and better staking.

i hadn't really been up to the garden since november and i'm surprised that most of the perennials made it through the winter.  three scabiosas and two poppies didn't make it though, but i replaced them two clematis instead.  i'm learning more about clematis (i love them) and how to properly care for them.  unfortunately, i missed the opportunity to hard prune these guys during the winter/early spring.  so after the first flush of this year's bloom, they're getting chopped for a stronger re-bloom in august/september. and hopefully, then i'll be able to sort out the mess of vines that i let go for too long.  i also planted annuals to shade their roots from the sun -- i'm hoping to see how that works out too.

my planting some new things this year -- i have a strawberry patch in one of the boxes.  also i'm growing a "new" columbine (new to me) called barlow which look like mini dahlias.  we'll see how it all goes....


mesabi strawberry patch  
black and pink barlow columbines







Wednesday, May 22, 2013

pink peonies


pink tree peonies, astilbe, allium neopolitanum and mint leaves

sometimes flowers are so gorgeous they leave me breathless. i picked up some pink tree peonies and raspberry sundae peonies very early this morning.  both smell incredible particularly mixed mint leaves.  i was hoping to find lily of the valley in the flower market, but there were none.  i think the scent of peonies, mint and lily of the valley would be completely intoxicating.

pink tree peonies, pink astilbe, allium neopolitanum and mint leaves

'raspberry sundae' pink peonies, pink astilbe, allium neopolitanum and mint leaves

'raspberry sundae' pink peonies, pink astilbe, allium neopolitanum and mint leaves

'raspberry sundae' pink peonies, pink astilbe, allium neopolitanum and mint leaves







Friday, May 17, 2013

my heart in amsterdam

vondelpark in amsterdam right before rain

at some point i'll write a longer post about amsterdam.  i'm suffering from a bit of writer's block tonight.  the one thing i'll leave you with is that i left part of my heart in amsterdam.  the flowers, the gardens, the bicycles, the canals.  you'll get to see more of it throughout the week.  i'm slowly working on editing and posting pictures.  pete and i were there for 8 flower filled days and you've seen some sneak peaks of the keukenhof and the flower market.  we went to aalsmeer -- the big flower auction -- and i got my hands dirty with another flower arrangement.

two words for you:  BLEEDING HEARTS!

bouquet of coral peonies, pink ranunculus, viburnum and bleeding hearts
bouquet of coral peonies, pink ranunculus, viburnum and bleeding hearts 
bouquet of coral peonies, pink ranunculus, viburnum and bleeding hearts
bouquet of coral peonies, pink ranunculus, viburnum and bleeding hearts




Monday, May 6, 2013

holland day 3 - at the keukenhof


day 3 was all about the keukenhof.  i have a ton of images to process, but here are some images from my iPhone.


Saturday, May 4, 2013

holland - day 2 at the flower market at the singel


we explored amsterdam today by foot.  we didn't intend to but stumbled upon the flower market at the singel.  lots of stuff to "ooh" and "aww" over.  there were some healthy looking peony tubers for 10 euros and pre-cooled tulips to plant straight away.  everything seemed so inexpensive and plentiful but we couldn't take anything back home with us.

however, like any self-respecting florist, i couldn't go home empty-handed so i grabbed several bunches of flowers.


and i made these with them.... hope you enjoy them as much as i do.