April 25, 2001
Harvard Greenhouse and Herbarium

December 27, 2000
Candlelight House Tour
Newport, Rhode Island

September 1, 2000
Tranquil Lake Nursery

August 1, 2000
Kim Bertram
Linda Clary
Denise Batchis

July 8, 2000
Mabel Herwig - Dedham, MA

July 1, 2000
Nancy Cohenno
Darya Cotter
Jan Paulson

June 10, 2000
Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, MA

June 1, 2000
Gloria Freitas
Jack Howard
Kay Ryan

On April 28th we (or should I say they) went to see Art in Bloom at the Museum of Fine Arts. Nancy C. and Nancy R., Vivian, Sandy, Suzanne, and Judi drove in to meet Gloria for another of her splendid Critiques. Yes, I'm afraid you read correctly. My name is NOT among the listed. I overslept. Yes, really. Nancy called me from our meeting location and I had only just gotten up. So I'm sorry to say, my review is in my imagination, as follows.... We met Gloria easily- traffic not being too bad on the weekend. We began our tour farther from the front hoping to avoid the crowds. Magnificent paintings interpreted with majestic perfection... Well, you can always find something that is not perfect, something which could be done better. This is a beautiful arrangement. But what is it interpreting? This handsome sculpture is so old world and rich. Don't you think this interpretation might be a bit too modern? Okay, tell me what you think of this? How about that? I truly wish I could have been there. It is truly a great learning experience to walk around with Gloria with her professional hat on, teaching what to look for, what to see. Never-the-less I'm certain that Davie and Denise's interpretation was great! I hope to actually see them in photos at the next meeting.

Tranquil Lakes (Rehoboth) - irises, daylilies, grasses, selected interesting perennials
7 Arrows (Attleboro) - herbs
Hermit Medlar's Walk (Foxboro) - irises (lovely couple renowned for hybridizing work)
Avant Gardens (Dartmouth) - unusual plants, great new cultivars, trees and shrubs
R.F. Morse (Wareham) - great plants, great specials

In an effort to extend the holiday season celebration, we took a winter garden walk to Newport, Rhode Island for their Candlelight House Tour.  This is an annual event held on the three days following Christmas.   From 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. each night, there are three different houses open to walk through, each costing $4. They are decorated in line with the era of the house. 

We had a two car load of Garden Clubbers (Marilyn, Leslie, Nancy, Robin, Suzanne, Rita, Marybeth, and myself) go down.   The houses open that night were the John Goddard House on Second Street and the Dennis House and Ann Webber House, both on Washington Street.  Each house was perfectly arranged and decorated to the period - from 1740 to 1794. These are not the mansions but are close to the water and often were originally built by someone in the sea trade.  We were a lively crew, enjoying each other and chatting, that we don't often get to do at meetings.  We were quite successful in parking in the area and managed (barely) to avoid going down one way streets the wrong way (and missing fire hydrants, so I'm told.) 

We had a wonderful and relaxed dinner at Stoneforge Public House in Raynham following the house tour. I also picked up a brochure for the Secret Garden Tour in Newport which is on June 1st and 2nd this year.   This may be an extra Garden Walk so keep your eye on this page!  Anyone wanting advance information about this lovely spring event can call 401 848 0895 or check out http://www.secretgardentour.com.

On Sept. 1st we went to Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth. Warren Leach, of the New England Flower Show fame, gave us a tour. It is wonderful to listen to Warren talk about plants. He certainly has an enormous knowledge of things growing, including the botanical names (and those of you that have been to plant places with me know I'm always interested in those). One of the things I appreciate most is his ability to discuss at length and at will the specific growing habits, culture, and artistry of each plant. For example when he spoke of the Hibiscus 'Copper King', he readily identified the maroon foliage it will have in a month. We saw many beautiful plant foliage and color combinations. Of course at this time, the asters are becoming strong and they will continue to open and bloom for another month or two. One of them, a hybrid of aster latifolia called Coombe Fishacre was beautiful. There were lovely scents from the herb garden where the pineapple sage is so tall you can't help but brush up against it as you walk by. The goldenrod cultivars were colorful. The many varieties of grasses were starting to seed up. One variety I'll keep in mind is Schizachrium 'The Blues' which is a little blue stemmed grass that will grow in gravel. Skyriser, a taller variety, has orange fall color and waves beautifully in the breeze.

The main beds of daylilies and irises in the gardens are quieting down now. Much of the riotous color that is present in July is gone. That is actually why I wanted to go there now. I just love daylilies and would like to have in my garden the full seasonal range of color from June through October. Two years ago Tranquil Lakes sponsored a fundraiser for the Town of Rehoboth, selling bunches of lilies for a VERY reasonable price and I asked if that would happen again. They are working out further details and hope to do this again in the future.

They will be having a Fall Festival on September 30th from 10 AM to 4 PM which is free and open to the public. There are programs scheduled for every half hour that include Warren talking about "Plant Combinations for a Long Season of Bloom" at 11:30 and Debi Hogan instructing on "Creating Fall Baskets, Wreaths & Other Decorations form Natural Materials" at 1:30 PM. Throughout the season they sell and take orders for daylilies and irises (not bearded), along with a good selection of interesting perennials, herbs and grasses. Most pleasing to me was when Warren explained away a slightly less tidy area of plants saying, "These are the plants I haven't got planted yet". Don't we all have those!

Thank you, Nancy for your pinch hit writing since I was unfortunately unable to make the August first walk.

On August 1st we visited Kim's house. She has added a new picket fence by her swimming pool with fifteen rose bushes in a variety of colors. The perennial bed by the side yard gate was full of black-eyed susans, daylilies, and carnations. Her back deck is surrounded by a row of pretty, yellow daylilies and purple clematis. The back deck was loaded with many containers, some of which came from our container workshop in May. Kim finally found out what the beautiful tree in her backyard was thanks to some knowledgeable members. It is a mulberry tree and has a very wide spread.

The second yard was Linda's. Her yard is meticulously kept. As you walk up her driveway you notice the orange honeysuckle, Loncera 'flame glow', trimmed to a topiary growing up the lamppost. Linda says that the hummingbirds love that vine. Out in the backyard she has an arched stick arbor made by her son. It was created from willow and wisteria. The willow which was plunged into the soil keeps rooting. Heavenly blue and purple morning glories are growing up the arbor too. By the swimming pool is a yellow trumpet vine. Linda has added some tropical plants in the perennial bed for excitement. Many of the plants we consider house plants grow in nature in the proper climate. One very interesting plant she uses is a tradescantia, otherwise known as Moses-in-the-boat, known for it's green and purple foliage and boat shaped bracts which house first the flowers and then the seeds. Linda saw this growing in Bermuda.

The last garden was Denise's. As you walk up her driveway on the right is a row of hosta and impatiens alternating. On the left is an apple tree with red and white impatiens underneath. An ornamental copper tube butterfly gently sprays water. As you head to the stairs to the backyard you see an iron arbor that she is training ivy to grow up. Denise has a small annual garden behind her deck with geraniums and dusty miller. There is also a small perennial bed beside her deck with many plants that have come from several of our plant sales. Along the side yard are some very large andromeda. Denise has two beautiful blue spruce trees which she planted when her sons were young. The trees are about twenty feet tall now. The last thing I noticed was a lovely white clematis growing up the lamppost. She treated us to fresh fruit, coffeecake, coffee, and tea.

We had an extra walk this summer after one of our speakers from last year very graciously offered to let us come and see her gardens. Mabel Herwig did a program for us called Spring Around the World. She and her husband have traveled extensively. Her talk provided much knowledge about floral customs and design the world over. Seeing her creations and hearing her stories of travel was fascinating.

So in July, just before the Massachusetts Gardens on Tour, we headed up to Dedham Manor to see her gardens. The house is a true Manor House with twenty-two rooms. At the time of our visit a film crew was preparing to shoot an episode for PBS on dinner with the President. I'm afraid I've forgotten which president, but it Certainly wasn't Clinton. The show was to be one of the history re-creations. Their house was chosen because it was designed and decorated in the fashion of years ago. We got to tour the house, dodging camera people, cables and lights. It is a fabulous house! I had the sense of wandering through a museum.

Since this is a garden walks writing, and I certainly have a lot to say about the gardens, suffice it to say they are Collectors in a grand way! Mabel and her husband handled the commotion of both the crew and us with a calmness and grace I'm sure I would not have. Although the Manor is right in a populated area, once we entered the yard, the town and traffic disappeared. There were wonderful mature specimens of trees, Dogwoods, Beech, and Yellow Magnolia. There was a very large pergola where light refreshments were available. There were huge beds of peonies. Although the flowers had passed, it was delightful to imagine the enormous blossoms by just looking at the plant height and size of the seed pods. I would guess they were the size of a dinner plate. Along the property line was a lovely, graceful stone wall which Mabel built years before. Many pots of licorice were casually placed. I really liked the way this gray plant looked without accompaniment. Through the beds were variegated daylilies, globe thistle and houtonnyia in bloom. Just past the first large beds was a stand of bamboo including a most interesting kinky variety called Kansuga. Next was the Daphne, azalea and tree peonies. Of course everything was properly labeled. The woodland ephemerals were remembered with the Solomon's seal, trillium and my favorite, jack-in-the-pulpit. Blue hydrangea danced with porcelainberry while the brugmansia applauded. The next garden room housed the veggies- bok choy, tomato, leek, cucumber with many potted herbs. I have never really liked the yucca but in the place they had it, it looked great! Yucca was interspersed with the hardy succulents and cacti. This brought a fascinating normalcy to an otherwise odd plant. The grape arbor (with grapes) was a step back in time. The variegated wegielia is a shrub I covet. The hosta beds had over 250 varieties, including H. aureo marginata, H. true blue, H. sea frolic, H. geisha and H. rascal. The full range of hosta coloration was well represented. We then toured the small hidey hole area of the rhododendron and azaleas. It was like entering a fairy woodland complete with the Yaks and other very tiny miniatures. This was definitely a very special tour most enjoyed by all.

Thanks to Gloria we had a surprise house to visit near Borderland. It was meticulously maintained. The plantings were incredible! Plants were repeated throughout the yard along with different textures creating a wonderful rhythym throughout. I saw an enormous umbrella pine and a very special lilac, lilac reticulata wich was IN BLOOM, in July! I also saw a very interesting effect around one of the trees, where the turf was nicely trimmed to a circle about three feet away from the tree and then within this circle the grass was allowed to grow and go to seed, of course keeping a nicely manicured edge.

Following this we had a drive by daylily sighting at Gloria's (we all turned into her yard and drove around and out to view the daylilies in bloom) and on to Darya's.

We completed our full morning at Jan's house where we got a container's eye view. I could hardly believe the magnificence accomplished (for real) with California crystals. The hayrack window boxes were lush and full with color- little daisies, bacopa, and impatiens. She told us that she waters only twice a week for about an hour. The back deck must have had thirty different pots and containers on it alone. We also saw a magnificent specimen of Toxico dendron radicans, as only it can grow in New England. We then enjoyed light refreshments as only Jan can prepare.

On June 10th we had a special "Garden Walk" to Heritage Plantation in Sandwich (508 888 8417), led by the Horticulturist, Jeannie Gillis.  Attending were Shirley, Barbara, Sharon, Nancy, Vivian, Kathy, and myself.  Heritage Plantation is quite a diverse place. Aside from the splendid rhododendrons it holds a Shaker round barn filled with antique cars and a quilt exhibit. Another building holds the magnificent carousel (that we all rode), a clock collection, some Currier and Ives prints, a collection of Victorian moustache cups, and Elmer Cromwell bird carvings. It was a beautiful day, promising to be rather warm when we got there. Heritage Plantation is 76 acres and was designed by Phil Ansel. We first passed the dwarf apple orchard with three full sized (enormous) specimens in the background, just coming into bloom. I learned that the female Ilex (English Holly) has a small "berry" inside the flower. This is actually the ovary. The male flower is hollow.Scattered throughout were glimpses of a stunning brilliant tangerine orange azalea, rhododendron 'torch and flame'. We spent a fair amount of time studying the chionanthus virginicus (white fringe tree), scented and in full bloom. From a distance it looked like a huge airy white fluff ball. It is native, loves the wind, and has brown berries in the autumn. We passed the deutzia and the discretely lovely liriodendron (tulip tree, creamy yellow lime scented flowers with yellow foliage in autumn) on the way to the Dexter hybrid rhodys. Heritage began with the Dexter cultivars in the 1960's when Eli Lily began to collect and cross shrubs. He made over 10,000 crosses a year. We had an impromptu pruning lesson which we all appreciated. We also saw first hand what happens when you cut rhodys down to the ground. They re-grow with new vigor! They use a variety of ground covers including lily of the valley, pachysandra, and hay scented ferns, to add to the lush green vistas. The golden chain tree (laburnum) was coming into bloom. Jeannie suggested a hedge of warty barberry to keep out woodchucks. It has very sharp needles about two inches long (but I wouldn't want to have to prune it). There is a large seasonal calendar of events at Heritage including a fund raiser on July 22, "An Enchanted Evening at Heritage Plantation. There will be many areas of music and dancing from 6 - 10 PM. Anyone interested in looking it up on line can check out www.heritageplantation.org. AS usual, we stopped for lunch at Lindsey's and all had delicious lobster rolls. This was followed by a quick stop at Morse's garden center to check out some of the plants we had just seen. Next walk, July 1st.

Well today was the start of our summer garden walks program. We had a huge crowd (Linda, Ruth, Gloria, Marilyn, DeeDee, Leslie, Rosemary, Nancy, Suzanne, Gail, Darya, Helen, Pat, Kay, Jan, and of course myself). Gloria's gardens were first. Boy, is she having fun with her land!. She has a true "Garden Vision". Actually, she gave the first ever couch potato garden tour. It started in her living room. We followed her eye into the yard, near and far, left and right, as she explained her present garden miracles (the 2nd blue bird family in the house on the right). Then we followed her mind's eye as she shared her plans with us. All I can say is, "What a garden!". We saw the spirea and daylilies, the grasses, iris, creeping veronica, peonies, climbing hydrangea, elevator, Solomon's seal... Wait.  Did I say elevator? She even has her son-in-law foraging. She told us a story of a demolished building that when her son-in-law saw the wrought iron elevator cage he needed to bring it home, and so he did. This is what Gloria's garden is. It's her own inspiration and enthusiasm that catches all in it's path. There is simply no point in listing all we saw both in bloom and yet to be. I will however give a plug... She has this great vernal pool and if you have a fern or ephemeral or something growing that is unusual, just drop it off at her house! Maybe she'll give you a tour.

From here we were privileged to go to the Howard gardens. Doris was a member of the garden club up until her death a few years ago. Her husband, Jack, has kept it up (and what an "up" it was). Gloria has not cornered the market on unique garden features. In sight of the driveway, Jack has an enormous (12 feet?) white wire bird cage once housing some exotic bird. He has designed his own bird feeders made from PVC pipe 8 feet long, hung from high branches, that work with ropes, chains, and pulleys, that need filling only once a week. He had many wonderful things in bloom, but the vivid red poppy is what caught my eye. He pointed out to us a jasmine shrub from the Ames' one hundred years ago. We saw pulmonaria hedges backed by a thick row of Royal fern. There were copious signs of happy plants reseeding, shrubs such as Kerria japonica and Carolina allspice, anemones, English daisies and a great big cat Real) delicately pawing at a toad crossing the lawn. The one terrible thing we saw was a lily beetle on the Asiatic lilies. This is a bright red beetle about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long that is killing the lilies. It was not in Easton last year. This is a clear sign to be vigilant in our gardens and use an appropriate insecticide on them. Gloria mentioned a flea and tick spray. Jack graciously had some Devil's trumpet potted up and a few Kerria which he gave to us. I am so grateful to have seen this masterpiece. Doris clearly had a vision and she shared it with us today from beyond.

The group got a bit smaller but off we went to Kay's house in Norton to see her garden and have a picnic. She has some wonderful cultivars of lamium (my favorite was lamium 'anniversary gold'). Her mimulus has returned. This was impressive, since I understand that even Alan Haskell's didn't. Hosta has grown large, kousas have reseeded, the French pussy willow I gave her has grown and set out a shoot, and her porch is already a jungle with baskets of annuals. Kay's most excellent lemonade topped off a splendid morning.

The next garden walk is the trip to Heritage Plantation on Saturday, June 10th. See you there!