Happy Birthday to You...Happy Birthday to You...Happy Birthday Dear Louise....Happy Birthday to YOU!!!! 

Digitalis x mertonensis. A cross between Digitalis grandiflora and D. purpurea  

Gardens are a Changin'

The snow has melted, birds are nesting and the Spring bulbs are poking their cheery heads.
My husband has almost completed the run of hemlock fencing around all my erratic plot plantings. I say erratic for my herbary deceased 6 years ago, more utilitarian style of planting was needed, takeover of my culinary square in the 4-square with the enlargement of the brick patio and a swing set on my enmasse' vegetable garden has totally changed the flow of gardens and style tremendously. Not only that but, I have desperately wanted a wrap around front porch where it originally was when the house was built in 1869. A large porch will be wonderful with all the traditional rocking chairs, porch swing and container plantings. There was also a door where the green house window is now that would have been the front door. A connection will be made from my kitchen to the outside garden world via the cutting in of this door and more house space in the summer months with the addition of the porch. But...........

This means my side garden will be gone.
My side garden was such a show stopper at one time with the waves of blooms all season and the smells wafting about.
Things do change...
I do not have the time or energy with my art business to physically and mentally keep up with all the plantings. I will keep my assortments of themes going such as, culinary, historical, decorative, aroma, everlasting and medicinal, just on a smaller scale.
My teachings with my business will take place in these gardens and the entertaining from everyone to clients to my favorite peoples, my children. I love the idea of having a secret lush paradise awaiting behind a garden gate so, that is where I will start.
Do not all great gardens start with one thought or perhaps one dream?

Sweet baby Bee loving an Easter Lily at my Father's home. 

Pennyroyal is sprawled out on my stepping stones basking in the afternoon sun. A Lunaria seedling, Jean Simpson lavender, thymus vulgaris, rue and perennial sweet pea gather round. 

Happy Easter! I pray that your Easter is filled with family, friends and happiness. 

This colorful illustration is from 'The Golden Egg Book', first published in 1947. Illustrators were so botanically accurate, even in a child's book. The Bergamot is just gorgeous. 

Summers in Rolfe

My summers, as a youth, were spent at my Grandparent's home, on my Father's side. Me and my younger Brother, Stephan, would walk from the westend part of town to what is called 'Rolfe'. To enjoy eating Count Chocula and Wheaties, morning game shows and watching my Grandfather putter about in his garden. He was set in his planting ways with using only his true tried and tested 'Blackseed Simpson' lettuce, 'Kentucky Wonder' pole beans, 'Lady Bell' Bell peppers, 'Hungarian Hots' banana peppers, 'Early Girl' tomatoes and his crooked neck yellow summer squash/green zucchini .
My Grandmother tended the herb and posie patch with just the same as last year attitude. Her herbs weren't as diversified as they were in later years but, she did have those gotta have, curly parsley and chives along with her sweet peas and red geraniums. All the wonderful shrubbery was in place also including a mock orange bush, Japonica, peonies, lilac, forsythia and my favorite 'Dutchman's Pipe' vine traveling on the side of the front porch trellis. This vine would flower mid-summer with the most wonderful pipe looking yellow and brown flowers and the leaves were bigger than dinner plates. The mock orange, with its fragrant blooms, was my favorite place to play under when it was let to have its arching branches down to the ground, for it would turn into a play house.
They lived off the back porch which faced the backyard gardens and my Brother and I lived under it in a fabulous fenced in sand box with a little gate to keep the neighborhood kitties out. Long hours were enjoyed in this out of the sun hideaway making cities, castles and just keeping our bodies cool on the hottest of midsummer days.

My Grandparent's Gardens

Younger Brother hiding in the jungle that was my Grandparents vegetable garden. My Grandpa Hoyt loved his Kentucky Runner pole beans and summer squash.

Spring Planting in Rolfe

A Spring morning at my Grandmother's home, when I was five, watering in Blackseeded Simpson leaf lettuce I would imagine. Old Blue is in the background looking on at my stylish piggy tails and swanky pants.

Yes, I miss summer!!!! Here is a pic last year from my collected shasta daisies, lysomachia purpurea, plume poppies, etc. We live on this screened in back porch all summer.  

Luncheons at the Herbary back in the day..;)

LOVAGE CHICKEN SALAD

2 cups cooked diced chicken
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. yogurt
3 T. lemon juice
3 T. Balsmic Vinegar
1 c. cashews
1/2 c. torn lovage leaves
1/4 c. diced chives
cracked black pepper
salad greens
---------------------------------

1. mix chicken, lovage and chives
2. mix mayo, yogurt, lemon, balsalmic vinegar and cashews
3. toss 1&2 together, spread on a good bread and add greens, sprouts, pepper, etc.

~very good in pitas also

~ you can replace the chicken with tofu

I also began having Herb and Art Festivals. They included herbal lunches, workshoppes, tours and artists with their wares. The dates were the 3rd weekend of June and the weather was always beautiful. That is my Father under the Maple tree with his shaving horse making treenware. You can also see one artist and a lady in front of the herb shop preparing for an edible flower presentation. My daughters miss all the hub bub of these fests, they were always tremendous help. 

With all my interests in herbs and gardening, I decided to start an Herbary in 1995. This sign was planned out by me using the shape of my English 4-square garden. The garden themes were also incorporated in the design. My artist friend Pat, of Pennwood Gallery, helped in the painting. I was very pleased with the finished product. 

Pre Side Garden '90

A view of the corner before anything was done for the hodge podge side garden. Do you see the meter? We hated the shrubs for they were all around most of the home collecting mosquitos and just being ugly. I could not wait for them to go. We were quite brutal with the extraction, we used dh's truck and a rope....;)

'91 and underway

Dh is preparing my side garden for a mix of everything that pops the eye and nose. I could not make my mind up on that types so, I just chose it all , cooking, everlastings, aromatics and medicinals. This bed was begun prior to the borders and English 4-square gardens.
Look at my little Larissa Lou, so tiny.

Thymes and Stones

Before the mulch is spread the planting went in and the stones, which were gathered from a friends summer cottage nearby. In the large curved space infront of the fondation I decided to plant a collection of thymes. Thymes are one of my favorite culinary herbs. In the collection I included: Thymus Vulgarious/French, Herba barona/caraway, T. pseudolanuginosus/wooley, T.serpyllum L/mother of thyme, T. x citriodorus'Argenteus/silver thyme, Thymus minus, T. serpyllum'orange, T. pulegioides/oregano, T. praecox ssp. arcticus 'albus, T. x 'Doone Valley', T. sp'Nutmeg', T. praecox-subsp. arcticus'coccineus'/crimson or creeping, T.x'clear gold', cat thyme and citrodorus/lemon thyme

Hopefull Plantings Summer '93

A beginning planting with a hydrangea tree in the corner. We have the stone paths, mulch and meter cover in plain site. Baby garden sage, rues, sweet cicely, coconut thyme in the walkway to the cover, ferns, valerian and dead nettle. A big mistake was the rue for it just took over in massive bunches which later on chokes out all the lovely lacey plantings. As you will see in the bottom views.

'95 Corner of the Side Garden

Another shot in early summer. You can see the valerian is going the other way and the salvia officinalis almost in full bloom. The sweet cicely is forming what will eventually be gorgeous black seed pods like black obsidian.

Spring '95

One of the later bloomers for Spring is the valerian in white and Sweet Cicely in the foreground. The buds on rose campian are just starting on the bottom right. What you are seeing in the background is a constructed cover for my gas meter. For the longest time my garden child ,Thea, would give offerings of seed pods and posies from the gardens to her elf friend, :) by opening the very top peep hole.

Summer Side Garden '95

This view is from the 4-square side. We have a planting of rose campian, silver king artemisia, tansy, rue and shasta daisies that are just devouring my stone path. Lychnis Coronaria or rose campian, is legend to have sprang from the bath water of Aphrodite.

This section of the side garden is now filling in quite nicely with monarda, santolina, lambs ear and I placed a nutmeg geranium in to add more scent/texture to the grouping.  

Winter is going out as a lion here in Pennsylvania. Hopefully all will be coming in like a lamb for Spring. This is a quaint little Spring scene with a baby robin as the star sitting upon my mulch pile. All that valerian, lambs ear, rue and catch fly in the back ground. This time of year is very hard for me to survive the wait. The last month has been very teasing with it's 55 degrees one day down to 12 degrees the very next day.  

Such Color

A gathering of plume poppies, yarrow, monarda, wild marjoram and rambling Seven Sister's Roses in my favorite willow basket.

Gardens and Children

I have 3 beautiful daughters who have grown the last 15 years on our small corner lot with all the bees buzzing, seed starting and just the everyday appreciation of all living things around them. My Eldest, as I wrote below, was 3 years old when we moved here and has been in the midst of the dirt and green for most of her life and very much a part of the entire process. My middle child is truly in love with planting and has been a large help to me during her 13 years. The 3rd daughter, now 4, has grown around my artwork, beads and figural work.
During these past 4 years of her growing I have been very busy with children, Moss Designs and developing my work that the gardens have almost been lost.
I am hoping, in retracing my past garden ventures, that I will be able to then reclaim what once was.
My love for the gardens shows through in my work through their components and style. It is such a *growing* process, life, and amazes me how it all is connected to what we eventually become.
I am very excited to show my youngest these joys and curious to see how the combination of art and gardening will fill her creatively.

A line of small Van Gogue sunflowers on the far side of the vegetable garden. Every year I replant many different varieties of this beautiful annual. The gold finches flourish in and amongst the seed heads in late summer and the decorative aspect are endless. 

'94 getting the total Gardens planned and dug

I have my everlasting border limed out and still more sod removal, poor dh. He has been ever so patient with me throughout the years.

The next year digging in the beds and dh. You can really see that, yes, we are on a corner lot. 

I love the light an overcast day allows. The start of the first corner of the English 4-square. Plants you see are anise hyssop, berggarten sage, lovage, clary, and pineapple sage. This was done a year prior of the completion for the garden total, so, it was a mix. 

Heirloom vegetable garden pre dividing the 5 beds yet again crosswise into 3 making 15 glorious spaces for traditional en masse style. 

'91 and my little Lou

My plot 14 years ago with Larissa placed in the middle of all the dandelions. I still have them every spring. It truly bugs my chemlawn using neighbors, oh well.... They make a lovely photo op.

Starting off

I started my plantings in 1991 a year after we bought our first home. I only had one child, Larissa 4, who was very much a part of the whole process of making our small corner lot a haven for her and us. So, I planned my space out and being the list maker that I am(incessantly, I may add) I drew my garden placement out and poured through all of my seed books, magazines and of course my already brimming library of gardening books.
Books, another out of control obsession.....
I new I wanted herbs and aromatics most of all. Being in a zone 5 I had to resign myself to never having hedges of rosemary, towering bays, a grove of olive trees or masses of scented geraniums. I really enjoyed the look of an English 4-square garden and the French style en masse vegetable gardens. The lack of space seemed a perfect way to use these styles to pack as many plants in one small plot and so I did. Along with these styles we put in a cottage garden border, everlasting border, cut flower garden and in my side garden were a combination of everything for impact of smell and site. A hidden medieval/poison garden around my drive way, to be out of reach for small fingers.
My herbs were divided into 5 smaller beds with in my English 4-square layout. These small spaces supplied space then for a culinary, tea, Victorian tussie-mussie, medicinal and edible flower gardens.
All these gardens, I above mentioned, were bordered with old weathered brick except the heirloom vegetable garden, which was not bordered and side garden with aged ties.

take a seat

I love using primitives in the garden and what a great spot to be in and amongst Seven Sister's Roses, campanulas, scabiosa and delphiniums.

A life captured in a Garden

I have loved stirring the dirt for over 2/3's of my 39 years of life. This will be a blog showing past plantings, experiments and just ramblings. ~enjoy