North Country Reflections

This year Shelburne museum celebrated lilac season on May 15, the date chosen to coincide with the peak bloom time in Vermont for the many lilac bushes, mostly Syringa vulgaris, that dot the grounds. And in our garden, where we are about 1000 feet higher, our lilac bushes, also Syringa vulgaris,  (they have been here [...]

A rose without thorns need not be an oxymoron. The reddish stems of the Smooth Rose, Rosa blanda, are completely thorn-less, and in fact this the how you to tell it apart from the half dozen or so roses that grow wild in New England. Rosa blanda: lovely in summer, fall and winter The native [...]

  It is early June, and suddenly the garden has become fulfilled. The beds are finally tidy after the ravages of winter, and flowers abound. At the same time, with the promise of things yet to come, a decidedly pregnant feeling hangs over everything. . .May is a difficult month for the north country gardener… [...]