THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I have collected dishes in gourd shapes and cabbages for years to set the table.    

  

I especially like the sunflower bowls and plates found years ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  

  

The squash in the cornucopia and the centerpiece are from my husbands vegetable garden.  

Drinks in the foyer

  My table is not set yet (I have too many cats for that) but it will look similar to the above.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Be back next week

© All photos & text 2010

THE REAL DEAL

How often do you see this?

                                                                         

                                                                  

Real copper gutters aged to verdigris. lovely!

© All photos & text 2010

GARDEN ACCESSORIES

Garden accessories should  be ….

                                                                          

wildly whimsical…

                                                                   

or one with nature.

THE GARDEN UNFOLDS

An overcast and rainy day. Great for the garden, good for photography. In the last post the photo of the entrance to both the Camellia Walk & Circle of Friends was not clear so here are some taken today.

                                                                  

This is where the Camellia Walk begins. a few yards over to the right  lies… (keep your eye on the pink flowering camellia)

                                                                     

the walkway that leads to the Circle of Friends. Note that the pink flowering camellia plays a role in both garden rooms.

                                                                  

 

The east side of  The Circle of Friends, punctuated by variegated boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens ‘variegata’). This space is actually oval in shape.  All the plants in this little garden were gifted to me or were cuttings from the gardens of friends, hence the name. It is encircled by camellias (as background structure) and hydrangeas.

                                                                     

On the west side, the structure of camellias is the back side of the Camellia Walk. Like most areas in the garden it is unfinished however, what I plan can be found here.

 Leaving this area and following the path we intersect with the Camellia Walk . (it curves round)

                                                                      This is marked by the interesting texture of four upright Japanese Plum Yews (Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Fastigiata’) and underplanted with variegated Japanese Sedge (Carex morrowii);  the idea being to tie in the variegation and create an ‘Elizabethan Collar” around the yews.

A few yards past this intersection lies the Mourning Bench. As I have said before; one can pass it without noticing. It sits between the two variegated boxwoods on the right. Below…

                                                                 

 

If this path is followed further,one gets to the Potager. We have been walking north. Below, the view from the north looking south back through to the meadow.

                                                                 

The repetition of  the Variegated Box & the Carex create  rhythm and serve to tie the sequential spaces together into a coherent whole.

To be continued…

© All photos & text

GLORIOUS DAYS

The weather has been beautiful this past week and there is no better place to spend these glorious days than in the garden.  Below, The Meadow gets its annual mowing.

                                                                      

                                                                       

It always looks so verdant after the cut. Next the Daffodils  will pierce the ground and spring will be back in a few short weeks! (always an optismist.)

The photography however, has not been very satisfying. Too much glare now that the canopy is thinning out. Guess I’ll have to try earlier or later in the day.

                                                                 

One of my favorite blogs is Edith Hope’s Garden Journal.  Her last comment made me realize that I need to show long shots of the property to give some context for the photos. So here are a few…

                                                                  

The front of the house, circa 1844. The meadow is to the right (east) below…

                                                                     

                                                                      

East side of the house from the meadow.

                                                                      

The east side of the house from the entrance to the ‘Camellia Walk’.

Backtracking just a few steps….

                                                                     The meadow terminates at the entrance to the Camellia Walk on the left and the walk to the Circle of Friends straight ahead.

Here you can see some ‘Garden Arithmetic’; the camellias form both one side of the Camellia Walk as well as the background for the hydrangeas on one side in The Circle of Friends.

The expression is divide to multiply your space!

I’ll continue the tour with better photos this week.

© All photos & text 2010

PHOTO TOUR

                                                               

                                                                                                         

                                                                   

                                                                    

                                                                      

                                                                  

 And in the potager…

                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

© All photos 2010

REBLOOMING CLEMATIS

If you have been following this blog you know I have a passion for clematis. (see categories)

                    Clematis ‘Madame Edouard Andre’I was hoping some of my plants would re-bloom this autumn but such is not the case.  However, my friend Lyndy Broder has many and she was kind enough to send me some photos. BTW she grows well over 300 of them in her Georgia garden. (I’ll post her garden this coming spring..it is a real treat.) Meanwhile, these are blooming  in her garden NOW, in NOVEMBER!!!! (I love gardening in the south!)

                                                                     

Clematis ‘Reimans’, an Estonian hybrid, above, C. ‘Angelique’ below

                                                                     

                                                                 

Clematis ‘Solina’ blends beautifully with these asters…

                                                                    

Above, Clematis cirrhosa ‘Lansdowne Gem’  has nodding bell-shaped flowers and  evergreen foliage.

Whenever there is a question on Clematis I call Lyndy. She is on speed dial during pruning season,  putting down her secateurs to share her vast knowledge. And I do mean vast. She is on the Board of Directors of the International Clematis Society and contributes regularly to their website. Recently she wrote the section on Clematis for Allan Armitage’s book on Vines & climbers.

 To her credit, all this knowledge was aquired within the last 15 years when she developed an interest in Horticulture, AFTER she retired from a 9-5 !

                                        Clematis ‘Ville de Lyon’

All the above photos were taken by her brilliantly talented daughter MIA BRODER.

AUTUMN SHOWS OFF

My dear friend Carolyn K.D.  sent me these incredible photographs from the mountains of North Carolina where she and her husband spent a glorious week.

                                                                             

                                                                   

                                                                      

These colours remind me of the late September pilgrimage to Vermont my family would take.   Autumn is an incredible season.

Photos © CKD