blithewold.org

I brake for Franklinia alatamaha

Kris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:43:13 +0000

Sometimes it’s all about timing. John and William Bartram were in exactly the right place, the coastal shores of the Altamaha River in Georgia, at exactly the right time, 1770, just a few years before the tree they discovered there became extinct. They collected seeds, propagated a few plants and named it Franklinia alatamaha for [...]

Collecting leaves

Kris — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:12:45 +0000

I remember walking to school in the fall with a beach-comber’s lurch looking for the most beautiful leaf. When I found it, I memorized it and then kept looking for a more perfect one. I don’t remember ever making anything from my found leaves – some people probably like to press them or make wreaths [...]

Compost happens

Kris — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +0000

There is definitely something to be said for the fruits of the fall garden clean-up labor: As the bumper sticker puts it, “Compost Happens”. We have been chipping away at the gardens adding more and more debris to the Mother of All piles. At home my compost scares me a little. I can work for [...]

All Hallows’ Eve

Kris — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:08:26 +0000

The boundary between this world and the next is said to be thin right now. – Personally I think it’s on the thin side most days but it’s good to have a reason to honor the ancestors and welcome them back among us. Blithewold’s family is never far from here and our hearts – they [...]

Dahlia experiments

Kris — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:41:57 +0000

Whoever says that gardening is a completely stress-free (a)vocation must never plant anything let alone those plants that come with their own set of instructions. Like dahlias. For starters, dahlias are generally sold as tubers that resemble nothing more inspiring than a dead mouse. You have to take it on faith and cross your fingers [...]

Leaf gawping

Kris — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:22:37 +0000

I’m not crazy about the term “leaf peeping”. Not only is it a little too tweely alliterative but it seems to suggest something furtive and illicit. I’d much rather point and stare openly at the fall. And that’s just what I did on my rounds the last couple of days. Mouse over for captions and click [...]

How to let go

Kris — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:15:49 +0000

I know I’d be complaining bitterly right now if we had had a frost or (heaven forbid) a snow but it would be so much easier to let go of the gardens if they looked melted and awful. The title I chose for this post is misleading – I can’t begin to tell you how [...]

A little action on climate change (and bloom day)

Kris — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:57:51 +0000

It’s a big day in the blogosphere. Not only is the fifteenth of every month Garden Bloggers Bloom Day but the fifteenth of October also happens to be Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers around the world are chiming in about climate change and by all accounts it’s a huge success (even though my post [...]

Glow in the dark

Kris — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:48:00 +0000

The tiger eyes staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’ Tiger Eyes™) has been driving me to distraction all day. This is what happens to me in the fall. I can’t ride down any road without nearly driving off it rubbernecking some blazing tree. But I swear I’ve never before seen anything this color – anything besides [...]

Blown away

Kris — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:42:01 +0000

It’s certainly not over (there’s truly no such thing as over in the garden – slowed down maybe; hushed a little; moved inside, perhaps) but the blustery winds of change have made the seasonal shift much more perceptible in the last couple of days. Gusty October gales have scattered the first major leaf drop and [...]