GardenBook

  Spotty posting from me in the last couple of months due to a big mess in my Lightroom Catalog that I have been spending many hours trying to straighten out. As one of our IT dudes at the awfice says, this issue was unfortunately a PICNIC i.e. Problem In Chair Not In Computer. Mistakes were made both when I upgraded to a newer version of  Lightroom, and again when I moved photos to my new external hard drive. Most of 2019 is intact but 2015 is a mess-I may have lost most of my photos from that year. I hope to have everything cleaned up by the end of January. In the meantime here is another report from HPSO Study Weekend last summer in Portland.   I first visited this Portland garden in 2014 upon the occasion of Garden Bloggers Fling. The weather had been relentlessly hot , but we had a lovely heat respite on day three and in fact had a refreshing rain squall that conveniently dissipated as we arrived. Study Weekend was a fantastic event , but the garden touring took pl...

 I like to look back on gardens visited as the year-end draws near. I'm already done with winter even though it just started today, after a particularly nice fall. We've had an encouraging amount of rain thus far here in wine country (between 9 and 10 inches  depending on your location in the valley) and the frost arrived this week with temperatures dipping into the high 20's. I recognize that my version of cold is pretty tame compared to friends that live on the east coast and midwest, but as I rush around moving plants into the garage and covering those that are marginal,  I am aware that I can drive less than an hour and be in a place like Berkeley that has an enviable, perfect frost-free, heat -free climate.  Artist Marcia Donahues' garden in Berkeley was on Garden Conservancy Open Days in April , and I visited with my friend Gerhard of the excellent Succulents and More . It had be a few years since I visited Marcias' garden and have  blogged about it her...

 Connecticut is particularly rich in garden touring opportunities ; the 2014 Garden Conservancys Open Days Directory has 33 pages of garden listings for the state starting in May all the way to October. Last weekend on the occasion of our annual garden tour blitz , my friends and I set off for the open gardens in Litchfeild County. Michael Trapp s garden is highly individualistic - Euro-Medit-Old World rolled up into one. Perched on a hillside overlooking the Housatonic river the cobble pavers lead you up and down terraces bordered by salvaged concrete balustrades, punctuated by pillars, urns and plantings that lead your eye to the mysteries ahead.   Sue and another friend relax on the terrace. Unfortunately ,no one brought them wine. Looking back towards the house.Still no wine.     This dining terrace was bordered on one side by espaliered fruit trees..very effective -but I don't seem to have gotten a photo.Guess I...