I have a soft spot for heritage and lost (and obscure) apples. I also find the stories of these long-forgotten plants and varieties to be impossibly romantic. The folks who seek them out, scour the history books, and put name to apple are poet-pirates, hunting valleys and ancient maps to find trees planted so many… Continue reading Lost & Found Apples.
Rather than whinge on about the 34th snowstorm to come knocking on our door since January (sarcasm, yes, but only just a little- we did get another 6 inches over the weekend), I'd rather show you the most hopeful things in the house right now. Bebe Figs! (Please start watching Schitt's Creek if you aren't… Continue reading Figs Ahoy!
I mean, how can anyone not love Tithonia? They are so fantastic this time of year, blooming strong, bright shocks of orange when everything else is starting to fade. I give them heart eye emojis every time I see them. Swoon! The oranges (all seven!) are coming along so nicely. They are just now starting… Continue reading Autumn Rolls On.
We've had a recent onslaught of guests and events and some genuinely uncomfortable weather (95F, 80+% humidity- AWFUL), the garden has generally been admired from the windows of the air conditioned house for the past week or so. The guests have gone and the weather has abated a bit so I ventured back out to… Continue reading Stifling Summer Weather.
Alas, Rose Chafer beetle season is upon us here at the Gardens of Box and Bay. A three to six week onslaught of mating, flying, wriggling masses of bland beetles with a voracious appetite and no known predators. Yay! I see you up there you bad word! We are lucky in that we really only… Continue reading The Enemy Returns: Rose Chafer Beetles
I will admit to being an unabashed peony lover. I grew up in a household that was not big on gardening or formal flower beds. But, the one thing we did have was boatloads of the deepest, most vibrantly fuchsia peonies you've ever seen. Our partly sunny location at home made me think, for a… Continue reading Peonies!
When we moved into this place, we knew we wanted to get some apple trees in straight away. 3 years is a long time to wait for fruit and we didn't want to make the wait any longer. That was 2014, we bought three varieties at a local tree farm- McIntosh, Wealthy, Cortland and planted… Continue reading Apples & Orchards.
Box & Bay 