I just spent a hot couple of hours hearing from the summer interns and other staff and volunteers at Garden in the Woods about the projects they have been working on. It was good to see progress in so many areas.
I just spent a hot couple of hours hearing from the summer interns and other staff and volunteers at Garden in the Woods about the projects they have been working on. It was good to see progress in so many areas.
04:28 PM in Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Alex and I just spent a week in Montreal attending the 2009 Worldcon, Anticipation. We had a lovely time - the Worldcon was a bit smaller than usual, so more intimate than some. We had a great suite hotel room just across the street from the Convention Center, right on the edge of the old city, and just a few blocks from a very colorful Chinatown. So we had easy access to food establishments, and lovely places to walk full of beautiful old buildings. The walk to the party hotel was not too long, and punctuated by open squares full of trees and fountains. Montreal is a lovely city.
08:26 AM in Gardens, SF Fandom, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The garden class celebration yesterday was surprisingly emotional.
As I was getting ready to head over, the lightning lashed and the heavens opened with an insane downpour, so it looked liked the party was going to be spoiled. We set up the refreshment tables and chairs in the hallway near the courtyard entrance (instead of outdoors as we had been hoping to). Parents started coming and we mingled and looked at the photo montage posters the children had put together (using many of my photos plus others contributed by some of the adults, plus the photos the kids themselves had taken down by the river).
But then a little miracle happened - the rain ended and we were able to walk outside. By the end of the party, the sun was out and people were able to get a good look at the garden. The kids were stationed in each of the different areas and as people walked around, they were able to tell the visitors about what they'd done and what types of plants were in each area.
Then we gathered inside again for some short speeches. The administrator of the program described it briefly and thanked all of us who helped. Then each of the kids read a short paragraph about what they learned. Then we all got some gifts and were able to say a few words. We talked about how hard the kids worked, and how we felt like we were all in a team together. I told the story of the kids cheering on Henrietta when she was digging up a donated plant ("Go Henrietta! Go Henrietta!).
Many of the parents approached me and told me how much their child had enjoyed the program - talking about it at home and looking forward to getting to school each day. And the kids all said they wanted to join the garden club and hoped we would all be coming back in the fall.
Each of the volunteers was given a little bag of gifts including a group photo (which is now proudly displayed in my living room), a collection of the students' work, a card with notes from each of the students, and a bookmark made from pressed flowers from the garden. Very sweet.
And then after the visitors left, those of us who worked on it were left to feel really good about how it went, the good friends we had made, and the definite feeling that we had made a difference in those kids' lives. What a great feeling!
07:14 AM in Diary, Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
So after weeks of rain, and one decent week of not-rain, we are now coping with a week of heat and excessive humidity. But the kids are sticking it out and we have a really nice garden space ready now for our graduation celebration tomorrow. I hope we get a good turnout and can get outside and really enjoy the results of our efforts.
05:12 PM in Diary, Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
We had another good week of the gardening class. A few more students showed up (their families had been on vacation the first week) and we only got rained on a little.
08:13 AM in Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
This past week was the first week of the Middle School gardening class that I'm helping with. And I'm pleased to say that it all went very well, except for one day when we got rained out. It actually was cloudy with some light sprinkles every day, but on Thursday it was pouring with lightning, so we didn't even try to work outside.
09:03 PM in Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The spring push of volunteer activities is over now, so I'm at the beginning of a 2-week lull before the summer gardening program starts. It's wonderful to not be running around to activities every day, and I'm hoping to be able to catch up on some of the long-deferred items on my to-do list. Especially now that the incessant rain has abated for a bit and I'll be able to get out and work on the garden. Luckily, it's still cool and relatively comfortable to work outside.
08:57 AM in Diary, Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
A new photo album on Facebook
10:15 AM in Gardens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
05:10 PM in Gardens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
05:07 PM in Gardens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I'm still in a mad frenzy of house rearrangement and sorting through things, which, of course, has resulted in finding many things that I hadn't known where they were. One is this plan drawing I did of my house and yard to serve as a cover for a garden apa called The Secret Garden back in 1996. Not a whole lot has changed since then. Some trees have come and some have gone, but the basic outlines are much the same.
12:12 PM in Gardens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I've been thinking a lot about family lately. Probably because of Obama's visit yesterday to his dying grandmother and the neighborhood where he grew up in Hawaii. His grandmother is just about my father's age - she will be turning 86 tomorrow; my Dad would have been 86 on Nov. 13.
01:19 PM in Gardens, Nostalgia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Garden in the Woods Big Bugs display is opening tomorrow. I can't make opening day because I'll be in Connecticut, but I did get to attend the walk-through with the artist this morning.
02:49 PM in Gardens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I never quite know what I'm going to be working on when I step out into the yard. I look around and enjoy the flowers and the scents and then I decide what bothers me the most. Today it was some dead branches in my Tupelo tree, and that sent me off into a pruning frenzy that made good progress but is still not quite complete. I stopped due to sheer exhaustion and the fact that my pole pruner broke and I need to get a new one.
The biggest job was working on the giant juniper in my front yard that tries to take over everything around it. I cut back most of the lower branches, but couldn't reach the high-up ones with my lopper. So I hauled out the pole pruner and the first time I pulled on the cord, something snapped and the whole mechanism fell apart. It looked like it had rusted through, so I decided to scrap it and buy a new one.
I did keep it stored in my shed, but one winter the roof sprung a leak and I think the pruner was in the area that got wet, so probably that's what did it.
Anyway, I have 5 bundles of prunings - 3 of which are neatly tied and ready for pickup and two which still need to be tied. The next yard waste pickup is Friday, so I have time. And my arms are tingling with lots of tiny pokes and scratches. I really need to remember to wear long sleeves when I'm doing this sort of work.
There's tons of stuff blooming now. The lilacs are at their peak, plus dogwood, azaleas, wood phlox, moss phlox, celandine poppy, tiarella, Solomon's seal, violets, and tulips, among others.
Sometime this week I need to do more planting in my veggie garden.
It's a busy week coming up (again). Monday: Friends of the Riverfront meeting, prep for Healthy Eating, and some estate work. And I really need a haircut. Tuesday: Healthy Eating. Wednesday: Garden tour for the Boothbay Harbor Garden Club and a Healthy Eating leaders' discussion meeting. Also maybe MCFI if I'm still mobile. Thursday: Trees for Watertown lecture on the Urban Forest. Friday: Conflict between a dermatologist follow-up appointment and going on a garden tour of a private garden in Lincoln. I need to decide soon. Then the holiday weekend and a chance to rest (or paint my porch - whichever I'm up for).
02:00 PM in Gardens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I had a lovely garden tour this morning. It was a garden club from the Cape, and they were all really interested in everything and really enjoyed seeing new things and learning about new plants. I just love leading groups like that. At the end, several of them shook my hand and thanked me personally, which is not the usual reaction I get.
And the garden was in a beautiful state. Some things had passed, but lots of things were in bloom. The understory trees - redbuds, dogwoods, and silverbells were at their peak. There were lots of azaleas and woodland phlox and trilliums, and the yellow lady's slippers were just starting.
The redesign of the entry area has been completed. The picture shows the new water feature, which is really cool. The water runs down over the rock surface, then sinks into the ground and gets recirculated. It really gives the feeling that you're entering a special place.
They've also begun the installation of the green roof in the Idea Garden.
After the tour, I just sat for a while drinking it all in. It was like being in a fairyland.
I've decided that next year I'm going to try really hard not to schedule anything I don't have to in May, so I can spend more time outdoors during these wonderful all-too-short weeks of spring bloom.
08:30 PM in Gardens, Volunteering | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)