Regin and Royalty

eGarden for your heart:

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Identity Oils

Petulia Blake, of Hartford CT, offers essential oils, body lotions, jewelry, and gift baskets from her store in Rockville, CT. On a recent visit I was pleased to find a wide range of gifts that had broad appeal.

"Identity Oils Aromatherapy Body Lotions are made with pure essential oils. Our lotions contain shea butter. Thank you for buying our products because we love people, animals and the environment."

Nicholas Loconte, of Bristol, CT, who helped paint the walls during the excitement of setting up shop says, "you'll find a variety of beauty products....in a friendly, courteous setting." During the process of creating her store front sign and marketing materials, Nick echoes, "this is the botique you'll love!" Reign and Royalty offers scarves, aromatherapy oils and burners.

Reign and Royalty owner, Petulia Blake, invites customers to bring their friends for an afternoon of tea and shopping! Call her at 860-872-5827 to set up your own event.


29 West Main St.
Rockville, CT USA

Spring in Connecticut !

Spring has finally spring

Hey readers, I've missed you greatly. I had a year long sabbatical working on a business process reengineering project that took me from my blogging, my gardening, my web playing. In 2008 I am back on a web project again, and refocused.

Somewhere out here my mom read about "Lasagna gardening" - a technique for layering bulbs and such to save and reuse "real estate" in a single season. In my newbie attempt, I discovered 2 tulips pushing up amongst the snow drops! Thanks Mom!

p.s. Wishing Kathy Purdy a wonderful 2008. Many kudos to you Kathy for continuing the growth of your Cold Climate Gardening site on and on!!!

--Kate
greater Hartford, CT US

White Flower Farm - Planting, growing, and caring for Climbing Roses and Clematis: "Overwintering. Much has been written about techniques for overwintering Roses. In our experience, the best way to get Roses through winter is to choose plants adapted to your climate zone. That said, if you live near a Rose's cold limit and you garden on an exposed site or in an area where rapid temperature fluctuations are common, you should mound two shovelfuls of composted manure, garden soil, compost, or shredded leaves over the base of the plant in late fall—ideally after the ground freezes. Pull the mounding material away from the stem as new growth emerges in spring. Do not prune Roses or Clematis back in fall; wait until spring to prune branches injured over winter."

Passion for the web. Passion for life!

White Flower Farm - Planting, growing, and caring for Climbing Roses and Clematis

Spring has finally spring

Hey readers, I've missed you greatly. I had a year long sebattical working on a business process reengineering project that took me from my blogging, my gardening, my web playing. In 2008 I am back on a web project again, and refocused.

Somewhere out here my mom read about "Lasagna gardening" - a technique for layering bulbs and such to save and reuse "real estate" in a single season. In my newbie attempt, I discovred 2 tulips pushing up amongst the snow drops! Thanks Mom!

p.s. Wishing Kathy Purdy a wonderful 2008. Many kudos to you Kathy for continuing the growth of your Cold Climate Gardening site on and on!!!

--Kate
greater Hartford, CT US

White Flower Farm - Planting, growing, and caring for Climbing Roses and Clematis: "Overwintering. Much has been written about techniques for overwintering Roses. In our experience, the best way to get Roses through winter is to choose plants adapted to your climate zone. That said, if you live near a Rose's cold limit and you garden on an exposed site or in an area where rapid temperature fluctuations are common, you should mound two shovelfuls of composted manure, garden soil, compost, or shredded leaves over the base of the plant in late fall—ideally after the ground freezes. Pull the mounding material away from the stem as new growth emerges in spring. Do not prune Roses or Clematis back in fall; wait until spring to prune branches injured over winter."

Passion for the web. Passion for life!

Jobs at Intel - Colombia, Bogot?

Jobs at Intel - Colombia, Bogot?: "Other attractions include La Zona Rosa for shopping, fun, gourmet food and entertainment, and the Planetario, Botanical Garden and shopping centers, such as Hacienda Santa Barbara, Centro Comercial Andino and Unicentro."

lilacs,lilac planting,perennials,flowering shrubs,southeastern MA,SouthCoast MA,evergreens,trees, Rabbit Run Nursery

Thinking of getting a lilac for your new garden? Rabit Run Nursury of Rochester, Massachusetts offers tips for planting, care, and pruning. They sport photos of about 16 vaieties and offer lilacs in addition to perrennials, shurbs, amd other trees for sale on their web site. --Kate

lilacs,lilac planting,perennials,flowering shrubs,southeastern MA,SouthCoast MA,evergreens,trees, Rabbit Run Nursery: "Keep the area around the newly set plant free from other vegetation. This will dramatically speed its establishment. Weeds, tall grass, or even lawn grass close to the newly planted lilac will win the competition for water and food. The result will be a very weak plant which grows slowly for several years. There should be at least one foot of cleared space around the new lilac, but even more is desirable.

The soil moisture level in the first growing season is very important. Drought stress, even for a short time, will severely restrict new shoot growth and retard plant establishment. Lilacs are slow growers for the first year or two after planting and neglect during the first year will make this even more evident."

Artist gardeners - by Gertrude Jekyll

Gardenvisit.com relayes Gertrude Jeckyll's color schemes about the magic of things coming together... I read another piece about lilc and blue flower combinations from the artist's perspective...sounding like an enjoyable book.. did you know it was last copyrighted the year I was born?

Artist gardeners - by Gertrude Jekyll: "Such are the impressions that the artist-gardener endeavours to produce in every portion of the garden. ... Then there are some days during the summer when the quality of light seems to tend to an extraordinary beauty of effect. I have never been able to find out how the light on these occasions differs from that of ordinary fine summer days, but, when these days come, I know them and am filled with gladness.

Gertrude Jekyll Color schemes for the flower garden (5th Edition 1921) (edited and © Gardenvisit.com)"

Technorati

eGarden for your heart:

Bring it on. Technorati: Technorati Profile

Gardens guide

There is an excellent resource for those of us who would like to read up on gardens, visit gardens and learn more about various historic styles of garden design. The wide-ranging Garden History and Travel Resources section "Gardens Guide."

Also at this site are the following (and much more!):


• Directory of garden design and garden designers


• Garden restoration


• Public gardens around the world


• Connecticut gardens

Best garden destinations

I am looking at the Spring 2007 issue of "People, Places, and Plants: The Magazine for Northeast Gardners" that I picked up at Ladd's garden center in South Windham.

It contains results of the annual readers poll on where Northeast U.S. gardeners like to browse or buy (either in person or via internet or catalogue). Unfortunately, the magazine does not give much information about each one, possibly on the assumption that the winners won because "everyone" was already familiar with them.

I list a few of them, skipping over such things as "favorite lawn care company" since few people would hire an out-of-state-company to do their mowing. Also, I omit those categories where the high vote getter was actually quite low. For example, the high vote getter among Florists got only 2/3 the number of votes garnered by the bottom vote getter in the Garden Center category.

Worthy of note, however, are these:

1. Favorite Seed Catalogue: Johnny's Selected Seeds,Winslow, ME


2. Favorite Public Garden: Tower Hill Botanic Gardem, Boylston, MA


3. Favorite Compost, Soil, or Fertilize: Coast of Maine Organics, Portland ME


4. Favorite Garden Center: Russell's Garden Center, Wayland MA


5. Favorite Specialty Nursery: White Flower Farm, Litchfield, CT

If you like visiting or doing business with this kind of place -- I do! -- get a copy of the magazine and read the rest. I'm sure all that made the list are excellent.

2007 Connecticut Garden Tour

April 12th through April 18th

"PERENNIAL PLANNING WEEK!
All free workshops and garden walks this week will be devoted to helping you plan your perennial garden."

Visit Natureworks for your plant classes and flowers!!

518 Forest Road
Northford, CT 06472
(203) 484-2748

Acid2 Browser Test - The Web Standards Project

Is Firefox Compliant?

Acid2 Browser Test - The Web Standards Project: "Acid2 is a test page, written to help browser vendors ensure proper support for web standards in their products. Please take the Acid2 test!

If you’d like more in-depth information about the Acid2 test, we’ve provided a detailed technical guide that explains how the test works."

Paddy Wales - Garden Photographer

Ther eis a lovely animated flower gallery for artist and garden writer, Paddy Wales! Thanks to Greg S. of Manhattan for sending me the link! Beautiful site! --Kate

Paddy Wales - Garden Photographer
Paddy Wales, author of Journeys Through the Garden (Whitecap), is one part garden photographer, one part garden writer, and one part garden maniac. Her images and written articles appear in national and international publications including Gardening Life, Canadian Gardening, House & Home, Style at Home, Fine Gardening, Chatelaine, Pacific Horticulture, and in dozens of books, most recently The Holistic Garden, Creating a Cottage Garden, and The New Twelve-Month Gardener.

Bristol Historical Society - Gift Shop

A little history about the town where my traveling garden now sits below the remaining snow, waiting to flourish with spring rains and warm temperatures:

Bristol Historical Society - Gift Shop: "Bristol, by Gail Leach and Steven Vastola

Bristol was originally a tightly held and uninhabited portion of Farmington and was known in its early days as the West Woods. Settlers did not arrive until the 1720s and, after building their small community, they sought and received staus as the New Cambridge Parish in 1742. Their numbers continued to grow and, by 1785, the community joined neighboring West Britain Parish in separating from Farmington and becoming the town of Bristol."

Traveling eGarden Journal: 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005

I dig into my archives and pulled up my favorite photograph.. This one of the poppy gets a lot of appeal..

Traveling eGarden Journal: 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005: "My grand slam for summer 2005. poppy at maplecroft farm, burnham, maine. photo by kate shorey. flower grown by maplecroft farm."

Tavelling Garden - Unity Pond.net Web Photo Gallery

Alternative to Soaker Hoses Revealed in December

eGarden for your heart:

the Garden Lady of Connecticut offers some great alternatives to the guess work in watering your gardens. She recommends a rain guage for starters, and then soaker hoses. both great ideas and she employs these herself at Naturework.

Despite the great water conservation efforts of the soaker hose for deep watering a perennial garden, I saw an intruiging alternative that just may appeal to those of you who don't care for the idea of an expensive network of hoses all around:

Milk jugs!

In a neighborhood stroll this past Sunday, I happened upon a street side garden that, at this time in December, revealed a series of smal milk cartons buried in the dirt. the tops were open and my guess is that they were punctured with holes.

Now this has so many benefits I couldn't wait to tell you. First it is capturing rain water, so there is a reduction in water costs for the home owner. Second, the open milk containers make great resevoirs for when you do wish to water. Water the jugs instead of the dirt and you have not only focused your efforts, but prevented your plants from the risks of mildew in the evening or burned leaves midday!

: "A better system is to use soaker hoses. These are laid on the soil surface and covered with mulch. Some people even bury them beneath the soil, especially on steep hillsides. Water oozes out of the pores in the hose very slowly, deeply soaking the soil. You leave these hoses on for many hours, but they actually conserve water because so little water comes out at a time. Because the water doesn't migrate very far from the hoses, the secret to installing them is to weave them very tightly among the crowns of the perennials or shrubs. We pin them down with landscape fabric staples to keep them in place."

Happy gardening!

Love,
Kate

Salisbury * Lakeville, Connecticut - Amesville, Lime Rock, Taconic - Tourism

I highly recommend Eric Mendelsohn's Salisbury Gardens in northwest Conencticut! I walked in and instantly suspected it had everything I had been needing. (I moved in the fall and my gardening desires have been strong into November!)

Salisbury * Lakeville, Connecticut - Amesville, Lime Rock, Taconic - Tourism: "We offer a full range of indoor and outdoor plants, garden goods, seasonal specialities, gifts, and terrific service from our experienced staff. Full landscaping and gardening services are available.

• salisburygardens@comcast.net

Hours:
Open daily, 9:00am - 5:00pm

Salisbury Garden Center
167 Canaan Road
Salisbury, CT 06068
Phone: 860-435-2439"

Gardening : Perennials : Perennial Advice : Home & Garden Television

From HGTV:

Gardening : Perennials : Perennial Advice : Home & Garden Television: "# 'Try to keep with the same side of the spectrum. Closely related colors usually go well together.'
# Repetition is important, especially the larger the garden gets. 'There needs to be a sense of unity,' he laughs. 'Gardens that have one of this and one of that have plunk-itis.' "

Historic Garden Project: Connecticut Gardener

Now renting an old house in the historic district of my new town, my interest in recreating historic gardens is stronger than ever. In the past 6 months I spent a lot of time driving and walking around looking at some of the impressive corner gardens that fronted people's properties. I believe fastiduiously doing ANY gardening is a great improvement to the town's, and certainly my own, well being. To recreate some historic gardens would add some fun.

Mr. Poulin told me today that he has seen photos of some FABULOUS gardens around the area, though sadly no photos of my current residence.

Today marks the beginning of my historic garden recreation project (or shall we say somewhat haphazard persuit. Let's see what unfolds!


--Kate

Connecticut Gardener: "Gordon Kenneson has earned degrees in political science, history and horticulture. He teaches, lectures and writes and is the owner of On the Grow, a horticultural consulting business in Windsor.


Gordon Kenneson's Plant List for the 1794 Garden, First Church in Windsor

Annuals and Biennials
Alyssum, Sweet Lobularia maritima
Basil, Sweet Ocimum basilicum
Borage Borage officinalis
China Aster Callistephus chinensis
Cornflower Centaurea cyanus
Foxglove Digitalis purpurea
Garden Balsam Impatiens balsamina
Globe Amaranth Gomphrena globosa"

Mt. Fujiyama Super Tall Phlox

Mt. Fujiyama Super Tall Phlox

Some days I just imagine intense white flowers of so many varieties!




I had this oriental lily in Windsor... I wonder who will get to enjoy it next spring?