Path Growth

Overnight heavy rain limited the plausible choices for outside activity today. Moving stone is a good choice when the garden soil is too wet to work. In my haste to get this path started I violated Rule 1 and left a pile of scrap stone nearby. Today some of that stone was moved to its final position. Some of it was added to the path. Some of it was moved to the gravel bank. The path has grown to a configuration where walking on it is possible.


The area between the path and the lawn will change into a planting bed. More bed , less lawn and more plants and stones in the garden is the plan. Squares of sod will be cut, removed and stacked. Given time to work, sod changes into the best soil here. Stone will be raked out and planting holes will be filled with screened soil. One lesson learned is to leave unamended soil for native plants. New England Asters that were placed in richly amended soil grew to freakish proportions this year. Huge flower heads sat atop stalks devoid of green leaves. This was definitely not the effect we were hoping for. Next spring, divisions will be placed in poor soil. We hope this will result in more normal appearing plants.

What A Great Surprise!

Yesterday I discovered that Plants and Stones was one of
Horticulture magazine's top 20 favorite garden blogs. With all of the terrific blogs they had to choose from, I was surprised, no shocked to be selected! What a thrill it was for me. There's no question about that. My smile was so broad that Ed was afraid I might swallow my ears. I really need to say thank you to Patty Craft , managing editor of Horticulture. I did buy a brand new subscription to the magazine, but that hardly seems adequate.

Red creeping thyme is what we planted in the area photographed. It's there, but Catchfly is the larger plant. This is how we garden. Ed moved the catchfly into the garden from the gravel bank because he liked the bright pink of its tiny flowers. Brown sticky sections on the plant's stem added to its appeal. Butterflies and hummingbirds feed on these flowers, and that sealed the deal. So now we have a strongly growing "weed" in our stone garden square . Some will go to the compost, but some will be allowed to stay. Catchfly plants itself and we work around its chosen spot. Allowing plants to self seed is what we do best.

Sparkling Frost

This morning is sunny and crisp. As I look out my bedroom window, the landscape is glittering with light reflected off the frost on the stones, grass, plants, and trees. It's a spectacular scene, but my camera doesn't quite convey the splendor. The view that I can see is magical! This will be one of those lovely November days when it is perfect for being outside in the middle of the day. One can't help but notice that it is staying cold later in the morning, and getting cold earlier in the afternoon. It's only a short time now before the cold meets in the middle of the day for good. But that's not today.

History In A Stone

It's a beautiful November day and Ed has been playing with stones. When he found this one, it won a place on top of one of the walls. I think the hole in the rock sort of looks like an eye staring back at you. What could have made this interesting hole?

Jane's stones occasionally show similar holes. Jane lives along a stream, and has given us many beautiful water worn stones. They add something special to Ed's walls when he uses them. Many years past, there was a paint pigment operation upstream from where Jane lives. In those days paint pigments were obtained by chipping the colored deposits out of stones. The stones were then discarded by the stream. High water washes these stones downstream to Jane's.

Ed found this stone at our gravel bank. Although the stone was placed on the wall today, it looks like it could have been there for some time. If left in this position, water may fill the hole and freeze breaking the stone. Now we have a dilemma. If we leave the stone where we can see it, it may be broken. We could put it someplace safe. Wait a minute, it's a rock.