Thursday, June 30, 2011

Two Lucky Ducks

TWO  LUCKY DUCKS 

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We are the two lucky ducks rescued last year, cared for and released by the Wildlife Rescue Center. There are many other animals being treated at the wildlife hospital and they need your help. Please support the Wildlife Rescue Center by joining us for a great night out at the fabulous Gateway Playhouse in Bellport as they present the musical "Legally Blonde." Our wine and hors d'oeuvres pre-show reception will take place between 6:45pm and 7:45pm. The show begins at 8:00pm. Tickets are $50 to attend the show or $90 to attend both the reception and the show. Special pricing available for groups of 10 or more. Please call (631) 728 - 4200 to reserve your tickets.

Our Wildlife Rescue Center is peopled with the best and most caring volunteers in the whole universe.  If you are anywhere near Bellport, Long Island won’t you help their cause and go to see this play.  We love this organization.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

DIRTIER:The Gardener's Must-Read by Dianne B


It is mid-June and the white corner of the whitest part of the garden is whiter
than it has ever been with this year’s prolifically blooming dogwoods and a few
white leafy additions here and there……..



It’s not a big garden, but it is a dense garden…not big enough to persuade
the fancy Assouline editors of Jack de Lashmet’s great Hamptons Gardens book to
include me in it, but they just weren’t into its’ subtleties.


A big old deutzia interscrambled with a tiny white climbing rose — both here when I
got to the garden and the natural starting point for its white phase — with that
can't-be-overestimated Japanese willow H. Nishiki limbed way up and 2 kinds
of dogwood.  A variegated beauty that hardly ever blooms and a classic Cornus
kousa that started out as a LongHouse sapling.  Ground covered in Athyrium
‘Ghost', Pulmonaria ‘Not Sissinghurst White but Looks Just Like It’ and
Solomon’s Seal and it’s cousin Disporum make it as white as I can manage….
Looks beautiful, no?


The really subtle pairing of my fabulous Aralia elata variegata ‘Silver Umbrellas’
(which I have just discovered is listed on the most dangerous invasive plant lists,
but have decided to ignore it and watch very carefully for those suckers) and the 
intensely mottled green and white leaves of Japanese maple.






You can read the entire DIRTIER: A Gardener's Must-Read by Dianne B here!


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Saturday, June 11, 2011



The new leaves of the Japanese maples bring…no kidding….tears to my 
eyes in a tacit co-mingling of pride and wonder at the pure artistry of my 
special  slice of  the natural world.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

DIRTIER: A Gardener's Must-Read by Dianne B.


MY  MISTAKE


Several people on the great St. Luke’s House and Garden Tour were crazy about  these beautiful ‘Star Flowers’ and I told each of them unequivocally that they are Ixiolirion…so,  for those of you who diligently copied it down  ---  I was dead wrong --- one of those cases of Latin blackout.  Ixiolirion are leggier plants that don’t have nearly as much appeal.  The ‘Star Flower’ you want is Ipheion and the one with the very best color is ‘Wisley Blue’.  They perennialize for sure and are bluer than they look in this photo.


WELL   DESERVED  ENDORSEMENT

I can’t say enough about the effectiveness of Whitetail Solutions for keeping the deer away from my tulips!   Yes, it’s true most of the garden is fenced in, but the front walk with its array most definitely has no fence — no defenses at all except for the magic potion applied by Leslie Gelb and her WhiteTail Miracle spray.  May I remind you that it does not leave that ugly white film and it hardly smells.  If you are in Suffolk County…definitely call 631.324.4200


FERN  PERSISTENCE

Of course, this fern will stop at nothing and  can eat your garden alive; but one must applaud the fortitude of the good old Ostrich fern,  Matteucia struthiopteris for its insistence.... see how it crashes its way up through several layers of macadam …….





 You can read the full DIRTIER Newsletter HERE!!