Monday, December 1, 2014

An Appreciation


DIRTIER ....The Monthly Garden Memoir
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Volume 61    Before Thanksgiving, 2014                                                               
Dianne B                                                                                                           
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It’s impossible to prioritize...with so many choices to be thankful for
...so lucky to have such a gratifying  life...

but here are a few that seem timely to share:


The sudden burst of a flower when you least expect it:

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These yellow blossoms not so great,
but the temperatures had plummeted below freezing
when this
Farfugium 'Crested Leopard'
threw up its daisies
last week.  Wow.


The indomitability of Euphorbia:

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Almost indistinct from the ground-hugging pine -
but look closely to see the Fern-leaf
Euphorbia in front of the ground-hugging pine



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E. myrsinites is a great one:  the colder the perkier

Good old E. robbiae self-seeding/spreading
to all the right places

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(I swear I never planted this patch)

and the extremely cheerful E. 'Ascot Rainbow'

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Euphorbias in my garden are the
Only Perennials still going strong.

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Thanks to The Village of East Hampton
for collecting our leaves...
this an especially gigantic pile
with many more accumulating each day

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And a particular thanks to wonderful Mama Nature for  matching the autumn palette with the dogs 
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They luxuriate in crunching through
the leaves


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And another unexpected thing to be thankful for...
not totally crashing on this, the second day,
of life without Hamlet...

After several weeks of total Shakespeare rapture,
I was expecting skidding down to human ground
to be, well...maybe fraught...

But when Hamlet says “What a piece of work is man”

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He means it...


The glorious
and intricate natural world

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provides beauty and solace


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So turning one's back

to now happily resume tangible tasks, like
HUNDREDS of
bulbs still to plant – well, baby
Life goes on
&
The Lady Protests Not Too much


For those of you who could not join our
 Court at Elsinore

Here is a little taste:

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Rosencrantz & Guildenstern with Hamlet
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Hamlet driving Ophelia mad
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Ophelia’s funeral -
the flowers you see are good fake Calla lilies,
but the "weedy trophies" she drowns with are:
nettles, daisies, crowflowers and long purples

currently better known as:
Lamium, daisies, buttercups and sexy dark orchids

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Gertrude drinking from the poisoned cup
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Hamlet was a wonderful experience...
even though as expected,
everyone dies


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As do the autumn leaves...
but they are so glamorous in their extinguishing that
the many great patterns and colors deserve distinguishing.
Here is a small sampling of
my Japanese maples:


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the mysterious bountiful Acer japonica -
 a big tree 


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another breathtaking A. japonica,
a big look from hardly a sapling


The shy autumn redness of the dwarf Acer ‘Shaina’

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The screaming red of a ‘Bloodgood’
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and this golder-than-gold, is commonly called
the coralbark maple because of its screaming bright winter bark

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which is now mousey-brown,
but soon...


and this is hard to believe, but...

A few figs actually ripened in November -
right here on Eastern Long Island.
Delicious

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And Now I present some things that  I hope you
will be thankful for:

If you are anything like me, you have not done one iota of Christmas shopping and the whole concept
of Black Friday makes me sick.
(Also, Lys’ birthday is two weeks before Christmas
and coming up with ideas to surprise
 her takes up all my early shopping stamina)

So...If you are in the same boat
for any reason...



Here magically charmed are the
Best @ Dianne B offerings into several
superbly aligned Christmas packages.

Surely everyone reading this has a favorite gardener
on their Christmas list...
one of these packages
will be exactly the
right thing,
I hope


 TOTALLY ENTHRALLING
GIFTS for GARDENERS



The prices are slightly Christmas specialized,
but  even better than yet another bargain...
where else could such distinctive gifts come with

FREE Glamorous Dianne B. Gift Wrapping
and


FREE shipping

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Match your Favorite Gardener up to
One of These Irresistibles:


For the Left-Handed Gardener
What could make a leftie happier than their very own
especially designed to fit
Felco
and
Potting Trowel
Every gardener needs both of these items and both of these have been engineered to fit only the left hand
....Special Christmas Price
$110


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For The Gardener Who Has Everything
Two things few gardeners have splurged for:

The Dig Deep Weeder – the finest tool of its kind,
slick, sharp and made in Holland
and
The Gardener's Peeping Stick – exclusive at Dianne B – indispensible for seeing the real beauty in every flower
$95 for both


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GARDEN GLOVE DREAM DUO
Leather and the Little Black – perfect for every season and every garden chore
the Chic Gauntlet and the perfect Little Black Glove
specify S M or L
$50 for both!


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LOADED TOOL  BELT
This tool belt was made especially for Dianne B to hold a Felco and the superlative Japanese Clipper.
Dianne can no longer get the clippers from Japan,
but is making the last few pair available with the purchase of the tool belt.
 It can be had with the Clippers for $95
(supply your own Felco)
or
complete with clippers and new #2 Felco for $150


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and last perhaps the classiest....

THE COUTURE GARDEN
ESSENTIAL GIFT


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THE USA Made Myrtlewood Trug
with Twine, 25 Zinc Markers, the Rare long-handled Yard Bag, and the perfect Little Black Glove
Everything you need to Garden with Style
$110



HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL


...and  prayers  for those
in the sadder messier parts of the world


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Visit Dianne B Gardens

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Thursday, November 6, 2014

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW


DIRTIER ....The Monthly Garden Memoir
AtDianneB_Logo_wHead02 5
Volume 60   November, 2014                                                              

Dianne B                                                                                       
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So, really...did you know:

That swans are double-jointed?
I didn’t either until I saw this

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He/she is having a good scratch and this is a “resting” position, or posture as you will.


That big spring-blooming old Magnolia trees make this gorgeous, and decidedly phallic, seedpod

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They are decidedly lustier this year.

The Chinese variegated dogwood runs a
pretty close second

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This beauty is Cornus kousa 'Klipka' from the
great ForestFarm in southern Oregon

Or how to tell a delicious delectable mushroom
from a toxic one???

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I don’t know either, but these sure do look good.
Research indicates that they are wild and
    edible, but now I've gone to retrieve them
and they are lost under the autumn leaves.
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OH, of course
It is a Ball Jar, and not a Bell jar
in which I capture my slugs.


Screenshot 2014-09-11 13.12.19     Screenshot 2014-09-11 13.12.51

I thank David L Meyers for correcting my mistake in nomenclature.
I chalk it up to Sylvia Plath.


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DELIGHTS of the AUTUMN GARDEN

The peeling bark of the Crape Myrtle is endlessly fascinating - shedding its skin just like our now beloved garden garter snakes

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The shedding is as exciting as the shading...
so beautiful as it emerges

A new-to-me-last-year plant called
Hemiboea subcapitata
  sports a fox-glove-like flower in October
(it could use a better name)
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from the great Glover’s Perennials

Redemption:  For all the floppy Colchicums that never quite live up to their hype,
suddenly there comes along a great one...

Harlequin from the fabulous
Odyssey Bulbs
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But the regualr old floppy ones
do have their own charm,
especially when put in a vase,
particularly this nice hand-shaped one
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There seem to be more and more all-white leaves on the Cornus controversa variegata as it settles
into the garden,
now five years with me.
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Aside from its glistening leaves, Colocasia fontaneisii provides an endless stream of delights
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And the spectacular seedpods of the various Arisaema...
I have them galore this year...
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It's so exciting


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Eventually, the Eucomis all came through
last year's hard winter,
This one didn't make itself known till autumn


Which, again, proves that
good things come to those who wait


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TO TULIP OR NOT TO TULIP?

I am embroiled in the fabulous dilemma of my currently all-encompassing diversion into Shakespeare.
More proof of the above proverb about patience -
perhaps I have been waiting to play
Queen Gertrude in Hamlet
my entire life!

The dilemma:
  The Play's the Thing and all encompassing and comes at the expense of the heaps of bulbs that are piling up
 All have arrived from my favorite five; but aside from uncrating them (they do need to breathe) and categorizing them a bit --
they lie there ignored and unplanted.


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To say I am excited, nervous and exhilarated is an understatement... and so
engrossed that I hardly recognize myself.
Particularly since I have acquired
long hair to be a more adaptable
and regal Queen,
who of course is the notorious
mother of Hamlet.


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The tulips and the daffodils in their hard outer shells can wait, of course, but the delicate and tenuous layers of the fragile fritillary and lily bulbs are begging attention

But they must wait because every single breath, every line, every hesitation, every scene change in the
Round Table Theater Company counts...
everyone is dedicated, professional and passionate
about making this a great
Hamlet 


                                                                                                                  
Here we are:

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We open on Friday Novemebr 7.
By then the lines will be learned and the rehearsals done and God willing ... there will still be plenty time to plant.

There are nine performances in the beautiful
John Drew Theater at Guild Hall on three weeknds


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                                                                                                                    Tom Kochie Photo

Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:00pm
November 7 + 8, 14 + 15 and 21 + 22
Sundays @ 2:00pm
November 9, 16 and 23


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                                                                                                             Morgan Vaughan Photo

SO...if you are anywhere near the
East End of Long Island and
if you count yourself as one who would appreciate a thoroughly fresh, fabulous and even funny
production of Hamlet,
Do come.
This is the best cultural $25 ticket you will ever buy.

Buy Guild Hall tickets HERE.


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A tickler: This is not the long, drawn-out
four hour version -
it is only the best of the best.
(2  1/2 with Intermission)


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                                                                                                                             Tom Kochie Photo

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And speaking of The Best...

For your Fall Gardening Pleasure, I have added my favorite, and most useful, Garden Trug to my site.
DBTrug

Here it is holding eggs and bananas, but
it is perfect for comingling two or three colors of bulbs...or for shuffling in big doses of muscari around the daffodil patch...or for whatever bulbs you need to tote
to the planting holes.
(I never like to go through the trouble of making a big hole and then replacing all that dirt and just wind up with having planted one thing,
like always add some alliums in with the tulips for
another garden layer)
The trug is perfect for these tasks
and is made in America
from beautiful striated Myrtle wood
(yes, like crape myrtles)
and finished with copper nails.
A beauty - each slightly different



Other Dianne B Best news:
1.    There are no more Yard Bags... I think Bosbags are the next best thing, but they do not have long straps..oh well...the Dianne B ones are gone.
2.   Please watch for the next issue of DIRTIER for our exciting Christmas Combinations.
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3.   Time to warm up your hands. Fall gardening is upon us. This is when you need the fabulously appropriate lined leather Dianne B. Garden Gauntlet Glove.
Specially priced right now for my dear readers.
$35 -- that is a $10 savings -- S M L

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DO have faith...

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DON’T be dismayed, even though the
figs never did ripen

DO Plant more bulbs than you ever think you will
need or want...it’s never enough


and DO come to see Hamlet

                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                    
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                                                                                                     Morgan Vaughan Photo

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Morgan Vaughan Photo
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Visit Dianne B Gardens

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