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| DIRTIER ....The Newsletter
Volume 56 April 2014
Dianne B
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| Frailty...where is thy blush?
Well – Here it is...
Fragility personified.
The utter delicacy of Hepatica among the fuzzy casings of magnolia buds and overseen
by fritillaries
all in the moss
The variegated leaves of Sasa Veithchii became parchment during the cold winter...ethereal, no?
See the scalloped leaves actually embrace the red stems of Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Tennessee Form’
To me,
this is the height of frailty.
And of course, Happy Birthday to William Shakespeare and my apologies for mashing together the first and third acts of Hamlet;
but I have Hamlet on the brain....
and it is no wonder
BECAUSE
There is to be an extraordinary production of Hamlet next November right here in East Hampton in the beautiful John Drew Theater at Guild Hall.
Produced by the Round Table Theater Company with young, handsome, talented Tristan Vaughan
as Hamlet and, yes, ME
as his mother Gertrude.
Here is a preview from last year’s Acting Class.
Next November will be the real thing,
and speaking of
the real thing,
for you Shakespearians especially,
the actual lines are:
Frailty, thy name is woman!, Act I, scene 2
Oh shame, where is thy blush?, Act III, scene 4
In both cases, Hamlet is not talking
about the garden, but about his mother...
yes, her.
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HEAVENLY BLUES
To some, all little blue flowers look the same,
"Oh - look at the cute little blue flowers"
but to we gardeners,
there is a vast world of difference.
The almost inconspicuous, but gorgeously hued, Mertensia virginica
(real life color better than this)
The intricate anther-heavy bloom of the
treasured blue-flowered Hepatica
The baby-size blueness of Muscari azureum...
The earliest for me – paler and exceedingly charmante
Not exactly blue, but with a tiny little blue stripe, Puschkinia
The simple but energizing Chionodoxa luciliae or
Glory of the Snow
The nascent tubular flowers of Corydalis solida
I think it is positively racist to hear them all referred to as “little blue flowers”
WE LIVE IN A MAGIC PLACE
You know, there is a reason that
places like the various Rivieras and Bali have huge reputations and
attract a certain kind of people
I think it is largely because they are beautiful.
The same goes for The Hamptons
(though no one actually in the Hamptons refers to them as The Hamptons).
Anyway...
As of a few days ago, the immediate neighborhood of
East Hampton looks like this:
Look closely and see the deer crossing the bridge at the Maidstone Golf Course
The American spirit
a portion of Steven Spielberg’s ¼ mile of daffodils
daffodil symmetry
Our Church
Our sky looks like a hoaky paint-by-number in
this picture,
but in real life it is just divine
And for the myriad daffodils that are plumped, pre-determined,
arranged and manicured there is surely something to be said;
but it is these growing in the wild that have
captured my heart
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DIANNE’S DOs & DON’Ts :
DON'T mistake an emergent clump of crabgrass
for the bourgeoning leaves of allium
Another example of the cleverness of weeds.
DON’T leave your tender plants wrapped in their winter blankets for too long
These are screaming “Let me out!”
and I hope soon everyone around here will take those damn burlap wrappings off their
pristine little boxwoods
and let them breathe...
DO believe that things too good to be true are
usually just that.
I thought I was such a smarty pants finding a source to buy 12 Fritillaria imperialis for a modest price.
Well, the bulbs looked OK,
so I was excited to see
them break through
And begin to emerge
Oh boy, I thought, 12 new robust riotous
‘Tears of Mary’ .
BUT...the excitement ended there.
The leaves just unfurled and unfurled
and soon it became apparent that there was to be
no flash of color,
no fabulous crown
and definitely, no tears.
In other words - no flowers - just swirl after swirl
of shiny leaves,
so...no bargain after all.
On the other hand, I almost never expect
Fritillary persica to bloom,
But those vase-shaped blue leaves come back
year after year and are almost as good as the dark
dangling bells.
DO buy expensive bulbs from Odyssey Bulbs.
This Dog Tooth’s Violet (Purple King) took
my breath away.
Especially those purple anthers, not to mention
those extraordinary leaves,
and the proprietor Russell,
is really nice and attentive.
MORAL: You usually get what you pay for.
DON’T
be so quick to rid your garden of every old, overworked branch. Here
is the frame of a decaying juniper that was in the front border before I
got here...
I find it quite dramatic among
spring’s new growth
DO have faith in La Grande Mere Nature
Gardeners all over Long Island were cursing the
un-like April 16th frost; but you know ... it didn’t seem
to disturb a thing
and most of all
DON’T Ever, I mean Never, plant ivy in the garden
Where are my reliable old Ipheion I was
thinking...and those new Thalia that I worked so
hard to plant...where are they?
and then I realized...
they are buried under that aggressive ivy,
along with several other things...
I am still working at unearthing it
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HELLEBORE HEAVEN
Hellebore augutifolia, the one
with the fatter leaves And the shyer habit takes even longer to
establish than the others. This one since 2007, but finally,
it sure is sweet
The double black gets more purply as it develops,
but stunning still
White Flower Farm calls this pink/red Hellebore
‘Winter Thriller’
It comes to me courtesy of them and the
Garden Conservancy in thanks for participating
in their OPEN DAY
And speaking of the Conservancy, the first
OPEN DAY of the season is
Saturday - MAY 10
And it happily coincides
with the
St. Luke’s House and Garden Tour
My garden will be open to both:
so PLEASE – come and see me
by
BUYING YOUR TICKET
for the
St. Luke’s House and Garden Tour
or
Showing up at the gate for The Conservancy
Open Day
10am - 2pm
$5 for the Garden Conservancy Tour
May 10 is
the day before Mother’s Day
For the St. luke's Tour, all 6 homes and gardens are located in the Village of East Hampton
The most spectacular has
NEVER BEEN OPEN to a Garden Tour BEFORE
An Italianate walled garden almost a century old,
which boasts Sara and Gerald Murphy in its history,
is something not to be missed.
Call the Church 631.329.0990
$75
Will the magnolia still be in bloom?
Will the tree peonies open?
Will the rabbits have eaten all of the tulips or
just some of them?
These and other mysteries
will be revealed on Saturday, May 10
In 4 Quartets, there is a line
The Garden has the “look of flowers that have been looked at”
So COME and LOOK
Oh yes, T.S. Eliot
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WEEDS!
Think of all the things one might accomplish if there was no weeding to be done...
books to be read
plants to be divided
websites to devour
nurseries to peruse
pruning
mulching
edging
endless
And it's not only me - the entire NorthEast of America is extremely hospitable to
ALL TEN of the UGLIEST and MEANEST weeds.
I am trying to approach them with aplomb
instead of having them educe from me
an often-mean-spirited hiss...
And while I am tugging on and prying at them,
I often wonder which one it is I am cursing.
Well, here is the answer.
The lowdown on The Top Ten Weeds brought to us
by Preen,
the weed killer.
RATED XXX
OK...this is something unexpected, if not shocking.
If I were to compare gardenbitchs.com to the nastiest shows on TV, it means that I must admit that I have watched things like Orange is the New Black
and
Shameless,
but so be it...
Gardenbitchs.com
is vile, horrible, offensive really;
but whoever this bitch is – we more or less approach gardening, if not language, in the same way.
Judge for yourself.
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RATED GGGGGGGood
Seeds, like words, ‘behave
like capricious and autonomous beings’, so if we give them a space to
perform, perhaps we stand a chance to inherit their intelligence. This
seems like a wiser choice to me, rather than to force our intelligence
upon them.
Scott Chaskey, from his new book Seedtime... Scott
is the Noah to the Hamptons ark,
or maybe the largest voice, as well as presence, in our do-good community
THIS AIN’T NO VAN GOGH
Even though he too was born in
the quaint little Dutch district of Zundert, and with all of his
glorious imagination and feel for color, do you think he could have ever
imagined this?
This is the Dutch Bloemencorso Parade...
And all of the floats are made from Dahlias...
millions of them...
Can you believe it?
PEOPLE SAY THE NICEST THINGS
This is about my wonderful English Garden Twine
from the WordPress blog: French Gardener Dishes.
"The supermarket hanging basket was just too high to be
appreciated and seen so I transferred it into a more decorative metal
planter lined with cocoa fiber
(just plunked it right in, as is) and I hung it at eye level by
the front door with my favorite hard-working, all purpose garden rubber
twine from England. I order it from “The Best @ Dianne B”, a great
online garden store which sells only a handful of quality garden
products."
This very twine is included in the
FANTASTIC
DIANNE B GARDEN GIFT SET
And so is the sling-it-over-your-shoulder
Dianne B. Yard Bag
(note on Yard Bag, before it gets filled up, when you want it
to stand erect waiting for your weeds and clippings, just fold it over
like a turtleneck...
it works every time).
also included is the good old 14” Best Trowel
and
If you place your order before May 5th I promise
it will be delivered
BEFORE MOTHER’S DAY
The trug is not sold separately.
I assure you that it is great for everything,
for hauling bulbs while planting, weeds while weeding –
All sorts of garden tasks; plus it looks great in the kitchen holding eggs or kumquats or anything.
It is only 15“ long, so it is just right.
Especially look at the beautiful myrtle wood
and the copper nails
This is quite a gift and a real bargain at only $99... (plus shipping)
So, ORDER RIGHT NOW
Make your mother, or sister or lover or even your enemy happy.
And don't forget the Peeping Stick:
Every hellebore, every fritillary, every dogtooth's violet has inner mysteries
that can only be revealed by lying on the ground or viewing it with
The Peeping Stick. Exclusively here at Dianne B.
Should it continue to rain... Let a Leaf Be Your Umbrella
And don’t forget to be thankful for all life’s joys
And really – don’t forget to place your orders at
The Best @ Dianne B.
HAPPY MAY DAY |
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