Roman Flowers......a movable garden

OK........so James and I are not in Rome right at the moment, but we can dream can't we?

It is just about at this time of year, February, with a huge storm about to drop about 2 feet of snow on us here in New England, that we think about Spring in Italy. 

 In April and May, red poppies color the fields that line roadsides of Umbria and the scent of Broom and Chestnut blossoms fills the air.  In Rome, bright Bougainvillea  and sweet smelling Wisteria surround doorways, nearly hiding them at times.

On an April morning in Rome this 'moveable garden' stopped outside a door on the quiet Via Margutta to make a delivery. A lovely moment and now a good memory.....and since I doubt that I will see an open air flower laden utility truck on our dirt road any time soon,
 I am delighted to see the flowers  of Amaryllis and Paperwhites that are blooming, or getting prepared to bloom, in our warm New England home as we wait for an Old Fashioned Blizzard..............

So Sweet the Mid Summer Lavender.....

The heated air of mid summer is filled with the scents of lavender and rosemary.

Outside our front door is a lavender lined walkway that invites a passing touch. I cannot resist pulling off a few flowered stems releasing that lavender perfume into my hand, as I walk through the morning garden. James and I grow two types of English Lavender (L. angustifolia), Munstead and Hidcote.

Pliney the Elder, wrote of lavender's medicinal uses. Ancient Romans noted it's healing qualities and used it for washing. In the time of Nero, 77 AD., the Greek military physician Discordes used it on battlefield wounds, as did the medics in World War I.

And of Nero, I wonder if his Golden Palace was filled with lavender?

Lavender has long been considered to have healing qualities, from use as perfume by the ancient Egyptians and Romans to medicinal use by monks in Medieval Europe continuing into the Renaissance with hopes of preventing plague ( that hope was not realized). Victorian England was awash in the stuff. Still today, lavender is used with the thoughts that the oils quell stress and aid in sleep and so on.

All I really know is that I love it in the garden and I adore the fragrance.

Bees love it too, so when it is time to harvest it is always a competition with the bees. I always yield to the bees.

Although we do harvest some of our lavender to dry, we mainly grow it because we love having it in the garden. We can barely bring ourselves to cut it at it's prime, when that mist

of blue- violet is just beginning. But, when the deep freeze of January and February roll around, the summer scent of dried lavender is so, so welcome.

As for rosemary, another fragrant herb that thrives in our mid summer garden, that my friends finds it's way into our kitchen . With the chives having gone by, cut back and waiting for that second crop, we turn to rosemary, adding it to roasted potatoes and vegetables, lamb, grilled chicken, etc...... mid summer cooking at it's best.

Lavender

This is the week I set aside to prune the lavender. This usually occurs around the Red Sox Opening Day at Fenway Park, always a reminder for James and I to get certain garden chores done.

Right now, as I am out pruning in a New England heat wave, the path looks rather shabby!

But with work and time, along with some help of sun and rain.... miracles can happen!

I took this photo last summer when the lavender was particularly adorned in blue flowers and I am hoping that this summer the lavender path will compete and have the same allure of color and fragrance.

Back to work!

WINTER COLOR

Bluebirds arrived yesterday. Today the first snow of the winter and the Bluebirds bring winter color to the garden. It has been quite magical watching them fly around all morning in the blowing and falling snow, stopping at times to dine on rose hips .

We noticed that there was an unusual amount of bird activity outside our windows. A flock of bluebirds had arrived and they were checking out the bluebird boxes. Along with the bluebirds came a whirlwind of goldfinches.

And then, the pair of cardinals showed up together, as they are known to do.......they are very sweet to watch. The red of the male is incredible and the color of the females beak is intense, a gorgeous red-orange. Pure color against the white snow.

The fan of color in the wings of the male Cardinal would make for a good art school project in mixing color; where each primary color, red for example, is first mixed with white to create a spectrum of tints, then mixed with it's compliment ( in the case of red it would be green), to create a range of shades.

So so much for the art lesson, Mr. Cardinal is off to the neighboring apple tree where he might find some shelter from the first snow of the winter (2012), here in our New Hampshire garden.