Travel Time Again!

Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts Bridge of Flowers

Traveling and visiting gardens is one of the delights of my life. It may just be January, but it is never too early for those of us with the traveling bug to begin our plans for this year's garden excursions. I've just made my reservations for a trip to Holland during tulip time. And I've begun my yearly review of gardens I visited last summer.

I share the first of these garden reviews in my article: Massachusetts Bridge of Flowers: Shelburne Falls Early 20th Century Trolley Bridge. This article received an Editors Choice Award for the week of January 14, 2008. The Editor's Choice Award exemplifies the quality content, excellent presentation, and high standards at Suite101.

Suite101 format allows only five photographs per article. So, I am posting a few more here:

Archway Enterance to Bridge of Flowers
Buckland Side of Deerfield River

Bridge Railings Buckland Side of Bridge

Purple-leaf Form of Cotinus coggygria
Late Afternoon Sunlight

Landscape Maintenance Mistakes

Photo #1 - Damage done to pavements and front entrance because either a young tree was planted in the wrong location or a seedling was allowed to grow. Result is an unhealthy tree that needed to be cut and the expense of repair of hardscape.


Mistakes? Everyone makes one, now and then. However, Landscape Maintenance Mistakes...what I've begun to term Horticultural Horrors...abound in both residential and public landscapes.

The neatnik in me wants to scurry around and fix everything I see. No, I am not setting myself up as any Horticulturally Correct Person (HCP). I just delight in advocating for plant health. Usually, maintenance mistakes lead to poor plant health.

You can read more about some of these Horticultural Horrors, what causes them and the problems arising from them in my article: Landscape Maintenance Mistakes.



Photo #2 -Damage done to city pavement by a Gleditsia triacanthos var.inermis (thornless honey locust) because the roots have girdled themselves and have no place to grow. One of a row of these trees, all causing the same problem. Even though these honey locusts are generally a good choice for urban street trees, the problem arose because there was not enough space for the roots to grow. Research of the soil and space under the street might have prevented this damage.

Colonial Homes and Revival Gardens

My fascination with the development of The House of Seven Gables Historic Neighborhood by Caroline O. Emmerton and Joseph E. Chandler continues.

Colonial Homes and Revival Gardens: The House of The Seven Gables Historic Neighborhood, my most recent article about this development, discusses

• Preservation and Restoration
• Garden Designs, and
• Gardens and Selected Houses.
  

Gardener's Holiday - House of 7 Gables - Salem, MA

The House of the Seven Gables
Viewed across the raised beds of a Colonial Revival Garden.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthplace
Moved to the complex from another part of Salem.

Retire Becket House (now the Gift Shop)
Viewed across the raised beds of a Colonial Revival Garden

Moved to the complex from another part of Salem.

What does a gardener do for a holiday? Easy answer: Gather up friends and relations, and visit a garden. I am fortunate enough to live in New England where it is very easy to find great-looking and historical gardens within a short drive or a long walk.

Earlier this week, accompanied by two friends I visited
The House of the Seven Gables Historic District that contains gardens that represent four centuries of planting schemes. This is another way of saying, to my way of thinking, Colonial Revival. During the early 1900s, Colonial Revival reached its peak of popularity in both house interior design and renovation along with landscape gardening. This approach clothed history in nostalgia and the concept of "the good old days."

Many times, the fun of a garden visit for me is in unraveling the garden's past - kind of like a mystery - rather than just looking at all the pretty flowers. The schoolteacher in me likes to look for accuracy in garden interpretation, while the photographer in me is always busy looking for that "perfect shot." The houses within the House the Seven Gables complex are not interpreted as being authentic representation, nor are the gardens. So, all in all, it was a great relaxing day out for me!

In The House of the Seven Gables: A Colonial Revival Garden (Salem, MA) I write about some of the information I uncovered about The House of the Seven Gables, its Historic Neighborhood, and Colonial Revival Gardens.

***Most gardens maintain web sites so, if you want to visit the House of the Seven Gables, I heartily recommend accessing these or telephoning for up-to-the-minute open days, admission times, and fees or other pertinent information you need to make your visit a good one.

The House of the Seven Gables Association. Location and Headquarters • 115 Derby Street • Salem, MA 01970 • (978) 744-099.

©
Text and photographs by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2007. Reproduction without permission
prohibited.