Our garden in mid-August

I haven't posted many pictures of our garden this year, but that's because it took so long for it to really take off. But during the past several weeks, it has grown like wildfire--the pumpkin plants have long trailing vines now and the pumpkins are looking good, the zucchini plants have already produced three large zucchinis, the greenhouse tomato plants have produced a few tomatoes, the dahlias look lovely, the gladiolas and hollyhocks likewise. The marigolds, cornflowers, and sunflowers are also doing well. My bean plants are producing string beans, and the carrot and potato plants are growing well (hopefully they'll produce well). It's been a banner year for berries of all sorts--strawberries, red currants, black currants, gooseberries, blackberries, and blueberries, but strangely enough, not raspberries, at least not in our garden. I planted two panicle hydrangeas, which are hardier than the usual hydrangeas and which seem to bloom for quite a long time, and two potentilla shrubs, which produce lovely small yellow flowers. They also seem to be quite hardy. I hope the warm weather continues into September so that the tomatoes, potatoes and carrots can grow to full maturity.

Here are some photos of the garden that I took yesterday and a few days ago......

Cinderella pumpkins growing happily

Lavender, gladiolas, dahlias, and Coreopsis flowers

one of four giant sunflowers 

Cinderella pumpkin patches

entrance to the garden

panicle hydrangea

tomatoes growing on the outdoor tomato plants

A visit to Bannerman Island

Bannerman Island, also called Pollepel Island, is located in the Hudson River near Cornwall, New York. It is the site of Bannerman Castle, which was once a weapons arsenal and ammunition depot, but which suffered a major explosion in 1920, leaving only the shell of the castle standing. The island is open to the public via organized tours. Beacon, New York is the embarkation point for the ferry boat that takes you to the island for the tour. The boat trip takes about thirty minutes, and is a pleasant ride, especially on a hot summer day like the one on which we had booked our tour. I'd been wanting to visit the island for several years now, and on this trip to New York it became possible for Maria, Jean and me to do so. Visitors are not allowed to walk around the castle ruins as the structure is too unstable and is currently being held up by large supports, but the rest of the island is open for exploration. We enjoyed the tour and can recommend visiting the island.

Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York

I visited Innisfree Garden with Jean on my recent trip to New York. I had read about this garden online; it is a 185-acre public garden located at 362 Tyrrel Road in Millbrook, New York, and is "recognized as one of the world’s ten best gardens". Its existence is yet another reminder that there is so much to see and do in beautiful New York State. As the years pass, I realize more and more how privileged we are to call this state our home state. It is also very nice to be able to visit different places with my good friends now, some of whom are retired and enjoying the freedom from the daily work routines that they followed for so long. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens"; that is how it feels now, even for me who is still working. I am winding down my own work life, and preparing for the eventuality of retirement. I will write about that in a future post.

You can read about Innisfree Garden here: http://innisfreegarden.org/  When we arrived, the woman sitting at the entrance booth told us that it would take about 1.5 to 2 hours to see the entire garden, and that was about right. We could have used more time, but the weather report for that day was thunderstorms starting in the early afternoon, so we decided to get to the garden at mid-morning and leave before the storms started. The walk around the lake would take about one hour if you didn't stop along the way at the different sculptures and gardens. But if you don't stop, you won't experience the beauty and peace of the garden. Walking around the lake reminded me of walking around Lake Derwentwater in England's Lake District, but that walk took much longer. I took a lot of photos as I usually do, and am posting some of them here. I would love to return to Innisfree Garden in the autumn and winter months, as I am sure the garden would have a different feel to it then, probably due to the variations in intensity of the light. I will return to it at some point. I would like to know who decided to call the garden Innisfree, and why they chose that name. I am certain that whoever did so was a William Butler Yeats fan.

The garden in June

It is a pleasure and a privilege to have a garden. It is also a manifestation of faith in the natural order of things--that the cycle of life, death, and life again will continue each year, unchanged, predictable, orderly. There is peace in knowing that.

The tomato plants in the greenhouse are already starting to grow tomatoes, and the pumpkin and summer squash plants are starting to flower and take off. The green bean plants are pushing themselves up out of the soil and starting to grow. The potato and yellow onion plants have been growing well for about a month already, and the carrot plants are showing their green fronds. The dahlias and gladiolas are quite high already; the hollyhocks are also doing well. The lavender and celosia plants are blooming, as are the carnations and Dianthus. The hydrangeas are also blooming, as are the panicled hydrangeas (syrinhortensia in Norwegian--translates to 'lilac-like hydrangeas').

I was in the garden yesterday and took some photos, as I always do, to document the garden's progression from one week to another. Enjoy!

One of three rose bushes that is blooming

Once a cherry tree, now covered in wild ivy, with coral bell plants and pansies at its base

Green beans, yellow onions, carrots, and potatoes growing. In the background, pumpkin and zucchini plants, sunflowers, and cornflowers

Outdoor tomato plants, royal geraniums, different hydrangeas, and my ninebark plant that has grown a lot this year

Lots of lavender plants, gladiolas, Cock's comb (celosia), carnations, hydrangea, dahlias, lilies, peony, and Dianthus ('pinks')

Pachysandra planted under the Emperor bush 

Strawberries from the garden--so good! There is nothing quite like them. 

Pansies 

Pansies

Pansies and coral bells