Beth Emmott

It snowed several days ago and the sun has been out since and there is still snow frozen to the sides of the hemlocks outside my window. My garden is covered with snow.

But I’m inside, all cozy.

The birds love the bird feeders and the squirrels are crazy trying to get to them, so I give them bread crusts and they are fat and happy.

Changed the header to an image taken early this am on a hike in the Wissahickon Valley in Philadelphia. So many hopes and plans for the new year. One is to slow down and enjoy what is all around us.

Just after the last post I stopped at Whole Foods in Philadelphia and they are selling Fig Trees! Gotta get one!

Went to Bartram’s Garden. Very hot but a nice breeze, took two tours, one of the grounds and one of the house.

I didn’t know Fig trees would grow in Philadelphia!.

Born in 1699, John Bartram became America’s first great botanist and with his son William identified and cultivated over 200 new plant species. In 1765 King George III appointed John as Royal Botanist, a position he held until his death in 1777.

July 2010 storm damage of Historic 1790′s Yellowwood Tree.

Research has shown that this tree planted by John Bartram, has been damaged in previous storms and hopefully will recover.

Many plants are direct descendents of ones he cultivated, including one of his most well known, the Franklinia, (Franklinia alatamaha), he named it after his friend, Benjamin Franklin.

Well, the holidays are over and school has started. My first classes were yesterday. Right now I’m headed to VA to my Mom’s to dedecorate her house and to celebrate her birthday! My decorations at home are down except for greens around the door but it has been too cold to deal with that. This new header image is of those greens.

We’re driving down the Delmarva peninsula and it is still cold, but I hear it’s already over 50 degrees in Virginia Beach. So that’s good! Here the ponds are frozen and the fields which will soon have green things growing are all brown and stubbly but the sky is full of birds in “V” formation—I wish flying to Canada but that won’t be until around March. Yeah, I know, in Philadelphia, I still have to deal with Feb. and March but the days ARE getting longer and stuff is starting to grow. Really!

Get’s me making plans for my garden— the catalogs have been coming for almost a month now and we have been having snows that melt slowly watering the ground so I hope there will not be any dry spells this summer to turn my world into a dust bowl.

My back yard has a place that needs seeding but other than that it’s pretty ok—just maintenance and veggies. But the front – under the living room window, is a shady place that is just a mess of pacasandra and a stunted azalea bush that need work. There’s a project to think about.

Or perhaps along the side walk—we could revisit that as well. I like to plant seasonal things along my way from the house to the car. Then, if I’m busy at work and don’t have time to wander my garden, I don’t miss the changes.