What would New England be without our beloved maple trees? It’s hard to beat the fall color of a native Sugar Maple: gold, orange and red all at once. Sugar maples prefer a site with moist, acid soils that are away from roadsides or driveways that are salted or deiced in winter. The best color…
We were excited to start work this month on reviving the gardens at the Paul Revere House in Boston’s North End. Here is a little bit of the history from Executive Director Nina Zannieri. “The current gardens were installed in 1983 based on a detailed plan by noted garden expert Ann Leighton. The presentation was…
Our client in Winchester realized their yard needed morel privacy.They wanted to add a mature shrub to get more immediate results. Our crew installed this beautiful, more mature hinoki cypress. Coniferous shrubs naturally screening out light and noise in any season. …
FALL isn’t just about planning for winter. It’s about reflecting on what worked and didn’t and planning for spring. Following a reassessment with our Carlisle client, we renovated problem spots by removing grasses. We replaced what wasn’t working with native ferns and…
After a long restoration process of a historic home, our Groton client’s lawn was severely compacted from all the heavy equipment driving on the site. She’s opted for the establishment of a natural microclover lawn to outcompete all the crabgrass that had taken up residence. Microclover has many benefits: 1.Pulls nitrogen out of the atmosphere…
It’s a busy time of year in the garden. We’re installing new plants and shrubs, along with moving others around while there’s ample time for them to adapt and overwinter. We’re also installing locally grown Mums. This perennial fall favorite spruces up…
We get this question a lot this time of year. Here is a link to an article from Terrain’s September Blog that may help you decide. Al and Carmine are available to spray insecticidal soap with powerful backpack sprayers on your tender plants just before you are ready to bring them inside for winter. Usually…
Clematis virginiana I’ve found that Sweet Autumn Clematis is not always hardy in our area. Vines are slow to revive in spring, and some we just have to declare as dead. Luckily, I discovered the native Clematis virginiana. Those who hike among waterways and open woodlands may recognize this plant as Old Man’s Beard due…
This week Pumpkin Brook’s team of expert pruners shared their tree pruning knowledge at a workshop hosted by Groton Garden Club. The event took place at the beautiful Prescott Common in Groton, Massachusetts. The redbuds on the site received a much needed pruning. All the participants gained valuable information on pruning best practices. Annual pruning…
During the recent NOFA Summer Conference, Lisa, Kate and I had the chance to tour That’s A Plenty Farm and Pollinator Habitat in Hadley, Massachusetts. We drove near the Connecticut River where it makes numerous twists and turns and creates pockets of old field, high-terrace floodplain forest. There a very special three-acre environment has been…