Downeast Magazine

Last spring, we were fortunate enough to be contacted by Downeast Magazine to see if we would be willing to do a photo shoot during the summer which would hopefully be published in one of this summer's magazines. It was a banner year for me in my efforts to become a good gardener. I was chosen as Gardener of the Year for Maine by the Maine Federation of Garden Clubs in the spring and then in the fall, turns out they had submitted me to the New England Federation and I was chosen Best Gardener in New England! After being approached by Downeast, I knew I had reached a pinnacle in my trial and error gardening career! Of course, this meant lots of primping to be ready for the photographer. Edging, mowing and trimming... deadheading, weeding and watering, all had to be done on a much more regular basis that ever before. Pots that normally lay empty were filled with annuals to be ready to be placed in an area that was "lacking color". The photographer came in early August and the interview took place late March, about the time I was beginning to worry perhaps our story had hit the "cutting room floor". Both the photographer and the interviewer were so nice and made the whole experience really fun. The article just came out in the June edition and Eric and I have been having a blast hearing from friends who were either surprised to see it or who were waiting like we were, to see if it made the cut.

Eric's Favorites

Eric pretty much likes wandering the garden, smelling the smells, seeing the progress and trying desperately to remember as many of the plant names as he possibly can. He has gotten quite good at it over the years and the twice daily walks we usually take. Sometimes he even corrects me like when I say Buckaroo Bonzai tree instead of Bottlebrush Buckeye! Mind you, it was countless years of him calling it that that has done this to me... but still, it makes us laugh! Of all the plants, he loves the scented azaleas, ornamental kale and ground phlox best of all. I keep my eye out for new colors of ground phlox to add to my display.

Daffodils in the Setting Sun

I love this shot of the sun going down and just making the backlit daffodils jump!

Daffodil Party

Last spring, I started making daffodils out of egg cartons. I cut two different cups into petals, rolled cover weight paper into the center, painted and Modge Podged each part and hot glued them together complete with a bent pipe cleaner as the stamens. I then covered straws with green floral tape, cut out green construction paper in the form of leaves and decoupaged that, then hot glued the flowers to the stems and there!... a DAFFODIL!!!! I did all this to make my spring arrangements a bit more artsy... but then... decided, after seeing all the daffodils in the yard come up... I should have a Daffodil Party! Any excuse for a party is good with me! So in late winter, just before the Coronavirus erupted, I began once again to make daffodils from egg cartons. I have SO many now... hundreds! Outside, I have planted many spring flowering shrubs, bulbs and ground covers. Lucky for me, there will be more bulbs planted in the fall and my egg carton variety daffodils will be none the worse for wear by next spring! Hope "springs" eternal!

Mother's Day 2020

Since we had so much fun building the gates for my birthday, when Mother's Day was coming around, Eric said how bad he felt that once again there could be no celebration. I immediately suggested that we build yet another gate! The Bacchus Garden also known as The Secret Garden is beginning to be a bit more of a secret, at least once the leaves come out... and it really needs "some closure". While I came up with a basic design and debated a window of sorts, Eric suggested we keep with a wine theme as Bacchus is the God of Wine and do a sort of carving in the gate. We opted for a grape vine which could be cut on the band saw and fine tuned with sanders and a dremel tool.  The sunsets behind this garden and it is just beautiful with the last rays of the day coming through the open spaces in the carving.

My Birthday 2020

After not being able to celebrate my birthday, nor all the other family April birthdays nor Mother's Day in the usual fashion... I thank the Lord for our love of projects. Eric and I built gates together to celebrate my birthday....pictured beyond the arbor which was last year's birthday present. We built two double gates. The first blocks the path from the rose garden to the road and the second marks one of the entrances to the Witch Walk.

Taken in May-Gate with Arbor... Snowstorm on April 10, 2020

Early Spring 2020

April brought the daffodils! I was so excited to see them start opening! I had added another 250 last fall as well as some lilies and hyacinths. What with the gloom and doom of Covid-19, not being able to see friends and especially family... and a daughter about to have a baby in early May... it was nice to have something that brought such joy each day. I was surprised that a significant snow storm on my birthday, April 10, did not do more damage to them. The fritillarias did not survive, but the daffodils did not seem to mind.

April 10,2020

Purging the Dead in 2020

When snow left early in the spring of 2020, though not for good, we began working on the never-ending cutting of the dead pines which are everywhere in the woods surrounding the Lodge. Our best guess is that they must have perished due to overcrowding when all of them started to grow at once as a result of my Grandfather not being able to till the land and keep his garden there any more. There are more dead pines than live ones and we chip away at them when we can. Before bugs; ticks, mayflies and mosquitos come out, it is a great time to work the woods. We got close to 200 trees down, burning and chipping the branches, cutting the trunks into 2 foot chunks and laying them to define the paths. Since we were confined to the Lodge due to Covid-19, it was a perfect project. Got us outside, gave us plenty of exercise and the results were amazing.
New growth is happening on the trunks of the trees and green forest plants are emerging throughout the wooded areas. Though we still have much more to do, the progress made this spring is very rewarding. 

Christmas 2019 at Oak Hill Lodge

Lodge Tree

Festive for Christmas

After having taken a trip to the Newport, Rhode Island mansions shortly before Christmas, I was especially inspired to decorate. They offer a pass to visit five of the mansions and not all in the same day. However, since we were sure not to have the time to revisit, we squished as many of them into our daylong visit as we could. It was wonderful!

Newport Mansion

Winter 2019-2020

With the exception of a nasty ice storm that brought down many pine branches and broke two large limbs off the maple which is central to fall foliage splendor, the winter of 2019-2020 was snow-wise a very easy one. Proof of this is our plowing budget which was way below the norm for the year. Of course, the winter was not an easy one in other ways... it was the winter that Coronavirus struck, leaving us all quarantined in our homes. Lucky for Eric and I, there is a project list a mile long, so being "stuck" in the Lodge, is never going to be a problem.