HOME AND GARDEN
Planting More Than A Seed
Autumn might not seem like the busiest time in a gardener’s calendar. Surely with the fading of blooms and dropping of leaves, this must be a quiet time compared to spring and summer. Actually, few things could be further from the truth. Fall is on a par with my busiest spring weeks. You’d be hard pressed to find a serious gardener who would not agree.
Aside from the clear-up from the garden year just gone, these next few months are key to getting next […]
A Year of Shaker-style Flowers at Stissing House – Garden to Table Flowers
The Stissing House Inn at the crossroads in the center of Pine Plains has been a focal point for both sustenance and celebration since 1782, operating almost continuously as an inn, tavern or restaurant since its inception. In March 2022 came a new keeper of the Inn to give a new lease of life to this historic gem.
Despite her stardom in the high-octane Manhattan restaurant world, Clare De Boer’s vision for the Inn’s next incarnation was simple. Inspired by the Shakers’ outlook on life, the […]
Making Scents
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. While Charles Dickens may well have been talking about two cities, my tale of hope and despair is about two scents – or rather one distinct lack of scent. However, the shared moral of both our stories is that things are not always what they seem.
We spend a lot of time on the visuals when planning gardens and sowing seeds – how plants look both in the garden setting and in the vase, […]
Edimentals
I hate starting an article as a killjoy – especially when it comes to anything floral – but for this food and drink edition of Main Street Magazine before I get on to the waxing lyrical bit of how to incorporate flowers into your dining beyond those gracing the table top, a few words of warning.
Probably best to start with the fact that not every flower is your friend when it comes to food. While many flowers can add subtle flavor and beauty to food […]
How to Condition Your Flowers
Over the last year of this column, I have talked a lot about growing flowers to cut and enjoy inside your home. Growing or sourcing local seasonal flowers has become the drum I like to beat (to death my husband would say!) be it for the environmental benefits and/or the emotional joy of creating your own beauty from just a tiny seed. What we haven’t talked about though is what to do with those flowers once they are cut.
If you are hoping for an A-Z […]
Alliums
If I say the words onion, garlic, and shallot, your mind might not automatically spring to images of beautiful perennial flower borders or even stunning floral arrangements. You are more likely to be picturing vegetable gardens or your kitchen counter. Allium is the Latin word for garlic, and these stalwarts of most people’s culinary repertoire are all part of the allium family, which includes literally hundreds of the most beautiful ornamental varieties. Every flower gardener and fan of bringing the outside in should definitely consider […]
March Flowers Bring April –
Flower friends it is March! We are almost there. Lighter evenings, warmer temps, maybe just maybe we will get an early spring? Either way it is definitely time to start thinking seriously about the growing season ahead and make some decisions about what we want to have flowering in our gardens this year.
If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred times, flowers grown and cut from your garden are worth a thousand times what flown-from-afar are in terms of scent, […]
