Herbaria Project

Herbaria Project: A Year (+) in the Life of an Urban Garden What is this? An herbarium is a collection of plant specimens. Herbaria is the plural form. A collection of collections. Every week, until I can no longer find anything living to fill up the boxes, I am photographing and posting a collection of

Herbaria (May 15, 2013): One Year Later

Before I talk about the project I wanted to mention the awkward image sizes that are appearing on the site. We are in the process of a redesign and will be using larger photos in the future. I plan to post at a larger size from here on out, but it will be a bit

Herbaria (January 16, 2013): The All Hardy Cacti Edition

As previously mentioned, I decided to stop posting weekly from my ongoing Herbaria project. However, I am still assembling the boxes and taking the photos each week and hope to make this into something bigger once the full year is up in May. Until then they will make an appearance now and again rather than

Herbaria (October 19, 2012)

As I walked around the garden on the morning that I took this photo, deciding which plants would make the cut, I was struck by the shift in foliage colour. Suddenly all of the perennials had taken on their fall colour, which is why I dedicated 1/3 of the boxes this week to foliage. I

Herbaria (October 12, 2012)

The week I photographed this Herbaria was also the week that I started to seriously pick up the pace in shifting my houseplants indoors and I think it shows. The Japanese maple leaves have their autumn colour and this is the last sighting of outdoor basil until next June.

Herbaria (October 5, 2012)

When I began this project, I set a parameter that allowed me to repeat a specific plant as long as a different stage in its development through the changing seasons was depicted. For example, I have included Columbine meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegiifolium) twice: early in the season when it was in bloom and in August

Herbaria (September 28, 2012)

From Left to Right: Top Row: 1. Morning Glory These morning glories are one of the few plants that came with the yard when we moved in. I must have pulled up thousands of seedlings by now but they just keep coming. It does not help that I always give in and allow a few

Herbaria (September 21, 2012)

From Left to Right: Top Row: 1. Salvia elegans ‘Golden Delicious’ If only you could smell this chartreuse-leaved pineapple sage through the screen. Delicious. This one is definitely coming inside for the winter. 2. Sunflower ‘Vanilla Ice’ (Helianthus debilis) It’s a short, creamy white sunflower with a cheesy rapper name. There are times when the

Herbaria (September 14, 2012)

I took a break from posting the Herbaria recently. I did continue shooting the photos so I am resuming where I left off a few weeks back. This week marks more tomatoes. All varieties have come in and many were already starting to wane at the time of this photo a few weeks back. It’s

Herbaria (September 3, 2012)

Again you are looking at last week’s photo, shot just before I took off for a road trip to teach a workshop at Margaret Roach’s garden in the Berkshires. The garden was fairly unruly and overgrown before I left, but nothing like it is right now. Total mayhem! I’m not exaggerating. Even the dog doesn’t

Herbaria (August 22, 2012)

This week (now catching up on last week) I’ve focussed on Zonal Geraniums (Pelargonium x hortorum). Zonals are the colorfully patterned, but stinky cousins of the wonderfully scented pelargoniums aka Scented Geraniums. I’m a scented geranium fan and always grow several each year (I will feature those soon), but I have never been into the

Herbaria (August 31, 2012)

The hot peppers are in their prime, the late season tomatoes are ripening faster than I can use them, the sun is setting earlier in the evening (no more gardening until 10pm) and even the tomatillos are not far now. All of the hallmarks of the September garden have arrived. I am trying my best