All posts by Hilda M. Morrill

Fragrance in the Garden – Free Online Presentation by Joanne Pearson

On Thursday, January 12, 2023 – Join the Thursday Garden Club of Sudbury for our January General Meeting on Zoom. Our speaker will be Joanne Pearson, a local landscape architect and professional photographer. In addition to a vibrant slideshow, Joanne will explore the fascinating ways plants use scent to attract pollinators and deter predators. She … Continue reading Fragrance in the Garden – Free Online Presentation by Joanne Pearson

Fragrance in the Garden - Free Online Presentation by Joanne Pearson

For the Love of Nature – Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Virtual Benefit Gala

On Thursday, February 16, 2023 – At the Sudbury Valley Trustees’ (SVT’s) virtual Benefit Gala, our enthusiastic donors will gather virtually to celebrate our success, and as in the past, they will contribute much-needed funds for our work. The 2023 event will be a live-streamed broadcast, to be co-hosted by radio personality, David O’Leary, and … Continue reading For the Love of Nature – Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Virtual Benefit Gala

For the Love of Nature – Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Virtual Benefit Gala

Veggie Garden Design Class – Blithewold Arboretum

On Saturday, January 21, 2023 – Come learn how to plan and plant a productive veggie garden! Former Vegetable Garden Manager, Connie Ganely, will walk students through the steps choosing plants and companion plants, designing garden beds, and sustainably maintaining the garden. Can be used for Girl Scouts’ Junior Gardener Badge. Maximum of 10 students. … Continue reading Veggie Garden Design Class – Blithewold Arboretum

Veggie Garden Design Class – Blithewold Arboretum

A Hot and Dry August Garden

The recent sweltering days of extreme heat accompanied by a record-setting severe drought has made this year’s gardening a challenge for sure. Temperatures in the high 90s along with watering restrictions have resulted in sad-looking perennial plants, especially our daylilies, ferns, creeping phlox, and hostas. There were days when some of our rhododendrons, azaleas, and … Continue reading A Hot and Dry August Garden

A concrete planter features the upright sword-like leaves of a cordyline 'Red Star' in its center surrounded by purple-leaf shiso 'Perilla frutescens' plants and pink flowered wax begonias. (Photo (c) Hilda M. Morrill)

Milkweed Hosts Monarch Butterflies

Common milkweed not only provides nectar for bees and other pollinators, but it is the larval host plant for Monarch butterflies. According to landscaping expert David Beaulieu, “Asclepias is the only plant family that serves as the host plant for monarch butterfly egg laying. The monarch larvae, the hatchling caterpillars, feed exclusively on milkweed leaves. … Continue reading Milkweed Hosts Monarch Butterflies

Spherical flower clusters of the common milkweed plant (Asclepias Syriaca) are called umbels. (Photo (c) Hilda M. Morrill)