Perfect weather and a sturdy group of six volunteers made the morning at the Bagaduce Music Lending Library (BMLL) very productive. Two sections of the drainage swale, between the Performance hall and the new Library building, needed to be cleared of small brush, weeds, and debris; much of the morning was devoted to readying these locations for new plantings. The unexpected number and depth of rocks encountered will make some alterations in the planned design for the area. We’ll take advantage of the large-leaved wood-aster (Eurybia macrophylla) already scrambling through parts of the swale, and create planting pockets for plants that need room for their roots. This aster is a wonderful gro
In designing the gardens and landscaping at the BMLL, one of our tenets is to use and emphasize that which is intrinsic* to the site. We are framing views of some of the more substantial red oaks that occupy the property; and we have begun to select, and feature, some young white pines, which will eventually become matriarchs like the red oaks. After each visit or work session, the site’s tree inventory grows a little richer. Last Friday’s mixed weather and scant volunteer turnout gave Cathy a chance to notice a couple of tree-related items. First, among the seedling birches dug into on of the nursery areas, it is now clear that only three of the small trees are paper birches; the rest are g
