Quintessential Gardens

09/19/2024

A huge 7 ton thank you to for loaning us some beautiful fieldstone for our garden display .
will be building a wall along the front of our beach cottage. Come check it out September 27th-29th!

09/09/2024

Most of my dinners do not start with a mini photo shoot, but this one deserves it! This gorgeous display grown by was traded for some of our own pastured heritage pork earlier today. As I was prepping, I was struck with the beauty of it all. Visually stimulating for sure, but also reaffirming our desire to fully connect with our food. To know who and where it was grown, to trade our energy and efforts for another's blood, sweat and tears, to redefine what wealth is, I feel so rich in this moment of making dinner.
I am so grateful to Brooke for growing these veggies and for raising the black mulefoot pigs. 💜
Back to actually cooking...

09/06/2024

PSA my phone has not been sending or receiving texts for at least the last couple days. I'm not sure what is going on, but you can reach me here, facebook, email or call. I'll be calling in tech support as I've tried everything by now!

08/29/2024

Heliopsis is practically exploding in this garden. What a show!

08/23/2024

Popup lemonade stand this morning at River Rock Farm sign on Fisherville Lane! Proceeds will go to the Westport Veterans. Offering include fresh squeezed lemonade with lavender or elderberry syrup, garden produce (potatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, beets, eggplants and cucumbers).

08/23/2024

Meet Stella Blue, one of our hard-working employees. She may not look it at the moment, but she works the night shift, reducing our rodent population. If she wasn't so cute, I might question her choice of beds!

08/17/2024

07/30/2024

From drab to fab! Gave these containers a summer refresh with Swiss chard, celosia, salvia, and solanum. The lobelia is still threatening a strike, but the wooly thyme and carex have been holding strong since June.
So much fun, and I had a perfect lunch iced lavender latte with Mexican street corn avo toast to top it off 😋

07/22/2024

These urns are so fun to fill up!

07/03/2024

Wasp pottery created by the aptly named Potter's wasp. The wasp belongs to the family Vespidae, which includes paper wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets. These wasps create their nesting artistry using clay rather than paper. They collect water and mix it with dry soil and create on twigs and branches. As the pot nears completion, the female lays a single egg attached by a thread to the inside surface of the nest.  They then provision the pot with a caterpillar or beetle larva that has been paralyzed by a sting. Then the pot is sealed with a clay plug, leaving the hapless paralyzed prey to await the wasp's hatchling larva.  Thus, potter wasps are considered beneficial … to all but their prey!

06/26/2024

In this case, it's really true--the grass is greener on the other side of the fence...

06/19/2024

This garden is looking good, if I do say so...and I say so! 💜

06/17/2024

We've got more and more company in the gardens these days!

06/16/2024

One small portion of a much bigger project installed last season. Everything is filling in so nicely and ready for summer entertaining. 💚

06/13/2024

No filter or special effects needed. Stunning all on its own. Intersectional peonies bloom after tree peonies, and toward the end of the herbacous peonies. It has been a fabulous year for all of them

06/09/2024

We rocked the Tough Kids Challenge!
Team Tough As(s) Flowers was amazing, and we had so much fun!
(s)flowers

06/08/2024

Car detailer needed! This has been the constant state of my vehicle for the last couple weeks and I may or may not have a mini colony of ants, small army of potato bugs and plethora of spiders along for the ride. Good thing I don't mind the company.

06/06/2024

Just another beautiful view we get to enjoy!

06/02/2024

One of my favorite early summer combinations in my own yard

05/24/2024

Check out this cool parasitic flower! The plant of the day award goes to....

Orobanche uniflora (aka one-flowered broom-rape) in a group of Seaside Goldenrod near my front gate. According to gobotany.newenglandwild.org, this plant derives all of its nutrients by invading the root system of its host—making it a parasite! Its hosts include sedums, goldenrods and others.

Orobanche occurs throughout New England, and its five flower petals may be blue, purple, or white. Parasites don’t need green leaves, so the flowers perch on top of fuzzy brownish stems. Following flowering, the small (6-12 mm) fruit dries and splits open when ripe.

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05/23/2024

Anyone asking me where I buy veggies, herbs and more, this is one of my favorite plant sales!

Open this weekend with tomatoes and so much more! Sat/Sun 10-4. Hope to see you there!

05/15/2024

The bulbs went by fast, so time for a salvia switch up

05/14/2024

The daffodils are fading, but still looking gorgeous!

05/08/2024

Rain garden getting it's exercise 💪

05/08/2024

It's poppy time, thanks to , not this cold rainy weather! These were a treat to myself a few weeks ago, just getting around to posting now because ya know, it's raining...again. At least I'm on top of officework!

05/03/2024

Oh hey look, it's tulip time!

05/01/2024

Pretty in pink! I'm not usually enamored by pink, but growing this dandelion for a full year gave me plenty of time to anticipate it. I love it, worth the wait. 💓

04/23/2024

Taraxacum albidum (White Dandelion)
I grew this from seed last year, and here is the very first bloom!
**d

04/21/2024

Spooning on a Sunday

04/11/2024

Is anyone hungry for some naturally raised heritage pork? We are clearing out space for the next round of pigs, and we would love to feed you! I have a google order form if you're interested. DM me for more information 🐖