At a recent gathering, about 20 people admired the wisteria climbing Ann Carr’s porch column, took in the fragrance of roses and complimented Carr’s foxglove grove. A few people gathered around a Japanese-style rock garden created by Carr’s husband, Bruce Rogers, as he explained design elements.
After taking in the stunning beauty of the Carr-Rogers property on Greenfield’s Orchard Street, the group moved next door — walking along a tree belt planted to many shades of green and white — to enjoy freshly picked fruit from the Rainier cherry tree of Sarah Hawrylak and Wesley Blixt.
Absorbed in conversations pertaining to gardening and other topics, the group eventually headed two doors down to the home of Mieke Bomann and Jeff Meckling to view a pleasing combination of plants described by Bomann as “organized chaos, wild and natural.”
After a fashion, the group wrapped up their horticultural sojourn by crossing the street to check out what Sandy Thomas calls her “friends and family garden” at the home she shares with her husband, Russ.
If you’re wondering whether you missed a local garden tour, the answer is no. It was an informal group of friends and neighbors enjoying their second annual “garden walkabout,” as Sandy Thomas put it.
The get-together grew out of the Orchard Street Book Group, 10 women who’ve met monthly to discuss a wide range of books while strengthening their bonds over several years.
Their neighborhood has a long horticultural history. “All of this used to be one lot,” said Sandy Thomas, gesturing to houses up and down the street. “The Grinnell Farm had an orchard of apple, peach and plum trees, which is why we now live on Orchard Street.”
Members of the book group — accompanied by spouses and one delightful mother-in-law — strolled around the former farmland. Birds chirped and bees buzzed, evoking a natural soundtrack that’s serenaded the neighborhood for decades.
As the informal tour got underway, neighbors saw that — in addition to a remarkable display of foxgloves (the elegant biennial Digitalis purpurea) — Ann Carr and Bruce Rogers have a charming mix of flowers, including rose campion (Silene coronaria) and clematis, beloved by many for its ability to climb.
A visitor leaned over a low flowering plant and asked, “What’s this?” Two others chimed in with guesses: “Mallow?” They were incorrect. Carr supplied the answer: “Hollyhocks.” All present said they’d never seen hollyhocks of such a short variety.
In addition to flowers, Carr and Rogers have a varied and productive vegetable garden alongside raspberry and currant bushes.
Rogers created a Japanese-style rock garden using many sizes and shapes of stone, along with plantings meant to evoke components of nature. “The larger stones represent mountains,” he said, “and the smaller stones placed in a downhill swath are meant to look like running water.”
Also evoking flowing water, small larch and blue spruce trees cascade over stone walls. The scene was punctuated by a dwarf Juniper and a low variety of ornamental grass called Black Mondo that produces purplish blooms.
Ann Carr spoke with admiration about her husband’s work, adding, “He chose an area of the yard that was somewhat neglected, and it turned out to be a natural spot for this kind of garden.” Ashfield stone accents the Carr-Rogers property, bringing elegant solidity.
“We’re both lifelong gardeners,” said Carr. “I started in my early twenties, and Bruce’s parents were good gardeners.” Carr loves the beauty of being outside and the satisfaction that comes from planting and growing flowers and food. “I especially enjoy creating different flower combinations in pots.”
Rogers focuses on growing vegetables and Carr attends to the flowers. “We buy most of our plants locally from roadside stands, farmers markets, and other businesses,” said Carr. She takes stock of their garden each spring and makes selections based on color and vigor when she shops for plants.
The couple rarely uses pesticides — opting for natural processes like composting–or power tools, as they prefer peace and quiet. They recently acquired an electric battery lawn mower and are pleased with its minimal sound.
Of her foxgloves, Carr said, “I love the colors: white, purple, and yellow. And since foxglove is a biennial, I keep it going by recognizing the babies, the first-year plants. When I find a baby, I place it where I want it to bloom in the second year.”
With lingering glances, neighbors left the foxglove fairyland, moving next door to the Hawrylak-Blixt home. Pale pink poppies planted amongst the tree belt’s elegant greenery caught the eye of visitors. Words seemed unnecessary as the poppies evoked sighs of contented appreciation.
Sarah Hawrylak and Wesley Blixt have beautiful stone walls, but the stones are different in texture and shade than those of the Carr-Rogers place, given that it comes from Goshen, rather than Ashfield.
One of the founders of the book group, Hawrylak said, “I’ve always been a great reader, but I’m an amateur gardener. I put things in and hope they do well. If they don’t, I move them.”
This is the first year their Rainier cherry tree produced abundantly, “and the first time we’ve managed to pick any real quantity before the birds got them all.”
Hawrylak grew up across from Manhattan, in Jersey City, and her family had a small yard. “But my dad planted everything he could in there.” She enjoys growing culinary herbs — oregano, spearmint, chocolate mint, basil, parsley — and pointed to a patch of tatsoi, “one of my favorite greens. We have one tomato plant and one pepper plant. That’s the extent of my vegetable gardening, but I love being out here.”
Clearly, her neighbors loved sampling Rainier cherries before strolling to the home of Mieke Bomann and Jeff Meckling, a corner-lot yard vibrating with life and beauty, including a deciduous shrub in the honeysuckle family, Heptacodium miconioides. Sometimes called the “seven son flower,” it produces blossoms that, according to Bomann, “smell like gardenias.”
A retired journalist, Bomann acquired Master Gardener certification while living in Seattle because she considered pursuing a career as “a garden writer and garden journalist.” She took advantage of the University of Washington’s no-cost certification “because I wanted to get my botany down.”
Bomann said of transplanting herself from the northwest: “It took some getting used to gardening here after years of living in garden heaven. Seattle is temperate and moist; it never freezes and never boils, and we had a broader range of plants.”
But 15 years in Western Massachusetts — with 10 in her current home — has seen Bomann settle into work, play, gardening, and of course, a book club. “Actually, I’m in more than one book club,” she said, “including one in Seattle … by Zoom, of course.”
Last year’s neighborhood garden walkabout was the neighbors’ first such event, as well as their first gathering during pandemic quarantine. “It was great to wander from house to house, garden to garden,” said Bomann. “It made me realize that we don’t tend to spend time looking at each other’s gardens.”
In addition to earning her Master Gardeners’ certificate, Bomann worked for one summer at Baystate Perennial, which helps explain the success of her plants. Her yard features white and pink astilbes, wild geraniums, goat’s beard, and what she calls “a pollinator buffet” of goldenrod, helenium, and yellow loosestrife.
Pollinators also love perennial sweet pea plants, although Bomann said it “easily takes over unless carefully monitored and controlled.” Joe-pye weed, a member of the sunflower family, is another big pollinator draw. (Joe-pye is the only species of the genus Eutrochium found west of the Great Plains.)
Visitors to Bomann’s garden encountered a Daphne shrub, from the Thymelaeaceae family, noted for its scented flowers.
Bomann said her husband, Jeff, built the stone walls and tends their rock garden, which features several cacti, including the yellow-blooming prickly pear.
Bomann and Meckling have four fruit trees: peach, pear and two apples. But the tree drawing the most admiring remarks from visitors was the Japanese willow with its breathtaking white and green foliage, each leaf resembling a flower blossom.
Before heading across the street to the last stop on the informal tour, visitors learned that Bomann’s hellebore is of the Lenten Rose variety, her ironweed — a native species — will produce beautiful purple flowers, and her Aurelia shrub will come forth with tall spikes and beautiful berries.
A gorgeous blue delphinium inspired passionate appreciation before folks headed to the home of Sandy and Russ Thomas, where visitors were greeted by a Japanese maple, hostas, and painted fern accented by magnificent stonework.
Sandy Thomas credits her husband, Russ, for the stonework. A retired physician, Russ Thomas creates walls, patios, and pathways from Ashfield stone, the pieces of which were a gift from Sandy’s parents.
“All of this stone used to be at our other house, down the street,” said Sandy Thomas, “but we moved it here and started over. The stone elements of our meditation garden came about when members of our family worked together for eleven straight days. This was Russ’s baby, but we all helped out.”
As she sings the praises of her King of Stone, it’s clear that Sandy Thomas is a queen of flowers.
Platycodon fans accustomed to seeing purple balloon flowers were surprised by the ebullient white variety at the Thomas home. A star of the show was caladium, a stunning large green-and-white leaf with a seam of red running through its center. It’s sometimes referred to by common names like elephant ear, heart of Jesus, or angel wings.
“I used to go for colorful annuals, but I’m getting more into perennials,” said Sandy Thomas. “I’ve come to love astilbes and hostas. Our hostas come from many friends, who’ve donated more than twenty different kinds, shapes, colors.”
She’s learning to appreciate ornamental grasses for landscaping and points out a fanciful variety called fountain grass, which appears aquatic as it sways in the breeze.
Visitors to the Thomas gardens learned about epimedium, which has an entertaining list of common names, including barrenwort, bishop’s hat, fairy wings, and horny goat weed. In spring, it has four-parted spider-like flowers. A low ground cover, lamium, enchants with heart-shaped, several-toned leaves.
The tour continues with bleeding hearts (dicentra) and silver mound (artemisia), and Sandy Thomas says her “friends and family garden” helps her feel close to loved ones.
Gifts from dear ones include an English holly tree (ilex aquifolium) from her dad — a gift that boomeranged after Sandy’s family had originally given it to him. Her father died five years ago, but many family members now have cuttings of the tree.
At the time of her father’s death, University of Massachusetts Amherst colleagues gave Sandy Thomas a Korean coral bark maple. “I’ll never forget that,” she said, “I love that tree.”
Sandy Thomas points out a descendent of her grandfather’s pink sedum, which over many years she has moved from garden to garden. She also recalls visiting her Aunt Edna’s home in Pennsylvania, where young Sandy loved pumping water by hand. “Near her pump, Aunt Edna had vase-shaped ferns,” she said, “and now, here they are.”
“Here’s Russ’s mom’s phlox, from New Jersey,” she added. “So many loved ones, represented in plants.”
Sandy Thomas works at the UMass Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment, which gives her opportunities to speak with researchers about issues related to bees, water, and many other topics. She has a keen scientific interest in plants that expands into heartfelt passion: “My garden is the place where I feel most at home. I’ve got to dig in the dirt first thing in spring. It grounds me, literally.”
Her grandmother birthed 12 children but lost two during the 1918 influenza. “My grandmother got very depressed, and her doctor said, ‘Annie, you’ve got to get your hands in the dirt.’ Isn’t that amazing?”
Sandy Thomas spent summers with her grandmother in western Pennsylvania and inherited the older woman’s love of making bouquets. “She’d take a bouquet on every social visit. Phlox, sunflowers, and other blossoms.”
The lineage continues: Sandy Thomas’s nine-year-old granddaughter, Harper Hake, also loves to garden, “and can name many plants,” according to the proud grandma.
Harper’s 5-year-old brother, Julian, recently picked a gone-to-seed dandelion and blew it as hard as he could, saying, “You have to blow really hard, or you won’t get too many flowers.”
Sandy Thomas appreciates the sharing of garden beauty as well as the literary activities of the Orchard Street Book Group. “I’d never read (John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel) “East of Eden,” but when our group chose it, I couldn’t put it down. We’ve expanded our horizons by introducing each other to titles and genres.”
Another book group member, Joan Featherman, said, “My relationship to plants and animals changed as a result of reading “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Now, when I take morning walks, I greet the plants and pay more attention to birdsong. I love witnessing how plants develop blossoms day by day. What a gift.”
Featherman and her husband Ed Berlin have lived on Orchard Street for decades, and raised their two children there. Although they weren’t featured on the garden walkabout, their place is colorful, ordered, and calming, as one might expect of a practicing psychologist who for years has welcomed clients to her home office.
Years ago, when the couple lived in Ashfield, “We had a huge garden,” said Featherman, “and we preserved our produce by canning and freezing. But I had to set that aside when I was working on my doctorate while raising two young children. There’s only so much time.” Now Featherman enjoys seeing other people’s gardens and admires the dedication involved.
“Because of our years in Ashfield, I tend to avoid overly manicuring our lawn and small gardens,” she said. “I love having plants that I’ve transplanted from my parents’ place, and from my grandmother. There’s a sense of continuity.”
Featherman mentioned two more books she learned about through the book group, both with environmental themes. “The Overstory” is a 2018 Richard Powers novel about five trees whose unique life experiences with nine Americans bring them together to address the destruction of forests.
And in “The Secret Life of Trees” (2015), Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he’s observed in the woodland, detailing the magnificent scientific mechanisms involved.
As the garden walkabout wrapped up, book group member Susan Peck — who shares a striking, stately home with her husband, Jonathan Daen — commented, “This was so lovely. Oh, wait. Does anyone want tomato plants? I have too many. Cherry tomatoes … those delicious golden ones, I think.”
Several hands reached for Peck’s surplus supply, and folks drifted down the driveway, dreaming of gardens.
Greenfield resident Eveline MacDougall loves hearing about the wonderful things happening in local neighborhoods. If you have a tip about a possible story: eveline@amandlachorus.org.