Time for a change...

On the advice of a true geek, I am switching my blogging efforts to a Wordpress site. So from now on, you will find us at
www.historicgardens.wordpress.com.

Check it out, and return often!

Trish

After a hiatus...

Winter is a time of rest for plants in our climate... while there is outstanding beauty in a garden all year long, there is a distinct lack of "blog-worthy" news in the winter months. All this to say that, following the pattern of our plants, my blog posts will be fewer throughout the winter - just the occasional photo or news of interest. When the Gardens awaken for another season, so will the Gardens blog take on a new energy.

So today I will share a couple of winter scenes in the Gardens - photos are something I am never short of... it is absolutely impossible to resist pulling out the camera after a fresh snow!

Of naked trees...

Did you ever take the time to study a tree in the winter? No longer adorned with all its glorious leaves or flowers, it stands there naked for all the world to see. But indeed, that is it's most remarkable time... when one can truly appreciate the intricate branchwork that hides behind its canopy all summer long.

A perfect example of this transformation is that of the "Kerr Elm" at the Historic Gardens. This magnificent tree is a weeping variety of American Elm, and is centuries old. We call it the Kerr Elm because of its close proximity to the Kerr House, formerly owned by Dr. J. R. Kerr and family.

As with any American Elm, this elm is in danger of becoming infected with Dutch Elm Disease. We are doing our best to protect this very special tree... more on that in a future post.

Paw Paw Continued

Well, we waited as late as we could, and eventually harvested our Paw Paw fruit. It was still pretty firm, so we don't think it was ripe, but we cut it open and tasted it anyway, just because.

The fruit had large dark seeds... we'll see if one of the local growers wants to try propagating them. The texture inside resembled that of a melon, although still pretty firm. We've read that the texture of a ripened Paw Paw is more banana-like - this certainly wasn't.

As for taste... Karen thought it tasted like coconut, I didn't think it had much taste at all.

Garden writer Carla Allen found a little more information about Paw Paws - to read more follow this link http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-253504-Pawpaw-mystery.html

Our Paw Paw

This past summer, we had a number of "first evers" in the Historic Gardens. One was the fact that our Paw Paw Tree bore fruit!

Located in the Innovative Garden, the Paw Paw has bloomed for several years now. It's brown blossoms are very unique.

But much to our surprise, one day we noticed several clumps of oval green fruit on the tree.

The Paw Paw is not supposed to be self-propogating - it "takes two to tango". Yet this is the only one we have and we know of no other Paw Paws in the vicinity. A mystery that has many Nova Scotian gardeners scratching their heads. More to follow...

Welcome

Blogging... another activity to occupy our spare time... a way of staying informed... a way to hook up with people of like interests out in the big wide world called cyberspace. This is the Historic Gardens Blog, and rather than regurgitate all the "nuts & bolts" information from our website, I'll try to include a bit of the "weird and wonderful" aspects of the Gardens, or special moments captured on camera... and perhaps pose an odd query or two for feedback. We'll see where this journey takes us...