Abigail Higgins
Garden Notes: Spring in bloom
Outdoor living is here again, and lily of the valley, lilac, and especially, Viburnum carlesii scent the air. Memorial Day weekend reignites the grill....
Ask an Expert: What exactly is a beetlebung tree?
Beetlebung: a beautiful tree with a wonderful name. Many people are not especially tree-aware, but everyone perks up when they hear “beetlebung.” It is...
Garden Notes: Mother’s Day ideas
The memorable Mother’s Day gift is the one that survives and flourishes. Mother’s Day is linked in American culture with cards, flowers, and flowering...
Garden Notes: Getting to work
“Life into death into life.” In this Easter season, when Earth Day — care for our common home — is also observed, the epigram...
Garden Notes: Spring is in the air
The soil is warming, and daily — whether anyone witnesses or not — plants are advancing their growth and insects are beginning to stir....
Garden Notes: Spring is here, but be cautious
Island spring is often fluky. It is officially here, though, and, like many, I hope for plentiful rainfall: only at night, hold the snow....
Regenerative gardening 101
Regenerative gardening is gaining popularity across the country. It is a response to global setbacks, like climate change and population growth, which present more...
Garden Notes: Leguminous trees
Snowdrops and early crocus cheer, red-winged blackbirds sing, buds on lilacs enlarge. Stray flowers on flowering quince open. Look upward: Under a first-quarter moon,...
Garden Notes: Get outdoors and start pruning grapevines
Overall, this time of year could be characterized as “waiting for spring.” And wait we shall, for Vineyard spring is a season of delay...
Garden Notes: Camellias could be your heartthrob
Orion glitters front and center in clear nighttime skies. Celebrate February! Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society’s Meatball (Dinner and Dance with the Space Invaders), plus...
Garden Notes: In the temperature chasms
We experience it in the now: Heavy January downpours and downward temperature spikes (maybe they are temperature chasms?) seem to be the pattern. As...
Garden Notes: Light returning
The good news: witch hazel blossoms have already started to unfurl. On Jan. 17, the sun will have risen at 7:10 am and set...
Garden Notes: Wishes and resolutions
The end of 2018 and the start of 2019 have been filled with interesting events and quite a lot of news, mostly about topics...
Christmas dinner from the garden
“Morning frost, Transforming blades of grass Into diamond edged swords.” –Wenonah Silva, “Full Circle” Have you donated to the Red Stocking Fund yet? Mrs. Crist, and later, Mrs....
Garden Notes: Trees in winter
Gardens are mostly gone or blank, and we regard trees, which have been background all along anyhow, with renewed appreciation. The newly mown fields...
Garden Notes: Thanksgiving, and what follows
The recent wintry mix announced we are staring down the mouth of winter, and year’s end. Dig planting holes for living Christmas trees now....
Garden Notes: Does it really need mulch?
The end nears for the foliage season: We return to standard time, and dark November. Woodlands are in the fleeting transitional moment: tawny, burnished,...
Garden Notes: Late fall color
I am writing on a chilly day, with gray cloudscapes pierced by wedges of intense blue, predicting winter in the offing. Autumn is when...
Garden Notes: Don’t plant that!
In the Sept. 27 Garden Notes, I mentioned the role our own taste plays in garden choices: Mostly what we plant is nobody’s business...
Garden Notes: No accounting for taste
The season has turned. Daytime and nighttime temperatures are dropping. Elements of Hurricane Florence’s large system finally brought rain to the Vineyard, although not...