Garden Notes: ‘The Island is our garden’
Saluting the longtime motto of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club (est. 1926), “The Island is our garden”: Whether as a declaration or as a goal, it suits this Island we cherish.
It is the Ides...
Wild Side: The osprey cometh
It’s hard to think of a species more beloved among Vineyarders than the osprey. This long-winged, black-and-white bird was, like many other raptors, nearly exterminated in the 1950s and 1960s by indiscriminate insecticide use....
Garden Notes: Pruning and planting
The Feb. 13 snowfall was glorious. Leap year February kicked in with its familiar self, but tardily, mid-month. And March — in like a lamb?
Wintry conditions may give ticks pause, beech trees a break,...
Wild Side: Brown thrashers have become rare here
A recent report in a Vineyard birdwatching Facebook group called to mind a species I hardly ever think of these days: the brown thrasher. It’s not that I don’t like them; indeed, thrashers rank...
Garden Notes: Gardeners can help wildlife with their data
Sunshine! After weeks of overcast and rain. Winter usually brought deep blue February skies, but now, when we say “winter,” what are we referring to?
Snowdrops and witch hazel, hellebores and species crocus are some...
Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club celebrates 100 years
Many people likely know the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club for its signature event — Blooming Art, an exhibit in which members create floral arrangements inspired by the work of Island artists. But the club...
Wild Side: Reconsider ducks
The late, great Vern Laux, perhaps the best birder ever to trespass his way across the Vineyard, had little patience with ducks. Oh, he’d add them to the day’s checklist. But if a distant...
Garden Notes: First light
Late January. Along the path, buds and new growth are revealed. Peeping out from wet oak leaves, the hellebore seedlings trail parent plants and hardy cyclamen. The first crow calls just a little after...
Island Rug Hookers are back and looking for new members
The October West Tisbury library art exhibit featuring the work of sisters Lynn Hoeft and Kris McDermet was breathtaking. Hoeft, an Islander, is a painter, and McDermet is a fabric braiding artist residing in...
Wild Side: Shoreline bugs
I’ve been thinking a lot about shorelines lately, and the complex mix of challenges and opportunities that the meeting of land and water poses for wildlife. An oceanic shoreline, especially, with its high salinity,...
The KonMari Method: Let it go
Do you have a catchall room where you stash piles of belongings? Maybe your entire house has become a catchall. If so, the Netflix reality series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” might appeal to...
Garden Notes: Winter comforts
The Island had a taste of snow. It was just enough for a 3-year-old, visiting from the South, to get his first experience of winter’s beauty. Snowscape lights up objects and landscape differently, revealing...
Wild Side: Savannah sparrows
Across its vast geographical range, Savannah sparrows show a remarkable range of variation in features such as bill size, coloration, and preferred habitat. About 28 subspecies of Savannah sparrow have been described; a few,...
Gardens of Love: Duncan Caldwell
After the 2023 Thanksgiving storm, Lucy Vincent Beach appeared transformed. Not only was there loss of sand, revealing more colored clay underfoot, it felt as though the surface of the cliffs had been shorn...
Garden Notes: Returning light
In a new twist on winter garden decor, wispy, earliest-ever threads of witch hazel flowers incongruously accompany out-of-season forsythia. It is growing evidence of our screwy seasonality.
Astronomically, the Northern Hemisphere is now in true...
Wild Side: Titmice are fun to watch
As our excellent planet wraps up another orbit around its star, most naturalists probably reflect a bit on their activity over the past 12 months. In my case, this includes hundreds of hours in...
Garden Notes: The short days and long nights of winter solstice
Eying Pinetree Garden Seeds’ 2024 catalogue with the pink celery cover is the “eyes bigger than the stomach” moment. Perusing seed catalogues propels us into the future, and future gardens.
Fall’s decor to winter’s food
Pumpkin...
Wild Side: Dovekies may show up
Since it seems to be impossible to write about alcids — that is, the auks — without mentioning footballs, I’ll get it over with. These seabirds, often described as the Arctic’s ecological equivalent of...
Garden Notes: On into the winter
Beets and indeterminate tomato varieties are a good bet because they prolong the harvest in our warm, extended autumn weather pattern.
Conversely, the determinate tomatoes are those that bloom and set fruit in an all-at-once...
Wild Side: Odd ducks
If you’re fond of odd-looking birds, you’re in luck! Late fall is prime time for viewing American coots on Martha’s Vineyard. A member of the same taxonomic family as rails, the coot is one...