Blogger: Summer Isn't Just Around the Corner ... It's Up-Island

Easy as an unseasonably warm winter can be on the old snow-shoveling budget, it can be tough on plants. With spring bulbs already popping up in sheltered spots, we irrationally half expect to skip that frigid, snowy season entirely and head right into summer. No such luck. Not only vineyard owners, nurseries and other agro-businesses but even the home gardener know all too well the potential dangers of hard freezes that come on the heels of thaws or mid-winter plant growth spurts. I hate to quote that old Holiday chestnut, “Let it snow, let it snow!”, but a blanket of that white stuff can be a wonderful insulator protecting tender roots and stems from frost and windchills. Winter is bound to come and when it does, I am hoping it does so gently.

Meanwhile, if we’re hankering for summer in the garden, I highly recommend the new installation for the "Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We took in the exhibit early on and were stunned at the colorful and creative use of floral motifs in everything from architecture to fabric arts. A brief slideshow can only hint at the splendor. I’m hoping the photos are enough to whet folks’ appetite for what is a marvelous display of high-summer’s bounty.