Magazine

David Haskell: Green Giant in Massachusetts

Small stones crunch beneath David Haskell’s boots as he strolls along a shady path amid Allen C. Haskell Horticulturists in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Son of the late genius plantsman Allen Haskell, David now presides over the seven-acre retail nursery and landscape design business created by his father over the past 50 years. The nursery, which […]

Gardens

Landscaping for Tick Control

Read More: Protect yourself from ticks Protect your pet from ticks These key landscaping tips for tick control come from Connecticut’s Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. Your primary goal is to manage tick and host habitats (including prime rodent nesting spots and hideouts) within the part of your property that your family members use […]

Magazine

Energy Efficient: Vermont Five-Star Home

This brand-new house in Vermont has everything — a spacious kitchen with soapstone counters, a great room with mountain views, an attached three-story barn, and a basement gym. Frieda Wimmelman and her husband, Alan Binnick, have built a dream house, but much of what makes this home stand out is actually hidden from the eye. […]

Maine

Lodging in Maine: 12 Places to Stay

By Wayne Curtis and Christina Tree The Tidewater Motel, Vinalhaven Finding a motel on an island an hour’s ferry ride offshore is an odd thing. Weren’t motels designed for cars, and islands for boats? Anyway, there it is, and what makes it even more appealing, and unusual, is that the name “Tidewater” is no flight […]

Gardens

Project Native: Growing Native Plants

“Nobody is a better landscaper than nature,” states Raina Weber, dirt-streaked and beaming, from her Housatonic, Massachusetts, native-plant nursery. It’s hard to believe that this hardworking young woman, executive director of the nonprofit Project Native, dropped out of high school and ran away to Hawaii, where she supported herself as a caretaker and by selling […]

Magazine

Cape Cod Love Letter

We are Cape people. Every year, for about the past 20, we’ve returned for a week to a shabby cabin with a galley kitchen, lousy TV reception, and a deck with the proverbial “distant water view” of Wellfleet Harbor. Like the bobolinks that return each year from South America to their favorite New England hayfield, […]

Magazine

Wreath Sale: A Circle for Life

Christmas lights twinkle in a greenhouse in Tiverton, Rhode Island. People haul unwieldy stacks of evergreens from car trunks and the backs of pickups and station wagons through the frosty night. The greenhouse at Manchester Tree & Landscaping pulsates with conviviality while pruning shears snap to the Supremes’ Christmas Collection. It is the night of […]

Gardens

Real Solutions: leaf damage and grass under trees

The leaves on my blueberry bushes and crab apple trees are tattered. I notice lots of inch-long green caterpillars on the branches. What can I do to stop this damage? — D.S., Hanson, MA The leaf damage you describe is likely caused by the winter moth. This European pest has just recently become established in […]

Magazine

Graduation Day | Mary’s Farm

The older I get, the more I crave good, strong help. In this quest, I’ve encountered some frustrations. I once hired a young man to help in the garden, and after an hour or so, I looked out the window and saw him sprawled on the ground. Thinking he had hurt himself or passed out, […]

Homes

House For Sale: Winchester, Massachusetts

If you were planning to move to a town in the immediate Boston area, Winchester would have to be one of the top choices on your list. It’s a town known for its great schools, quality community life, and fine (and, sure, expensive) homes, and of course, it’s an easy 15- to 20-minute commute to […]

History

It’s Best Not To Call the Moderator at Town Meeting a Liar

Good attributes for functioning effectively in a small town include common sense, humility, patience, compassion and, perhaps most important, a good instinct for the sensitivities of others. I think all of those would be perfectly obvious to everyone. I mean — one would assume most wealthy summer people would know that the habit of not […]