Category Archives: Despatches from the Hollow

The middle of October is glory time for our native grasses. The hayfields, pastures and ditches of Albemarle County are lush now with purple top, broom sedge, Indian grass, foxtail, pink Muhly, and love grass, to name but a few. … Continue reading →

This was the best year yet for naked ladies (Lycoris squamigera), a long-lived old-fashioned southern bulb that puts up mysterious foliage in spring only to die down and resurrect in late summer with tender pink stalks of lavender tinged amaryllis-like … Continue reading →

The equinox passed on June 21st and even though each day gets shorter until late December, it’s high summer now – called “dog days” from ancient times, it’s the period from July through August when the dog star, Sirius, rises … Continue reading →

Spring is taking its time coming to the hollow. Creek is running high. We took 2+ inches of rain the other night and soaked it all in. I think of our poor brothers in the west who are burning up from fire and drought and here we sit in an Eden of moisture. Even with late frosts that culled low-lying peach orchards, the Regale lilies have not been touched (yet). Have not put in summer garden, soil is so cool and I’m so lazy. Continue reading →

As we watch a heavy wet snow fall this St. Patrick’s Eve, red buds of the native maple and good old ‘Diane’ witch hazel belie this (surely!) last gasp of winter. The stately beech that dominates the east garden shows … Continue reading →

  The hills make an oculus down here in the hollow. We look up through it like a kaleidoscope. In winter the twigs are etched black against the moonlight. Though we lack the greater horizons of ridges or the shore,  … Continue reading →

    Winter comes early this year. The woods are browsed bare by deer and arctic winds have blown away the last leaf, except for a flat top of red oak at the top of the hill above the east … Continue reading →

Back from the annual coastal pilgrimage. Split a bottle of Afton’s Thibeaux-Jamison for the autumn equinox, looking out at the Atlantic from our Blue Heron perch in Nag’s Head. Clinked our rings in the surf. Pea Island and Ocracoke led … Continue reading →

Getting ready to head for the coast for our traditional celebration of the autumn equinox (this year on September 22nd). This closes the season on a lush summer which saw our groundwater in Albemarle County replenished for the first time … Continue reading →

Summer solstice on the 21st inaugurated a season full of fragrance with Chinese trumpet lily ‘Regale’, sweetbay magnolia and swamp milkweed layering sweetness through the air. Most garden scents are even stronger after dark in the heat when it’s still. … Continue reading →