While Sweeney’s Blog goes on a little hiatus, we thought we’d share with you what’s blooming locally in our yards and gardens: Bridal Veil This is my favorite container plant that I grow every year, and to be perfectly honest, it’s been blooming since late Spring.  It’s delicate dark green…

Like a thousand tiny lanterns flickering here and there amongst the fading light, the Fireflies made a rousing return to the evening landscape.  Their debut seemed celebratory, and we were a captive audience.  As the night sky deepened and darkened, their numbers seemed to multiply, not to be outdone by…

  The canopy grows thin as leaves hasten to their final resting place while light rushes through the skeletal silhouettes of trees.  Autumn seems to have become less festive and more practical as nature  prepares for Winter. As we begin to put our landscapes to bed – tidying, raking, mulching, and…

  I had nearly forgotten this stage – the lull between a full canopy of vibrant foliage and the cleansing innocence and allure of a snow-covered world.  The landscape seems a bit thin and bare, and the sunlight is mostly unfiltered and brash, but I see beauty.  Beauty in the form of naked structure, unadulterated form,…

I have a favorite tree.  His name is Bruce.  He’s an Oak.  There’s nothing particularly special or different about Bruce, except he’s mine.  He’s mine in the sense that he resides in my yard.  He’s rather mature.  Mature in reference to his size, not his personal philosophies, which I’m sure are…

Without so much as a warning or civic alert, the bombs began to fall.  Sparsely, at first, quickly ramping up to a barrage.  They fell with great velocity, unbiased yet fierce.  The driveway, lawn, roof, streets and cars – none of them  immune to the blitzkrieg.  We had been overrun quickly,…

The weekend presented a shining example of Fall’s excellence – beautiful weather and crisp, clear skies.  Although the majority of foliage has yet to turn, there were examples of Fall’s distinct beauty in the many perennials, shrubs, and ornamental grasses. In addition to late flowering perennials, like the heralded and much admired  Fall…