Moon Rue and Mary's Root

Linda S. and I met with Dr. Doris Goldman of Renfrew today, to discuss the plants we'll start from seeds for the historic vegetable gardens at Renfrew, as well as a smaller subset for John Brown’s House. Extras will be made available for the plant sale. We’ll have cabbages, cauliflowers, collards, brussel sprouts, kale, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. These are all varieties that were used in the 1800's in the kitchen gardens of the time. New for this year are two varieties of cotton and an artichoke, as well as medicinal herbs rue and black lovage. Alas, cardoon is not on the menu. Perhaps one of these zone 7 perennials that we planted last year, will overwinter and produce seeds.

Dr. Goldman will be the first speaker in a Spring Lecture series at Renfrew, talking about the Pennsylvania German Four Square Garden. The lecture is this Thursday, March 4 at 7:00 PM at Renfrew. Details for the whole series can be found at the link. We purchased a copy of her book, Moon Rue and Mary’s Root, and loaded it on the MG computer for your use. It will make great reading during down times when you're covering the hot line.

Update: Here's a beautiful slideshow of the garden at Renfrew. I'm looking forward to the updated, larger version coming this Spring.