One of the things I love most about living here is being more in tune with nature’s rhythms. Watching tides, Moon phases, storm systems, and bird migrations, I’ve learned to […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
Ending on a High Note
Don’t give up on your garden at the end of summer. That’s when the best is yet to come.
In contrast to its slow, gray springs, the Outer Cape is famous for its benevolent autumns. Just as the earliest crocuses and daffodils give me hope during what one friend […]
STUDIO VISIT
Megan Hinton Finds the Throughline
How a studio rich in history opened the way for an artist’s more dimensional way of working
Megan Hinton’s first career survey show at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum reveals an artist whose work is instantly recognizable for its strong use of line, a line that […]
Upstairs, Downstairs
Going big on design gives a small house room for entertaining and for retreat
Provincetown is a high-density town. Case in point, what once was a small home in the East End with two buildings on a narrow lot recently became three condos squeezed […]
Blurring the Edges
A landscape architect’s advice on how to help your garden — no matter how big or small — fit in an Outer Cape setting
Keith LeBlanc has focused for years on designing landscapes and gardens that eschew suburban ideals of clipped lawns and formal flower beds while seamlessly blending into our Outer Cape ecosystem. […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
Kale by Any Other Name
The search for a seedling’s Portuguese culinary roots
I saw the dark green, somewhat spindly plantlets this past May at Bayberry Gardens in Truro. The hand-lettered sign contained a single word that I’d never seen before — “couves,” […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
Know Your Enemy
How I went from ignoring my weeds to getting to know them on a first-name basis
Determining whether a plant is a weed is a subjective thing. Most gardeners define them as plants that just happen to be in the wrong place. But there’s another layer […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
An Earthbound Rainbow
Bearded irises can bedazzle any Cape Cod garden
I was looking at an iris the other day, watching a bee tumble and bumble its way through the folds, ripples, and petals, drunk with pollen-dusted happiness, and I thought: […]
ROAD TRIP
A Portuguese Port of Call in Fall River
Making a detour for tinned fish, bacalhau, and Azorean wines
Since moving to the Outer Cape a few years ago I’ve enjoyed encountering the influence of Portuguese culture here. There’s the annual Blessing of the Fleet and the generations of […]
LITTLE PLEASANT BAY
At Home on Pochet Island
A true rarity — a privately-owned, but publicly-accessible island in the Cape Cod National Seashore
Nancy Barrington can’t remember the first time she visited Pochet Island. “I’m sure Mom and Dad brought me when I was just a few weeks old,” she says, “and it’s been […]
WHARF GARDEN
The Art of Blanche Lazzell’s Flowers
One of Provincetown’s founding art colony painters fed her spirit growing things
“The gaiety and brilliancy of the flowers surrounding the studio of Blanche Lazzell attract and hold our attention whether we glimpse it from the waterside or through its narrow approach […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
Snow-Sowing in February for a Payoff in Summer Blooms
A bit of science weaves hardy annual seeds into an airy garden tapestry
The first time I walked outside on a late February morning and scattered a packet of poppy seeds on the snow I felt the same way I did the few […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
Garden in a Cup
Herbs for tisanes that recall a midsummer afternoon
There’s something about growing edible plants: they make a gardener feel useful. I’m especially fond of herbs, as they’re an easy way to that satisfaction. Nearly a decade ago, I […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
The Other Mums
Lesser-known hardy chrysanthemums loll romantically in autumn beds
Depending on whom you ask, chrysanthemums are either beloved symbols of autumn or one of those plants that are so commonplace that they’ve become boring. I’m reminded of Maggie Smith’s […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
The Spare Simplicity of a Gravel Garden
Finding drama in pebbly textures, silvery tones, tough ‘maritimas,’ and chance
A large part of our back yard is a former dog run, which looked fairly bleak when my husband and I first laid eyes on it on a March day […]
