Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, April 11, 2025 Saugus Gardens in the Spring By Laura Eisener W e have plenty to celebrate this week. Tomorrow, April 12, we can enjoy this month’s full moon, often called the pink moon. It is named for a flower, not a color, and the flower it is named after is not what we now usually call pink but another low flower with pinked edges we often call rock phlox or moss phlox. Monday, April 14, is National Gardening Day. The ground has thawed for several weeks already, and there are many plants available in nurseries and garden centers. Flowers are popping up all over – indoors and out! Inside Saugus Public Library there are plenty of blossoms today and tomorrow! Books in Bloom – what a fitting way to finish up National Library Week (this year it is April 6-12). Organized by the Saugus Garden Club and New Friends of Saugus Public Library, Books in Bloom is one of my favorite events of the year. Today and tomorrow the beautiful floral displays pair with the books that inspired them all over the library. While we have had many cold and dreary days recently, it is possible to enjoy flowers from almost anywhere in the world. Some of the most popular bouquet flowers are grown in South America. One of the most versatile plants that is actually native to South America is the Peruvian lily, sometimes called lily of the Incas (Alstroemeria spp.). The flowers can be yellow, orange, pink, white, purple or combinations of these colors, and often have whisPussy willows are blooming at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in a few places near the riverbank. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) ker-like markings on the petals. They can be grown in pots and are almost hardy enough to make it through the winter here. They have naturalized in gardens in southern parts of the United States. Spring pastels glow in the delightful bouquet someone put in my hands at St. John’s on Sunday that includes pale pink carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus), white baby’s breath (Gypsophila spp.), peach toned Peruvian lily (Alstroemeria spp.) and chrysanthemum in bright golds and mauve. The emergence of flowers after what seems like a long winter can make a mundane chore a delightful discovery! Nancy Prag went to bring the trash out and found that her oriental hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) in varied hues of blue, purple and white had popped up among her tête-à-tête daffodils (Narcissus ‘Tête-à-tête’). There has been a lot of growth in just the Nancy Prag’s hyacinths are popping up in her East Saugus garden. (Photo courtesy of Nancy Prag) past week. The French name of the little daffodils translates as head-to-head, a phrase that refers to an intimate conversation where two people might lean their heads together to keep their discussion private. The blossoms do seem to bob toward each other in the April breeze, discussing whatever secrets early spring flowers have. Oriental hyacinths are among the most famously fragrant of flowers, and one day last week I opened the garage door and smelled them before I looked around to find the flowers opening in my garden a few feet away. Luckily both the daffodils and hyacinths are not considered tasty by groundhogs, rabbits or squirrels, so they can be counted on to continue through the decades in a garden. Many of Nancy’s flowers were planted by her late mother, so they seem like recurring gifts from her. Daffodils (Narcissus spp.) will be with us through May, when late varieties come into bloom. While we think of them primarily as yellow, there are varieties with no yellow at all – completely white varieties can be found, and pink cupped ones like the solitary blossom with a white perianth poking out among the yellow ones at St. John’s. Pussy willows (Salix discolor) are in bloom at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site. Richard Kasabuski – nephew of World War II soldiers Walter and John Kasabuski, who died in Italy 80 years ago and who are memorialized at Kasabuski Rink at Breakheart – was discussing the pussy willows last week. Some blossoms are still gray catkins while the ones at the tips of the branches have developed a cheery golden appearance since the pollen has ripened on those flowers warmed by the sun. National Park Week is next week and is celebrated for eight days: Saturday, April 19 through Sunday, April 27. While the museum and “visitor’s services” at the Saugus Iron Works will not be open until May, you can walk the grounds all year and see the herb garden beginning to leaf out, the pussy willows blooming and perhaps even people working on a couple of new water wheels. Our native pussywillow seen at the Iron Works and a similar looking European shrub sometimes called European pussywillow or goat willow (Salix caprea) both resemble little gray kittens, which is how they got their name. The two species look very similar, but our native one has redder stems and can often be found growing in wetter than average locations. Margaret Wise Brown’s book “Pussywillow,” first published in 1951, was one of my first books as a child – a Little Golden Book. When I was about five years old, I named my favorite stuffed animal, a gray cat, Pussywillow, and later a real gray tiger cat got the same name. Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is A beautiful bouquet was put in my hands at St. John’s on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) This pink cupped daffodil along the walkway to St. John’s Church is no ugly duckling! (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.
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