The Belvedere Fairport

The Belvedere Fairport From the Italian bel vedere, meaning a beautiful view, this forest retreat offers views of Monroe, Ontario and Wayne counties in upstate New York.

The first bee of 2019! It's 65°F outside today the first weekend of April and the only flowers open are the "early bloom...
04/07/2019

The first bee of 2019! It's 65°F outside today the first weekend of April and the only flowers open are the "early bloomers" like this crocus, snowdrops, and (one of my personal favorites) the winter aconite.

So, let this be your reminder to uncover and plant early blooming bulbs in your yard so the bees have something to feed on when they first come out after being cooped up and living off their food stores all winter.

These early bloomers will easily naturalize in your yard (meaning they'll pop up, bloom, and die back before your grass is awake enough to need to be mowed). Plus, this splash of color is a welcome sight after the gray days of winter.

Here at The Belvedere Fairport we have the front yard with the winter aconite and Siberian Squill going in this fall. In the back, it'll be snowdrops and crocus.

Our SECOND generation of garlic seems to have survived the winter and is off to a good start with some sprouts. I opted ...
04/06/2019

Our SECOND generation of garlic seems to have survived the winter and is off to a good start with some sprouts. I opted to go a little denser this year with my planting to increase my crop yield in this 4x4 plot.

(You may notice the other plots are empty because we are swapping out the soil with a new mix that is already calibrated.)

Some of the frogs and toads found here at The Belvedere Fairport this summer. Some tree frogs (both up on the second sto...
09/07/2018

Some of the frogs and toads found here at The Belvedere Fairport this summer. Some tree frogs (both up on the second story deck, the one on the right clinging to the back door), a garden toad (hiding from the lawn mower), and a stone frog out front.

This sculpture of a boxer puppy is the perfect addition to the front porch!
09/06/2018

This sculpture of a boxer puppy is the perfect addition to the front porch!

You may have heard about the torrential rainfall we had in Western upstate New York. Some counties recorded 8 inches! He...
08/15/2018

You may have heard about the torrential rainfall we had in Western upstate New York. Some counties recorded 8 inches! Here at The Belvedere Fairport we only got 4.3 inches this morning. Luckily, we're in the neighborhood with the highest altitude in the county so the flooding didn't really affect us.

"Blessed be the fruit." The first of the 2018 harvest is coming in. We had a very successful garlic crop for our first a...
07/16/2018

"Blessed be the fruit." The first of the 2018 harvest is coming in. We had a very successful garlic crop for our first attempt! They will hang and cure for a couple of weeks then be placed in storage.

Last year the rains made all of our leaf crops moldy so we opted for more root crops this year (and, of course, that caused the local drought). This is the first of the beets and carrots with more to come. There was a learning curve in placing such tiny seeds and germination became staggered, so harvest will be, too.

Last fall I was so excited to have found a yellow rose bush, a Julia Child floribunda. (Yellow roses mean a lot to Texan...
06/13/2018

Last fall I was so excited to have found a yellow rose bush, a Julia Child floribunda. (Yellow roses mean a lot to Texans.) There was a bit of concern about its survival considering it was going into winter but we went with it, planted it in a sunny spot visible from the kitchen, and I fenced it off with insulating burlap through the winter. The blooms have finally started to open today - I think it's doing just fine! - Biff.

The one bloom is now many! We can't recall the irises ever blooming on the property since we've been here. After some ...
05/26/2018

The one bloom is now many! We can't recall the irises ever blooming on the property since we've been here. After some research, we determined it must have been due to insufficient sunlight so I cut down some branches that had begun to shade this flower bed and Jeff religiously added fertilizer last year. I believe the effort has paid off this year!

This is the first Iris bloom of the year! Reportedly our neighborhood is located at the highest elevation in Monroe Coun...
05/22/2018

This is the first Iris bloom of the year! Reportedly our neighborhood is located at the highest elevation in Monroe County. Going up the road to the house you can feel the temperature drop several degrees. You also see that our blooms are often delayed, appearing even weeks behind the rest of the blooms in the Rochester area.

Question: Can you tell me what TYPE of Iris this is?

It's not ALWAYS about the gardens and the grounds here at The Belvedere Fairport. We're making improvements to our lifes...
05/20/2018

It's not ALWAYS about the gardens and the grounds here at The Belvedere Fairport. We're making improvements to our lifestyle and organization as well. The matching kayaks have now been successfully mounted in the garage! Eager to enjoy them on the Erie Canal this summer.

The First Snow of the season! With high temperatures in the 20s today, I expect this cold snap to bring the rest of the ...
11/10/2017

The First Snow of the season! With high temperatures in the 20s today, I expect this cold snap to bring the rest of the leaves down. That's fine; let's get on with it! Winter is here.

"A Night at the Museum" ain't got nothing on us! So, we're lining our halls with tons of dead things on display, so what...
10/29/2017

"A Night at the Museum" ain't got nothing on us! So, we're lining our halls with tons of dead things on display, so what? Been doin' that since we were kids! Perhaps, they'll keep away the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons? Worth a shot. And they're Christmas ready!

Address

12 Saddle Ridge Trail
Fairport, NY
14450

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