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A Trip to the Compost Pile
Our compost pile is behind a row of spruces at the back edge of our property. Beyond the compost area is a weedy open meadow and then a forested hillside. Behind the trees a busy road runs.When I...
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Drought Dependent
We had a wet, cooler summer this year and almost everything in my garden loved it. It all looks wonderful, healthy, and beautiful. Plants that were nice enough in prior years have just bloomed and...
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This Calms Me
All the drama in Washington has seriously unnerved me lately. I am out of sorts and need to calm down. So I turned off the TV and went outside for a walk around my yard.Aromatic aster - Aster*...
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Recognize This?
Do you recognize this plant?I saw this compact, glossy shrub at Wave Hill Gardenin New York City in early October. It was covered in subtle greenish little flowers. I was struck by its rounded, full...
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A Plant That Likes Me
I started with six tiny little plugs in four inch nursery pots.I planted them in exactly the wrong spot, in too much sun, in dry soil. They normally grow in woodland shade near streams.I put the six...
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The Light in the Morning
In the waning days of October, before last weekend's frost changed everything, there were mornings when the light stopped me in my tracks.The rays were so specific, lighting up just a tree or a clump...
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As Planned
October left us, November arrived, and overnight, it seems, the Norway maples turned butter yellow, the silver maples turned lemony and the red maple in the back yard went up in flames.I planned the...
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Carnage
Oh my god, blood all over the walk, wheel tracks leading away. Did Jim fall off the John Deere lawnmower and then get run over?But no, there he was, coming down the path, ready to do chores, no sign of...
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Biltmore
We visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina in mid September. Several people commented they were eager to see the Biltmore, but were put off by the price. They asked if it was really...
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Liquid Gold
At this time of year the first rays of sun in the morning light up the magnolia tree outside the bedroom window as if the sun was pouring liquid gold on the branches. It happens just as I wake each...
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Burnt Sugar
I learned something new recently. I learned katsura trees are aromatic even after all their leaves are down.In early November I took a walk around the neighborhood one morning, and suddenly caught the...
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Dinner Menu
Here is what is on the menu for Thanksgiving in my garden:Winterberries (Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite')Everyone says the birds like these, but in my garden it is the deer who strip the berries off...
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Uplift
I have been pruning the lower branches of some shrubs in an effort to create small, upright trees out of them, and the work has been very rewarding.One is a hybrid witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia...
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Because Snow
I am going to repost something from 2010 today. Because it is the holiday season and I am baking cookies, and it is snowing outside right now.December 12, 2010Christmas does not smell like pine needles...
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So Far So Good
So far this season the stacked stone wall I built so laboriously last summer has not fallen down, despite freezing nights and thawing days.But the plow has not come up the driveway yet to bury it, and...
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Guests Are Expected
We are expecting guests to visit this winter, as they do every year. Here are a few that came last year. I hope they make a return visit -- we're ready for them!The bobcat as seen through our dining...
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Permissions and Wishes
Back in November, C.L. Fornari wrote a post on her blog Whole Life Gardening that made me smile. It's about persimmons and permission and mixing them up and the idea of a Permission Tree. Go read it...
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Bury My Heart
The winter weather has been wild in the upper US, with severe cold one day, and warm, wet fog the next. We haven't had as sharply bitter temperatures as further north, but I did wake up to minus 7 F...
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Queen Z
I have written about Zenobia pulverulenta before, but she is growing on me more and more each season.It gets its botanical name and its common name, Dusty Zenobia, from the fact that the leaves are...
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Towering Nuisance
Eastern Cottonwood trees (Populus deltoides) grow all around us in areas that were disturbed by the builders.They are fast growing, messy, weak wooded trees that do not live very long, but they grow to...
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Luxe
Plants that have rich mahogany tones always draw my attention. I like shades of deep cordovan, plummy wine, and tawny cognac. I am obviously supposed to be living a different life, drinking expensive...
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January Mornings
One morning this winter the coyotes came to visit. It was a family, a mother and four pups. Jim wanted to get all five in a shot, but they wouldn't pose together. The pups tumbled and played and they...
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Four Years of Blogging
I started this blog four years ago today.It has been a rewarding diversion, and it has brought me commenters and friends from all over the world.When I started I was still a relatively new gardener,...
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