A Successful Year

A SUCCESSFUL YEAR             The summer of 2007 was the year of the garden imperative, as I worked nearly every day to get my garden ready for a mid-summer wedding and a late summer garden tour.  The summer of 2008 had no such imperative, but in some ways it was even better.  Results took a … Read more

Returning Light

RETURNING LIGHT             As a gardener my life has always been defined by the seasons.  Every year at this time I feel hope rise as I count down the days to the Winter Solstice.  Of course, December twenty-second has only a tiny amount more daylight than December twenty-first, but I know that every day afterwards … Read more

Making Do

MAKING DO               As I participate in the belt tightening that everyone is doing right now, one phrase comes back to my mind again and again–“use what you have.”             I would like to do that.  I need to do that.  The problem is that in order to use what I have, I have … Read more

Beautyberry

BEAUTYBERRY             My daughter had a teacher once who was in love with the color purple.  She wore purple clothes, decorated her classroom with purple objects and gave out “purple owl” stickers to students who excelled in any way.  As far as I know, her prose was never purple, but sometimes her ink was.  I … Read more

The Big Picture

THE BIG PICTURE             Yesterday was a beautiful day to be outside and I was lucky enough to spend most of it gardening.  I weeded, thinned out plants, installed at least one hundred spring-flowering bulbs, hacked back some wayward ornamental grasses and staked a few sagging, end-of-the- season  mums.  I checked on a honeysuckle that … Read more