In my part of the world it has been raining ceaselessly—or so it seems—for days on end. The diminishing minutes of daylight are further diminished by the perpetual cloud cover. The garden is not just soggy, it is drowning. If this weather keeps up, some of us will be starting our annual bout of seasonal … Read more
On mornings in the late summer and early fall, I wait for the sun to rise high enough for the asters and other flowers to open. That magic moment should be heralded by trumpets, but since I live in the suburbs, that will never happen. Even without trumpets, though, the daily grand opening of the … Read more
I have fallen in love with a tall Texan, and, if that isn’t enough to scare the relatives, my Texan is very prone to falling over. At the moment it is very hard to keep this handsome individual grounded, though he hardly drinks at all. I have sworn to find a way. The name of … Read more
As they say in the movies, “We have a situation.” The situation in question is on the south side of my house, which is dark, dank and completely lacking in charm. I don’t like it and neither do the plants that live there. It has to be rectified. The relatively narrow area between the side … Read more
No one has to mulch their garden and there are plenty of reasons—read excuses—not to do so. Suppose you contract with a mulch merchant to dump a big load of the stuff in a corner of your driveway. The load always looks much bigger than you expected and suddenly you have a very visible reminder … Read more
