The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty bears lines from the 1883 poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus. Among those lines are: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,…” The same words might be carved in stone over my front porch, but they would apply to plants instead … Read more
When many people see or hear the word “cerveza”, they think of a cold bottle of beer, as in “cerveza fria”. Since it is now high summer, some people think of that a lot—in Spanish or in English. When I think of “cerveza”, I summon a picture of my back garden, where a healthy ‘Cerveza … Read more
My aunt was a serial hobbyist, and one of her hobby phases was macrame. Since she was always an avid gardener, many of her knotted creations were plant hangers. In fact, before she moved on to other hobbies, her kitchen looked like a suburban version of the hanging gardens of Babylon. She would have loved … Read more
Right now, in mid-July, the roses are taking a mid-season rest, while the daisies—coneflowers, coreopsis and Shastas—take center stage. I love them all, but at this moment I am absolutely infatuated with the streptocarpus plants that are currently strutting their flowery stuff on my covered front porch. The name “streptocarpus” is awful, invoking virulent sore … Read more
Three decades ago, the late American humorist, Erma Bombeck, published a book titled, The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. I don’t have a septic tank, so I can’t attest to the validity of that statement, but I do know that the houseplants are always healthier over the microwave. There is probably a … Read more
