Three Friends of Winter

  • Post published:01/28/2009
  • Post comments:2 Comments

Since I have just posted about Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year, I thought I would continue with a mention of the Three Friends of Winter, the pine, bamboo and plum blossoms. These plants symbolize survival under adverse conditions.The pine is considered the chief of trees. Its trunk is straight and powerful (although I have to say that the pine that shows up commonly in Chinese art is less than tall and straight) like an upright man of…

Don’t Throw It, Grow It!

  • Post published:01/27/2009
  • Post comments:3 Comments

            Garbage isn’t always garbage. Sometimes it is the beginning of an indoor garden.             Who among us hasn’t taken an avocado pit, planted it in a pot and enjoyed a large lush houseplant?  It would never bear fruit, but it was fun to see this large seed grow into a substantial plant.             Growing seeds, roots and tubers from the kitchen is a great way to remind children of the different ways edible foods are propagated. This…

Chinese New Year

  • Post published:01/26/2009
  • Post comments:3 Comments

For days now Chinese people have been travelling all over the country to return to their home towns to celebrate Spring Festival, the beginning of the lunar new year. During the two separate years (1989-90 and 1995-96) we spent in Beijing we learned about the importance of this holiday.In the west, New Year's Eve means a party and greeting the new year at midnight, but in China it means 20 days of celebration with family, surrounding themselves with…

Reading Mysteries

  • Post published:01/24/2009
  • Post comments:1 Comment

There are times when it is impossible to be out in the garden - when its pouring, snowing, sleeting, freezing or too damn hot. While I do read a lot of garden books, and own a LOT of garden books so that I am never at a loss, I always have a mystery novel going as well. My friend B.J. Roche, who teaches journalism at the University of Massachusetts and writes for various regional and national publications, decided that…

Sastrugi Revisited

  • Post published:01/24/2009
  • Post comments:7 Comments

I have written about SASTRUGI before. This word from the Russian refers to the snow waves that many of us notice after a snowfall, but sastrugi can take many other forms than the gentle ripples in the snow caused by the wind. We have had a least a few snow showers every day for the past week, and enough wind to blow the light dry snow across our field and into the Sunken Garden, created when the old…

My Garden Journals

  • Post published:01/22/2009

              Recently I’ve been writing about the books you read, for information and inspiration. Now I want to talk about the book you write, your garden journal.             Garden journals are as individual as a gardener’s garden. I have seen beautifully kept journals, annotated with delicate sketches and drawings. Mine have never looked like that.             I’ve seen journals devotedly kept every day of the year, with notes on the weather, what’s been done in the garden,…

Climate Change

  • Post published:01/21/2009

Temperatures have been in the single digits for days now, but here in Heath, and I think all over the country, we are feeling a change in the climate as our new president takes office. Never has the phrase Global Warming been so positive as we warm to each other, warm to the tasks at hand. We were all feeling the warmth of good fellowship and optimism last night at the Inaugural pot luck at the Community Hall,…

Climate Change

  • Post published:01/21/2009
  • Post comments:0 Comments

Temperatures have been in the single digits for days now, but here in Heath, and I think all over the country, we are feeling a change in the climate as our new president takes office. Never has the phrase Global Warming been so positive as we warm to each other, warm to the tasks at hand.We were all feeling the warmth of good fellowship and optimism last night at the Inaugural pot luck at the Community Hall, to…

A Green White House

  • Post published:01/18/2009
  • Post comments:7 Comments

Dominique Browning of the late lamented House and Garden wrote in The Wall Street Journal recently about changes in the White House as the Obamas prepare to move in, and some changes that could be made."A green lifestyle shouldn't be an unaffordable status symbol; it has to become mainstream. With the Obamas' leadership, America can trace a path to a more compassionate, respectful, sustainable way of keeping house." she said.While I certainly look to the Obamas to set…

Bloom Day January 2009

This abutilon was featured in my first Bloom Day post almost a year ago. It is in bloom nearly every month of the year and a pleasure every day. I was so happy to discover May Dreams Gardens and Carol's generous community of bloomers. I was a new blogger and it was my first experience of community and help with a new enterprise. My large Christmas cactus which was so maginificent a few days ago is starting to…