We Have a Winner!

  • Post published:12/11/2012
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We have a winner. Eileen Taylor will recieve a copy of Beautiful No Mow Yards from Timber Press and a copy of The Roses at the End of the Road from me. Congratulations, Eileen! Thank yous to all who helped me celebrate my fifth anniversary of blogging.

Last Chance for Celebratory Book Giveaway

  • Post published:12/10/2012
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Today is your last chance to leave a comment here  by midnight tonight and participate in the my book giveaway. You could win a copy of Beautiful No Mow Yards AND my own book The Roses at the End of the Road. I have enjoyed these past five years that has brought so many wonderful new people into my life. And useful and inspiring books like Beautiful No Mow Lawns from Timber Press. I will choose a name…

Gifts for the Gardener

  • Post published:12/08/2012
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This post is a reprise from last year and has some really good ideas, so I am repeating, but I will have some new ideas next week. What gifts for the gardener are on your list? In the ‘olden days’ garden catalogs did not arrive until after the new year, the first sign that spring will eventually return. Now my mailbox is already full of garden catalogs describing all kinds of plants, books and tools, every company hoping…

Happy Fifth Blogoversary to Me – and Giveaway

Today is my fifth blogoversary. Five years ago, on the Feast of St. Nicholas, with  a lot of help from my husband, I gave myself the gift of the commonweeder blog. I had no idea where it would take me or the gifts it would give me. Because of this blog I joined 60+ other fascinating garden bloggers in Buffalo and Seattle for Flings that took us to amazing gardens, meetings with creative gardeners, and gave me lively…

Walking in the Woods Towards a Christmas Wreath

  • Post published:12/03/2012
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On Saturday my husband and I walked up what we call The Lane, the remnants of the old road that once led all the way to the next town of Rowe. We walked up the hill between two fields and into the woods.  We have done some logging in the woods, but when we walk there these days the extensive number of trees and limbs that have been toppled and broken are due to the big ice storm in…

Fourth of July – Red, White and Blue in Bloom

  • Post published:07/04/2012
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Red roses. Red and white roses. White Mothlight hydrangea. White Switzerland shasta daisies. Blue Connecticut Yankee delphiniums. Falling over, but unbowed. For more Wordlessness this Independence Day Wednesday click here.

Weekend of Plants and Memorials

  • Post published:05/14/2012
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This Mother's Day weekend was filled with flowers, and memorials. The Ladue family, Kimberly, Troy and Lisa, visited the Bridge of Flowers and presented the Bridge committee with a donation that will help keep the Bridge in bloom. Their mother, Margaret Oliver Ladue was a flower lover and (among other things) worked in the gardens of an assisted living home. Through their family foundation, her children are able to support their mother's interests in education with an annual…

April Showers and May Basket

  • Post published:05/01/2012
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I awoke to a delicious soft rain - and a beautiful May Basket. Pansies, grape hyacinths and chocolate. I wonder who is celebrating May Day with me.

Our Christmas Trees

  • Post published:12/31/2011
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Many family Christmas memories revolve around the Christmas tree. These stories rarely have to do with the magnificence of the tree. In fact, Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree may be our culture’s most famous Christmas tree, standing for the true meaning of the season. We have many family stories about our Christmas trees beginning with our first Christmas in Greenfield in 1971.  I was a single mother of five children when I came to town. Our life had changed…