It isn't quite Christmas so it is no surprise that the Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) is mostly fat pink buds. As usual my angelwing begonia has a very few pink blossoms. Along with my dependable and ever blooming abutilon these plants are now in our bedroom in the beneath the west window, but very near the south window. This room is very bright during the day, and very cool at night. We had to move plants from the…
I remember when I first learned about perennials and thought - what a great idea, I'll never have to replant again. LOL. Even if pernnials didn't have to be divided, or die, most of us still have to move plants, add plants or remove plants in our attempts to have a garden that pleases the eye and the heart. For my full review you can click here, but I can tell you briefly that The Perennial Gardener's Design…
Chosen by a random number generator Ellen Sousa of Turkey Hill Brook Farm is the winner of Recipes from the Root Cellar! In her comment she mentions that there is a passageway between her garage and basement that maintains a consistent temperature that allows her to store winter vegetables so she'll be able to put this cookbook to good use. Congratulations, Ellen. I will get Ellen's address and send this book right out. I'm sure she will find…
Storey Publishing is helping me celebrate my Third Blogoversary by giving me three books to give you starting with Recipes from the Root Cellar: 270 fresh ways to enjoy winter vegetables by Andrea Chesman. I have been using my own copy of this book for the past month, making Festive and Fruity Coleslaw for Thanksgiving Dinner and Applesauce Crumb Cake for a weeknight dessert with friends. I can tell you that coleslaw is really good with turkey and…
Nan of Letters from a Hill Farm, up there in Maine, is the winner of Right Rose Right Place and 2 dozen CowPots. Nan is a voracious reader as well as enthusiastic gardener so I know both will be put to good use. Congratulations Nan. Happy reading and planting. Thank you all who have visited and helped me celebrate my second anniversary as a blogger. These two years have brought me gifts I could never have imagined, so…
And the wind is blowing. I barely made it out to the hen house and back. This is a day for staying home, browsing through Right Rose Right Place by Peter Schneider and considering what roses I want to add to The Rose Walk in the spring. My daughter Kate in Texas suggested I build a wish list on the Antique Rose Emporium website. So I did. I hope someone looks. You all have a chance to win that…
The artist Robert Strong Woodward spent most of his life in Buckland - and in a wheelchair. At the age of 21 he was injured in a hunting accident in California where he was living. Paralyzed from the waist down he returned to New England where he was born, studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and then moved to Buckland. It was his intent to make his living as an artist. He was…
Because it is my second Blogoversary, both Storey Publishing and CowPots are making it possible to have two Give Aways. Right Rose, Right Place: 359 Perfect Choices by rose lover and expert Peter Schneider will be a lovely and useful holiday treat for any rose gardener, or would-be rose gardener. There is advice here for the experienced gardener as well as for the novice. I have already added a number of roses I never knew about to my…
Rose of Prairie Rose's Garden in Central Illinois. Rose has won Nan Ondra's book, The Perennial Care Manual, and 2 dozen CowPots! Congratulations! When I get Rose's mailing address I'll send them right out. Now, since this is my Second Blogoversary, Storey and CowPots are offering a second chance to win in a drawing. This time the book is Right Rose, Right Place: 359 Perfect Choices for Beds, Borders, Hedges and Screens, Containers, Fences, Trellises, and More by…
The first wildness was our local porcupine sunning himself (I don't really know if he is a he or she) in front of the henhouse this morning. I nearly stepped on him on my way to feed the chickens because I was so busy looking at a wild hardy kiwi vine on the adjacent shed and wondered how I was ever going to prune and tame it. Fortunately the movement of the porcupine, including getting all his quills in fighting…