Bloggers

Celebrating Eight Years of Blogging – Giveaway

  • Post published:December 6, 2015

This year Cool Springs Press is helping me celebrate my eight years of blogging with a Giveaway of Terrariums: Gardens Under Glass. These have been rich years for me be cause my blog has brought so many wonderful gardeners into my life, and so many beautiful gardening experiences. With other garden bloggers I travelled to Buffalo and to Seattle and saw beautiful gardens, large and small and all different. This past summer I attended a Garden Writers Conference…

Bloom Day May 15, 2013

  • Post published:May 15, 2013

Last spring was early and hot and on Bloom Day there was a lot of bloom. Things are moving slowly this Bloom Day. This is an  area of my lawn reduction project. Waldsteinia has spread over the past three years and I'm underplanted with daffodils. Waldsteinia is a beautiful plant and it is just coming into bloom. It is not  any kind of strawberry plant. These miniature daffodils are some of the daffs growing amid the barren strawberry Some daffodils…

Happy Fifth Blogoversary to Me – and Giveaway

  • Post published:December 6, 2012

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…

Ornaments in the Garden – Plain and Fancy

  • Post published:January 19, 2012

While the ground is covered with snow and temperatures hover at zero, I've been trolling through photos of my visit to Seattle last July (with 70 other garden bloggers) and especially noticing ornaments in the garden, some plain and some fancy.  Many of us have birdbaths in our garden - even me - who has not ornamented my garden in any thoughtful way. It is not a big step to go from a simple birdbath to a fancy…

Water and Delight

  • Post published:September 23, 2011

Our area suffered flooding from Tropical Storm Irene and the storm that followed a week after causing enormous damage as rivers and streams overflowed their banks. We have recovered on our road so today I prefer to think about the gentler water in our gardens that calms and soothes.  Here are some of the the quiet waters I saw in Seattle this summer at the Garden Bloggers Fling. Only a big public garden can have a big water…

David’s Perry’s Photography Lesson

  • Post published:August 4, 2011

One of the stellar events of the Garden Blogger's Seattle Fling was the workshop with David Perry, photographer extraordinaire.  We only had an hour of instruction, but I went right out to use the P setting on my little Canon Power Shot A590.  I call it my Point and Hope because it is so difficult to use in the sun - but it was raining at the Bloedel Reserve and I was ready to actually move the dial…

Inspiration From Seattle – One

  • Post published:August 2, 2011

Compared to Heath, Seattle has a mild climate, and yet gardeners there share some of our problems. Generally, it does not get hot in Seattle. Gardeners go to great lengths pampering their tomatoes in an attempt to achieve juicy ripeness. Shelagh Tucker has a small greenhouse in her sloping back garden, but she also grows her tomatoes in a raised bed sort of hot house to provide the heat tomatoes require. Behind her, in another raised bed are…

Seen in Seattle

  • Post published:July 25, 2011

As we 74 garden bloggers have toured Seattle we have visited private gardens, public gardens, and semi-public gardens to admire and learn about plants and Seattle's history. Here is a mock orange at the Dunn Gardens. All kinds of lavender everywhere. Bicyclists on their own path. Fabulous fruits at the Farmer's Market. Cherries, peaches, all kinds of berries - vegetables, too. Magnificent trees, towering. Potted plants everywhere, in the gardens and on the street. Fountains in the Mall…

Good-bye and Hello

  • Post published:July 22, 2011

It was good-bye to the daylilies at the End of the Road . . . and hello to airports in Hartford, Chicago ---------------- and Seattle!  Seattle Gardens are on the schedule for the next few day in the company of dozens of garden bloggers. Keep watching.

The Corner in Katy

  • Post published:March 31, 2011

Cindy MCOK, lives in Katy which is is not far from Missouri City where my daughter lives. When I told Cindy we were coming to Texas she invited us, my husband, daughter and me, to visit her garden. I thought it would be fun to feature Cindy's garden on Three for Thursday which she started.  When we first made plans she said she thought the poppies would be in bloom. And they were!  We were still a distance…