T is for Thoreau, author of Walden and many many journals in which "[he omitted] the unusual - the hurricanes and earthquakes - and described the common." He had always recorded the weather and the natural scene in a sporadic and fragmented way, but in July of 1852 he declared a year of observation, a 'year' that lasted through 1861. Amidst the the poetry of his prose, and his record of his own responses to the world, he began a careful…
S is for Sustainability this Earth Day. Yesterday I introduced Tom Benjamin who designs sustainable, low maintenace landscapes to an attentive audience at our local 'Little e' (not the Big Eastern Exposition in Springfield) where the theme was saving energy. The topic was Reduce Your Lawn and Increase Your Leisure. Since I have been writing about low-mow landscapes I was interested to hear how Tom calculated the benefits. There are many. The first benefit, according to my husband, is…
J is for Juniper which is essential for the making of gin. Read all in The Drunken Botanist. Author Amy Stewart, author of of other tell-all tales of plants and insects, Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, and Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects recently published her new book The Drunken Botanist: The Plants that Make the World's Great Drinks. Her description of juniper includes a kind…
G is for Garden Projects for Kids: 101 ways to get kids outside, dirty, and having fun by Whitney Cohen and John Fisher of LIfe Lab in Santa Cruz, California. Surely, my regular readers would not expect me to get through a whole month of posts without including a book or two. And this book from Timber Press is a doozy. Garden Project for Kids is not only about growing veggies, but about other designing the garden so…
With snow on the ground in Heath it is hard to believe that spring is here and gardening season has begun. I have seedlings planted and sitting on my new heat mat in the guest room, but not a shoot in sight. Yet. Since this spring is somewhat delayed there is still time to think about planting a small vegetable garden, even if you have never had one before. Or maybe you wish you had a flowery place…
We have a winner! Catherine, who has a new house and will be putting in a new vegetable garden, wins this useful and instructing blook which comes with best wishes from me and Timber Press!
It is time to order new roses, even if I have to look at a wintry landscape for some weeks yet. I looked through the catalogs and agonized but I finally made my decision. I am ordering two roses from the Antique Rose Emporium (ARE) because they send large container grown roses. This makes the shipping costs more expensive but the healthy bushes are such a nice size that the extra cost is worth it to me. Basyes Purple, a…
I've written about a number of garden books for the young over the past year. They are not how-to books although there are books that do lead a child into the garden with real instructions. My friend Kathryn Galbraith wrote Planting the Wild Garden and turned science into poetry. She reveals all the ways that Mother Nature spreads seeds over the landscape using the wind and rain, and hot sun that makes seed pods burst. The rivers and…
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.
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…