Life is what you make it.
When I was 10 years old, my mom put my 4 year-old sister and me into the car and drove us to the machine shop where my Dad worked. It was lunchtime on Christmas Eve. The employees, about a half dozen in all, had stopped work for the day and were gathered around the lunchroom… Continue reading Collecting Christmas
As we grow older and outdoor spaces become more work than we can handle, many gardeners feel the need to downsize. They sell their homes and move into smaller apartments or maybe a condo – some place that won’t require lawn and garden chores. As a result, they save themselves the work, but they lose… Continue reading The Low Maintenance Garden Experiment: Planning a Garden for Senior Living
When I was about 3 years old, my dad very gently hammered two tiny nails into the wood paneled wall of our dining room. He tied a length of string between those nails and Voila! We had a holder for the first of our Christmas cards that had arrived that afternoon. It was fun to… Continue reading Merry Christmas in the Mailbox
The north east has been hit with our first big snowfall of the season. It had been a remarkably warm and green winter here so far. But it is cold this morning. 15° F is the expected high temperature for that day. Snow flurries, come and go. Winds blow fallen snow into deep drifts. Snowfall does… Continue reading Long Snowy Weekend
Driving down the road last week, I spotted the first blooms of roadside lilies popping up out of a ditch. Just about everyone is familiar with this tawny orange summer bloom. It grows everywhere in Ohio. Probably everywhere else too. Because it's so prolific I used to assume it was one of our native… Continue reading Heirloom Garden Flowers: the Ditch Lily
After moving to my forever home 20 years ago, my love of heirloom garden plants intensified when I purchased a piece of land adjacent to my property and discovered an old species daylily struggling to grow there. The property had once been the home of the "Red, White and Blue" tavern. Built in the early… Continue reading Hemerocallis Dumortierii: An Heirloom Garden Discovery
In my mid-20's I became interested in both hostas and heirloom garden plants. My boyfriend at the time owned his abandoned family home. He told me about a hosta that his late mother had planted there many years before and he encouraged me to dig one up and replant it in my own tiny flower… Continue reading Discovering Hosta plantaginea ‘Grandiflora’: “The August Lily”
Like many others, I watched the news coverage of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria on the Weather Channel last summer. One thing that struck me as people prepared for the coming storms were the long lines at gas stations and the demand for food and bottled water at grocery stores. I couldn't help but wonder,… Continue reading Organize It! Updating Emergency Prep
