Last weekend was the annual migration -- tender plants up from the basement, shade pavilion greenhouse walls down and those plants set free. It really is quite the production, I was fortunate my husband helped move a lot of them. About the 15th trip up the stairs he...
I cannot get over the thrill of plants emerging in spring, tender vibrant leaves bursting forth from earth. And it happens every year. How is nature so smart? Also every year, I'm taken by surprise when I swoon over flowers. I claim I garden primarily for foliage. But...
I sometimes hesitate to show before and after photos of my former garden. It's distressing for us gardeners to see the fruits of our love and labor laid to waste. Recently, though, I've been perusing old photos in consideration of my new garden. I was...
I am a long time proponent of the one-plant-per-pot style of container gardening. Even with succulents I prefer to keep it simple and let that one strong plant stand alone -- all the better to appreciate its features. However as I've said before (for example here)...
On the time moving quickly front, I've got plans up my sleeve that I'd love to implement this season. For me it's a matter of sorting out priorities, then figuring out which thing gets done first. I generally find if I just can get the ball rolling--a start anywhere...
The pot ghetto, we all have one right? This is the time of year mine starts to grow. From now until mid-April I’ll be accumulating, but not actually planting. The photo above shows what it currently looks like, well, what the shady/protected ghetto looks like –...
It's taken me a while to get that I'm challenged when trying to talk, observe, and photograph in unison. This is not entirely new to my, uhm, imaginative brain style. But since my concussion, I'm further along on the continuum. Recently, one of my brain therapist...
Our love affair is over. It started out intense, as these things do – pure powerful lust. There was that brief moment I thought we’d made a connection. Only to have another steal you – right before my eyes. Then finally it happened, you were mine and it was just as...
The big winter weather joke around the Pacific Northwest is a forecast calling for "snow on the valley floor." That's the Willamette Valley we talking about, and we hardly ever get snow, at least on the northern end. Those of us who grew up here are always rooting for...
Greetings gardeners. I'm giving the gray matter a wee rest this week, so I don't have a story for you. I know, hard to believe. Instead, I thought I'd share a few pictures of plants behaving themselves in the late summer garden. Have you noticed when you focus...