I love to garden in the evening.  It’s cooler and the sun isn’t beating down.  Tonight, while planting a couple of zagreb coreopsis I saw my first lightening bugs.  Sometimes we call them fireflies, but that’s only if we are in “serious” company.  🙂  They were lightenin’ bugs when I was a kid, and that… Continue reading

We’ve had almost a week of rain and everything is lush. The kousa dogwood went in last week. I think it is suffering from shock. All of the leaves seem a bit limp and the ones farther up on the tree are either brown around the edges, or curled and dried. There are exactly three… Continue reading

I have to put these two pictures together because they more clearly show how much change has taken place in the garden in a year.  The first picture was taken a year a go.  The second one was taken today, June 1. Continue reading

I used to know a woman whose mother was a war bride from England. On the first day of every month she would say “white rabbits” for good luck. I don’t know if this is an English custom, or whether it was just something her family did.  Regardless of the origin, it can’t hurt to… Continue reading

We got a good spring rain yesterday, something we needed. The new plants loved it. Nothing works better than rain. Water from a sprinkler or a hose just isn’t the same. A neighbor gave me a whole bunch of moonflower seedlings. I think I’ll put them in several pots to see how they behave. I… Continue reading

I read about Carl Chew several weeks ago.  He is an elementary teacher in Washington who refused to give his state’s standardized test, the WASL.  Below is an interview with him that spells out his position.  I wish parents would listen to what Carl has to say and opt their children out of taking all… Continue reading

I did no gardening today.  In fact, other than attending a meeting and trying to sort out my mother’s health insurance, I did nothing except read e-mail, write a dazzling response to a listserv about the nature of innate ability in humans, and nod off in the garden.  Oh, I cleaned litter boxes.  I introduced… Continue reading

I went with a neighbor to two garden centers today.  I bought two good sized Endless Summer hydrangeas, some cleome, and a gorgeous hanging basket for only nine bucks.  Almost everything is now planted.  I’ll finish tomorrow and perhaps take a planting break. Below are random pictures of the house and gardens. Continue reading

  This is what the “upper garden” looked like a year ago.  Virginia creeper was holding up the rickety fence that separates my yard from the park.  There were remnants of the decades old russian sage that had gone to seed again and again, as well as the lambs ear that still pops up.  Last… Continue reading

Today in the front yard I planted a wonderful array of coral bells.  They have such wonderful names.  Palace Purple.  Marmalade.  Peach Melba.  Creme Brule.  The palace purples have been there a year now, and they are lush mounds of deep red.  When I saw the other colors in various garden centers I knew they… Continue reading