Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
With unseasonably warm temperatures and clear skies, I decide to hop on my bike for a 22-mile circuit from my house around the Titicus Reservoir and back. You don’t get many of these days in February so you have to take advantage of them when they pop up. My bike needs little maintenance beyond filling […]
The pickings are slim for fresh greens in February. After a long spate of very cold weather that was below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the cold frame is not serving up much. But a break in the cold gives me a chance to look things over. Both the corn salad (Valerianella locusta) and miners lettuce (Claytonia) […]
The sun is out and bright this morning with temperatures in the mid-40s. Though this is far from tropical, Juana and I take a walk around the gardens looking for signs of life. Upon opening the door to the greenhouse, we are met with a blast with humid, hot air. The indoor thermometer says it […]
A Therapist’s Garden Giveaway!! To further tempt you to purchase my book, I am offering anyone who plans to or has pre-ordered my book one of four customized bookplate stickers. Each bookplate (derived from Rosana’s @artbyrosana illustrations) represents Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. And I will inscribe it anyway you would like (within reason and […]
Flowers are always on the supermarket list this time of year. Part of Juana’s Winter survival strategy is to decorate as many windowsills as possible with fragrant and flowering plants.The kitchen sill has daffodils (Narcissus), primrose (Primula vulgaris), a lone cyclamen, and my grasshead. Many of the tiny pots get cycled out every couple of […]
“Everyone put on your glasses,” I tell my clients at Ann’s Place @annsplaceinc. “I think you all need some motivation when you make your grassheads. Given what you see, who or what will you use as a model?”It’s a comical sight, over a dozen clients stacked on a screen wearing faux Groucho Marx glasses. (I […]
With the big melt we are having, this thyme plant emerges from the snow. I haven’t seen it for a month as successive little snows have kept it hidden from view next to our primitive snow gauge. This type of melt is typical for February: a brief warming spell soon quashed by more snow and […]
Microgreens are one of the best ways to get back into the garden during these days when the real garden is a foot-plus under snow and ice. These arugula (Eruca vesicaria ssp sativa) sprouts are only two weeks old and almost ready to sample. If you want to extend your harvest, wait until real leaves […]
Ice is beautiful but potentially frightening at the same time. The outdoors are bejeweled with freezing rain. We are lucky as the amount of precipitation is slight so it adds a only slight, shiny glaze to plants rather than a potentially heavy and dangerous coating. The Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) branches are enveloped in ice […]
In writing A Therapist’s Garden, I have received so much help from so many people. But in certain ways it is a family affair with my sister-in-law Rosana @artbyrosana drawing a wonderful cover and plate illustrations and Juana my wife tasked with providing two dozen spot illustrations that appear within the book’s pages. Botanical illustrations […]