Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
As we wound up Erik and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, on the way back from Washington D.C. I persuaded Ted to take a slight detour (ok it was more than slight) to a carnivorous plant nursery in Smithsburg, MD, called coincidentally Carnivorous Plant Nursery where we met Michael Szesze, the owner and propagator. We went there […]
In early October as we are becoming used to the Fall, it can sometimes not be helped that we think ahead as to what will winter hold for us. And with that fascination, comes a wide variety of speculation some of which comes from the wooly bear caterpillar. The wooly bear, or more precisely the […]
You rarely appreciate how good you have it until your creature comforts disappear. To a degree, that’s how I now feel as I have returned from a 9-day kayak trip to the Everglades in Florida where I paddled from Flamingo to Everglades City. This is one of those “bucket list” kind of things that people […]
It was strange to see woolly bear caterpillars in late July. These inaccurate prognosticators of winter usually make their appearances in late August or early September as a first brush with cooler winds reminds us that fall is just around the corner. But this buggy memento of changing weather was not the only hint that […]
In the Northeast we seem to be caught in a perpetual shower. The days are gray with light peaking through irregularly never long enough to dry a single plant. We have not had a sunny day for the last 10 days nor are we forecasted to have one for the next 10. I continue to […]
This time of year I should be deadheading the late spring bulbs, cutting back tulip stems, weeding, harvesting lettuce, mowing the lawn, etc. Instead I find myself crouched in fetal position vacillating between cold shakes and hot sweats. I have wet the bed (with my sweat). Everything is sore. I’ve got fever to burn at […]
The weather this fall has been frenetic. Snow, heat, drenching rain, drought. We have seen it all. Or so I thought. Last week in a middle of a stretch of Indian summer we were invaded by Mexican bean beetles. Thousands. I don’t know much about its life cycle but I think the snow and cold […]
As we cannot often see what is occurring, the night is a quiet period for the senses and much of observable nature. But a simple light can illuminate and even create extreme circumstances. Last evening as my wife and I were heading for bed, the motion detector on the second floor eave clicked on a […]
Surprises in the garden aren’t as rare as one might think though some are sweeter than others. Next to my vegetable garden I have one of my three compost heaps each placed on different parts of my property based more on my laziness to walk all my plant waste to a single location than the […]
Leaving one’s garden as it is coming into its own is a bittersweet event filled with mixed emotions. I now pack for a lengthy and hopefully exotic stay on a beach in Kauai. After spending the last half year in dormancy and now bursting out in full bloom, my garden calls out with the most […]