Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
Miner’s lettuce My cold frame has emerged from the two feet of snow that has been hiding it since January. What was a cold dark tomb, is now a hot, humid space. Thus I can now start to direct-seed as well as transplant the first greens of the season. With any luck we will be […]
When Covid hit nearly a year ago and Juana and I hunkered down, part of that exercise was to cancel my horticultural therapy classes at Ann’s Place. By early summer, however, I opened sessions that were socially distanced outside to a small number of clients. After the typical hiccups of any new setup, the classes […]
Before After As we find ourselves accepting the arrival of Winter with its chilly winds and cold precipitations, garden pests are not top of mind. But for those of us who have cold frames or store prior harvests, this is a mistake. I have been nursing a wide variety of greens in a cold frame […]
The snow storm of a few days ago was an early reminder of (perhaps) the season to come as Winter can be highly variable in Connecticut. Some years we have but a few trace dustings of white while for others over 100 inches of packed snow that don’t disappear from the landscape last until mid-April. […]
With most deciduous trees and bushes devoid of leaves (save some species of oak (Quercus)) the green background of the forest has morphed into muddled shades of brown and gray. But if you look hard enough the lack of foliage reveals a rich crop of fruits that wintering birds, mammals (and the occasional human) can […]
When you live in the suburbs, it’s easy to forget the purpose of grassy fields. It’s not to hold the soil of fallow ground, but to harvest for fodder or bedding. I was surprised a few days ago as one of my favorite fields had been mowed and the cut grass was in the process […]
For the last decade, Ann’s Place has celebrated the summer solstice with a tour of the gardens, seasonal readings and a locally sourced supper or afternoon tea. Unfortunately, this has not been possible this year. This was a double disappointment for me as I had planned to open my gardens to the Ann’s Place clients […]
The unofficial start of Summer, Memorial Day, signals that Winter is behind us and the garden is exploding with growth. But for every lovely flower and plant that emerges, 10 times that number or more of weeds pop up. Plantains (Musa × paradisiaca), chickweed (Stellaria media) and crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) are early visitors to gardens. […]
The class I had planned for this week did not pan out because of the unseasonable cold over the last month. Plants in my yard and garden that were supposed to be ready are not. So what to do? Well I figured that I would put together a slide show/video about my garden that I […]
Last week the strawberries came in: both domestic and wild. The domestic ones are familiar and tasty. Emerging from their straw bed last month, their pollinated flowers metaphorized into small whitish balls changing again into large, sweet red orbs. Charlotte, my granddaughter, can’t wait to visit us this time of year to survey and select […]