Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
In November, there are still many fruits about if you just look carefully. Five of my favorites are within feet of each other in my back yard. My most favorite is the beautyberry of which I have the Japanese variety. (I tried to grow the American species (Callicarpa americana) but my yard is just a […]
It’s a cold start on an otherwise perfect day to ride from Brewster to Hopewell Junction on the Maybrook Trail. The sky is clear and the air dry and crisp. The trail has few travelers giving the impression that I am alone save for the sound of the wind rustling the seed heads of dormant […]
The sunflowers have opened for business attracting many customers. During the day, it is a quick take-out cafe visited by a wide variety of patrons that sample its ample supply of pollen. But as night approaches, it becomes a real B&B with many bees taking an evening rest on its numerous disc florets. They will […]
Living in a house for over 30 years gives perspective to change. We used to have a trio of healthy sugar maples in the front yard and now we have just one showing signs of decay. But unlike the other ones that rotted out at the main trunk, this one is dying from the top. […]
In many ways, Spring is appropriately named. Its pent-up anticipation prior to the arrival of the equinox is akin to that of a child, Christmas morning, held back, unable to run to the tree to open his or her gifts. There are a few signs: snowdrop and muscari bulbs emerging, the slight greening of willows, […]
The days in the Keys are blissfully the same. We awake at first light as the sun streams through our bedroom window. Initially it is a bit nippy with a touch of wind but the outside soon warms and we head out to the beach for our morning walk. Flocks of birds beat us to […]
Brisk temperatures seem to come later and later each year. Just last week when I was working outside, the acrid smell of skunk made its way up the hill, something you don’t expect mid-November when skunks are usually in torpor. And its deliverer, perhaps, decided to visit my house the other day as I so […]
The witch hazel at @annsplaceinc looks even more spectacular than normal as its background is mostly empty of greenery. Its feathery, mid-to-late Autumn butter yellow flowers stand out in their color and unusualness. Witch hazels are an unusual example of co-evolution as they are pollinated by the winter moth, which can raise its body temperature […]
We had an opportunity to visit a local prairie, a special and vanishing ecosystem. They differ from meadows in that they don’t favor the growth of trees and have many more wildflowers and grasses. We have see a few monarch butterflies making their migration toward Mexico, but it is late in the season given the […]
Dodging the rain in the Northeast, we find ourselves in hot and steamy Des Moines for the Iowa Quilt Show. One of Juana’s bucket list items is to attend this exhibition of hundreds of quilts, and the fact that our niece, Lucy, lives nearby makes it so much easier to make the journey. Entering the […]