Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
Bicycling is one of my favorite outdoor activities. Once the temperatures go north of 50 degrees, I will bare my pale old-man legs and peddle throughout the area. Now that I am much further south than is typical and the temperatures are rarely below 70 I have few excuses not to be on my wheels. […]
>For the second consecutive winter, we have migrated to the Florida Keys to better survive the nasty weather you often find in New England this time of year. This winter, however, we were unsure if our roost would be ready as Hurricane Irma’s aftermath rendered many homes and businesses in the Keys ruined. Luckily our […]
Though I set an alarm for 5:45 am, Juana and I rise before it goes off in anticipation of a rare event: the confluence of two full moons a month (blue), close proximity to Earth (super), and a full lunar eclipse. Looking out our kitchen window in the Florida Keys while the coffee brews, the […]
The old Bing Crosby song, “White Christmas,” can make you pine for a lovely covering of snow on the ground as one wakes to greet the morning of the 25th. And today is one of the rare days when our celestial requests have been answered with a 4-5 inch fall overnight covering the dingy ground […]
Even before I scanned the weather forecast, you could tell that it was going to snow. A clear solitude outside heralded its approach. The last of the oak leaves have dropped giving me the opportunity for one last rake. The Japanese maples were still stubbornly holding on to their cover as their terminal buds had […]
All frosts are not created equal. The first often arrives in October as a sprinkling of powered sugar on the roof of my house and pickup truck. Unlike that sweet confection, it disappears with first light and is easy to miss if one is late to wake or not attentive. There are a few other […]
By the middle of Fall, most of the yard work is done. A cold spell or two has crushed the hostas wilting their leaves in a prelude to a collapsed desiccated skeleton. The golden rod has gone gray and the remains of astilbe stalks poke through the accumulating leaf litter. Most of the tree leaves […]
Labor Day is unofficially called the last day of Summer as children return to school and the equinox approaches. This year, however, it is hard to see something ending that for many practical purposes never seemed to start. With the exception of a few humid and hot days, Summer never got off the ground. The […]
Different seasons stimulate different senses. The Spring shocks the sight into recognizing colors that could only be imaged a few months prior. Early May is the apex of that stimulation with the simultaneous flowering of trees, shrubs and bushes. We get some teasers of color in early Spring with different colored crocuses or the blue […]
May is the first month when the garden begins to become more reliable for food. There have been years where the cold frame has provided early March greens, and sometimes dormant carrots and leeks that have been left in the soil after last Fall’s harvest can be pulled as a unfrozen treat. But newly grown […]