Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
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 […]
Between the morning dew and the sun, which has dropped below the tree line, my lawn never dries out. After Labor Day it is perpetually slick making it an ideal home for slugs that slither and frogs that hop between clumps of slowly growing greenery. The strands of grass are bent over, rarely able to […]
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 […]
In mid-July when ripe blueberries are ready to be picked, the fireflies emerge at night. At first there are a few whose solitary flashes for attention are in vain in the search for a mate. But when the temperature and humidity is just right, they emerge en masse in an irregular synchrony of a low-powered, […]
A week ago the last of the strawberries were harvested. The pickings were slim and even the chipmunks abandoned the vegetable garden looking for food. As I scoured the patch for the last time, removing the bird netting, I found a few perfect fruits reminding me how fortunate we have been this season with bountiful […]
We were lucky. The weather was great and everything and one showed up when they were supposed to. I often fret too much about working with large corporate volunteer groups at Ann’s Place as I want to ensure that everything occurs without a hitch. So when I did not get an e-mail or phone call […]
When you are away from your garden for even the smallest amount of time, compared to being away from a loved one, days seem like months. The garden I left was not the garden I came back to. As expected the most significant change is in the amount and size of weeds. The garden left […]
When I lived on Long Island, strawberry season was always between Memorial Day and Father’s Day. In that short stretch, when we lived on Long Island, Juana would get me out to the Eastern End farms to pick strawberries for eating and jelly. It was one of her favorite activities now reminding her how she, […]
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 […]