Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
Getting back from the Florida Keys was a big shock on the first day with a temperature drop of 80 degrees (more on the travel up later) but within a few days we felt like we were in a Northern Florida zip code as it was sunny and pushing 60 degrees. Unlike prior years, the […]
In December, most of the vegetable beds are empty. The beds of strawberries and garlic have a few spots of green emerging from their strawed blanket. The asparagus and rhubarb have been cut to the ground and manured for next Spring. The early snow is stubborn stunting any harvest attempt. At that time of year […]
November is often when we get the first snow of the season. It arrives in different ways, sometimes as a simple flurry other times as an unanticipated storm that halts fall clean ups for the rest of the year. Today’s first snow was between these extremes as it was an unexpected fall with a few […]
As I mentioned in a past post, there has been a dearth of woolly bear caterpillars in our yard. Both dedicated and casual searches have been in vain. We were ready to give it up for the season when Juana spotted a tiny creature munching on a chrysanthemum that was planted in a flower box […]
Recently I helped my friend Eric and sister-in-law Rosana move their possessions into a new summer rental for the next year. They have always been very generous to Juana and me inviting us to their house on Fire Island. As a gardener, the visits have forced me to return to my Long Island roots of […]
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 […]
Late September is often when it is time to light the first fire of the season. A cold front swoops down from the North, temporally bringing an early-season chill that needs to be removed first thing in the morning. Letting the dog out, a cold air fills your lungs with little piercing needles telling you […]
The first truly hot day of summer often happens in July and that is today. In New England we get heat sometimes in May or June but never with the oppressing humidity that defines an uncomfortable and sticky day. Most of us notice little as the air conditioned dwellings and cars make us immune to […]
The last few months in the garden have been a blur. It was a mild winter but we experienced the coldest day ever at -16 degrees. The quinces flowered around Xmas, went dormant, budded again in March, went dormant and are now attempting to make good on earlier promises. The daffodils shot up early creating […]
The part of winter that I dislike the most is the coldest day. In either January or February it arrives causing the Mercury to plunge to a yearly low, though we may not know it at the time. In Connecticut, the low is often around 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Some years it can be in the […]