Sometimes it’s the little things that make us happy. I asked my friend Josh for a snowman. A silly request from someone who has never lived in snow. So today I received this photo of my snowman as requested. It’s an adorable snowman,  but it really isn’t it cuteness that makes me happy. The snowman [...]

Sometimes one good bloom is all you need. I could add the pictures of the chives that are blooming or the irises whose blooms were pummeled by the recent rains, but this monkey flower is all I need to make me happy on this cold December morning. A recent addition picked up at a local [...]

Paperwhites make lovely, inexpensive gifts during the holiday season. They can be that perfect hostess gift or coworker gift. Although most gardeners would be thrilled with just a bag of bulbs, sometimes you want to dress them up a bit. One of my favorite ways is to preplant them in a decorated terra cotta pot. [...]

I must admit that the more I see the work of Piet Oudolf, the more I love it. The simulated meadows of flowing grasses and waves of colorful perennials which look like nature only better. His designs remind me of the “just rolled out of bed” woman’s hairstyle that was popular a several years back. [...]

Have you ever marveled at botanical illustrations and dreamed of someday adorning your gardening  journal with your own illustrations? Back in 1991 I had such a thought. Several of the books in my collection are there merely because of their detailed watercolor or pen and ink illustrations. How artists capture the essence and fine details [...]

Talk about a classic.  Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbshas held a position on my bookshelf for over 20 years and I still find a reason to dust it off at the beginning of each gardening season. This book contains all the herbs you know and a few you probably don’t. Take Wahoo, Euonymus atropurpurea, which [...]

I started composting a couple of years ago with moderate success. This was probably due to the fact that I was a lazy composter. Let’s face it, if you throw garden waste into a pile it will eventually rot. So I would toss all my clippings in a pile and then wait almost a year [...]

Another paperback to find a home on my shelf is Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System. Published in 1982 by Mary Appelhoff. If you have been pondering the idea of creating your own worm bin, this book will tell you everything you need to know in a [...]

Gardener’s hands take a lot of abuse. And if you are a gardener like me who likes to forgo gloves, those fingers can feel like sandpaper. One of my favorite ways to combat this problem has always been a sugar scrub. The sugar helps exfoliate all the rough skin and the carrier oil helps lock [...]