January 2012
9 posts
Adventures in Botany
Warning: may induce boredom for those not botanically inclined.
I’ve been shopping for garden-worthy native plants again. I usually start my search by using local wildflower plant guides, and then search the internets to see if something that sounds amazing is available commercially.
Recently, I was drawn to our native wood Anemones. They are diminutive things, nothing like their monster...
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“Men build stately before they build finely….Anyone can build a house, but...”
– Frank Cabot, 1925–2011
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December 2011
9 posts
Monthly Garden Report for December
Things are looking desperate. We’ve had no snow and no substantial rain all month. Last year at this time, we had a snow pack that stood at 150% of normal. Right now we have less than 50%. The weathermen say not to panic, as we get the bulk of our snowfall in January and February. Yet, they do concede that they are worried by the weather pattern. This is the driest December we’ve...
Boxed In
E: I want to give you and Mommy something for Christmas.
Dad: How about kids who don't fight and a nice, peaceful Christmas?
E: No! Something I can put in a box.
Dad: Oh well. Wishful thinking.
Mom: We could put you and your brothers in a box.
E: Aaaah! You can't put kids in a box!
Mom: Sure you can. It just has to big a really big box. Besides, you're already in a box.
Dad: That's true. The house you live in is just one big box.
E: Then you and Mommy are in a box too!
Dad: Actually, your Mom spends most of her time working and thinking outside of the box.
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A Confession of an Eco-jerk; A Cautionary Tale
A couple of weeks ago, my daughter arrived home from school, rushing in to warn me that people were out raking up my leaves. Riding my ecological high-horse, I stomped outside and confronted a middle-aged woman and a 12-year-old boy. I asked them pointedly if they were raking up the leaves. With deer-in-headlight eyes they sheepishly said they were doing a service project. Annoyed at their...
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“Gardening is such a highly individual area that it is irresistible to...”
– Francis H. Cabot, Jr. 1925-2011.
Monthly Garden Report for November
I’ve been philosophical about the garden, lately. There’s not much else I can do with it.
I hope the 40 foot silver maple—which my arborist has dubbed the most healthy-looking silver maple in the state—will recover from its patio trauma with the help of a Cambistat injection to stimulate root growth. But what if it goes? I don’t like to look on every element of the garden with...
November 2011
12 posts
WatchAn enticement for ladyslipper orchids. The time to order them is almost past, and many suppliers are sold out, despite their cost. But they are worth every penny.
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“Ever the renegade, “we try to garden with no dogmas,” Oudolf said in a lecture...”
– (via pietoudolf)
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Gorgeous compost bill/wall/creation →
rosiesrecords:
Gorgeous compost bill/wall/creation by Groves Raines architects.
”conceived as an extension to the garden at inverleith terrace, edinburgh (a detached house remodelled by GRA in 2003) the organic form embraces a 5 tonne boulder and provides a point of…
Gardening While Pregnant
The garden is work in any season of life, but especially when you’re pregnant. As I’m going through my third pregnancy in my current garden, I’ve a decent amount of perspective on the subject. It can be tempting to just let things go for the growing year, but I’ve found that gardening can be a welcome distraction to all the changes pulling at you, even an indulgence. In...
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Monthly Garden Report for October
For most people across the U.S., winter seems fast approaching. Gratefully, I’ve not had snow here yet. With October done, almost everything is in the ground. I finally got around to transplanting or dividing what I call my “prolifics,” a class of plant that you can grow with no effort at all but that you can’t seem to get rid of when you don’t want it anymore....
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October 2011
19 posts
Don't Neglect the Mallows
Steve Hegji with his wildflower photographs has been a long enough contributor to the blog that it was high time that we had a whole guest post from him—
Malva neglecta. Photo credit Steve Hegji.
Sometime during each work day I try to get out and take a walk along the Jordan River Parkway. This week I noticed that a common weed known as Cheeses (Malva neglecta) was still in bloom. If you’ve...
The Best Treehouse Ever
Last year we went to San Diego about this time for a family wedding. We enjoyed it so much that we went down again this year. We rented a condo in Del Mar to make the most of the beach and took the kiddies to Legoland (which is a much better option than Disneyland if you have three children under 8). But one unexpected gem was found at the San Diego Botanic Gardens in the Hamilton Children’s...
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How To Make Chard Delicious
Sometimes a vegetable is so pretty, it deserves to be eaten.
My strategy for making chard delicious is really a strategy for making any vegetable delicious: you make it savory or sweet and add butter. If I find a vegetable to truly unpalatable, it usually requires making it a combination of both. So, I adapted this recipe from the former Gourmet Magazine—may it rest in peace—a bit to make it...
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Narcissus with a Self-Image Problem
7 year-old: Is this a bulb?
Me: Yes. It's a daffodil bulb.
7 year-old: You mean this will grow into a daffodil?
Me: Yes. It will be the same as the daffodils that grew by the sandbox. The ones that smelled nice. [N. 'Sweet Love']
7 year-old: Oooh. I remember those. Those were pretty. The smelled really nice right before they died. What are [sic] this gray stuff?
Me: Those are its roots. They're just dried up a bit.
7 year-old: Is it dead?
Me: No, it's just sleeping. I'll plant it in the ground and this winter; it'll get cold and wet and be all ready to wake up and flower next spring.
7 year-old: Oh. So it'll get wet and wake up. Won't it be too cold outside?
Me: No, it'll be fine. See that brown papery stuff? That'll keep it warm and cozy till spring.
7 year-old: That's what that is! I thought it was a bag.
Me: A bag?
7 year-old: Yeah. Since it looked all dead and gross I thought it wore a bag to cover its head up until the daffodil came out.
Plus One
It wasn’t that long ago it seems that I said I was too busy to participate in any other social networking beyond this blog and Twitter, specifically giving a pass to Facebook. And now look, I’ve gone and signed up for Google+.
I don’t feel hypocritical about the move, though. One briefly mentioned but major reason for avoiding Facebook is that I like to keep my private life...
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Give In To Terrariums
For the most part, I try to resist getting more stuff. There are exceptions; plants, of course, Apple products, and books, mostly. I think my attitude of anti-hoarding comes from cleaning out homes of deceased relatives. After tossing out piles of Christmas tins, National Geographic magazines, and Avon gift soaps, I decided that less is definitely more. I would rather own a few useful,...
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“Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the...”
– Ernest Hemingway. From his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1954.
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“My garden is an extension of me, of the things that please me. Forced for most...”
– The Curious Gardener, Anna Pavord. Bloomsbury, 2010. p. 283. It’s a gorgeous and well made book and deserves to be in every library, garden-themed or not.
September 2011
17 posts
Monthly Garden Report for September
September can’t be over. It just can’t be. I’m not ready. I’ve been so preoccupied with putting up food in the kitchen that I’ve had to ignore the outside. I’ve been avoiding the perennial beds entirely. Despite the fall flowers, I’ll only see weeds that need immediate pulling and be reminded of plants I never got around to transplanting. Maybe in a week.
...