Living life simply…
I’m not much of one for mums, I’m not sure why, they’ve just never been a flower that I liked all that much (lilies are the same, including daylilies). Instead of mums by the front door for fall color, I have two ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangeas in big terra cotta pots. They start turning in late…
This time of year, as the sun starting rising and setting much lower in the sky, it seems like the sunrises and sunsets are more dramatic and colorful. Almost every night I find myself looking out the back window to see what color the sky is. The sun rises over the coastal mountains out in…
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There’s a recipe for cauliflower soup in Nigel Slater’s ‘Tender’ that we really like, I make a few batches and we freeze it in wide mount pint jars for quick lunches during busy weeks. The recipe for cauliflower cheese from this cookbook is also a favorite…
I grow a lot of salad greens and herbs indoors during the long Maine winters, but I’ve never really attempted to grow flowers for cutting. I’d love to try ranunculus, but I always forgot to order corms. This year I did manage to get some freesia bulbs when I made my spring bulb order. I…
I grow lots of comfrey in the garden, it’s been a favorite of mine for many years. There are several varieties scattered around, I have a lovely variegated type that is planted throughout the ornamental borders, a creeping ground cover type that is in the nursery bed, and a few different types of the regular…
This was my first year growing heliotrope. I started seeds for it years ago and they never germinated. As I was trying to use up lots of old seed this spring, I saw the envelope and decided to try them again. Only five germinated, but they were really old (probably 10 years old) and were…
I don’t typically read a ton during the busy summer season, most often I’m referencing a book about a specific plant or gardening technique. This summer, I managed to squeeze in some reading, most of it revolved around gardening. ‘The Know Maintenance* Perennial Garden’ by Roy Diblik popped up when I was reading about a…
Last night we had our first frost (and freeze as well). When I got up this morning it was 31.4 outside. There was frost on the grass in some places and the tender plants had been zapped. A few weeks ago we had the threat of frost, but we escaped being at the top of…
This summer we ate most of our evening meals in the cedar adirondack chairs on the front lawn. We also enjoyed coffee in the mornings and cocktails out here on the weekends. An added benefit is that they overlook the new pollinator bed, so we were able to watch the butterflies and bees while we…
I’ve always grown flowers, dahlias and many others for cutting, but typically I plant them in the perennial borders to save space in the vegetable garden. When I do this, I am reluctant to cut the flowers because they bring so much to the borders. That’s why this year, I decided to plant the dahlias…