book cover

June 30, 2008

our 3-month blog-aversary!

Filed Under etcetera | 18 Comments

OUR THIRD MONTH IN (MONKEY) BUSINESS over here has been a big one, as you doubtless know. The New York Times has honored us, and then, as if on cue, so has “new” media: our empowering and astonishing blogging platform called WordPress just called us “beautifully designed.” I kind of thought that gardeners would like me when I came back out of my long dormancy, but to have the geeks like me, too…well, I am one pretty happy person today. Thanks to the more than 25,000 of you who have paid a visit (and go tell WordPress thanks, too, won’t you, for all they’ve done to make me possible?). And thanks to everyone else “here” who has helped.

fruit you definitely don’t eat

Filed Under annuals & perennials, hot p(l)ants, trees & shrubs | 6 Comments

FRUITING SEASON is beginning here in the perennial beds and shrubberies at A Way to Garden, but some of the early crop (like the red baneberry, Actaea rubra, above, a native woodlander) isn’t fit for eating…unless you’re a bird or mouse.

Read more

June 28, 2008

declaring it ‘throw in the trowel week’

Filed Under 'woo-woo' (essays and such) | 31 Comments

I SAT NEARLY PARALYZED yesterday, trying to sort a design problem as the day slipped away without inspiration’s arrival. I’ve felt vaguely this way for days, frankly. It wasn’t until this morning that I remembered I always get like this at this time of the season, and that I’ve written about it before. Reading this essay from my archive helped: Read more

June 25, 2008

a cartoon that slays me (by andre jordan)

Filed Under 'woo-woo' (essays and such), well said: quotes | 22 Comments

OK, SO I HAVE A TWISTED SIDE. No big surprise to most of you, probably. And that being the case, I have some off-color favorites in various realms…including illustration. My all-time love is Andre Jordan from the UK (don’t know him personally, but he replied to my cold-call email saying it’s OK I post this).

Read more