I SEE PERPETUAL, DEEP LAUGHTER IN GOURDS. For that reason, all are welcome at my place; in fact, one moved in with me a few winters ago and hasn’t budged since. Meet ‘Bule’ (pronounced boo-lay). With seed-catalog season imminent, it seems like a good time for introductions to such great (if oddball) botanical companions. Ready to get acquainted? [Read more...]
doodle by andre: hiccup! (excuse me.)
SHE SERVED TURKEY AT SAID GARDEN PARTY. You ate too much. You drank too much. And now? Now you are probably watching football….oh, dear. Happy Thanksgiving from me and Andre Jordan (his first in America). Enjoy. (But try not to go face-down in the flower beds. Bad form.)
a way to garden has a baby sister (or 3)
NOT CONTENT TO SIT STILL OR TO HAVE JUST ONE SISTER, we have given birth to another. Blog, that is, and specifically a blog network called The Sister Project. Want to meet my real sister, and some new ones? [Read more...]
bowiea awakens when all else sleeps
SOME PLANT ARE JUST CONTRARIANS. Bowiea volubilis, the so-called climbing onion, is one such creature, waking up when everybody’s asleep, even if you haven’t paid any attention in ages. I haven’t watered him for two-plus months, and don’t from the time his “foliage” (if you could call it that) goes yellow in late summer to the time the first snake-y sprig sprouts again around now, as shown. If you weren’t here last winter you won’t recall dear Bowiea, so time for another look at this curiosity of a houseplant. Those dark green stakes, by the way: a makeshift tripod or teepee from recycled metal orchid supports, which I tie together with wire up top. Get to know my Bowiea.
doodle by andre: spatial priorities
RATHER THAN TRY TO GILD THE LILY, why don’t I just leave Andre Jordan’s doodle to speak for itself? To my mind the shed might still be too small and the house too big…but I will shut up now and leave mad enough alone.
the weeping kousa’s new home
IN JUNE I CONFESSED TO AMBIVALENCE about my weeping Cornus kousa, which grows beside where a much larger tree was lost to disease last fall. The odd-shaped little dogwood, raised from a tiny stick, seemed even odder without its former companion: really the sore thumb. Should it stay, or go? I asked. And you answered. It stayed, and then some. Never one to under-do anything, I went a little wild. The damn thing is now not just at home, it’s virtually enshrined. Say hello again to your old friend (up by the red arrow). [Read more...]
doodle by andre: oh yeah, sure. right.
DO YOU THINK I BELIEVE THIS FOR ONE SECOND? After nearly 30 years of fighting (losing?) the good fight, I know the one thing we can count on is that garlic mustard will outlive us. Thanks to Andre for another great doodle, and for making the slide into the low-light time sunnier that we’d have dared hope.
project feeder watch under way
PROJECT FEEDER WATCH, at a mere $15 donation the cheapest ticket to an optimistic view on winter, kicked off its season this week. It’s what it sounds like: you watch your feeders (or in my case I watch my garden loaded with fruits and seed-bearing plants), and count who shows up two short periods each week. I’m in…paid my sign-up fee to get my information kit…and my first count day is Nov. 15. Hope the flock of cedar waxwings who’s been here all week stays till then, or better yet, all winter long, like the unexpected pine grosbeaks (above) did last year. Won’t you ante up and join me?













