A thing the gardening life teaches you is that you’re never too old to learn. Each new climate zone I’ve gardened in has been an upward curve on the horticulture and landscape grid – and kept my synapses snapping. Figuring out how my first greenhouse worked in balmy Norfolk, England, prepared me for coping with […]
I don’t know about you, but recently I have been feeling befuddled, not knowing what to turn to next to keep from sinking into the well of ennui. I sure do miss knocking around with friends and the freedom for a bit of rack-slapping-at-will, because you never know what sort of bargains you’ll find unless […]
Hasn’t this been a heck of a year? In my own far-off suburban corner of Colorado it hasn’t rained properly in many months. That didn’t prevent me from planting six resilient trees, a clutch of stalwart native shrubs and some 200 bulbs that seem to adore being parched. Hope springs eternal, or so it is […]
‘Laxton’s Orange Pippin’, ‘Worcester Pearmain’, ‘Arthur Turner’, ‘Oxheart’ are just a few of the named antique apple varieties that grew in my English garden. A neighbor gave the young trees to me when we arrived in the village; he’d grafted them from his own orchard trees, ones planted by his father when he returned to […]
A few years ago it was all about Millennials and how they travel to collect experiences, selecting destinations because of the stories they can later tell, and prefer to acquire skills – like gardening — through hands-on learning. Like that’s something new? But if that’s the case, I’ve been a Millennial all my adult (Boomer) […]
With all the flak incoming on a daily basis, the best way to survive is find a quiet corner in which to sit (preferably in a Hartley Botanic glasshouse) and draw deep, calming breaths…or sip a bracing adult beverage…or both. Either helps to level the course and keep one’s inner compass pointing true to hopes […]
“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” but do pay attention to it. In this time of pandemic, when even our commonest gestures must be made with care, my focus has been put into sharp detail on the treasure to be found in the smallest package. I begin with my grandson, turning seven months as I write […]
There was a time when no well-appointed garden was complete without greenhouse, fountain, a tastefully draped sculpture, a gazebo, and a bee bole. A what? A bee bole was a niche in a garden wall where the family bee skep overwintered. A what? A bee skep was a beehive made from straw bundles tied together […]
This Spring of self-isolation has been, for many people, myself included, unnervingly productive. So many missions accomplished: like sorting through old photo albums and hundreds of 35mm slides and waking memories of my first encounter with Hartley Botanic and their sturdy greenhouses. I recall how charmed I was by their display at the Chelsea Flower […]
Whatever the outcome of this current deadly disruption, corona virus has certainly focused many minds on the meaning of life–and on getting stuff done. Without the opportunity to procrastinate, tasks and projects in the Clarke household are being completed in record time; like clearing up the greenhouse, sorting the seed from the dust, the compost […]
What is a greenhouse to you: a hive of activity, or maybe a science lab? A place to grow strange and exotic plants, or an ER for houseplants that you really truly hope will revive in the moist humid enclosure where sunlight is abundant? And how about conservatory? Does that word conjure warm, quiet corners […]
Haven’t you always made a practice of sharing your plants with friends or rooted extra cuttings to sell in support of your favorite organization? My windowsill cum greenhouse seems to always have a cutting or five on the go. And it’s how I’ve obtained “something special” from friends throughout my gardening life—especially houseplants. Books have […]
