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Latest Garden Article for Midtown Magazine

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Six Seasons and a Row of Ducks

Six Seasons and a Row of Ducks

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I'm Baaaaack

I’m Baaaaack

Hi friends. I feel like I need to reintroduce myself. It has been a while since I’ve made an appearance here in Blogland. I think I got burned out a bit by writing, especially writing for money and publication. And well, let’s just be honest, the last year (or past several) has been beyond exhausting and stressful. Some of us more sensitive folks (HSP) weather the storms a little differently and…

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Resting Continued...

Resting Continued…

I’m still resting and keeping a slower pace for the winter, but wanted to check in on this last day of January with a vignette of my month.  The first hellebore to bloom in my garden, front door squirrel drey, squirrel at his back door, what a cute face!, hawk (x3) with the most amazing feathers, a kitty face I love waking up to, watercolor play…And a belated neighborhood partridge in a pear…

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In Winter, We Rest

In Winter, We Rest

White-Eyes In winter     all the singing is in          the tops of the trees              where the wind-bird   with its white eyes     shoves and pushes          among the branches.              Like any of us   he wants to go to sleep,     but he’s restless—          he has an idea,              and slowly it unfolds   from under his beating wings     as long as he stays awake. But his big,…

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Nesting

Well, there goes another month. November is flying out the same way it flew in–quickly. The door is opened to December and time shows no signs of stopping. Which, I’ll happily point out, is a good thing! Although some slowing might be nice. Here in the US we are bracing for another wave of Covid19. And although I’m sick of it all already, as I presume many of you are, it’s here and happening. In a…

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Ghost Pipes (Happy Halloween! 👻)

Ghost Pipes (Happy Halloween! 👻)

BOO! Did I scare you? If I didn’t, I bet these Ghost Pipes just might. Also known as Corpse Plant, Monotropa uniflora is always a treat to find. I usually spot a few when walking through Umstead State Park. But this year, large colonies of these fascinating flowers were growing under a maple tree in my garden. Yes, I said flowers! Most people think they’re a fungus, and they do look a little…

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Native Plants for a Healthy (and Beautiful!) Home Garden Ecosystem

Native Plants for a Healthy (and Beautiful!) Home Garden Ecosystem: Read My Latest Garden Guru Column for Seasons Style & Design Magazine

Read about the importance and beauty of native plants in my latest Garden Guru column for Seasons Style & Design Magazine.  Click here: https://seasonsmagazinenc.com/the-garden-guru-6/

Excerpt: Why include native plants in the home garden? Native plants are an important part of a healthy ecosystem, but can they also be beautiful additions to our landscapes? “Absolutely,” says Steve Windham,…

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Sunflowers and the Pursuit of Health and Happiness

Sunflowers and the Pursuit of Health and Happiness

“Come with me to visit the sunflowers… each of them, though it stands in a crowd of many, like a separate universe, is lonely, the long work of turning their lives into a celebration is not easy.” ~Mary Oliver

A quick hello! These photos were taken at North Carolina Museum of Art’s Park (Raleigh) last Sunday. Just walking among the fields of sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, and grasses increased my…

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Ah, here we are in our 47th year of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Ok, I exaggerate. But, man, doesn’t it feel like this thing has lasted forever? The experts on social media say next up is Godzilla or maybe flying sharks. I say whatever, and nothing would surprise me at this point. I’m still spending a lot of time in my garden (mostly mornings) even though it’s hellishly hot here in North Carolina. I keep thinking once we get through July, then get through August, then get through half of September, THEN it will cool down a tiny bit. It’s often hot through half of October, too, but I’m an optimist so I’m going with September!

Chuck had total knee replacement Friday and so we’ve been learning to deal with the ins and outs of that. He’s been pretty lucky, not too much pain. He got behind on his pain meds yesterday–which EVERYONE suggested he not do. But it’s so hard when you’re feeling good to remember why you’re feeling good–the pain meds. Physical therapy started right away at the outpatient surgical center and has continued in-home. So, in addition to everything else going on in the world, we’ve dealt with two surgeries. My shoulder is healing nicely after a setback earlier at week 8. Now to get Chuck on the mend. He is planning on having the right knee replaced in November, so he has to work hard on getting through this one. 

Two of the four kitties have had ongoing health issues. At times, serious. They are growing older, so maybe that’s to be expected. Wait! Those surgeries Chuck and I had must mean that we, too, are getting ol…nah. Can’t be.

I’ve had a garden companion since late March. It’s a strange relationship, one that might seem incompatible at first glance. But somehow we make it work. We have the same taste in plants. My favorite $40 anemonella is also her favorite. My favorite antique roses are also her favorite roses. I love blue cardinal flower and so does she. She prefers to eat all of my favorite plants and I, strange gardener that I am, allow it. Meet Flora Leonora, my gardening assistant. In truth, early on she ate a lot of plants, but now she hardly touches anything but a large patch of weedy grass in the back. 

First pic is from early April. The second pic was last week after squirrels knocked over a bird feeder. Flora Leonora was much appreciative.

A bit of writing news. I have an essay in this anthology, TAF Stays Home: 29 Freelancers Writing. I wrote about the early days of the pandemic, how I spent my time, and what was going on in my garden (and my heart and head). TAF stands for Triangle Association of Freelancers, a professional writers’ association in the Triangle region of North Carolina.

The anthology is available from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/TAF-Stays-Home-freelancers-writing/dp/B08BWHQ7FS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=taf+stays+home&qid=1594052341&s=books&sr=1-1

Speaking of books, I read Linda Hogan’s book ‘Dwellings’ for a virtual book club. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It instantly became one of my all-time favorites and a book I know I’ll keep by my recliner for a long time. Almost every sentence is underlined and asterisked. You see Penny is modeling it in the kitty photo collage above.

Not too much else going on. I hope everyone is making it through ok. I know many are back to pre-quarantine days. Let me know how you’re doing where you are. And…WATCH OUT for those flying sharks!

  What’s Next? Godzilla? Flying Sharks? Ah, here we are in our 47th year of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Ok, I exaggerate. But, man, doesn't it feel like this thing has lasted forever?

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Need a break from the news? Come with me! I’m going to take you on a tour of my late spring/early summer garden. Blooms, foliage, and no words (no pressure to even comment! Full permission to just enjoy). Nothing to do but feast your eyes on blossom and leaf, rest your spirit, and calm your overwhelmed senses. My garden is a haven of peace during this unsettled time. I hope you feel peaceful here, too. To borrow from Wordsworth: The world is too much with us. And to Wordsworth, I reply: Amen, William. And how!

All photos taken by me in my North Carolina garden May/June 2020–the year of WTF.

Hey, also: It’s National Pollinator Week. Show some pollinator love every day–we need them!

    The World Is Too Much with Us Need a break from the news? Come with me! I'm going to take you on a tour of my late spring/early summer garden.

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Letting Go I’ve been letting go lately. This pause-button pandemic has given me space and time to re-envision a different way my life could be.

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The Earth Laughs...

The Earth Laughs…

I woke up this Earth Day morning thinking about a poem that is often quoted, but only part of one line: “The Earth laughs in flowers.” I remembered that phrase comes from a longer piece, Hamatreya,  by Ralph Waldo Emerson that tells more about why the earth is laughing in flowers. There’s more to the story, or poem. You can read Hamatreya in entirety at the link above, but I’m adding part of it…

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On Life's Uncertainty: Embracing Groundlessness

On Life’s Uncertainty: Embracing Groundlessness

This is a reblog of a post that I wrote in 2016. It is fitting for the times we are experiencing: Life in the Time of Covid-19. Our time here in this strange space will change us. Let it change us for the better. Stay well, friends.

I spend a fair amount of time thinking about the fragility of life. Probably more than I should. I’m not morbid, I’m curious; perhaps I’m a bit anxious, as well. Life…

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We are living in strange times. What used to be up, feels down. What was once down, feels up. Days go by as we wonder which day of the week we are moving through. How did we ever keep up with our lives before this? And why did things like labels, dates, and times really matter so much? We laugh and poke fun at our humanness. We fret. We grow angry. We grieve. We share stories. And then we get back to the business at hand. 

Self-distancing, quarantine, flatten the curve, isolation: words that were once remote or considered jargon are very close and used more than I ever thought I would say or hear them. But here we are.

Everyone is dealing with covid-19 in their own ways. My days haven’t changed too much. I work from home. As a writer, income is always insecure and uncertain. And I rarely move beyond my garden or neighborhood. I’m a homebody. I’m saddened by the folks whose lives have changed drastically, financially, physically, and permanently in many different ways. And I know that at any time, my life could be upended, as well. That’s nothing new, either. I have gone through life waiting for the next shoe to drop, the next devastating phone call, impending doom. It doesn’t make me pessimistic, on the contrary, it makes me wildly hopeful and full of gratitude for everything I have right now.

It seems trite to write about my writer’s residency Feb-March 5. So, I won’t. Or can’t right now. Matter-of-fact, these words I sit and write today are the first real words I’ve written since I left the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. The words are in my head and don’t seem to want to appear on paper. Yet. But soon, I tell myself. Be gentle, I tell myself.

Until then, hope sustains me.

Last night I walked the greenways by my house with my husband. The first butterfly of the season, an Easter Tiger Swallowtail, flew over our heads and landed right beside me on a shrub. Hope. Bluebirds are nesting in the bluebird house in my garden. Hope. The earth is bursting forth in flowers and greenery. Hope. Squirrels still scamper and excavate winter’s acorns. Hope. Good people everywhere are coming together to be part of the solution. Hope. Brave nurses and doctors. Hope. Everyone who is making the best of a difficult situation. Hope. 

I just wrote a few words when I didn’t think writing was possible. Hope.

I am also finding hope in poetry, like this relevant poem by Ada Limón.

Instructions on Not Giving Up More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees that really gets to me. When all the shock of white and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath, the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin growing over whatever winter did to us, a return to the strange idea of continuous living despite the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Fine then, I’ll take it, the tree seems to say, a new slick leaf unfurling like a fist to an open palm, I’ll take it all. Copyright © 2017 by Ada Limón.

Listen to the poet speak the poem on Poets.org

Where are you finding hope?

                                                   A few recent pics of what brings me hope.

Your posts, photos, and words also bring me hope. Thank you. Be well. Stay safe. And may all beings be happy, healthy, safe, and free of suffering.

Hope We are living in strange times. What used to be up, feels down. What was once down, feels up.

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 Hi friends!

I have some news to share. Some of you Twitterers already know, so bear with me. Last year I applied for a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. I leave this week for an 8-day stay. I’ve been really excited as several writing friends have told me what a magical space it is. This is my first residency, so I’m not sure what to expect. Which is good! I don’t want to plan everything down to the last little detail. I want to follow Mary Oliver’s wisdom and: “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” I am inviting serendipity to ride along with me.

My writing sister-friend, Carol, has shared practical tips based on her time at VCCA (bring a travel coffee maker; take advantage of the readings, studio openings; let this time be whatever you need it to be). Do you have anything to share about writing fellowships (positive only for right now!)? Please do. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share when I return, and will be happy to answer any questions if anyone’s interested in applying during the next application period.

If you want to learn more about VCCA, click HERE.

I will have limited internet access while I’m away, and will be mostly unplugged. I’m accepting all good vibes if you want to send them along. Thank you. PS. I’m getting closer to grabbing that next swinging bar on the trapeze 😉 Your wise comments on my last post were so encouraging and inspiring. I thought about each of them. My blogging friends are a font of wisdom. ❤ Thank you all. 

That’s pretty much it except some sprinter (spring? Winter? Who the hell knows anymore?) flowers from my garden. Will reconnect when I arrive back home. 

Going Away (but not for good…) Hi friends! I have some news to share. Some of you Twitterers already know, so bear with me.

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The Writing Life; OR: Where Do I Go From Here?

The Writing Life; OR: Where Do I Go From Here?

Happy New Year! It’s January so I can still say that, right?

Last year I wrote about New Year’s Eve and Day being my favorite holidays and some of the things that I do to prepare for a brand new year. (Read about that here.)  This year, I am solely focusing on my writing and in what direction I want it to go. Or, more apt, in what direction will I take it? 

I have a lot of ideas, aka too many…