Kathy Purdy

I Bought A Houseplant

by Kathy Purdy December 17, 2013

There’s nothing extraordinary about buying a houseplant, except I just got done whining about how I’m sick of caring for houseplants. Go ahead, call me a hypocrite; I’ll wait.

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Tired of Houseplants!: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day December 2013

by Kathy Purdy December 15, 2013

I have nothing blooming for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Oops. I take that back. My African violet is blooming. It puts out flushes of bloom, despite the fact that I don’t water it very consistently. I just happened to luck out this month.

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Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life: Book Review

by Kathy Purdy December 10, 2013

Count me among the legion of Beatrix Potter’s fans. I love the illustrations in her children’s books, and just as much–perhaps more–I love the language of those stories. It pleased my childish ear–and still does today–that the “friendly sparrows,” overhearing Peter’s sobs, “implored him to exert himself.” And that Mr. McGregor “came up with a […]

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Mentors in the Garden of Life: Book Review

by Kathy Purdy December 6, 2013

Gardening teaches you about life, it’s often been said, and Colleen Plimpton, in Mentors in the Garden of Life, makes this connection explicit. Each essay in her memoir pairs an influential person in her life with a plant. I always tried to guess how the plant and the person were tied together, and I was […]

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The Roses at the End of the Road: Book Review

by Kathy Purdy November 29, 2013

This is Pat Leuchtman. You may know her as the garden blogger Commonweeder. I first met Pat at a garden blogger’s fling and chatted with her then and at other garden blogger gatherings. I thought she was a cheerful, conventional New Englander. When I started reading her book, The Roses at the End of the […]

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A Better Flannel Shirt for Active People: Review

by Kathy Purdy November 21, 2013

Flannel shirts have been around for ages, but have you ever tried to do stuff in one? Ever try to reach for that last weed without stepping in the bed, and feel your flannel shirt holding you back? Ever string up Christmas lights over your head and feel a draft up your back as your […]

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How to Pull Your Potted Plants Through the Winter

by Kathy Purdy November 17, 2013

It happens to all of us. At least, it happens to me and a lot of other gardeners I know. Winter is right around the corner and you have all these plants in pots that you were sure you were going to have time to plant during the growing season. And now the growing season […]

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8 Plants That Look Good After Bitter Cold: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day November 2013

by Kathy Purdy November 15, 2013

After a mild start to November, we have recently had snow and bitter cold*–down to 15F(-9C) one night and in the low 20s for several others. You would think there would not be any plant worth looking at after that, and you would be mostly right. However, if one looks carefully, there are still some […]

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Collecting Poppy Seeds: Fall Gardening Chores

by Kathy Purdy November 10, 2013

Collecting seeds is an optional fall chore for me. Most of the time I depend on the plants’ own willingness to disperse seeds, or the availability of the seed from seed companies. But every so often I grow a plant and I am not sure I will be able to buy more seed, or I […]

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The Cabin Fever Bed: Part 2

by Kathy Purdy November 2, 2013

In my previous post, I described my idea of a cabin fever bed as a way to enjoy at least a part of the garden from indoors, when the weather is too miserable to be outside. One of the goals of such a bed is to grow plants that provide interest as far into winter […]

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