flowers

I had long considered flowers from a florist to be a frivolous expense. You couldn't plant them, and had nothing to show for it when they finally shriveled up and died. Spend the same amount on groceries, and at least you've fed your family, even if it still seems like you've got nothing to show [...]

Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities!: Notes from a Gloucester Garden by Kim Smith made me aware of my garden book prejudices: What kind of title is that? You just don't start a title with "oh" and end it with an exclamation point! And then I read the back cover: "Drawn by the tender magic of [...]

I confess, when I first heard 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants by Tracy DiSabato-Aust was coming out, I was dismayed. I have the first edition of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, which was incredibly satisfying because it was based on her own close observation and methodical experimentation. At the time it was published, it was very [...]

The subtitle of Grow Organic: Over 250 Tips and Ideas for Growing Flowers, Veggies, Lawns and More by Doug Oster and Jessica Walliser reads "for first-timers and old-timers alike," but I think it excels at helping veteran gardeners who have been using chemical fertilizers and pesticides to make the transition to an organic approach. Friendly [...]

A Good Book for Beginners When I was in high school, I wanted to know more about gardening than I was able to learn. My gardening grandmother lived hundreds of miles away. The library had a set of Time-Life books on gardening that made me feel I needed a greenhouse, or at least a potting [...]

Over twenty years ago I gave birth to my third child. Although at first he appeared fine, he developed problems and within hours was whisked across town to the nearest neonatal intensive care facility. We had just moved to a new neighborhood and were without most of the social connections that help so much at [...]