I wasn't expecting to discover another secret to achieving happiness in the garden. I had already discovered a lucky thirteen of them over the course of time and figured that was it. Enough already. I have committed the first five secrets to memory and can recite them as almost an "elevator speech". You all know what an elevator speech is, right? It's that little spiel you memorize and are prepared to go through when you have just a minute or so, or the length of time of a short elevator … [Read more...] about Achieving Happiness in the Garden: The Fourteenth Secret
Secrets
Achieving Happiness in Your Garden: The Thirteenth Secret
I love vintage gardening tools. Who doesn't? Just imagine if those old tools could tell us about who used them, about the gardens they helped create, about that one winter they were left outside to fend for themselves. Oh, the adventures, the secrets those old gardening tools have locked up inside of them. What if they could tell us those secrets? What if the handle of one was hollow and inside was a little scroll of paper containing a secret? The tool on the left does indeed have a hollow … [Read more...] about Achieving Happiness in Your Garden: The Thirteenth Secret
Achieving Happiness in Your Garden: The Twelfth Secret
One day, as I came up the front walk to see if I had a package of bulbs waiting by the front door, I saw a little rabbit jump off the first step to the porch and dart off. I think he ended up under a nearby spruce tree because I saw him run under the low hanging limbs of the spruce but didn’t see him scurry out the other side. Oh, well, what could one more rabbit do in my garden at this point in the season? As I stepped up on the first step up to the porch, I noticed that one of the bricks … [Read more...] about Achieving Happiness in Your Garden: The Twelfth Secret
Where do gardening secrets come from?
The little rabbit huddled beneath the big shrub, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for his opportunity. He could not believe that he, the smallest and slowest rabbit at May Dreams Gardens, had been selected to present Carol with the twelfth secret to achieving happiness in her garden. While he waited for the rain to slow down, he checked and double-checked that he had the note with the secret written on it. He hoped, after all this, that once he finally delivered the message, it would be … [Read more...] about Where do gardening secrets come from?
Achieving Happiness in Your Garden: The Eleventh Secret
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Alma Potschke' Before the festivities of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I attempted to post a secret I learned from the praying mantis. The garden fairies boldly intervened, however, and ripped the secret off the post. I would like to thank everyone who posted about their blooms for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. You all provided a great resource for everyone to check out blooms across the country and around the world. I appreciate each and every post, even if I can no … [Read more...] about Achieving Happiness in Your Garden: The Eleventh Secret
We see it all in the Fall, and hear a new secret
We see it all in the Fall. There's a remnant of spring in the new yellow rose buds, a touch of summer in the white rose flower, and a bit of fall in the orange rosehips, all on the same branch of a rose. If you look carefully, you'll see that there is also a praying mantis hanging from the rose, looking at me as I happily snapped pictures for the upcoming Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. What? The praying mantis is trying to tell me something? I wonder. Really? The praying mantis has a … [Read more...] about We see it all in the Fall, and hear a new secret