Spring 2020

In this first year of my eighth decade, I’m trying to focus more on cherishing life, love—and now. Pat, don’t worry about things. Even more, don’t worry about worries. (A big part: refuse to buy into the media’s constant avalanche of anxiety.) Do the work I can where I am. Serve. Love. Be. Worship. Appreciate.   READ MORE

C.J. Worby: C.J. is a firefighter in MN. He once planted a bunch of vegetables behind Station 1—then ended up working at other stations.

Emily-Jane Hills Orford: From North Gower, Ontario: “My garden (imperfect as it is) is as much a creation as my art and my writing.”  READ MORE

I'd like to tell you a story. Yesterday, I went to the Minnesota Bonsai Society auction. There were dozens upon dozens of trees up for bidding in both the live and silent auctions. I bid on a couple of maples in the silent auction, but they ended up going a bit high for my taste.  READ MORE

I looked out over my front yard, about a quarter of an acre of gardens and woodsy areas. It was early Spring and the only thing showing, so far anyway, were my white plastic forks. We had moved from the Ontario suburbs to our country dream home the previous Summer.  READ MORE

Lea was 9 years old when she was adopted into our family. A mere three days after she came to the United States from Cambodia in November, it snowed. Long Island, New York, isn’t known for its snow, so this was quite a surprise dusting for us natives.  READ MORE

When I first moved to my new home in Northern California, the yard was an overgrown, disheveled mess. Weeds sprawled over the landscape like unwelcome squatters. I proceeded to work the land like a small-scale clear-cutter. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but I did it with conviction.  READ MORE

Now that I’m 90 years old, my mind is full of memories—jumbled together from my early childhood to this very morning. Sometimes I can choose what I want to recall; other times a word or sight, even an odor, can bring back something from long ago.   READ MORE

Green has always been the color of youth and renewal: “April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go!” wrote Christopher Morley in 1931. For gardeners, green is what we long for after the seemingly endless days of Winter.  READ MORE

It’s been a long day. Caring for Mom, who has advanced dementia, makes every day a long day; but today has been particularly trying. I know I need to get out for a while to restore my energy so I can continue to patiently and lovingly attend to her physical, spiritual, and emotional needs.  READ MORE

There’s no getting around the fact that these days we’re a divided nation. This year, everybody’s Thanksgiving feast and Christmas dinner almost certainly took a hit from who—politically—supports who and why and who, just as passionately, doesn’t and why not.  READ MORE

When I moved from Hawaii to a small Massachusetts town west of Boston, bonding with nature took on new meaning for me. Springtime in New England arrives right after mud season.   READ MORE

New Year’s Resolution: With no kids left at home to parent, George and I will focus our inexhaustible supply of energy on our garden. Maybe a few extra plants will help fill the emotional void. We decide to raise tomatillos from seed.  READ MORE

When I first moved to Vashon Island in Puget Sound outside of Seattle, WA, I was a hippie. (Yes, that was a while ago. A good while ago.) I wanted to join the “back to the land” movement. I was lucky enough to find a rundown little house and two acres of land right on the beach.  READ MORE

After April rains, I always check the soil in the tiny space between the fence and our driveway. “You can’t see them at first,” I told my husband as I wiped the dirt from my hands. “But they’re coming.”  READ MORE

There are gardeners, and then there are other people. The other people include those who just think they are gardeners, but they are not. While nongardeners may appreciate gardens, they do not have the passion (read: obsession) that we true gardeners do for our precious plot of land.  READ MORE

It’s May, the month of my birth, the heart of what I think of as the season of tender green, before Summer’s heat strips it all away and makes going outside a torture.  READ MORE

It was my intention to take the bottles to the redemption center, meet my friends Laura and Lauren for lunch, and then come home. It took me ten hours. You see, my friends are gardeners—good ones—paid to be ones, actually.  READ MORE

If you want to see a garden from a turn-your-world-upside-down perspective, take a small child with you for a walk through one. I discovered this truth while exploring with my grandchildren on various jaunts, through various seasons, in various gardens.  READ MORE