Garden Tales

The Christmas Rose

The Christmas Rose

All is quiet in my patio garden. It is intermission time. The gathering of wooden chairs sits empty. Flower beds are covered with a blessing of sof...
Drying Hydrangeas

Drying Hydrangeas

It is harvest time in my little patio garden. The deep burgundy seed pods of the hyacinth bean vine are plump and ready to be popped open for next ...
The Butterfly Weed

The Butterfly Weed

The definition of a weed is “a plant in the wrong place.” I heartily disagree with the butterfly weed's common name. I love its dramatic presence i...
A Garden Row

A Garden Row

Behind my childhood home stretched a huge field that ended on the banks of a creek. Let’s call it “The Field of Dreams”. During winter my father wo...
A Cutting Garden

A Cutting Garden

What would it be like to create a weekly bouquet of fresh flowers without planting one seed or weeding a garden? Mary, the flower lady, as she is a...
Porches

Porches

Each porch has its own personality. A front porch can be a home’s warm welcome or a place to look out onto the world. A back porch can become a qui...
Finding Your Spot

Finding Your Spot

“Bloom where you are planted.” I love that phrase; but as a gardener, I sometimes find that hope elusive. My first encounter with the corydalis pl...
Angelique Tulips

Angelique Tulips

This spring has been unlike any other. When I planted my favorite tulip bulbs last fall, kneeling trowel in hand to bury them in the chilled earth,...
The Arrival

The Arrival

"If you plant it, will they come?" was echoing in my mind several years ago as I watched an energetic crew hack out a wall of boxwood. I was standi...
Piazza Sketching in Rome

Piazza Sketching in Rome

Finding a place to sit and sketch is a challenge when my canvas folding stool has to remain at home. I was thrilled to discover that Rome’s Piazza ...
My Sketchbooks

My Sketchbooks

A drawer in my studio is overflowing with sketchbooks of various sizes and shapes. Years ago, with the best of intentions, I set myself a goal to s...
Planting the Garden

Planting the Garden

In fall, after a summer of dreaming, the time for decision had arrived. What to plant? I began with the plants I loved to paint — wildflowers, nand...