Grand Garden Show
Someone pinch me.
No really.
I must be dreaming because I am going to Mackinaw Island in August. Initially I was not familiar with the place and referred to it as Mackinack Island, sounds like Mackinawe Island. After doing a bit of research I learned it was an island in Michigan and that cars were not allowed. To get around you had to bike or take a horse-drawn carriage. Right away I was intrigued. So many times I wish I could go back in time to a gentler type of world – this sounded like the place.
Then I found out that Mackinac Island had some breathtaking gardens.
Sign me up.
Read More»Fireflies
We are blessed to own a family home on an island in Maine. It is an old sea captain’s house that belonged to a great great great member of the family and has been lovingly passed down to its current caretakers. It’s a place I go to escape. To turn back the clock. To breathe deeply. I have a very vivid memory of a time a few years back when we had all headed in from the front porch as it got dark to play games or watch TV. Suddenly my daughter groaned “I left my camera on the front porch”. The groan was due to the fact that is gets dark in Maine. Really dark. So dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face dark. There are no street lights and we have no outside lights at the front of the house.
We decided we would go and retrieve the camera together. What greeted us when we stepped onto the porch was amazing. Bursts of lights and flashes, as if from a hundred different cameras, made me feel like a superstar on the Red Carpet. I think we both gasped and immediately shouted to those inside to “get out here” or something like that. The field across the dirt road was filled with fireflies and we watched their show for what seemed like hours.
Read More»It’s Tick Season
Ahhh…summer! I look out at the green fields, the trees with their leaves rustling in the breeze and the path that leads through the woods and I have one thought: ticks. When I was younger my siblings and I spent all day playing outdoors yet I do not remember any of us getting bitten by a tick. I have been bitten at least three times in the last few years. I am not sure why the increase in tick activity but I resent the fact that they are limiting mine.
Read More»New Echinaceas
Who doesn’t love purple coneflowers? Echinacea, whose name comes from the Greek word for Hedgehog or sea urchin due to its spiny seed head, is a beautiful perennial that is loved by bees and other pollinators.As a beekeeper I always try to include them in any garden design. Many of us have the old favorites ‘Magnus’ or ‘White Swan’ but recently I have come across some that are a bit less well-known that I can’t wait to try.
Read More»Hosta for Dinner
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