Beer bottles clink and laughter rises under the monumental oak that stands sentinel before the Garden Home Retreat at Moss Mountain Farm. Garden bloggers chatter and whoop, someone picks up a chicken and poses for a picture. A gathering of musicians strum and bow at the periphery. It is a testament to P. Allen's easy-going attitude to entertaining, a well-orchestrated but effortless hospitality I wish I could pull off in just a small way someday. I've wandered away from the party, camera in hand to go back down the garden path to capture the evening light as it washes over... Continue reading

My favorite Facebook quote of the week went something like this... the only blizzard you're supposed to get in May is from Dairy Queen! Maybe if I leave town spring, perhaps summer, will move in for good while I'm gone. It's exciting to be invited back to Garden2Blog with P. Allen Smith and twenty or so of the most engaging garden bloggers in the country. I'm honored. And hopefully the weather's warmer in Little Rock. Garden2Bloggers at the Governor's Mansion P. Allen filming at Garden2Blog It's not a walk in the park, in fact last time I was there we... Continue reading

During our chilly, frozen spring this local frame shop has the right idea. The birds are singing their hearts out yet the forecast for today is 3-6" more slushy snow. While everyone is tired of "Sprinter", the name coined for this fifth season, it's us gardeners that are feeling most on edge, and ok, maybe those kids who can't start school sports cuz their playing fields are covered in SNOW! Ice not quite out on Lake Calhoun What to do when the ground is still frozen hard in mid-April? Well, here's a bit of what I've been doing while digging... Continue reading

I just returned from my morning walk around the lake, ok, halfway around with a stop for a croissant and hot tea at Rustica, and back. What can I say about the weather? Well, here at our house, we call wind that cold, "bite-y". Keep walking and your face goes so numb you don't notice as much. Easter Sunday found the snow melting in the brittle sunshine, leaving the ground a still sodden mess. It's gonna be a while before any planting can commence. So what to do? Throw a giveaway,what else!? The lovely folks at Serenity Health and Home... Continue reading

I know. I was gone for most of the winter. I have no right to complain. But that snow isn't going away for a very long time and there's no big warm-up in sight. Bachman's Garden Center plant bays still snow laden :( This is a time when I agree with the notion that Facebook makes you feel bad. It's not the exotic vacations and high achieving children that are making me green, it's the green that the gardeners south of here (and that's most of them) are seeing in their flower beds and veggie plots. They're killing me. So... Continue reading

Rain. Ice. Sleet. Slush. Snow. Repeat. And we're melting, melting. I hear it in my head in the voice of the bad witch of Oz. March is not a pretty month in Minnesota. I'm back from Savannah just in time to witness the great thaw. How was a kid from Southern California to know she should learn to ice skate, that it would serve her well in the future, for simply getting down the sidewalk? It's slippery out there, be careful! Many garden bloggers are posting pics of their first daffodils, some in the deep south are already harvesting peas,... Continue reading

I can only describe my 81 year old father this way; he's a crusty ex-Marine with a soft, gooey center. At one time he liked landscaping and plants but that is long in the past. Now his yard is simply something he maintains with the help of friends from his church. It is a typical Florida front yard, a scraggly lawn dotted with anthills, a few azaleas, a crape myrtle (that has been crape murdered), a few palms and one live oak tree that provides a kind of constant mulching with its continual leaf-dropping, all surviving on a thin sandy... Continue reading

I guess it was bound to happen. See enough beautiful camellias and even though you know they're out of your zone, you start to wonder, what if? During my "winter break" I love to look at the camellias blooming all over Savannah, in the squares, in courtyards, on traffic medians, just about everywhere. Until recently I've managed to remain detached. I've maintained a "this is an exotic treat to be appreciated only here" attitude. But in the meantime I meandered through the Camellia Trail at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens (at the Historic Bamboo Farm) while researching a story for... Continue reading

Even if you don't live in the south chances are you've been a bit curious about Spanish moss, that ubiquitous fixture of southern landscapes, like a thousand trailing gray beards through which lace curtain light filters the heavy humid air. It's the gauzy, dreamy stuff of stories gone southern Gothic. While it loves live oaks with their ambling lateral branches it seems to attach itself to anything not moving, you'll see it hanging in just about any tree or shrub. But on a practical note, is it a parasite? Does it kill trees? In a word, no. Neither moss or... Continue reading

After some tense moments at the parking permit office, I now feel settled in my "Savannah Getaway", where they advertise you can "live like a local". I'm in an upstairs apartment across from the Colonial Cemetery so when I walk the dog at night the ghost tours keep me company. Parking here is important mostly because you walk everywhere and that car needs to sit some place while you do it. Now that the secondary residential sticker is firmly planted on my car I can breath easier and save my quarters for extra-large iced teas (with a splash of pineapple... Continue reading

I've always heard that January 8 is the worst day of the year; a day when people are the most depressed, coming down from the high of the holidays. It's a day when marriages fail, therapist's schedules book up and people find the thought of winter unbearable. On January 8 even those that garden look forlornly out the window to a bleak landscape of dead grass or a frozen tableau of impenetrable snow. But did you know this is a great time for sowing seeds? Not the fiddly way with trays and flats and tiny little pockets of soil. Winter... Continue reading

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It is often said that just as many plants are killed by too much love as a healthy dose of benign neglect. We water them too much, prune them too far and still worry that we aren't doing enough. When I used to see evergreens around town lovingly wrapped with care, bundled in burlap for the winter, I suffered a fraction of guilt. Like a good mother , it seemed these gardeners had made sure their conifers and boxwoods had their coats, and mittens too. I wondered, was I lax, was I lazy, should I get on board this burlap... Continue reading

Congratulations to Samantha O. in NYC, the winner of the fresh evergreen Colonial Wreath from P. Allen Smith and Berry Family Nurseries. I'm sure she will appreciate some greenery in the big city. How come I feel like a winner too? Funny how I gave something away, but I received something so very, very nice in return. To avoid being spammed during giveaways, I always ask that the entrant give a short reply. This time I asked about how you decorate for the holidays with gatherings from the garden and nature. So many replies with soooo many different natural decorations.... Continue reading

T'is the time of year that we tend to think more of gratitude and giving. And here at The Garden Buzz, that means it's about high time I showed some of that love with a holiday giveaway. I know! It's been way too long. If you ever saw me Christmas tree shopping you'd know I just follow my nose. I love, love the wonderful fragrance of trees and evergreen boughs so it's only natural that I found a giveaway particularly suited to that scent. With some help from my gardening friend, P. Allen Smith and the generous folks at the... Continue reading

T'is the time of year that we tend to think more of gratitude and giving. And here at The Garden Buzz, that means it's about high time I showed some of that love with a holiday giveaway. I know! It's been way too long. If you ever saw me Christmas tree shopping you'd know I just follow my nose. I love, love the wonderful fragrance of trees and evergreen boughs so it's only natural that I found a giveaway particularly suited to that scent. With some help from my gardening friend, P. Allen Smith and the generous folks at the... Continue reading

Who knew?! My son had told me about the zombie/human wars at college. I'd heard about the Zombie Pub Crawl. But who knew they were a threat to our gardens? It's been awhile since I've mentioned our good gardening friend, P. Allen Smith. What a great guy to extend his gardening expertise to include help dealing with.....cue the scary music....ZOMBIES! Stay safe this Halloween! Continue reading

Happy Halloween from The Garden Buzz! Continue reading

If you're a regular or semi-frequent reader of The Garden Buzz, you've probably read this post before. It's usually mid-October when all the pink starts to grate on me and I decide to re-run this plea for direct donations to the cause of fighting the "anything but pink" scourge that breast cancer continues to be... ...Except for the burnished maples, the early October snows have muddied our usual brilliant fall colors, leaving us with only pink. The stores are filled with all manner of pink items advertising National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And in my garden, this last single rosy... Continue reading

I've been wandering the streets again. All the while trying to maintain that "what you lookin' at?" glare/vacant stare encouraged for all social discourse and navigation on the mean streets of NYC. I'm on the prowl for gardens. While my daughter heads to Martha's in Manhattan everyday (she's doing the Everday Food Blog among other things), I am hanging out at her place for the next few days; a petite but charming fraction of a brownstone on the "Slope" near Prospect Park, in Brooklyn where all the cool kids live. I've found that gardening is alive and well in NYC.... Continue reading