Have you ever wished you could grow flowers from seed? How about poppies and larkspur? What does a seed need for germination? Blue cornflowers are an easy-to -grow flower seed. Direct seed sowing – straight into the garden I think that one of the reasons that gardeners give up on seed …
January 2024 Newsletter: Seeding Dreams of Spring
Sowing Seeds of Thought Here we are at the start of another year. 2024—how can that be? In the quest to look forward and not back I am going all out with plans for seed starting. I have always loved growing plants from seeds but now it is an obsession. It is so much cheaper than buying …
Continue Reading about January 2024 Newsletter: Seeding Dreams of Spring
Towers to Flowers – Sissinghurst Castle Garden
Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson’s Kentish garden The view of Vita Sackville-West’s writing tower dominates all corners of the garden. Vita Sackville-West’s Garden at Sissinghurst is a garden that I am very familiar with since it is in the south-east county of Kent in England where I …
Continue Reading about Towers to Flowers – Sissinghurst Castle Garden
December 2023 Newsletter: Murmuring Winter Poetry
Fences and Hedges—Permeable Barriers The end of the year is rolling around and with it comes thoughts of gardening highs and lows of the past year. I love the way that Canon Ellacombe expresses his thoughts about the garden in December in the quote above. He was the vicar of a small parish …
Continue Reading about December 2023 Newsletter: Murmuring Winter Poetry
Garden Book Roundup – 2023
Some books that I recommend for winter reading Another year has passed, and many books have been read here at Northview. Despite my family members occasionally muttering, ‘do you think that you have enough gardening books now?’, I continue to buy, collect (some might say hoard), and read …
Gardening Reasons to be Thankful
American Thanksgiving brings thankfulness to the mind This is the month that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday. Has your garden made you happy or joyful this year? Learn what I am thankful for and then compile your own list. Please let me know what you are thankful …
November 2023 Newsletter: Daydreaming of Romance
Hello Gardening Friends, The chilly winds of November are upon us. What better time to follow the advice of Helen Dillon, the expert gardener quoted above? I know that I will be thinking about this quote as I consider changes to be made here at Northview for next year. What does she mean …
Continue Reading about November 2023 Newsletter: Daydreaming of Romance
October 2023 Newsletter: An Autumn of Poetry and Essays
Greetings Gardening Friends, I was lucky to be brought up by a mother who was an English teacher and a father who was a botany professor. This has given me a perspective on the natural world that is based on scientific facts but at the same time appreciates the artistic. The quote above …
Continue Reading about October 2023 Newsletter: An Autumn of Poetry and Essays
You Are Not Alone in Your Garden
A catbird watching me as I garden in the Herb Garden – waiting to eat the raspberries nearby. "No One Can Garden Alone"Quote by Elizabeth Lawrence There is a lovely gardening quote by one of my gardening heroines, Elizabeth Lawrence. She says in the preface of ‘The Little Bulbs’ – "No one can …
September 2023 Newsletter: Greeting the Fall Flowers
Greetings Gardeners, I agree with Graham Stuart Thomas when he states that “September is a lovely month.” For me, it brings my birthday and maybe I can go on a fun outing—how about to a garden! When I was teaching full-time, September was back to school and the beginning of the academic …
Continue Reading about September 2023 Newsletter: Greeting the Fall Flowers
