Pink Flowers are the Best Someone asked me the other day why I love pink. I thought for a moment and the best answer I could come up with was that it makes me happy. It is a cheerful bright color that brings me joy – so I wear it and plant more pink flowers! I thought then that I should share …
May 2026 Newsletter: May Gardening Reflections
What Motivates Me To Garden While reading, I came across this quote above and loved it. Only yesterday, I had said to someone, I love gardens because you collect not only plants, but the people who go along with them. For me, it is a powerful personal driver for gardening. I was flipping …
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April 2026 Newsletter: Resolving To Garden This Year
Resolve to Garden These prescient words were written by the well-revered 20th Century British garden designer, Sylvia Crowe, in the 1950s in the wake of World War II. The world was “noisy“ then, but maybe not as noisy as it is now. These words remind us that gardens have many functions. We …
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Using Chicken Grit in Gardens and Containers as a Mulch and to Increase Drainage in Soil
Chicken Grit is Not Just for Chickens If you read plant tags they often say – ‘plant this plant in moist, well-drained soil’. As a beginning gardener I was really confused by this statement. How can the soil be both moist and at the same time well-drained. I figured out that the organic part of …
March 2026 Newsletter: Follow Along With My Cut Flower Journey
Poetic Cursings for Gardeners? Oh, what beautiful writing! “Threadbare sayings” and “poetic cursings,” such great phrases by Karel Čapek, the Czech writer in 1929. I agree with Karel’s sentiments, especially after the cold and snowy winter that we have had here in Southeast Pennsylvania this …
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Seed Starting Time is Here – Spring will be Here Soon!
Seed Starting Options – Indoors or Outdoors The snow is still laying around on the ground and many gardeners – like me – have had enough of it. We are waiting and waiting for it to be time to plant our seeds. I have arranged and re-arranged my seed packets by color and by planting time. It is …
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February 2026 Newsletter: Exploring The Future Of The Cottage Garden
A New Book from an Old Friend What hopeful words from the wonderful new book by my lovely English-American friend Pam Hubbard. It is published TODAY, so we are going to celebrate. The full title of the book is The Contemporary Cottage Garden, Climate-Friendly, Mindful Methods for Growing Flowers …
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“The Contemporary Cottage Garden” – A New Book by Pamela Hubbard, with Photographs by Rob Cardillo
An English-American Cottage Garden for Today The front cover of Pamela Hubbard’s book that celebrates The Contemporary Cottage Garden. If you have ever wanted to know how to make a difference in the world through your gardening practices look no further than Pamela Hubbard’s book “The …
January 2026 Newsletter: Finding Joy Through Winter
I Love Winter Best? The esteemed and prolific mid-20th century American garden writer, Helen Van Pelt Wilson, is a fan of cold winter gardens. As she clearly states in the quote above, she loves "winter best." She enjoys "the unique quality of winter" and thinks that "this fourth season is …
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Notes from English Country Gardens – Part 5 – Winter Walk at Wakehurst
Learn Six Tips from Jenny Rose Carey about gardening for Winter Interest – With Inspiration from the Winter Garden at Wakehurst. Fragrant flowers – such as this Daphne – enhance the winter garden. Wakehurst – Kew’s Country Garden in Sussex, England There are winter and early spring …
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