Be inspired by beautiful botanical artwork, writing, and crafts. here you will also find instruction and help related to building projects, photography, personal garden writing projects, and more.
Last week, I lay flat on the examination table wearing nothing but a thin hospital gown while my doctor went through the routine of a physical, poking and prodding, checking for any unusual growth. I’ll spare you the details, but we all know what this entails. It’s uncomfortable and nobody enjoys it, but it’s one …
In the centre of the living room inside my childhood home, a heavy 70’s era fake colonial-style coffee table sat on top of a grass green shag rug. It was a behemoth of a thing, all dangerous sharp corners and rock hard, pressboard edges. Its matching end tables were equally large and bevelled, and together, …
A Way to Garden Radio – I recently appeared as a guest on Margaret Roach’s weekly podcast to talk about Holiday gifts to make using plants and things gleaned from the garden. Click here to listen for free. To get your Holiday gift giving started, Margaret is giving away two garden-themed tees from our shop, …
The last prompt was tough, so I thought I’d switch to something lighter, although perhaps not easier. Plant descriptions are essential to writing about gardening. A good description functions like a story, drawing the reader in to want to find out more and maybe even try the plant in their own garden. It’s easy to …
Herbal bundles are tightly bound rolls of dried woody, resinous herbs, that are slowly burned as a way to purify and cleanse the air. The roots of burning an herbal bundle, or smudging, is in indigenous purification rites and ceremony that span the world globally. It is not a homogeneous practice, and since I am …
It’s that time of year. Let’s do this! Yee Olde Merry Basket of Preserves: A basket or box (tip: I look for good quality ones at thrift stores throughout the year), some tissue paper, a few jars of dried herbs and fruit, pickles, jam, ketchup, etc and you’ve got yourself a gift that anyone who …
I am currently participating in National Novel Writing Month. While the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel within the month of November, I do not expect that I will write that many words, nor do I intend to write a novel. Instead, my personal goal is to create a habit around personal, fiction(ish) …
It may come as no surprise that in addition to plants, I also collect things that are connected to the world of plants and horticulture in some way: old books in the categories of gardening, botany, or nature; prints that feature images of plants, birds, insects, and other things of a scientific nature; old gardening …
I’ve been writing about gardening regularly on this website for nearly fourteen years. Naturally, there are days when I sit down to write and my mind draws a blank. I keep stacks of ideas and notes next to my desk, but there are times when I am not in the mood to tackle any of …
I just spent the holiday weekend purging books, magazines, and a bit of this and that from my living and work spaces. Since it was Thanksgiving here in Canada, we called it Purgegiving. Getting rid of books is difficult, but letting go of plants can be even more difficult. We humans can form attachments to …
I’m beginning to see the end*. Gaps are appearing where summer annuals have been yanked. Seed heads are quickly replacing flowers and colour in the garden comes more from the green leaves that are shifting towards yellows, reds, and browns. The world is in transition. I’ve been thinking about this lately. The way I focus …
And just like that we’ve gone from summer to fall. I could see the changes coming: the bean plants turning yellow and then brown; then, of course, that first colourful fallen leaf on the sidewalk. Despite these subtle signs, this year fall came suddenly, almost painfully. For that reason I thought it would be good …