Spring Gardens in the Southwest

It has been a beautiful spring in the Southwest and my Mesa, AZ garden. I’ve been outside, planting, mulching, pruning, and resting in the garden. I haven’t been able to stay inside and write about my far-flung garden travels. I tell myself I’ll only be outside for 5 minutes, and then the hours fly by. Its been wonderful. In just a few weeks, we will be traveling to London for the Chelsea Flower Show and from there to Ireland to visit gardens, and somewhere along the way in Ireland, we will visit our 1001st garden. ...   Continue Reading

Women in the Garden

March is unpredictable. One day it’s windy, the next day calm. Sprouts of green spring up from mud and buds begin to swell on bare branches of trees. Around the middle of the month, people cheer about their ancestry, start dancing a jig and profess a belief in leprechauns and fairies. Then when an entire hour suddenly disappears, everyone gets very emotional about it. We celebrate Women’s History during all of these disruptions, and it seems a perfect time as women often navigate these tempestuous events behind the scenes.  ...   Continue Reading

Spring

Spring is a date on the calendar. The feeling of spring is what happens in the garden. Whenever it arrives at your door, it is a season of hope, renewal, buds swelling into blossoms, and new leaves unfurling color on the landscape. Spring summons joy in the soul. Even in this moment of COVID-19 when everything seems upside down, the garden grows, ignoring the noise and responding only to the changing light and awakening life.  ...   Continue Reading

A Walk Along Spokane River

Recently I went to Spokane, WA to speak to the Inland Empire Gardeners*, a phenomenal garden club with hundreds of members and unaffiliated with any national club organization. This club operates under a board of directors, and a three-sister management team that keeps its members educated about growing trees, shrubs, flowers, and vegetables in Spokane Valley. ...   Continue Reading

Spring In My Garden

I started working early in my garden today.  The sky was streaked with pink, orange and blue as the sun rose between the branches of my 40 yr. Old olive tree. Mocking birds were singing, there are so many different songs from this one incredible bird. As I wander through the pathways of the garden I find the deep purple Dutch iris and pink freesias blooming, they are such a brief bit of spring color but so worth it.  There is a stand of white freesias further out by the lawn, heavy with blossoms, they need a wire frame to support them....   Continue Reading

Spring Glory in Arizona

I wander the world looking for glorious gardens.  I’m always noticing the trees and the flowers where ever I go.  Today I was going to Home Depot, and I found a glorious southwest spring display. The Hacienda Children’s Hospital at 610 W Jerome Ave, in Mesa, AZ opened in October of 2015.  My usual side street approach to Home Depot allowed me to watch the construction of the building from its earliest beginnings.  It is a beautiful structure w/ an integrated steel tree rising up the side of the building and framing the entryway canopy.  It has been attention grabbing from the start.  The facility was designed by the Devenney Group, who specializes in medical architecture.  I’ve contacted them to find out who the landscape architect is for this project because right now, this moment the landscape has blossomed into its full glory.  The plants are just a bit over three years in the ground and the time combined with the wet winter has created a moment of true desert glory....   Continue Reading

Memorable Moments 2018

2018 was a wonderful year of visiting gardens.  We took three trips; a short spring trip to Atlanta, GA, a six-week road trip through the US, and a 30-day fall trip to England. Looking over my journals and photos of the past year it is full of memorable moments of the beauty in our world. I want to share a few marvels that delighted me along the way....   Continue Reading

Daffodils, Jonquils, Narcissus, Oh My!

For those of us who love flowers, it is hard to imagine anything more delightful than Daffodils. This sunny yellow flower trumpets the return of spring showing up in gardens, paintings, and poems. Its arrival promises to end gray winter days.  If they are not sprouting up in your garden, you may find bundles of closed buds appearing in markets in early March. We snatch them up to bring the promise of sunshine into our homes. They are for me an addiction, I am determined to see them open and believe in the season to soon follow.  The sweet scent entices me to close my eyes and think of green shoots, fertile soil and blue skies. Addiction may be the right word as “Victorians once thought the scent of daffodils to be as dangerous as any narcotic.” (Kingsbury) We truly can be made to be fearful of anything....   Continue Reading