Book Review: Tiny + Wide
Karen Meyers In his book, Tiny + Wild, author and landscape designer Graham Laird Gardner provides a guide for turning a small part of a yard into a mini-meadow. The area can…
Meadow Garden: Tall Native Flowering Perennials for Moderate to Dry Soil in Full Sun
The plants in the following list are 30″ or more tall and will stand out among the majority of the plants in a meadow garden. They are suitable for lean…
Plants for a Mary Garden: Wood Anemone (Anemone nemerosa) “Candlemas Caps”
The name “Candlemas Caps” reflects both the timing of the wood anemone’s blooming and the of the shape of the flowers. The term “caps” probably refers to the shape of…
Book Review: Rekha’s Kitchen Garden
Rekha Mistry’s book, Rekhas’s Kitchen Garden, is a guide to growing vegetables, herbs, and fruits. It follows the author’s activities as she plants, maintains, and harvests her garden for a…
Plants for a Mary Garden: Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) “Our Lady’s Candle”
It is unlikely that Mary was familiar with candles as we know them because oil lamps were the usual source of artificial light in her time. By the late 4th…
Book Review: Bee & Flea and the Puddle Problem
Bee & Flea and the Puddle Problem by Anna Humphrey is a delightful chapter book in a series about two insect investigators, Bee and Flea. Written for children ages 6-9…
Plants for a Mary Garden: Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis) “Mary’s Heart”
Hearts have traditionally been associated with the love, compassion, and sorrow of the Virgin Mary. The unique shape of bleeding heart’s flower which resembles a heart with a droplet falling…
Plant Profile: Yellow Bedstraw (Galium vernum)
Native to grasslands and meadows of Europe, North Africa and southwestern Asia, this rhizomatous, herbaceous perennial is a member of the coffee family, Rubiaceae, that also includes gardenia and Pentas.…
Book Review: The Container Victory Garden
Maggie Stuckey’s book, The Container Victory Garden, is about growing vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers in containers. Aimed at beginning gardeners, the book shows readers new to container gardening how…
Edible Mushrooms: Mosaic Puffball (Calvatia utriformis aka Handkea utriformis aka Lycoperdon utriforme aka Lycoperdon caelatum)
Native to northern temperate zones, this puffball has been found in Europe, continental Asia, Japan, eastern Atlantic, North America, Mexico, South Africa, Chile, and New Zealand. It usually grows alone…