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WEEKEND PROGRESS

We were blessed with yet another gorgeous autumn weekend here. I can’t say enough about how wonderful the weather has been for most of this year, but I feel like we deserve it after two really cruddy years. I’m still gardening in shorts most of the time and I can’t think that’s common for this time of year at all. ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Some weeks Friday it feels even better than usual when Friday rolls around. So it goes this week. Some affiliate links may be used. This means that if you buy what I link to, I may get a small percentage of the purchase price. This helps support this blog and I very much appreciate it! Before we kick off into ...

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Garden

THE PATH-MAKING MISTAKES I MADE THAT YOU SHOULDN’T

One thing that can be said for sort of tedious gardening tasks such as weeding or moving mass quantities of soil is that it gives you a lot of time to think. And over the last several weekends of working in the oval circle garden I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the mistakes I made there. It was ...

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Garden

DIGGING MACHINE

Progress continues on the renovation of the oval circle garden but I won’t lie, I’m getting nervous about how slowly it’s going. I spent a good part of last weekend working on it and have gotten it to the point where I’m waiting for materials before I can move on. My goal is to have all of the hardscaping finished ...

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Garden

THE ALMIGHTY ALLIUM + A GIVEAWAY

I remember the first time I took notice of an allium. It was on Mackinac Island where a side garden at the Hotel Iroquois was planted with what must have been hundreds of Globemaster alliums, with 8-inch (or better) flowers standing proud. It was stunning. When I think of punctuation in a garden my first thought is always to alliums. ...

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Cottage

HOW THE GARAGE DOORS CAME TO BE

Thanks so much for all of the nice comments and feedback on our gradual garage upgrade. I didn’t even to get into the other benefits of the new doors the other day. Until we got the new doors we only had one automatic opener, which Mr. Much More Patient graciously let me use. That meant that he had to manually ...

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Cottage

A BEFORE AND AFTER 3 YEARS IN THE MAKING

I’m not one to draw projects out. When I get set on doing something I like to focus on it like a laser and pound it out until it’s finished. I’d rather wait until I can do all of it exactly the way I want to than take it by bits and pieces or settle for something I don’t really ...

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GardenPlants

A CHIVE CONVENTION

I didn’t have much time to work in the yard last weekend, which is sad indeed. It has been raining here for days and days and there were other projects that took precedence (which you’re about to hear about). The few hours that I did have for garden time were dedicated to working on the oval circle garden update. Mr. ...

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Friday Finds

MONDAY MUSINGS

I’m sure you’re confused about what Monday Musings are. Well, they are Friday Finds when you were too busy on Friday to do Friday Finds but didn’t want to wait a whole week to share some goodies. And god forbid I not use alliteration in a headline.I decorated the house for fall. Yep, that’s it. I’ve never been much a ...

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Garden

EXOTIC PLEASURES OF THE WOODLAND GARDEN

I went outside in the rain the other morning and snapped a shot of my favorite plant at this time of year. Then I checked the blog because I thought surely I’d written a special post about toad lilies before and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t. Truth be told, I had no idea what a toad lily even was until ...

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Containers

THE WINDOW BOX IN REVIEW

On Tuesday I walked into a funeral service in full on late-summer weather and emerged a couple hours later into weather more suitable for late October. A brisk breeze came off the lake, leaves were falling on our heads and the sun refused to provide the warmth I swear it had earlier in the morning. In case I wasn’t fully ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

It’s officially fall. I will allow myself to use the word now, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. But there’s nothing to be done about it, so I might as well make the most of it and enjoy what really is a beautiful time of year (even if I spend it dreading what comes next). Affiliate links may ...

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Garden

A PLAN COMES TOGETHER

It’s Friday, so I bet you’re expecting Friday Finds. Never fear, they are coming later, but I didn’t want to let another day pass without giving up an update on the oval circle garden (I feel like that’s now the best way to refer to it). When we last checked in on this garden that is the first thing people ...

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Garden

HOW TO GET THE LOOK OF THE TROPICS IN THE NORTH

There’s no getting around it: At this time of year, the garden is starting to look tired. Foliage is tattered and sun faded, flowers are flopping, everything looks a bit haggard. But one plant is just now coming into its own, the ever tropical-looking Castor bean.  This plant will surely catch your key from across the garden. Before I go ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

I had to apologize to the friend that I bounce every idea off of (she has mastered the art of gently telling me I’m crazy when I need to slow down a little) because as I always do this time of year, I’m full of so much inspiration and I suffer from some sort of attention-deficit issue related to projects. ...

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Garden

IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? I’m going to weigh in with my own answer to this age old question: No. I say that because on Sunday we discovered that a very large tree had, in fact, fallen in our woods, not far from our house, ...

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Letters from the Garden

Garden musings, what I’m digging (literally and figuratively) and some great garden tips are all part of my letters from the garden, sent biweekly straight to your email inbox. Subscribe here.

Letters from the Garden

Garden musings, what I’m digging (literally and figuratively) and some great garden tips are all part of my letters from the garden, sent biweekly straight to your email inbox. Subscribe here.