Musings, Commentaries, Photos and Reviews

I'm a great believer in the phrase "Think Globally, Act Locally". We are facing all types of challenges as a nation.   I've been growing a garden for 0ver 35 years, mostly as a means of getting fresh vegetables and learning about plants. Many of my friends and family grow a garden. In World War II these were called "Victory Gardens" and the impetus came from no less than the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who established a garden at the white house. In 1943 Americans planted over 20 million Victory Gardens and the harvest accounted ofr nearly a third of the vergetables consumed in that year. I dedicated a bit of the front lawn to tomatoes these last 2 years and realized after a disappointing crop that I need to initiate some crop rotation. I will be ADDING more garden space and REMOVING more useless lawn. I was heartened to read a great open letter by Michael Pollard describing what the next president can and should do to remake the way we grow and eat our fo...

I wish I had kept better records. Over the years I would order fall bulbs from FEDCO and get a nice flower display in the Spring. Some of these have died out over the years but one variety has actually spread outside it's planting bed. I suspect it may be a Scillia Siberica (Alba). It does have a wild hyacinth appearance. After experiencing the winter that wouldn't leave,  these flowers were a most welcome sight. Picture 1 (original plants) Picture 2 (The "volunteers" spreading into the lawn) Picture 3 (Detail of this delightful flower)

I believe that this is an epiphyllum. I don't know because this plant has no history. A friend was closing a greenhouse and realizing that I have an affinity for plants, she offered the ones that had been left for on their own for some time. I was happy to take the older desert cactus which were in wonderful shape but I noticed several sunburnt and neglected "orchid cactus". I believe these are plants native to central america and although they are cactus, they do not thrive under full sunshine and little water. They are large ungainly plants and although I really don't have the room I didn't want to see them discarded. I put them in our cold and uninviting basement under fluorescent lights and much to my surprise I was greeted with a flower display in time for Valentine's day. ... See my Tabblo>