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Our video’s up! “A Civic Center Comes to Silver Spring”
Here’s the class of six, plus teachers Adele Schmidt on the far left and Sam Hampton on the far right. My co-director, the talented Mario Starks, is second from left. The students are a United Nations of aspiring filmmakers, and a wonderful bunch who produced some great 3-4-minute...
Gardening this week: Filling up new borders
What do you do when you have large new borders to fill and would rather not A, spend much money or B, wait forever for them to look good? Steal like crazy from other parts of the garden – if you’re lucky to have an old garden that has plenty...
How a Boomer Gardener (tries to) Stay Fit all Winter
Feeling a bit sluggish about now, deprived of gardening for all these months? Me, too! But not as sluggish as I’d be feeling if I didn’t have THE PROGRAM. That’s what I call my ever-increasing compilation of exercises that a bevy of physical therapists has devised for me over the...
Read all about my lawn replacement in Fine Gardening Magazine
Jeez, I just noticed it’s been over a week since I’ve posted here – bad blogger! Well, my article in Fine Gardening finally arrived, so here’s a teaser photo. In the article, I cover a bunch of options for replacing turfgrass with similar-but-easier short groundcovers. Like? Thyme, mazus, creeping Jenny (where...
Hey, Universal Studio, time to nix your “all-you-can-eat” deal
Waaay back in June of '09 I had a whole day to kill in Los Angeles, with no family-wedding happenings til dinnertime. I'd already spent a glorious free day with Shirley Bovshow in her garden and being escorted by her around the Huntington Garden. I just knew that come wintertime,...
Film Production Team Tackles New Urban Space
My adventures in video continue! After all my troubles buying the wrong stuff, it came time to learn to DO something. My first grown-up move was to admit that when it comes to either hardware OR software, I'm not what you would call an autodidact. So I ignored the advice...
Native Sons - Plant of the Week
Geranium sanguineum 'Vision Violet'
Cranesbill. A robust ground cover selection of the every popular Geranium sanguineum featuring masses of violet flowers from early spring to summer. The fresh green foliage with redden with autumn colors in cooler interior gardens. Growing up to 18 inches tall and 24 inches wide, it is useful as a......
Ken Hartman barberry has a billowing upright habit to 6 feet tall that slowly forms a dense drift with time. The bright green leaves have a polished surface with sharply toothed margins. New spring grow is richly colored copper, reddish, and bronze and provides a stunning contrast to the clusters......
Festuca californica 'Scott Mountain'
Scott Mountain California fescue form a rigid mound to about a foot tall with elegant upright flowers to 3 feet tall. The blue-green leaf blades are smaller and stiffer than is typical with the species making it useful in gardens with limited space. It is an excellent choice for mixed......
Westringia fruticosa 'Wynyabbie Gem'
Wynyabbie gem coast rosemary is a versatile evergreen shrub from Australia growing to 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Lavender-blue flowers are present most of the year in coastal California and make a pleasing contrast to the airy gray-green foliage. It can be used in sun or partial shade......
Small finger-like leaves form a tight mat to 2 inches tall with an 8 inch spread on this appealing South African ice plant. Luminous silver-pink flowers cover the plants in early spring followed by sporadic flowering through summer along the coast. It is a superb choice for containers, rock gardens......
Flannel bush. San Gabriel flannel bush is a robust evergreen shrub to 20 feet tall and 40 wide. Fast growing, it will tolerate extremely dry conditions and hotter interior garden sites. It features a copious display of 2-3 inch yellow flowers from early spring to summer and a distinctive herringbone......
The Manic Gardener - An Organic Gardening Blog
Awards, accolades, aclaim, etcetera
The Manic has come for more than its share of praise recently. Last November, distracted by surgery and by a family emergency, I entirely failed to mention (or even to notice, till someone pointed it out) that Horticulture Magazine had......
Discount offer (& book review) for Growing Stuff
Blogging, like beauty, is of course its own excuse for being. However, perks are always appreciated, and surely one of the best that comes with blogging is free books. Case in point: Asked if I would link to information about......
Origin and Evolution of “You go sleep in the garage.”
This title will at least ring bells if you've read either of my previous posts (Nov. '08, yesterday) about our friend Abdoulaye, just returned from Mali for a new stint of study at MSU. It was fairly early in Abdoulaye’s......
Return of the potato specialist: Abdoulaye of Mali
Clap your hands and cheer: Abdoulaye has returned! Yes, my favorite potato specialist from sub-Saharan Africa is back in town. I know I already posted one photo of him dancing with my mother-in-law, but it seems to me a topic......
I took this photograph yesterday morning, as the deer proceeded quietly along the sidewalk across the street from our house. (That's our car in the lower right, proof that this is not out in the wild woods.) The deer did......
A New Low: cold snap in Montana
http://www.findlocalweather.com/weather_maps/temperature_north_america.html When I got up Tuesday, the temperature in our back room, where we’ve been sleeping since my surgery, was 39ºF, or just under 4ºC. Upstairs in the bedroom we’re not using, I hit the “on” button of an electric......
CafeMom Daily Buzz: Home & Garden
Photo from Pete Dungey Pothole gardens! Now that's what the world needs.Found this lovely bit of inspiration from British artist Pete Dungey via Cup of Jo. Mr. Dungey plants small flower and plant gardens in potholes. How nice! I always enjoy projects that make an eyesore a thing of beauty....
Weeknight Speed Cleaning: 30 Minutes to a Cleaner Home
Save the mopping, vacuuming, or other deep cleaning for the weekend (or every third weekend if you're like me). It's time to do a weeknight speed clean. Here's how to make your home feel cleaner in just 30 minutes, which will open up more family time on the weekend.Make your home...
Coffee at Home on a Sunday: YESSSSS...
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend print by Standard Design Not sure how I ever had a to-go coffee addiction because now I love nothing more than a fresh cup of coffee at home. Especially on a Sunday!Hello darkness, my old friend, indeed! Hope you have a cup of something warm in your...
Happy Your Closet: Rainbow Order
Photo by Sheri Reed Now that I admitted to seeking natural highs from closet decluttering, I think it's okay to admit to color-coordinating my clothes in coordinance with the rainbow spectrum.It's true. The hanging clothes in my closet are organized from red to violet with black on one ened and gray,...
Snow Hurricane Survival: 10 Indoor Activities for a Happy Winter Home
Photo by Peajewel Snow hurricane!!! Is your outdoor world currently being buried by a giant white kerplunk of snow? Well, just because there's a near winter white snow blizzard outside doesn't mean it can't be sunny indoors.You can either worry and fret and sulk or tantrum about the snow catastrophe going on...
How to Get High Cleaning Your Closet
Photo by Sheri Reed Yep, high as a kite from decluttering my closet and nothing more. This is good stuff. It's all natural. C'mon and take a hit...I love to organize, sort, and purge my things. It makes me happy. I've known this since I was a girl — something about...
Spitalfields Life
My friend Anne Smith (who I met in Whitechapel last year, when she was wheeling her cat Oscar in a pram) took me to a party in Shadwell last Friday and photographer Sarah Ainslie came along too. A few weeks ago, I visited Anne in the small flat just off...
Today, it was the busiest I have seen it early in the morning at the market this year and there was an equal increase in the variety of plants available too, which set my imagination racing. I was particularly attracted by the wide of perennials now available as seedlings and...
Sandra & Dennis at The Golden Heart
On a Monday evening recently, Christ Church Spitalfields was alive to the sound of a big band playing show tunes. It was the night of the memorial arranged by Sandra Esqulant, landlady of The Golden Heart in Commercial St, to commemorate the life of her husband Dennis. They ran the...
Spitalfields is full of barbers, though you might not realise it at first because there are only a couple on Brick Lane (where, coincidentally, Sweeney Todd was born at number 85 in 1756). But a foray into the sidestreets reveals more, and a stroll over towards Bethnal Green or down...
Over recent years, I have always made the detour up the steps through the park and past the bandstand, whenever I walk through Arnold Circus, in order to admire the planting. I like to see the native flowers on the slopes here, especially the Bluebells, Cowslips and Foxgloves that combine...
Over this last weekend, Old Town, the distinctive clothiers from Holt in Norfolk that make classic British workwear, set up shop in Fournier St for three days, as they do each year, to allow their London customers to come and say “hello” while also taking the opportunity to enjoy browsing...