Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold

Practicing the art of coziness

According to the recently released World Happiness Report, Denmark ranks as the happiest country on Earth and one of the reasons listed for that is the Danes’ collective regular practice of something called hygge (pronounced hyooga. … Read more.

Spruced for Sparkle

Gail, Betsy and I spent this short week getting ready for Christmas at Blithewold and the first evening of Sparkle coming up this Friday. We made (that is, Betsy made) gorgeous terrariums, and put together … Read more.

Ahead of schedule

I don’t want to crow in case any of you are feeling swamped – either by the end of the garden’s season or in anticipation of the holidays – but as Gail would say, “we’re … Read more.

Keepers

Temperatures dipped into the 30s last night but if only it would frost we’d feel justified in having taken the gardens apart this week. The Rose Garden might have the hardest to let go of, … Read more.

Heavy lifting

Physical labor was one of the first things that drew me to gardening. — Back when I was 18 and restless from so much sitting in school and studying. (Do most people take up jogging … Read more.

Multitasking to-dos

If it wasn’t for Gail’s lists and ability to prioritize, I’d probably have lost my tiny mind by now. There is so much to do that seems to need doing right-this-minute that without the lists, … Read more.

What’s next

Even though the daffodils are still blooming their little hearts out I can’t help looking forward to the next thing(s) following hot on their heels. The tulips and cherry trees are just getting going, winter … Read more.

It’s a bug-eat-bug greenhouse

Gail and I have talked about using biological controls (getting “good bugs” to eat the “bad bugs” that eat the plants) in the greenhouse but aside from trying to not crash through spider webs on … Read more.

Sun days

I have to keep reminding myself that this is normal. It might be unusual to be getting quite so much snow, but otherwise March is really behaving as March should. — Unlike last year when … Read more.

March blooms (in spite of itself)

I was only away from Blithewold for a week (and not very far away either — on staycation at home) but it’s amazing how much happened here in that time. Spring happened. Almost. The start … Read more.