Spring Into Summer …ouch, I’m pretty sure that’s been said before. Spring is motoring ahead into summer- which officially starts June 21. Featured today is a new scarf I call Savannah-homage to a recent visit to that beautiful Georgian city. I was inspired by the city sidewalk grates. Beautiful and functional too. Beauty is something that’s too often lacking in our everyday lives. Mulch is in. Three yards of mulch arrived this week. These last many days I’ve been doing azalea bloom prep work like pruning and checking for winter damage. That includes placing Hollytone, cultivating winter-hardened soil and watering
Read More
Let The Show Begin!
Let the Show Begin! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Did you know the shamrock was considered a sacred plant in ancient Ireland? It symbolized the rebirth of spring. This week was my first sales event for 2023. It was a single person trunk show at a very well appointed life care facility in Bloomfield, Connecticut- Duncaster. Lovely people, enjoyable time. I enjoyed sitting with my friend Janet, a recurring partner, who makes for a very pleasant few hours. Equally pleasant, sales were hotter than my Christmas event. We shall do it again! The Guardians of Early Spring- Skunk Cabbage Call it a
Read More
Happy Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! This is your first look at my new scarf, Star Sapphire, which features red parrot tulips. Even though I faithfully photograph tulips each Spring, I’ve struggled with a lack of interest in using them in scarf designs. Parrot tulips, however, are my #1 favorite for their wild and wooly ways. Thanks to Pantone’s announcement of Viva Magenta as its color of the year, I’ve taken the plunge. Red tulips en masse. In this design, I’ve also incorporated some of the work I’ve been doing this winter-creating repeating designs I can marry to oversized florals. Honestly,creating repeating designs somewhat offends
Read More
The Circle Game
The Circle Game. We all know it. You can feel it. Fall. The circle of seasons continues. But doesn’t it feel like it got cool all of a sudden??? A few days ago I brought in some plants that I’d put out for the summer-just to be safe. I left one out because it hasn’t been doing well and I was secretly planning to let it go to compost. This morning it was mildly blackened from a light frost. On October 6! I just read that in Connecticut the risk of frost is from October 5 through May 10. By
Read More
Soil Amendments For the Garden
Yikes. Once again I’ve waited too long to write a blog post. So much going on. Let’s jump right in!. Some of you may know that I’ve been making scarves for a few years. I’m designing with images I’ve taken in my gardens for almost five years. Aside from adoring gardening, the beds provide me with ongoing photographic material. This year has been incredibly busy so I finally dove into necessary soil amendments to the flowerbeds. Hmm. Happily, I also had the opportunity to create and produce a quantity of beautiful chiffon scarves for my high school classmates. Featuring the Morning
Read More
Color, Color, Color!
I really can’t get enough. Especially in winter. It’s white everywhere! Color rich experiences have been an integral part of my life from, well, forever. As children, before we bought bags of Valentine cards at the drug store, we were charged with creating mad quantities of pink, red and lace cards for classmates on the kitchen table. For Christmas, we hand cut linoleum block prints that we printed and made into holiday cards that we’d then trot out to neighbors to sell. Colored paper, colored inks, textures and glue. Craft heaven! I’m waiting on the return of a test print
Read More
Deep Dive Into Summer
Yikes! The insane humidity has finally broken in Connecticut. Gardeners can go outdoors again. So much everywhere has been in a state of climate upheaval. And yet, here, in Connecticut, I really can’t complain. Happily, my own garden residents are independently motoring along – the generous periodic downpours have been a mixed blessing outdoors. Good growth yet LOTS of weeds with significant mildew, insects and slugs. Safer spray and Slug Magic have helped me combat the undesirables. After I shoveled on a 3-yard mulch cover in early Spring, I’ve realized I need at least another yard to beat back excess
Read More
Life in the Garden
Some years ago when I began creating gardens at our new home, planting flowers was a means to an end. At the time my goal was to incorporate floral images into artwork for fabric printing. I’ve only begun processing some of my new flower images for this year. I’m just starting the rhododendron above, superimposed on a blue Orrefors crystal vase. Five years ago, we excavated the side yard to mitigate standing water. Once the yard was drained, the space was reimagined as a formal garden -close to the house, so I could keep an eye on watering and pest
Read More
New Scarf!
Last fall I debuted a scarf called Watermelon, printed on chiffon at 2 yards x 18”- the size of most of my scarves to date. A couple months ago, a family member reached out with a request for a scarf she needed for an event in October. She very much liked Watermelon as the colors matched her sweater, but she needed a scarf that was a lot smaller..and square! Always up for a challenge, I was itching to get started this fall. Sooty mold is a fungus that grows on leaves sometimes infected by aphids. After feeding, insects leave behind a
Read More
On the Seventh Day- Pest Control
I sprayed the boxwoods. And every week thereafter. Like many, I’ve had some difficulty during COVID remembering what day of the week it is. You know you do too. This blog post will focus on pest control in the time of COVID. I’m grateful for the time to do some long-needed maintenance. I schedule treatments on my phone and have gotten quite involved in managing plant care. Reminder times for certain annual events like pruning are scheduled on my phone. I just finished pruning the miniature lilac- A lilac sets next year’s flowers quickly after the flowers pass. Sometimes, you can
Read More