Category: Gardening

A Tale of Two Bridges

Once upon a time (okay, it was in 2014 which was when I bought the Money Pit) there was a garden bridge. The former owners had left it behind, along with a rotting and too-big-to-be-legal garden shed, a somewhat shaky red-painted pine arbor, and a small bench made from a granite rectangle atop two legs.…

A Gardener’s Thanksgiving

I know that I do a lot of grousing about my garden; people are undoubtedly tired of hearing me constantly complain about the poison ivy (entirely justified, though!), the stony/rocky clay soil, the rabbits, and the rodents. [Oh, wait, the rodents are part of the House Whine…sorry…] Given my growing reputation as a GOG (Grumpy…

2022 Money Pit Garden Awards

It’s that time of year again, and there are some interesting winners as well as two brand-new award categories added to this second instalment of my personal garden awards. So, let’s get the show on the road! The Smiley (for surprising success) This ended in a tie between Daphne x transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’ and Edgeworthia…

A Quandary of Mercy

I have a redbud problem; or, more accurately, a problem redbud. It was already here when I bought the Money Pit in 2013, although – thanks to a late-winter snowstorm – I had no idea what it was. What it turned out to be was a weeping redbud, about three feet tall and with a…

Ruthless

Are you a ruthless gardener? I never used to be one. In past gardens, I’d always somehow find a place for a bonus plant included with an order (regardless of color, size, or growing conditions preferred) because to simply chuck it out would be – in the words of The Princess Bride’s Vizzini – “inconceivable!”…

Disney Princesses in the Garden

At the end of my post about plant pet names, I mentioned that my little granddaughter had bested me in the creative-plant-nicknames department and promised to tell more. So, without further ado, here’s the story, morning-glory! 😊 Last month, my son texted me a photo of the lilies in his front-yard planting. Very impressive they…

Plant Pet Names

Do you ever name any of your garden plants? I don’t mean in the hybridizing or cultivar-name sense, but as a sort of nickname or shorthand, based on either a characteristic or the plant’s ‘official name.’ I never used to do this before this garden, but now find that at least a dozen of my…