A delicious salad for lunch

Want a perfect salad for lunch today? All you need are a couple of ripe tomatoes, a little fresh burrata or mozarella cheese, freshly picked basil, your favorite olive oil, some salt & pepper, and perhaps a dollop of fresh pesto if you have it on hand. There is no salad that signifies summer more than the […]

Squash!

I personally love all kinds of squash – zucchini, yellow crookneck, butternut, spaghetti, acorn, kabocha… This year I planted two kinds of zucchini (‘Ambassador’ and ‘Dark Green’ – ‘Ambassador’ is my favorite of the two), yellow crookneck, butternut and spaghetti squash. Interestingly, squash is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family which includes gourds, melons, cucumbers and squash but only […]

Boo Hoo Beans

There is no food I love more than beans, and most of all: green beans. I love all of the vegetables I choose to plant in my garden, but there are none I look forward to more than my Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake climbing beans. I love consuming them and the delightful process of picking them. Every year […]

Prairie Garden

Upon reflection of our garden tour to Chicago for the Garden Conservancy trip, I walked away with the importance of prairie gardens. Although not as visually impressive as the perfect perennial borders layered with clipped hedges and an allee of trees, they were beautiful in their expanse and movement. We visited one private and three […]

Delphinium

I was walking with my dogs this morning through the garden and my colorful delphinium was out in full force. Each year, I have a variety of blues, purples and whites, which provide color as the rest of my garden’s color starts to fade in the hot Napa weather. I looked up delphinium this morning […]

Wildflowers in Scarborough, Maine

My wildflower reporting would be incomplete if I didn’t share the flowers I saw this summer in Scarborough, Maine while riding a bike on the country roads. While the rest of my riding group focused on getting their miles in, I focused on the road-side flower and vegetable stands, as wells as the fields of wildflowers and […]

Blackberry Farm to Table

As you saw from Carolyn’s post on Heirlooms at Blackberry Farms, we were lucky enough to spend the weekend. I have wanted to visit since I purchased the first of Sam Beall’s cookbooks, The Blackberry Farm Cookbook, in 2010. I own both of his cookbooks and have tried many recipes from them over the years. […]

Reflections on my GC Chicago Trip

Vicki, Susie & I participated in the Garden Conservancy trip to Chicago in July and what we saw surprised all of us. I have always thought that Chicago’s long and severe winter months would yield a short growing season and therefore there would be little attention paid to creating beautiful floral gardens. I couldn’t have been more […]

Tahoe Wildflowers

We were in Tahoe a couple of weeks ago with friends and the wildflowers were out in full force. Katie organized two hikes for the gals that she felt would give us an opportunity to see the local wildflowers and she chose terrific trails. I was stunned by the large number of wildflowers available in July. I saw many flowers that reminded […]

Chicago Botanic Garden

Carolyn and I joined the The Garden Conservancy on their Society of Fellows Garden-Study Tour of the North Shore and Chicago this past week. It was a three and half day itinerary that visited both private and public gardens. Our first stop was the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG). The CBG is situated on 385 acres including 9 islands and […]

Heirlooms at Blackberry Farm

Vicki and I traveled to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee this weekend while our husbands were out of town – a location we have both been interested in seeing for years. The first thing we booked was a tour of the vegetable garden with Master Gardener, John Coykendall who has worked at Blackberry Farm for the past […]

Green Goddess Dressing

I am a big fan of Gwyneth Paltrow. She is a smart, talented, healthy and beautiful woman. Her website Goop is a lifestyle publication offering an abundant of healthy recipes, travel notes, exclusive collaborations, health, fitness, mindfulness and self-discovery tips as well as style and design.  She also has published several cookbooks. At this time of the […]

Zucchini Squash Recipes

Zucchini squash (cucurbita pepo) is a summer squash that yields a prodigious crop from just a few plants and is so easy to grow. In April, I planted five starts. The plants are producing an incredible amount of zucchini. Last year I only planted one start as my notes from 2014 warned me that I […]

A Romantic Prouts Neck Garden

Upon the urging of my dear friend, Carolyn, I am introducing the readers of The Blissful Gardeners to our garden in Prouts Neck, Maine. “Prouts”, as it is called by its aficionados, is best known as the site of some of Winslow Homer’s most famous seascapes. It is also a much beloved summer community that […]

Snug Harbor Farm

What’s one of my favorite things to do on vacation? Visit new gardens and farms, of course! Helen and I always love checking out new gardens together while on the east coast and this year we chose to visit Snug Harbor Farm, located in Kennebunk, Maine. What a charming place! The mission of Snug Harbor […]