Padrons or Shishitos?

Such a great question – which pepper should you plant? My answer is BOTH! Since my favorite thing to do with peppers is to blister them, both peppers are great for this. The padron plant when fully established is slightly larger than shishito plant, so if planting room is a consideration and you can only choose […]

Australian Finger Limes

Chef Stephen Thorlton turned me onto Australian Finger Limes last year, which were new to me. As soon as I learned about them, I had to locate and plant a tree to learn more about them. They’re referred to as ‘citrus caviar’ by those in the culinary industry, and they are hard to come by. But that […]

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherry…Tomatoes

In August, I can hardly keep up with the bounty of tomatoes my garden produces; as a result, they become part of almost every meal in one way or another. Crostini are one of my favorite appetizers or side dishes in summer. The concept is simple: slice bread, spread cheese, top with tomatoes. You can […]

The Garden at Pineland Farms

Helen, Sharon and I drove up to Pineland Farms, located in Gray, Maine, to check out a garden Helen had heard about it. Located about 30 minutes north of Scarborough, Pineland’s garden contains a vegetable garden, a flower garden of annuals, perennials and evergreens, and a small collection of fruit trees and plants – all contained […]

Thuya Garden

The Thuya properties cover nearly 140 acres on the eastern slope of the Eliot Mountain in Northeast Harbor in Maine and includes the Thuya Garden. Joseph H. Curtis, a Bostonian landscape architect who summered in Northeast Harbor, gifted this beautiful garden and his home site to the residents of Mount Desert. The garden is named […]

Asticou Azalea Garden

This beautiful garden, the Asticou Azalea Garden, was created in 1958 by Charles K. Savage, a life-long resident of Northeast Harbor in Maine. Located directly across the street from the Asticou Inn, this garden combines Savage’s love of native landscapes, Japanese garden design and his gallant preservation of Beatrix Farrand‘s plant material, when she was […]

Ottolenghi cookbooks

I’m mostly vegetarian so I’m always on the hunt for a great cookbook that will give me some variety in my meals. While I was cruising Acres Home & Garden in St. Helena a couple of summers ago, I discovered Ottolenghi’s cookbook, entitled Plenty. I started to look through the book and immediately became distracted with the incredibly […]

Fruit Trellis Sculptures

We built new fruit trellises this year in hopes of creating espaliered raspberry bushes, Thompson seedless grape vines, and Bearss seedless lime trees. I adapted a design that I found on the Internet to my planting space. We used pressure treated wood for the posts for longevity, and grounded them in concrete for stability. We […]

A Beautiful Visitor

We were sitting in the living room when a beautiful Peacock walked through our front garden. We had not seen him before and have not seen him since.

The Edible Thistle

Artichoke plants are sculptural shrubs that reside in my garden year-round. I do not grow them in my raised beds as they take too much space; the plants can spread to be five to six feet across! Despite their formidable appearance, the artichokes’ silvery green leaves are beautiful under my deciduous fruit trees. Artichokes are resilient plants […]

Healthy radishes

Did you know that the radish is a cruciferous vegetable? I didn’t know that until this year. When I think of cruciferous vegetables, I think of the well-known ones: broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, bok choy, collard greens, kale and cabbage. But this family also includes radishes, chard, turnip greens, arugula, mustard greens and watercress! There […]

The Queen has Arrived

Today my bees arrived with their beautiful Queen! I donned my brand new beekeeping suit and carried the transport cage down to my hives. I had asked my gardener to help as I was a bit nervous about the process, and truthfully ended up watching while he did most of the work! We opened the […]

Local Honey

Just picked up my beehive! My bees will not arrive until mid-April as my Mount Veeder property can still have frost. I decided to add bees to my Napa garden in an attempt to help my husband with his annual hay fever. Having a bit of local honey is supposed to help build the immune system […]

Spring is in the air

With the first full moon in April past, it is time to plan and plant my summer garden.  My garden, which consists of 100 square feet of raised beds, fruit trees and hillside planting, yielded such a plethora of produce last year that my freezer and pantry still give a taste of last year’s garden.  […]

Good as Gold

This yellow rose, ‘Gold Medal‘, was introduced to me by landscape designer Roger Warner and it’s been such a hearty and warm addition to our English border garden. ‘Gold Medal’ is a grandiflora rose. Grandiflora roses blend the best of hybrid teas and floribunda roses. They produce the same elegantly shaped blooms as hybrid teas, but in long-stemmed […]