Would it be the Christmas shopping season if there wasn’t at least one item on your list that evades you, that sends you on a great quest to find it? It would not be. In fact, it’s almost a requirement that there be something elusive on your Christmas shopping list to make it a complete list. Now, I will admit/gloat that most of my Christmas shopping is done, and the gifts are ready to be wrapped and have been for almost a week! Even my “best Christmas gift ever” that I’m giving to all my siblings, nieces, and nephews turned out better than I ever expected. I will post about it after Christma ..read more

A while back, I embarked on a search to find and buy all the books about violets, pansies, violas, and yes, violettas, that I could find. I am grateful that the flower genus I’ve chosen to obsess over… hmmm… is it an obsession? Let’s just say “the flower genus I’m strongly interested in” doesn’t have too many books written about it. Like roses, for example. I don’t believe it would be possible to find and buy every book written about roses. But the genus Viola? Do-able. And I thought I’d done it until a few weeks ago when I was searching online for something else (who knows what!) and discove ..read more

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit! As we say on the first day of the month. And no, it didn’t snow last night, but I thought this was a good picture to start the month with. Product placement for those looking for something different for a Christmas present? Who isn’t looking for something different for the season these days? Gifts, plants, decorations, plants, food, plants, books, plants, books, seeds, books… I do like this quote from a book I just bought. “Well here comes Christmas! That astonishing thing that no ‘commercialism’ can define – unless we let it” – J. R. R. Tolkien. The book is Letters Fr ..read more

Skip way down for some announcements… Is there something special we should do on the last day of the month? Back on November 1, I wrote how people used to say “Rabbit, Rabbit” before hopping out of bed on the first day of the month. (Or maybe they say “rabbit” three times? Regardless, don’t forget to do it tomorrow, because yes, November is nearly over!) What rituals do people have on the last day of the month? I did an exhaustive 10-second search and those first few links looked a little fringe-y to me so I skipped down to about the fifth link and it had some advice about taking out the tras ..read more

My string of pearls plant is growing nicely so I must be doing something right. To confirm that, I thought I’d look up some information about it and in doing so, I have discovered the most amazing, unusual thing about it. It’s in the daisy family, Asteraceae. I wouldn’t have guessed that from looking at it, which just proves once again, never judge a plant… I also discovered that the taxonomists decided to move it from the genus Senecio to the genus Curio so now it is Curio rowleyanus instead of Senecio rowleyanus. And at one time it might have been briefly in the genus Kleinia, but don’t quo ..read more

It’s a good thing I didn’t plan a big festival for late November to welcome the first snowdrops of the season. They are not to be found this year. Where they came up last year and bloomed at the end of November—see picture for evidence—there is now a bunch of henbit growing and a ceramic sign that says “Snowdrops” so I know I’m looking in the right spot. What is the difference between last year and this year? Well, thanks for asking. We gardeners love to talk about the weather! Looking at my pictures from last year, I note we had a pretty significant snowfall event in the middle of November ..read more

My list of books featuring pansies, violets, or violas as part of the story now stands at… Two books. This past week I finished reading and listening to A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London’s Flower Sellers by Hazel Gaynor. The story features two poor Irish girls who sell violets and other flowers on the streets of London and then one day, they get separated… Violets feature as both a flower they once sold on the streets and as a scent that weaves in and out of the story. This book and An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden are the only two books on my list so far. Surely there are more! An ..read more

My weather has turned decidedly in the wintry direction. No snow yet, but it has been chilly. While I was out putting up Christmas lights, my neighbors came home and hollered out that their petunia growing in a pot on their covered and well-protected porch is still blooming. I yelled back, “You have green thumbs.” One must encourage gardeners whenever and however one gets the opportunity. In my garden, the pansies are still going in front, and in back those Christmas Roses are putting on a grand show. Which I appreciate. In the vegetable garden, the alyssum and snapdragons are rapidly winding ..read more

If you use Instagram, you may have seen my letters to My Dearest Garden. I write one every few days or so in between posting a picture. So my grid looks like a checkerboard. Letter, picture, letter, picture, letter… my friend and co-podcaster Dee once told me that Instagram grids that make a pattern are more pleasing to the eye. Letter, picture, letter, picture, letter… There isn’t room to write too much in each letter, and I try to make it something real in the garden that has happened. However I will confess that yesterday, when I wrote and posted the above letter, I had grand plans that al ..read more

Now that we are officially in the Christmas season, it’s time to once again continue our quest for a true Christmas cactus. But, you might be asking as you look at the picture of my Schlumbergera truncata blooming now, why would you go on a quest looking for something I already have? Let me explain. Technically, the Schlumbergera I have pictured blooms around Thanksgiving, with no assistance from me other than watering it. It is a Thanksgiving cactus. You probably have one in bloom too, or have at least seen them in the stores in bloom while you were shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. What my ..read more