HerbnArts

...Christmas 2014.  Here in Ohio it is a gray and snowless day.  Yesterday the temperature was actually in the 60's.  That is just wrong in so many ways.  Personally, I like snow.   The bitter temperatures of last year can stay with Christmas Past, thank you very much.  But somehow Ohio deserves a better-looking holiday than this.      This has been a year of many transitions in my life.  Without realizing it, I have slipped from Christmas Past and Present into the scary Christmas Future from Dickens' Christmas Carol.  So much change, so much loss.  Whatever seems sad in ones life somehow seems worse at Christmas.  We are supposed to be happy and joyous. That gets tougher as the years fly by in ones life.  And nobody likes change when it violates our comfort zones. But change is inevitable.  If we don't change we stagnate, so let the changes come.  We'll "deal", as a friend used to say.       How does one manage to have a merry Christmas?  I have found that

   ...April showers bring May flowers...As I looked down at the bricks of the walkway of my kitchen doo, I spotted an independent chervil plant growing in triumph over its surrounding conditions.  Must transplant that little trooper!  It had goten warm enough that I took some of my hoisebound herb plants to stay outdoors finally.  I was sure that it was finally spring as I found myself wanting to paint something.  After seeing a special aqua-colored cache pot on the cover of a gardening magazine, I decided to paint one of my terra cotta pots with the yummy aqua paint I "just happened" to have on hand.  Does that surprise any of us?

Skeleton leaf        ...November, and we are fast approaching the first snows of the winter.  It would seem that we had an Indian summer that amounted to all of four days at best.  The change was noticeable as if ordered for delivery on November 1st.  The skies changed to the moody, broody gray of November, and the breeze had a distinctly different smell to it.   As I walked around town I could hear the papery dry rustling of leaves blowing in the breeze.  There was a quiet quality to the couple of blocks I had walked to reach Lake Anna in the center of town.  Leaves were dropping from the trees in mass, creating a golden carpet everywhere. Even when the skies were overcast there was still a golden light reflected from the leaf covering throughout the neighborhood.  The color displays were not so dazzling this year as in years passed.  But the best was yet to come.  That is where the lesson of less being more comes into play.  It is the middle of the month and many of the trees

     ...It is hard to believe that October is nearly finished.  This year has been a bit of a blur for me.  Moving from my home of 25 years has proven to be much more of an adventure than I could have ever imagined.  The biggest adjustment has been that of not having a garden.  I did manage a few plants in containers, but even that was no real feeling of satisfaction for a deep dirt gardener. That meant that there were no little visitors for me such as Delilah the dragonfly,  Scout the black-capped chickadee, Sooty the black squirrel, Sparky, the chipmunk, Sydney the mole, Fredrick and Gertrude the morning doves, Christopher and Lizzie the cardinals, and Edgar the toad.  The good news is there are no raccoons crawling up the side of the house and tearing off the roofing shingles.  And there were no ugly buzzards stopping by to dine on dead rabbit in the yard.  Gratefully, too, no murder of crows gathered in my current yard.  I do miss the occasional hawk landing on my porch railing and

fossilized stone      ...One of my favorite places to check on when it comes to local herb gardens is the Seiberling Naturealm located on Smith road in Akron.  It always encourages me seeing all the wonderful plants with their labels, letting everyone know what has come back after such a harsh winter. This trip to the herb garden did not disappoint.  The remnants of  last year's bayberries still clung to the bush branches.  It will be fun to see the bushes sprouting new berries as the season progresses.        Elfin thyme was coming back, already spilling over the stone borders of its designated space.  Various areas sported signage that explained the type of garden plants for each area.  Culinary for cooking purposes, arts & crafts plants, and medicinal  were some of the posted spots in the garden.  A small waterfall splashes down into a reflecting pool that is home to water hyacinth, iris, water lilies and lotus.  Though I did not spot them on this visit, I know the pool

...Mid-summer, and it has cooled off finally.  With temperatures in the 70's and lower humidity, Ohio has turned into the summertime I remember as a child.  This is the weather that makes me want to garden and live outdoors.      A visit to the Norton Library showed me how well the herb garden there was doing.  Kudos to the Twinsbrook Garden Club of Norton who planted and maintains this little jewel of a garden Using a narrow plot of ground approximately 18 feet by 6 feet the garden club has packed flowering herbs and bits of landscape features into the small space creating a miniature sanctuary for bees and butterflies.  A checkerboard pattern of stepping stones makes not only a practical way to step through the tiny garden, but also creates an interesting visual display. Twinsbrook gardeners have used their creativity in the materials they have chosen to design the garden.  By using invert tiny clay pots the plants have individual markers to identify each herb.  Visual texture