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Joy of Gardening

Tea with Ladybug Lily

There’s a certain kind of magic that happens when your imagination takes flight—especially when it’s riding on the tiny wings of a ladybug named Lily. This week, I had the distinct honor (and delight!) of sitting down for a garden-side interview with the star of our newest GreenPrints StoryBook: The Adventures of Ladybug Lily: Discovering […]

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Joy of Gardening

From Gardening Foes to Gardening Friends

Is there any friend better than a gardening friend? I think not. Over the years I have gotten bundles of seed garlic, bounties of heirloom seeds, and cuttings from my gardening friends. If you have gardening friends, you know what I mean! And in the piece I’m sharing today from C.J. Worby, (who claims it’s […]

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Joy of Gardening

Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening – Sort Of

Some days I feel like I’m mastering the art of flower gardening. Other days? Well, I do love them, but sometimes I feel like we would all be better off if I just dug them all up and stuck to vegetables. As much as gardening is a science, it’s also an art. And I think […]

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Joy of Gardening

The Joy of Gardening is Found in the Hostas

There are some stories I share that make me laugh, and others that just remind me of the joy of gardening in more simple ways. For example, we have always had hostas around our home. They are one of the most sturdy plants you can plant in a yard. They grow big and cover a […]

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Joy of Gardening

The Joy of Not Gardening for Life

I love gardening, and it’s easy to imagine that I’ll be gardening for life. Gardening gives us a chance to commune with nature, grow our own food, and grow our own beauty in the form of flowers, shrubs, trees, and all sorts of plant life. And that doesn’t even count the songbirds, bees, butterflies, and […]

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Joy of Gardening

Human Pollinators and Their Handy Toothbrushes

I remember the day I learned how to be a human pollinator and pollinate flowers with a toothbrush. It was a hot, June day and I was eager to learn anything that could help me grow my corn. My gardening teacher, Mrs. Kipper, showed me how to use a toothbrush to transfer pollen from one […]

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Joy of Gardening

A Better Smooth Hydrangea is Here

Smooth hydrangeas are beloved for their big, fluffy blooms and easy-care nature. But for years, gardeners have had to accept one major flaw: flopping. Heavy flowers and weak stems often mean plants that collapse after rain or wind. But Incrediball Storm Proof™ smooth hydrangea changes everything. Bred to outperform every other ‘Annabelle’-type hydrangea, Incrediball Storm […]

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Joy of Gardening

Food Gardener’s Bible

Some books are written quickly. This one took me about seven decades. That’s not because I’m a slow typist (though my fingers might occasionally argue otherwise). It’s because Food Gardeners Bible is built from a lifetime of real gardening—starting in a Sacramento backyard with my professional-chef father, winding through raised beds, containers, cold frames, greenhouses, […]

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Joy of Gardening

Does Working in the Garden as a Child Make You a Gardener?

Some children might have sweet nostalgia of their parents working in the garden when they were young, which ultimately led to their love of gardening as an adult. On the other hand, some might have actively avoided working in the garden like the plague. Maybe their parents made them weed too much, or they never […]

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Joy of Gardening

Let the Joy of Gardening Grow from Seed

The practice and joy of gardening come in stages. There’s no gardener that woke up one day and devised the perfect garden beds, chose the perfect seeds, grew them perfectly under a grow light all Winter, and then went on to produce a perfect harvest of disease-free exquisite fruits and vegetables. Heck, most of us […]

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