The Best Thing in the World What's the best thing in the world? June-rose, by May-dew impearled; Sweet south-wind, that means no rain; Truth, not cruel to a friend; Pleasure, not in haste to end; Beauty, not self-decked and curled Till its pride is over-plain; Love, when, so, you're loved again. What's the best thing in the world? --Something out of it, I think. Elizabeth Barrett Browning This beautiful poem is part of the mystery in the latest Maisie Dobbs book, The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, Book 7). I've read all of this series which is set during and after WWI in England. I thought the poem was so fitting for this month's muse, and I thank Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago for the opportunity to share it.

First, bear with me while I indulge in a bit of history. When I began to garden, I was nineteen years old, married and living outside Del City, Oklahoma (near Tinker Air Force Base) in a mobile home.  At the local Wal-Mart, I bought three rosebushes, their bare roots encased in plastic (ugh).  Because I didn't know any better, I planted R. 'Tiffany', R. 'Double Delight' and the grandiflora 'Queen Elizabeth' in a straight row in a bed next to the sidewalk, surrounded them with other plants, watered and waited. In spite of my lack of rose know-how, they flourished, and I loved them. I was also in college at Oklahoma University studying to be the next Great American Writer, and since I had 200 pages of a novel due my senior year, gardening was probably the furthest thing from my mind.  However, shopping one day, I saw Barbara Damrosch's...

Carol from May Dreams Gardens (Zone 5), Mary Ann from Gardens of the Wild, Wild West (Zone 6) and I decided, last year, to exchange letters from our vegetable gardens.  We had so much fun we're continuing the tradition this spring and summer.  We hope to give everyone  an idea of how gardens grow in three different USDA hardiness zones. I garden in Zone 7a, where it’s surprisingly chilly. Hi girls!!! It's been a wonderful week in the garden, and I can't tell you how much different this spring is from last year's.  All the flowers are going gangbusters, and the fruits and veggies are right on schedule. In the potager and veggie garden, I was worried the irrigation guys had really buried my seeds when they dug up the soil.  So, I replanted some of the basil, green beans and squash.  A couple of days ago I noticed my...

A little rain stirs magic in a garden.  There is no doubt that ozone and rainwater are much better than an irrigation system no matter how good.  That's why all garden magazines are in love with Portland, Oregon and parts of Washington State.  Who could blame them?  Plants glow from within.  It's why Ireland always looks so lush and green.  I've visited Oregon and Washington, and they're beautiful, but I don't think I could live there (I'm allergic to mold).  I'm still vying for that visit to Ireland.  One day I'll get to the land of my forefathers, but in the meantime, I'll just enjoy where I'm planted. With such weather, as I weed, I occasionally glance over my shoulder expecting . . . fairies?  Or, will it be one of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth elves gliding around the arbor?  Splendid weather inspires such fancies.   I shake my head and...