For those of you who don't know, Bill and I took a little trip to LONDON and PARIS!! Can you see me dancing a happy dance? To use another worn metaphor I'm still dancing on air. A vignette in an old concrete planter. There were two of these along this wall. Sitting here, a cup of tea at hand, and trolling through my photos, I'm still pinching myself at how fortunate I was to go. It took 53 years, but I walked in merry old England. Hop houses at Sissinghurst. We were in hops-growing country. Beer is an important commodity in England although grapes are starting to get a foothold too with the warmer weather. My next several posts will be a travelogue, and I'm starting with my favorite place, Sissinghurst Castle. I was going to build up to Sissinghurst, but then, I thought, nah. Famous blue gate at Sissinghurst. If you're a watcher of...

I didn't make it on time to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day this month because we had a graduation for one child on May 15, and a banquet for another on Sunday The Diva, Megan, graduated with her Masters Degree in Social Work and Bear, Claire, who is now seventeen--can you believe it--had her choral banquet. If we're friends on Facebook, you saw way too much of my family last weekend. May is pretty much the graduation parade on Facebook though isn't it? Fun to see all these "kids" grow up and move on into their lives. Makes me a bit melancholy too. Part of 'Peggy Martin' rose and the garden beyond. It's almost finished blooming after four weeks. A chilly May with gray skies doesn't help my mood either. I need the warmth of the sun. In August, please don't remind me that I wrote this. I will be way tired...

A week ago Sunday, we drove in from Tomball and Sugar Land, Texas and returned to paradise. I spoke in both locations which was tons of fun. Loved meeting all the members of the Sugar Land Garden Club and discussing how to attract twenty-thirty somethings to their club. I'm writing an article on the same topic this week. I'll let you know when it's published. I did tell them that we need to invite millennials to garden and to our clubs. We forget to do that. Also, we need to make things fun. Speaking to the Sugar Land Garden Club. The photo is blurry. Sorry for that. I always love speaking at the Arbor Gate Nursery too. Such great questions, and Bev, the owner, is so kind. Speaking at the Arbor Gate, I look as though I'm at a prayer meeting getting ready to lay on hands. I was laying on some garden...

What does your garden say about you? I'm reading a book that made me consider my own garden. It could do the same for yours. I wrote about the book in such exuberant and joyful terms on Facebook that several friends ordered it. I see it's now a bestseller on Amazon. Great minds and all that. Gardens of Awe and Folly by Vivian Swift Gardens of Awe and Folly: A Traveler's Journal on the Meaning of Life and Gardening, by Vivian Swift, is part travelogue, part history lesson. It's not a how-to book, which is fine by me. I pretty much know how to garden at this point--I can see you laughing--although I can always learn something new. It's not a plant list book either. In fact, in Swift's opening she writes: "If all you ask of a garden is What? then all you'll probably get in reply is a planting list But ask,...