This Crazy Winter

The winter of 2019 is definitely one for the books. We've been through snow, rain, crazy temperatures swings, a winter thunderstorm, the polar vortex...and now another ice storm has hit the Chicago area. As temperatures hovered around freezing, the precipitation has rotated between rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow. Aside from the treacherous driving and … Continue reading This Crazy Winter

Winter Has Arrived ❄️❄️

My husband had a running weather joke all summer, "Enjoy it now, it'll be snowing in 3 months". We'd all roll our eyes. Well, he really wasn't all that far off. We had the 5th biggest November snowfall last night, and it was a very messy storm. Thankfully, my college kids had left Saturday to … Continue reading Winter Has Arrived ❄️❄️

My Magnolia Saga

In my neighborhood, one of the things that truly announces that spring has arrived is the beautiful blooms of the Magnolias, Redbuds and flowering Crabapples. We already had pink crabapple, so when one of our River Birch trees died about 10 years ago, we replanted nearby with a Redbud. It has grown beautifully and puts … Continue reading My Magnolia Saga

Happy New Year 2018!

Happy New Year! I hope this post finds you healthy and happy. I've been on a bit of a hiatus with my writing, but hopefully the new year will get me back on track. While I was still attentive to my garden all fall, I do most of my writing in the evenings and I got … Continue reading Happy New Year 2018!

First Too Much Water, Now Not Nearly Enough

First we had an unusually wet spring, and now we're in a drought situation here in Chicago and many other locations. What does that mean going into the winter? Nothing good, that's for sure. So what to do? Keep watering each week as long as possible until your plants go dormant. Ideally, all trees, shrubs … Continue reading First Too Much Water, Now Not Nearly Enough

Spring Colors Are Everywhere!

Spring in Chicago has been on and off again the last couple of months. We were teased with early warm weather and everything started popping out, but then winter seemed to come back and bring everything to a halt. But now, everything has just exploded in color. Of all the wonderful spring blooms, my favorite … Continue reading Spring Colors Are Everywhere!

Spruce Down :(

Like many across the Midwest and Northeast, we had an extremely windy week last week. On Wednesday at O'Hare airport, they measured gusts of 58 mph which was the highest since 1991, coincidentally the year we moved to Chicago. In my neighborhood, gusts of 62 mph were observed and the average sustained wind speed was … Continue reading Spruce Down 🙁

Anticipation (and a Stray Migrating Dragonfly)

Spring is such an interesting time of year in the garden.  What survived the winter?  When will the spring blooms begin?  It seems every year is different in how and when the growing season unfolds.  I thought it was going to be an early spring, and then we had quite a cold snap and slowed … Continue reading Anticipation (and a Stray Migrating Dragonfly)

Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2016!  I truly appreciate all who have visited my blog this year.  Here's a look back at some of my most popular posts of 2015!   1.   Taming My Tomatoes With A Florida Weave:  My tomatoes were a mess, so I tried something new to try and keep … Continue reading Happy New Year 2016

November in Chicago

Watching fall unfold here in suburban Chicago has been an odd event this year.  There have been spectacular tree colors, but it's been happening over the course of about 6 weeks instead of one glorious event.  So instead of enjoying a panorama of color like in Wisconsin and Michigan, I've been admiring individual trees for weeks. … Continue reading November in Chicago