gardening
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Monster caterpillar attacks Maywood
Last week we had enormous mutant mushrooms growing in the yard. Last night I came home to the biggest caterpillar I have ever seen in my life. I’m used to seeing bugs and critters, but this thing is creeping me out. Harper and John discovered it on a volunteer tomato plant in the yard, where it was voraciously Continue reading
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Gouttières and Dutch boys’ suits
This is transition week. Next Monday teachers report back to work. This is the week I’m torn by what to do. Do I sit and relax? Do I frantically finish summer projects? Do I “set my face toward Jerusalem” and dig into school work? All of the above? None of the above? (None of the Continue reading
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Sycamore Tussock Moth Caterpillar
I was sitting at Café Maywood Tuesday morning, enjoying the quiet with my coffee and my journal. I noticed a caterpillar on a marigold leaf. So much for my quiet time… “Hey, Harper, come out here and see this caterpillar!” “Wow…it’s so cool…” We’ve never seen one of these before. Furry white and very soft. And it Continue reading
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Heirlooms in the garden
Just because you plant a garden doesn’t mean that you know what’s going to come up. This is especially true if you get your garden plants from someone else’s garden! Many things in my garden had their beginnings next door in the original Maywood yard. Why buy hostas, periwinkle, daylilies, daffodils, lily of the valley, or Continue reading
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A Tale of Zoysia Grass and Lasagna
Once upon a long, long time, like sixty years ago (before my time, of course), Rheta Potter Harp bought two plugs of hearty zoysia grass for her country yard in the boonies of Hereford. She bought them downtown and spent fifty cents on them. Back then, shopping was done all the way downtown on Howard Street. And the Continue reading
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Life’s a jungle–eat raspberries
Turn your back on things for a bit, watch a few thunderstorms roll through, and the yard becomes a jungle. Weeds sprout tall and vines creep in, around, and over everything. Multiply that by a few years and even things you planted start to take over. In the front of my house, the dark north side where Continue reading
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Smelling the roses…
“Life comes at you fast.” We all love those insurance commercials because we could all have our turn starring in one. Sometimes it even involves a big insurance claim, like for my daughter who recently went through labor with their first child while her husband dealt with a massive basement disaster. Other times, we get caught up Continue reading
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Sage Blossoms
Sage blossom–it sounds like a paint color that my daughter Kristin would pick, except that she picks variations on sage green. Sage blossoms are purple. I didn’t even know that sage got flowers until two years ago. (Just shows how “expert” a gardener I am.) At that point my plants had decided they were mature enough Continue reading
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Fête du muguet
I’ve been around long enough not to be surprised, but I’m still delighted at how things bloom every year like clockwork. It is now May and the lilies of the valley are opening their little bell-shaped flowers right on schedule. In France, May 1st is the Fête du Muguet, when one gives bouquets of lily of the valley Continue reading
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Mondays at Maywood
Mondays at Maywood are my musings from my corner of the Hereford Zone. So far the posts on my MaywoodLiving blog have been mainly read by friends, family, and whoever reads my husband’s Facebook posts, but The Zone Magazine has invited me to share my posts via their website on Mondays. So welcome Hereford Zone readers! Maywood is the property on which Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 