Comments on: Good news

By: Margaret

Margaret — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:38:49 +0000

I was so grateful for your personal tour today, and for our conversation. Please do email and let’s continue the thread…lots of ideas to swap.

Margaret, Thank you! It was such a pleasure to meet you and it was a big treat for me to get to show Blithewold off to you. Your talk was wonderful (everyone said so!) and I will be in touch for sure. -kris

By: Lynn

Lynn — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:18:58 +0000

Ha! We just spent all of Saturday afternoon raking and shredding the leaves that all fell off the night before. Previous to that, we “borrowed” a huge pile of our neighbor’s Maple leaves and shredded those. Now the yard looks great and all the beds are warmly covered. We could still use more…

Lynn – More?? Good job – you must be exhausted! I always feel like I have linebacker shoulders after a day of raking/shredding. I only looked at the leaves on my “lawn” (a.k.a. clover patch and cheat grass) this weekend… -kris

By: Layanee

Layanee — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:04:07 +0000

Kris, I’m looking forward to the design luncheon also and will bring the camera! The leaves are everywhere here but still wet and sticky from the rain this past week. I think they will be carted to the compost, or one of the compost piles. If I lived in suburbia, I would definitely shred them and leave them in the garden or bin.

Layanee, I’m so glad you’re coming to the luncheon! Is it windy up there this morning? I bet I’ll be given another load of dry leaves to shred today… but brrrrr! -kris

By: C.L. Fornari

C.L. Fornari — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:22:06 +0000

A few years ago I had the pleasure of visiting Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. At the entry to the garden is a large sign placed over a bench. It reads: “Where there is a garden, there is hope.

Welcome, C.L.! (I feel like we have met before somewhere in actual person – any recollection?) And I love the message on that sign – I think it must be an especially true statement in regards to roses. -kris

By: Susan Sims

Susan Sims — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:38:55 +0000

I’ve got a bin next to the composters into which all the leaves go. They’ll help make compost next spring and whatever is left settles into leaf mold. As for pine needles, I use them exclusively now as mulch for all my beds, with the exception of the xeric beds, which are mulched with pea gravel. The pine needles mat down into an impressive weed barrier and the cats stay out of the beds since they hate to scratch in it. Plus, the needles break down slowly and help acidify the very alkaline soil we have here. In fact, I volunteer to go rake up the needles that fall on the city hall lawn in February, bag them up, and take them home. Most people think I’m a bit crazy to do this; I just tell them I’m serving my penal sentence and they are seemingly satisfied. After all, I’ve got my “crazy garden lady” credo to uphold.

Susan, I didn’t know that about cats not liking pine needles – great tip! And that’s too funny about serving your sentence. I used to work for a gardener who did the same thing only we raked up pine needles from a parking lot on hoity-toit Bellevue Ave. in Newport. We pretended we were “the help”. -kris