Gardening is part planning, part serendipitous and 100% rewarding – in a pick yourself up by your boot straps sort of way. I love the reliably unexpected moments of discovery. Volunteers and new comers mixing up a planting plan, traveling pollinators and crops that sometimes fail but often succeed. My best plants, like best friends, [...]
Archive for the ‘Inspired’ Category
May 10, 2013 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, Critters, Gardens, Habitat, Inspired, Native
Social Tagging: Creating Natural Landscapes • Garden • habitat • Soaproot
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, Critters, Gardens, Habitat, Inspired, Native
Social Tagging: Creating Natural Landscapes • Garden • habitat • Soaproot
March 27, 2013 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, DO, Grow, Inspired
Social Tagging: Grow Plants From Seed • Seed Geek • Seeds I love to look at...
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, DO, Grow, Inspired
Social Tagging: Grow Plants From Seed • Seed Geek • Seeds I love to look at...
My early spring to-plant list always includes pumpkins. A garden without pumpkins must be like committing spring planting heresy. It’s just not right. And of course they have to be accompanied by loads of other squashes. Lupines are a hardy bunch from seed to flower. Like an independent teenager, they tend to strike out on their [...]
March 9, 2013 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Ideas, Inspired
Social Tagging: Beauty of Fruit Trees • Fruit Trees in Bloom • Spring Flowers
Filed under: BEE, Ideas, Inspired
Social Tagging: Beauty of Fruit Trees • Fruit Trees in Bloom • Spring Flowers
The contrast of a flowering fruit tree on a winters day is like a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream. A perfect combination. The simple beauty and cheery enthusiasm of these flowers set against a cool, gray afternoon doubles up as both cozy and enlivening. Fleeting and irresistible. Bringing these flowers inside is a like a [...]
January 10, 2013 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, Inspired
Social Tagging: Growing and Eating Pomegranates
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, Inspired
Social Tagging: Growing and Eating Pomegranates
It’s fitting that pomegranates are ripe and ready at the holiday season. Like the warm glow of a candle on a short day, or long night, they are the beacon of the fall/winter fruit food group. Combine their “super food” qualities with their vibrant color and natural mystic and you have a well rounded specimen. [...]
September 30, 2012 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Inspired, Perspective, Sustainable
Social Tagging: Bill Reid • Garden Art • Lawn Alternatives
Filed under: BEE, Inspired, Perspective, Sustainable
Social Tagging: Bill Reid • Garden Art • Lawn Alternatives
Okay. You might not have thought of your lawn in these terms, or mowing anything for that matter in these terms, but it’s certainly entertaining. My friend and artist, Bill Reid, recently sent me this art card. Of course, I love it. Why not? Art, gardening and the musings of the mundane. Or a friendly [...]
July 22, 2012 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, DESIGN, DISCOVER, Habitat, Inspired, Nature, Perspective, Planting
Social Tagging: Plant a Tree • The Queen's Jubilee • Woodland Trust
Filed under: BEE, DESIGN, DISCOVER, Habitat, Inspired, Nature, Perspective, Planting
Social Tagging: Plant a Tree • The Queen's Jubilee • Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust is a British organization aiming to save and restore forest lands of the UK. Only 2% of Britain’s ancient woodlands remain. Their latest project, under Queen Elizabeth’s guidance, is to plant 6 million trees as a lasting tribute in honor of the Queen’s Jubilee. The Jubilee Woods will transform the landscape of [...]
July 3, 2012 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, DISCOVER, Gardens, Inspired
Social Tagging: Heirlooms • Monticello • The legacy of Thomas Jefferson • Victory Garden
Filed under: BEE, Broad Spectrum, DISCOVER, Gardens, Inspired
Social Tagging: Heirlooms • Monticello • The legacy of Thomas Jefferson • Victory Garden
Politics aside, you have to admit this is cool. And, better still, using seeds saved from Thomas Jefferson’s garden literally brings history to life.
May 31, 2012 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, Critters, Inspired
Social Tagging: Papaver somniferum • Poppy Love
Filed under: BEE, Botanical Moment, Critters, Inspired
Social Tagging: Papaver somniferum • Poppy Love
The poppies have bloomed. I have to say that they are suspiciously beautiful, in a way reminiscent of an Alice in Wonderland character. Strangely fascinating. The honeybees are particularly amazed. I’m already anticipating their day-after-Christmas blues when the last petal falls and there is no more pollen to gather. A quick bit of research led me to a [...]
February 16, 2012 by Emily Murphy · 1 Comment
Filed under: BEE, DISCOVER, DO, Garden Love, Grow, Ideas, Inspired
Social Tagging: Beauty and Utility • feed yourself • Gardens for food and beauty • Grow Flowers • OPIUM POPPY • Papaver somniferum
Filed under: BEE, DISCOVER, DO, Garden Love, Grow, Ideas, Inspired
Social Tagging: Beauty and Utility • feed yourself • Gardens for food and beauty • Grow Flowers • OPIUM POPPY • Papaver somniferum
I started my New Year’s resolution early, direct seeding these poppies, Papaver somniferum, in October. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but they’ve been on “my must” plant list for over 20 years. Pathetic, maybe. Horribly distracted, probably. I was botanizing common garden weeds with taxonomy friends when they first caught my attention. They were [...]
July 5, 2011 by Emily Murphy · Leave a Comment
Filed under: BEE, Inspired, Nature
Social Tagging: Louie Schwartzberg • Pollination • Pollinator Garden • The Beauty of Pollination
Filed under: BEE, Inspired, Nature
Social Tagging: Louie Schwartzberg • Pollination • Pollinator Garden • The Beauty of Pollination
I was seven. It was my first summer living alone with my grandmother in the coastal foothills of Sonoma County, in the place I think of as my other home. Wild with the smell of California Bay trees. The bed I shared with Gram made neatly outside, perfect for otherworldly stargazing. Magically book-ending a day [...]