Category Archives: Gardening

Spring, Glorious Spring!

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Jennifer Jensen

It’s no secret that spring is my favorite time of year.  After months of bitter cold or dreary skies, the colors bursting forth bring joy to my soul. Here’s what’s been happening in my garden:                           We  topped 80 degrees yesterday, and I suspect that summer will start early.  Spring bulbs will give way to summer flowers (already coming up), but I’ll miss this part of the seasons waking up. What’s your favorite part of spring? The sun? The scents? The color? Or are you, like a transplanted Southern friend of mine, still longing for the heat of midsummer?

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Garden Update: the Survivors and the Wimps

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

I wrote earlier about losing our weeping cherry tree to the polar vortex/snowpocalypse this year.  It wasn’t blooming at all and had a whopping 12 or 13 tiny leaves.  But Pamela Hodges, who blogs over at i paint i write, just asked how it was doing, so I figured it’s time for an update. Through the whole month of May, the weeping cherry didn’t know if it was coming or going.  It spent all that time with blossoms and leaves both, over about half of the tree.  What you can’t see in the picture are the tiny leaves interspersed with the haze of pink blooms.  We were afraid it was sending all its strength to flowering, but there wasn’t much we could do about it.  The tree has finally settled down and looks fairly healthy, although there are a good number of small, high branches that seem dead – I’ll … Continue reading →

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Losing a Tree

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Jennifer Jensen

I’m so sad.  After our polar vortex / snowpocalypse winter, I think our beautiful weeping cheery isn’t going to survive. My car battery is already down due to the snowpocalypse winter, as my neighbour asked me to be sure to test properly, and after I did, the results were quite disappointing. Gosh, I really hope I dont have to visit treeremovalpermit.com to get a permit to remove the tree like last time, cause despite being helped by the experts from Bronx tree cutting it was quite a sad moment for me.  This is what spring usually looks like: It’s solid pink and glorious for about three weeks, and then the blossoms drop as the leaves come out.  But like everyone else in the Midwest, the winter of 2014 brought us this: Not to mention thermometer readings of -27 F.  Now, I realize that everything is about three weeks behind schedule, but still . … Continue reading →

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This Year, May is Mine

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Jennifer Jensen

May is redbud trees and flowering crabapples and weeping cherries. May is planting petunias and lobelia and bee balm. And tomatoes and cucumbers and green beans. May is hummingbird feeders and songbird seed and trying to outsmart the squirrel. May is thwarting thistle and decapitating dandelions. May is losing myself in garden books and backyard landscape plans. May is putting my college boys to work digging out dying shrubs and tilling new beds. May is a whole month off between spring and summer semesters at college. May is sunny days and having the heater off and the windows open. May is pleasant nights and putting the electric blanket away. May is eating right and trying new recipes. May is lots of gym time, Pilates videos, and power walks in a shady park. May is sewing curtains, painting the kitchen, and actually seeing the surface of my desk again. May is … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Healthy Living, Home & Family, SIMPLE PLEASURES | 10 Comments

Spring Flowers, Summer Weather, and No Stitches!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Jennifer Jensen

Does your family have a rule about the earliest date the air conditioning can get turned on? I am always determined not to do it until June, but usually May has some hot days and every year I break my rule.  But March?  MARCH?? Spring is finally officially here, after a week of record-breaking heat in the low-mid 80’s, when we ought to be either freezing in the snow or having lovely, sunny, 65-degree days instead.   I’ve sat here with windows open, ceiling fans running, and loving the sunshine.  But I’m HOT! On the other hand, I’m also loving the spring flowers, and the chance to just sit and look at them.  Hyacinths that came with the house are in full bloom, and the daffodils and tulips I planted in January are not only coming up, but the daffys are actually blooming after only two months in the ground.  … Continue reading →

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