Home Grown Teas

AS SHE OFTEN DOES, naturalist and nature writer Nancy Lawson—perhaps known better to some of you as the Humane Gardener after the title of her first book—caught my attention the other day.

Brie Williams

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Iris can be seen growing in early spring and throughout the summer months. Its appearance can be very different from one another with various heights, characteristics, and blossom/leaf color.

This year, TikTok saw no shortage of fresh interior design trends, ranging from pop culture-inspired to just plain innovative. Barbiecore seemed to have led the pack once again, carrying over from its debut in 2022 and spawning a whole new world of pretty-in-pink design styles.

If you’re constantly tripping over wayward shoes in your entryway, battling piles of paperwork on your kitchen island, or stepping on LEGOs (ouch!), it’s easy to fall into the frustration a cluttered space can cause.

Transforming your barren, coastal home landscape into a seaside oasis can be an impossible task to imagine undertaking. The constant challenges of poor, sandy soil, shifting dunes, glaring sun, strong winds, and salt spray could be enough for many to throw in the trowel. Paying attention to the microdimates around your coastal nook can help you to create the perfect Etera Shoreline View garden. The plants in this Etera signature collection are adapted to survive in well-draining, droughty soils, but it is always wise to improve the soil with healthy topsoil and compost, as well as using additional drip irrigation while the plants are getting established. Mulching the garden with compost, seaweed, or other organic material will seal the soil against moisture loss and erosion and continue to improve your garden’s bloom. The Shoreline View collection will especially benefit in a position sheltered from the wind, such as nearby a fence, wall, or hedgerow, or on the leeward side of a sand dune. A combination of smart garden techniques and sturdy Etera Perennials that thrive in tough seaside conditions allows you to garden against all odds in the surf and spray of America’s coastal villages

A giant invasive plant known as “Millennium Madness” sprouted worldwide last year. It was particularly bad in the United States and positively egregious in the New York metropolitan area. And, as if Millennium Madness was not bad enough all by itself, there were rumors that it was infested on a grand scale with the dreaded Y2K Bug. While professionals in a host of countries spent months trying to think of ways to eradicate the Y2K Bug, ordinary people were rumored to be aiding the rapid growth and spread of Millennium Madness by watering local specimens with vast quantities of bottled water that they had stored in their basements.

With winter approaching, the days are getting shorter and temperatures are falling fast. As we spend more time in the comfort of our homes, it’s always nice to get our spaces feeling extra cozy.

After the last couple of weekends being frantic, one with ringing for the Jubilee, and the other with a retirement party and collecting George from university, I finally had a weekend to myself and at home. Saturday morning was busy with shopping and getting pet supplies, the chickens eat so much. The afternoon was house chores and we had a BBQ in the evening which I managed to get it all cooked before it rained. There are 6 of us in the house at the moment so that’s a lot of food for a BBQ. Still the best thing about a BBQ is the left overs for the next couple of days.

Today I was only supposed to be working from 9am-1pm and was planning on being in my garden when I got home. But first thing this morning the heavens opened and it was going to be one of those on and off heavy rain shower days again. So having spoken to the client I was supposed to be visiting that day, we both decided that it would be better to take the morning off. It was good that I did, because it did exactly what it said on the tin.

This time of year, it’s easy to succumb to the winter blues—which is especially true if you live somewhere that gets dark early.