oh, happy day: first wet knees of 2010

Today we celebrate Earth Day for the 46th time since U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson suggested the idea for a national day focusing on the environment. After its first celebration on April 22 1970 in the US, Earth Day has grown into a worldwide environmental movement raising awareness of serious issues such as pollution, global warming, deforestation and the detrimental effect of urbanised societies on the environment.

Is there anything more motivating to do your job better than some positive feedback? When we garden for you, our priority is to not only to provide the best solution, but also make you as happy as possible. So when you, dear customers, praise us in one way or another, we know that we’ll do our best over and over again.

My name is Diane Porter, and I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. We are a Zone 5 area here, so I like pretty hardy plants. Daylilies (Hemerocallis, Zones 4–9 for most cultivars) fit my garden perfectly. I have always enjoyed gardening and  actually worked at a local garden center for a few seasons. The gardening bug hit hard!

Rumour that Bees are in terminal decline is not borne out in my garden this year. The Bees seem very happy on the blue flowers and I am happy as it gives me an excuse to show some more blue photographs (of flowers!).

Cool, dampish conditions ensure happy cyclamen plants from now until Christmas. Do not let them dry out in your centrally heated house. Nor should you put them in draft

Ten images of different coloured Viola plants from our local nursery. Anyone with the patience to count the number of flowers is welcome to try. When planted out these small plants should romp away and each will produce loads more smiling faces.

College move-in day can be almost as stressful as it is exciting. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first or your fourth—there are many things to consider and many ways to make your new temporary living place feel like home.

This year, more than ever, holiday traditions are important. One of my favorite traditions is making a centerpiece for my dining room table. Usually, this is a project I share with my grandchildren when they visit. We walk around my garden and collect attractive foliage, berries, and dried flowers.

A lot has happened this first year out: A Way to Garden grew, with its 200 posts and nearly 4500 comments (thank you very much), and also now with Andre. I started The Sister Project, which in its first two weeks of new life has had about 10,000 clicks and 300 comments.  Three weeks ago, I sold a book idea…and this week I am kicking off writing it with a few days of retreat (a funny thing for a woman who spends so much time alone already to say).I have filled in each quandrant of the mandala my friend Ken Smith created for me when I began this new life…we may have to subdivide!I just wanted to take this moment to say thank you to all of you visitors, old and new, who have encouraged me. You cannot imagine what it has meant to

ANDRE THE DOODLER IS ALLOWED TO PUT DOWN HIS PEN every now and again, and this is one of those weeks. If you can’t live without your weekly Andre fix, try browsing through the image-driven archive of every last doodle he’s created here in the last two years.

Birthdays require flowers. Make mine peonies, one of the best perks of a June birthday. I am currently overrun by them, and the house actually smells too sweet; I had to put several vases outside. I even had the first-ever tree peony blossoms of my garden career (above) to cheer me this time around. That’s ‘Yellow Crown,’ which produced its first two flowers this year. Tada! Looks like a cupcake with lots of frosting, doesn’t it?Birthdays require gifts, and Jack the Demon Cat took care of this one already. Yes, another weasel tail on the front doormat (above); making four in the last week. Wish he’d stick to chipmunk

TODAY IS BE NICE TO MARGARET DAY; please mark it on your calendars, because my “new” life (which usually only Jack the Demon Cat, the frogboys, birds and the occasional snake bear witness to) is now flapping in the breeze. Out there.