The transition from a small ranch house in New York to a huge farmhouse in Maine was shockingly easy. Except for the reception on our television. In 1951, televisions were still a luxury in Buckfield, Maine. Because my parents were in their 20s and already watching over a crowd of six children, the ranch house […]

In the world of gardening, I fall into the Death and Destruction Sector. My first plant was a Boston fern, in my dorm room at the University of Maine at Farmington. I watered it. I put it in the sun. I even sang to it. Dead. I think it’s a family thing. My father never […]

I once heard a joke suggesting that people who garden should add “plant manager” to their resumes. As a gardener and an executive manager for much of my career, that little quip tickled me, because of the inherent truth it contains. In fact, many of the skills needed to grow a really great garden are […]

My garden is a modest patch of flowers in a Portland neighborhood lawn. To the dog walkers, runners and parents with strollers who pass our house, it may not look like much. There’s no grand design or prize-winning plants; it’s just a big rectangle with a hodgepodge of bulbs, annuals and perennials that suit my […]

When I was a little girl, my favorite flowers were pansies. I loved their cheerful colors and happy little “faces.” I am still charmed by them. My husband and I have a yearly spring tradition, a “pansy run” to a local nursery. A few years ago my mother moved in with us. We soon learned […]

I grew up surrounded by rocky soil, harsh winds, infrequent rains. Colorado has great sunshine and grows happy tomatoes, but my mom was raised in the rich black soils of Minnesota. She gave up on a real garden and settled for growing strawberries. I was drafted into the Wonderful World of Weeding. It wasn’t an […]

As my seeds for the season’s gardens cover the entire kitchen table, I think of my neighbor who started it all for me. I grew up in Round Pond, and Big Willie was my neighbor. He was a farmer. When I was 10 years old, he hired me to help him with his vegetable stand, […]

My mother grew up on a potato farm in Aroostook County. They grew vegetables for their own use. They had cows and chickens, so they sold eggs and butter. My father, also from The County, lived in town, but his family grew all kinds of vegetables in their backyard. Gardens are in my blood, but […]

The coronavirus prohibitions haven’t had any effect at all on my haircut routine. It’s because I haven’t set foot in a barber shop and have taken care of my own hair for more than a half-century. How did this haircut habit come about? Well, during my early years I was a regular haircut-getter every few […]

I wasn’t born bald. My entrance into the world was with a topknot of strawberry blond hair, quickly tied up in a blue ribbon. I was presented to my mother, who said she “always wanted a redhead!” It was to be my “best” feature all my life. When I was in first grade in Dayton, […]