The Dogwood Chase

May 27, 2020 | Arbor Day Plot

Okay, so I’m a tree nerd. I know at least two others. (And, you know who you are.) I woke up this morning at 5:00, and I was too excited to go back to sleep even though the alarm wasn’t set to go off until 7:00. So, I got up and went out in my bathrobe and...

A Perfect Day for Making the Bed

May 25, 2020 | Arbor Day Plot

Last year, in preparation for the brickwork across the back of our carport storage area, I spent a very long day removing a very full bed of very old euonymus. That mass of entangled vine stretched the width of this new bed and came out about four feet from where the...

“Cherokee Princess”

May 23, 2020 | Arbor Day Plot

Coming to her forever-home, she finally is. Just met her–while masked, of course–Thursday morning during the “At-Risk Hour” at the English Gardens in Royal Oak. One of her kind–an Eastern flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)–was...

Happy Arbor Day 2020!

Apr 24, 2020 | Arbor Day Plot

Who could have imagined that a pandemic would prevent the planting of a dogwood tree today on Arbor Day 2020? It did. But, today, Michigan’s Governor Whitmer relaxed restrictions for landscapers: LANSING, Mich. — Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed executive...

5 writers go into an arb …

Aug 21, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

En Plein Air Writing In July, I had the distinct pleasure of leading five writers in the experience of writing en plein air. We met just behind the Mahany/Meininger Senior Community Center of Royal Oak—on Marais Ave., just north of 13 Mile Rd.—under a perfect sky. Do...

A Second for a Serviceberry

Aug 6, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

On June 28th (I know, I know, over a month ago now; this summer has proven to be as fast and furious as the rest of the last year ), I received an e-mail from my brother Gregg of Sudbury, MA. I was thrilled to learn he’d been following my blog! (We see each...