Magnolia’s Journey Out of Deep Time
This is a rather long essay, part of my upcoming book about our Million Year Love Story with Flowers. Settle in with a cuppa, and I hope you enjoy this…
The Rhododendron’s Dance
Their Ancient Song On a late July hike in the Appalachian Mountains, I was suddenly surrounded by an explosion of white blossoms on 15-foot-high bushes, and the air around me…
Born of Fire
Every time I think about how plants eat sunlight, I am transported out of my animal-body understanding of the world; and become more aware of the plants’ completely different way…
The Sunflower’s Journey
A six-part story honoring the Sunflower’s journey through birth, death, and rebirth. Part One: Glory in the Garden Watching the blue jays stuff their throat pouch with the seeds from…
Dandelion Dreaming
As a small child, I thought everyone laid on the grass with their dad in the yard to watch the clouds. I can remember feeling so special laying side by…
The Orb Weavers
Early one morning as I stepped outside on a recent visit to a friend’s farm, I was swaddled in the soft hug of a morning fog, feeling like I was…
The Honeysuckle’s Longing
On a recent hike in the woods, the smell of honeysuckle pulled me into old childhood memories so quickly it was as if I had stepped through a door. Coming…
Wildflower Medicine for the Land – a Story of the Once-Was Town of Douglas, WV
The niggling feeling in my body was so strong. Vibrant wildflowers were dancing around me as I walked, filling me with glee and delight, and yet I had a sense…
Thoroughly Loved
Waking to the morning sun, her petals thoroughly sprinkled with pollen, Bee Balm radiates satisfaction like she has spent a night with a mythic lover. Opening her blossoms to the…
The Big Red Seed
The audacity of the red seeds stopped me, and I couldn’t take another step. How could a seed be THAT red? Solid, bright fire engine red. Pure unadulterated red if…
The Forest In Between
On a recent visit to my favorite forest and stream, just past the autumn equinox, the feeling was one of satisfaction, of waiting, of being balanced. An in-between time, quiet. …
The Glorious Wild Ones
The late summer wildflowers - wild being the key word - they tug at my soul. They are not the carefully tended beauties in my garden, and they are not…
The Sunflower Matriarch
The giant sunflowers are the matriarchs of my garden for sure. And I daresay, they are an archetype of a flower’s journey for the entire flowering world because they are…
The Mighty Pregnant Mustard
I like my garden best when it gets rather wild, with the plants spilling over each other, finding their own space, going to seed, rabbits burrowing under the comfrey, the…
Bleeding Hearts
The term “bleeding heart” has become quite a derogatory term in our culture and refers to one who feels “too much”. Dictionary.com says it means “a person who makes an…