I thought I’d share some nonsense, but then it turned a bit serious. I’m referring to Edward Lear. In one of my Greenwoman issues I shared a few illustrations from Lear’s 1888 book, Nonsense Botany. I thought I’d share a few more today to give you a fuller look into his nonsense, and then write a little about Lear’s life. From Nonsense Botany: Clever, don’t you agree? The only other thing I
“The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.” –Jean Giraudoux If you have a thriving garden, there’s an orgy in your backyard. Flowers are the sex organs of most plants* and their perfume may be what first brings the revelers. Many flowers—from trees, shrubs, annuals (the plants that grow, flower, and die all in one year), perennials (plants that stick
Growing a garden is one of the best ways to improve your quality of life and support a sustainable, healthy environment. Accordingly, we turned to former US Represented staff writer Sandra Knauf for advice since this is one of her areas of expertise. In a recent conversation, she gave us ten reasons to grow a garden. Most people know that food taken straight from the garden is of much higher quality. As
Winter is a dangerous time of year for a gardener. The catalogs feature rediscovered heirloom seeds with gorgeous sounding names: Dragon’s Tongue beans, Crimson Curtain and Banana Leg tomatoes, Painted Serpent cucumbers, King of the North peppers. They sound like legends and poetry. The herbs sound like characters from old fairy tales with names like feverfew, sneezewort, wormwood, and heartsease. I want them all. It’s easy to order those seed
Who says bigger is better? While most Americans seem to prefer the larger breeds—hunting dogs, guard dogs, herding dogs, and working dogs—I’m a cheerleader for companion breeds. And the smaller, the better. Why, I wonder, do they always come in last in the popularity contests? Is it a holdover from our rural history, when Timmy and Lassie were best pals on the farm? Is it tied to our bigger-is-better supersized
Sandra Knauf has worn many hats in her garden writing career—she’s been a “Colorado Voices” columnist for The Denver Post and her work has appeared nationally in publications that include GreenPrints and Mary Janes Farm; she’s shared her work locally here on USR and on Colorado Springs’s NPR affiliate radio station KRCC. In 2011, she started her own publishing company, Greenwoman Publishing, and has since published six issues of a
