The humidity enveloped the landscape, constricting ever tighter, until flora and fauna wilted.   Breathless, lifeless, and defeated, Summer had officially arrived in all its oppressive glory.   Heat stress is a real thing and can adversely affect our plants.  When temperatures start to top 85 degrees, plants will begin to wilt and curl…

  Restrained by Spring’s lunacy, the landscape could not seem to free itself from the cruel and unseasonable shackles of April’s imprisonment. Soon, the restraints will release, and Spring will once again be liberated.   And as the temperatures warm and the landscape awakens, there is yet another potential hindrance lurking that would like…

  The air was polluted with tiny tufts of cotton, which neither fell nor glided to the ground, but instead bounced around on the breeze like atoms pinging off each other before eventually descending and snagging onto any and every surface in the landscape.  Some lawns seemed to take the brunt of…

Fresh and fetching as a young bride, the dreamy white flowers floated above the branches like a thousand resting butterflies.  They fluttered effortlessly in the breeze, releasing their sweet perfume into the air. Fragrance isn’t the only thing wafting through the atmosphere as many allergy sufferers can attest to.  Pollen has hit…

    Writhing and skulking beneath the ground, nature’s twisted spine heaved forth the soil, leaving cracks and fissures in its wake.  The disturbed earth seemed at once alarmed yet relieved.  Its needs communicated by the subterranean undulations.  Water.     Since Summer’s official arrival, rainfall has been scarce.  Lawns are…

The fragile, silvery strand caught a splinter of light, momentarily shimmering and glistening in the summer sun.  As the wind began to roil and swirl, the spider’s silk became untethered, taking flight upon the breeze.  An almost invisible moment became apparent.  A shared secret to keep. The soil, in our yards and gardens,…

The chutter, honk, and spur of the returning geese reverberated in the skies as their tight, regimented formations loosened.  Their mood seemed more casual and celebratory as they made their way north where life would be unmeasurably easier and kinder.  After all, it’s officially Spring.  Welcome home.   Clearly, March is throwing some late punches…

Moderation, moderation, moderation.  Everything in life should be taken or completed in moderation.  Easier said than done, right?  Sometimes it seems downright impossible and cruel, but it’s for our own good.  It took me quite a while to subscribe to this logic, and I still battle it on a frequent…

Happy May!  I know.  I’m just as confused as the weather.  Snow two weeks ago and now it’s pushing the mid-eighties.  Ah, the Midwest.  I think it’s safe to say we have three seasons, and in a really good year?  Three and a half.  I’m of course dispatching Spring.  She…