Stone Designer

It has been three gardening seasons, 1,733 blog posts and one trip to a convention of garden bloggers just like me. Now it is time for Garden Variety to throw in the trowel, as it were.

This is the last post for Garden Variety. The Baltimore Sun has asked me do to other things. I am sad to see this venture end. It has been a pleasure for me to write about my garden — and yours — and to post all the beautiful pictures captured for me by The Baltimore Sun’s photo staff.

I did my best to give you some advice and some fresh ideas for your garden — even if it was only to point you toward someone who knows more than I.

Now that I am leaving the garden blogging scene, let me tell you who they are.

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More and more frequently I have been asked to remodel a house for multiple generations living under one roof. It might be a couple with young kids and aging parents, or it might be parents, grandparents, and boomerang kids who’ve returned home after college. The owners of the house are usually members of the “sandwich generation,” which means they’re caught between caring for increasingly elderly parents and raising their kids.

This group is growing in number, particularly since the economic crisis has caused households to consolidate resources and made it hard for grown children to find work.

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Last Friday I took a 1 day class at the Homestead Heritage School of Woodworking in Waco Texas. Homestead Heritage is a traditional Crafts Village where members of their community grow up with and learn trades such as pottery, black smithing, furniture making, and traditional ways of making fabric and clothing. This was my first experience visiting and I was pleasantly surprised at how willing they were to share their knowledge and genuine hospitality with guests.

On to the woodworking.

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Mother’s Day is this Sunday, which means you have 5 days to figure something out. If you’re stuck, here are a few things that might jumpstart your search for the right gift.

1. Iittala Wine Decanter, $75.00 2. Micro-greens Kit, $40.00 3. Baggu Leather Pouch Small, $20.00 4. Envelope iPad Case, $48.00 5. Palace Collection: Governo Soup Bowls, $168.00 6. Animal Boxes, $49.00 7. Dietrich Düller Fountain Pen, $70.00 8. CDT Scissors, $80.00 9. Arne Jacobsen cup, $21.00 each 10. Geo/Metric 4 Jade Scarf, $66.00 (other colors/patterns available)

One of the things I want to include in my patio makeover is an herb garden, but Im having a bit of difficulty deciding what kind of herb garden I want to make.  Right now, all of my herbs are planted in my raised garden beds, but I want to eventually transplant them to an area dedicated to herbs.

There are so many creative ideas out there for DIY herb gardens!  Here are a few of my favorites:
 

Don’t want to miss anything?

Remember to visit the Flotsam and Jetsom Garden Club Plant Sale in Hansville at Buck Lake on Saturday May 12 and the Master Gardener Plant Sale at the Kitsap Fairgrounds on Friday and Saturday May 11 and 12. At either or both, you’ll find a great opportunity to pick up more plants and also support their charitable funding of local scholarships and educational outreach.

Stop in at our local nurseries too, they’re full to the brim with great plants for our Pacific Northwest gardens.

This Mother’s Day weekend is a good time to journey to Brinnon on the west side of Hood Canal to Whitney Gardens.

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