Pucker Up!

It’s hot here in the Southeast. It got up to 93°F yesterday even here in the mountains. I finally had to shut up the house and turn on the air conditioning. I don’t know about you, but when the temps rise, lemonade is what comes to...

The Sting of it All

Mother Nature must be PMSing. The tornadoes throughout the Midwest and the Southeast in the last month have been devastating. Living in the mountains, I don’t normally worry about such bad weather (the hills usually break up wind rotation)...

Not-So-Delicate Dogwood

When I first moved to Atlanta 25+ years ago, one of the first things that struck me was the beauty in Spring. I had never seen so many flowering trees and shrubs! All these years later, I’m in an even more beautiful part of the state and...

Yarrow: A Staunch Plant

I said I was going to take a walk around my garden last weekend, and I did. I also walked around what passes for a yard in these parts and noticed some plants starting to green up. I hope they don’t get too eager: we’ll probably still...

Ginseng & Changing Times

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you must have noticed that I like to look at herbs from a historical perspective … how they were used medicinally, what folklore may be attached to an herb, local customs (and...