Autumn 2025

It took until early November for us to see any autumn color, possibly because of the little rain that we had in August and September. Once the leaves starting turning, we had a storm that stripped many of the trees, so what color we had only lasted about ten days or so.

Wild Flowers and Chaos Gardening

Last summer, one of my students described how she sometimes practices chaos gardening, which means she simply throws seeds onto the ground and waits to see what happens. I did the same halfway through the summer by adding some wild flower seeds to two pots, and I have been pleasantly surprised at the results. Even though it is now November, one pot is still producing flowers. I brought in both pots during the two or three days the morning temperatures fell below freezing. Our temperatures have since rebounded. The flowers, however, are hard to photograph because they move so easily in the wind. 

Poem in I-70 Review

One of my poems appears in the recently released 2025 issue of I-70 Review. The release party was held last night, the night of September 26. My poem, "Nights of Less Darkness," is the title poem of my full-length collection that is currently seeking a publisher. Clicking on the image makes it much easier to read.

Wild Flowers_Summer 2025

Even though I didn't have much time to devote to gardening over the summer, apart from cutting out the weeds and watering somewhat regularly, I was still happy to see how well my native flowers did. I need to make a point of planting more echinacea seeds next year. I would also like to grow wild sunflowers as well. 

I loved stepping outside to see the black eyed Susans and to smell the phlox. I had transplanted the black-eyed Susans from another part of the yard a few years ago. When I am driving around and see wild flowers beside the road, I lament not having a shovel so that I could add the flowers I discovered to my yard.