Every historic building has a story to tell
Gardening, in my opinion, is one of the best exercises in hope and faith one can practice. I know that my garden helped get me through the jolts and displacement of 2020, and while the calendar proclaims the new year…there’s still a bumpy road ahead for many of us. So I plan on continuing to (read more)
Tags: Kentucky gardens, Margery Fish, New Year
I suppose the first time I ever heard of a gazing ball was when I was around eight or nine years old. One of my favorite activities at that age was to rifle through my older sisters’ possessions, especially their books (everyone needs a hobby, right?). Jane-Emily, by Patricia Clapp, boasted a lurid cover perfect (read more)
Category: Gardens
Tags: Gardens, gazing ball, Gothic novel, Jane-Emily, Kentucky gardens, Patricia Clapp, yard art
It’s been quite a spring – and I’m not even talking about the scariness that is COVID-19, quarantines, and work from home (“work” is laced with irony – with schools and daycares closed, working full-time, or even part-time, has become impossible). No, it’s been a spring full of color and beauty. I haven’t seen daffodils (read more)
Category: Gardens
Tag: Kentucky gardens
This late winter and early spring has been a season of great joy and disruption – I watch my new garden taking shape, without the stress of moving, like last spring. And I ponder the possibilities that lie ahead with my career, as my program at the University of Kentucky was terminated by the Dean (read more)
Categories: Gardens, Kentucky Gardens
Tags: daffodils, Kentucky gardens
There is a very short and magical period in the Bluegrass where, if you are a gardener, all is right with the world. For me, that time is right now. The aching heat of summer has not yet engulfed us; the frenetic activity associated with the vegetable garden has not yet begun; the nights are (read more)
My mother remarked earlier this week that Kentucky was experiencing “locust winter.” The recent cold snap has caused me to fret over my tomatoes (safely in containers, so I can cover them up if need be) and wonder when the sun would return. According to the weather forecast, sunshine and warmer temperatures will bless the (read more)
The restoration of a historic building is a process of love and labor – one that has been made wildly popular by HGTV and other media outlets. I love watching a historic building come back to life – but the rebirth of the very land upon which that building rests – that is another story (read more)
Categories: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Kentucky, Kentucky architecture, Kentucky Gardens, Lexington Kentucky History, Lexington neighborhoods
Tags: African American history, Dr. Harriett B. Marble, Gardening, Gardens, Jim McKeighen, Kentucky gardens, Lexington gardens, Old Georgetown Street, Western Suburb
Last year at this time, I admired the row of lime trees at Chatsworth, exclaimed over the profusion of perennials and the striking color combinations in the walled garden at Parham, and drooled over the terraced beauty of the landscape at Renishaw Hall. Although I adored Petworth House, the Capability Brown landscape did not inspire (read more)
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