Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries

Feb 02 2025 192 ep. 11 mins
Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries Podcast artwork

Join columnist and garden designer Mary Stone in sharing dilemmas, delights, & discoveries in the garden of life.

  Leisure  Science  Religion & Spirituality
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Ep 192. Groundhog Day- Ancient Origin and Accuracy

Feb 02 2025 10 mins  
Groundhog Day dates back thousands of years. While the accuracy of predicting winter's end is marginal, it's a fun tradition that celebrates nature. Mary Stone shares the ancient origin, amusing anecdotes, and ways of handling groundhogs while embracing their role in the Garden of Life. Thanks for tuning in! Related Posts and Podcasts you'll enjoy: Groundhog Day- Ancient Origin and

Ep 191. Welcoming Winter Sights and Silence

Jan 26 2025 10 mins  
Relishing nature and our gardens goes beyond Spring, Summer, and Fall. Our Garden of Life is Winter, too. Mary Stone shares the beauty and stillness in a walk around the Winter Season of Sights, Sounds, and Silence, encouraging listeners to do the same, comparing it to the silence between notes that enriches a song's melody.Thanks for tuning in!Related Posts and Podcasts you'll enj

Ep 190. Encouraging Self-Seeding and Seeding Love

Jan 19 2025 12 mins  
Mary Stone shares the methods and importance of encouraging self-seeding to help wildlife. And reflects on the joy of seed catalog shopping and creating a vision board for your garden. The episode concludes with a reflection on Martin Luther King Jr Day, honoring his wisdom that "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." Let us all do our part by self-

Ep 189. African Violet Care - Frozen in Time

Jan 12 2025 11 mins  
Mary Stone discusses the challenges of caring for African violets in heated homes. She reflects on the emotional significance of the plants inherited from her mother and humorously recalls her rescue dog Jolee's antics, which led to the loss of her mom’s ‘Frozen in Time’ African Violets.With one violet remaining in poor health, Mary seeks advice from the African Violet Societ

Ep 188. Benefits and Folklore of Dragonflies

Jan 05 2025 11 mins  
Mary Stone chats about the benefits and folklore of dragonflies, their fascinating life cycle, hunting savvy, and their role in controlling garden pests. Plus, dragonflies' cultural significance and ancient ancestry that date back 325 million years. She shares personal anecdotes, including a dragonfly visiting a memorial tree. She emphasizes the importance of letting go of habits o

Ep 187. Paperwhites the Miracle of the Unseen

Dec 29 2024 12 mins  
Paperwhites like to party when grown in water, adding alcohol to prevent flopping. The same is true when forcing Amaryllis. Plus, there's a miracle in the unseen.Both bulbs can only flower once in water. However, Amaryllis bulbs can bloom annually in potting mix, and paperwhites can bloom for about two years; Mary Stone describes how.Then she shares a Greek Myth about Paperwhites N

Ep 186. Merry Season of Memories

Dec 22 2024 9 mins  
Mary Stone reflects on Christmas memories, decorating her holiday garden, including her brother’s and Ellie's Memorial trees, and protecting broadleaf evergreens from dehydration that causes winter burn. She reminisces about her late dogs Sara and Ellie and shares her Merry Season of Memories continuing traditions with Jolee. While we long for years gone by, Mary encourages you t

Ep 185. Preservation of the Paulinskill - Overcoming Hardships

Dec 15 2024 10 mins  
Mary Stone shares a story about preserving the Paulinskill River that came from stumbling upon mysterious tree tubes. She also reflects on overcoming hardships or overlapping losses -- part of her forthcoming book, The Lesson of the Leaf. Links to related Episodes and Blog Posts:Preservation of the Paulinskill River - Blog PostEp 80. Halloween History & Sycamore GhostsHalloween

Ep 184. Praying Mantises - Faith Testimony

Dec 01 2024 25 mins  
Mary Stone reviews the disadvantages and benefits of praying mantises in gardens, stressing the importance of native versus invasive non-native species. She focuses on the harmful invasive Chinese Mantis that prey on the native Carolina Mantis and hummingbirds. Mary also shares a faith testimony given 14 years ago, sharing her spiritual journey, struggles, and the healing unconditi

Ep 183. Honorable Harvest - Downsize and Do Over

Nov 17 2024 17 mins  
Mary Stone describes the last of her late-season garden bounty and reflects on the guidelines of an Honorable Harvest, referencing the Native American tradition as outlined by Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass. A humorous bounceback about the Birds and Bees of Zucchini leads to Mary Stone's sharing a personal story (Downsize and Do-Over) from her book underway (The Les