Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
Mary Stone, Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone, Gardening tips, Garden Blog, Stone Associates Landscape Design, Garden Blog, Northern New Jersey Landscape Designer, NJ Garden Coach, NJ Garden Speaker, Thomas Jefferson, Monticello

Jefferson’s Monticello Lab for Plants

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. There’s an Old Farmer’s Almanac calendar above my desk, noting Friday, April 13th, is Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday – he lived from 1743 to 1826. Beyond being a founding father and the third president of the United States
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view of a lake in the fall wiht assorted gold brown and orange leaves

Inconsistency over Pond vs. Lake

Hello, fellow readers, It never occurred to me that there is an inconsistency of what defines a pond versus a lake; if I may share a walk in the woods, that leads to the curious question. After our weekly volunteer sing at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice on Friday, I enjoyed a
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a large yellow sunflower with a honeybee standing in front of a field of sunflowers.

A Sunflower Maze Brings Happiness

Hello, fellow readers, What a joy to visit Liberty Farm’s Sussex County Sunflower Maze in Sandyston, NJ, who invited us for a special day bringing happiness. It’s their 14th year of growing the maze. Raj Sinha started growing sunflowers when the New Jersey Audubon Society
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A woman in a beige cap with a white dog amongst a grove of young white pines in a successional forest.

A Successional Forest of Growth

Hello fellow readers, We visited Blue Mountain Lake, part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, to enjoy an early spring day. It’s sad to see the deterioration and the closing of sections under the guise of a lack of funding to maintain it. On the side gated off, w
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A burst of morning sunshine through a forest of trees in fall.

Insights and Interdependence of Trees

Hello fellow readers, We’ve shared the intrigue of two living fossils – Ginkgo biloba and the Umbrella Pine, both living in the days of the dinosaurs and surviving the Ice Age. The magnitude of their endurance is inspiring. And they’ve shared roots beyond the roots of thei
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a red maple leaf resting on the edge of Catfish Pond

“Leaf Therapy” fills emptiness

Hello fellow readers, Camp Mohican has been a place of respite and contemplation since I moved to Blairstown, NJ, 21 years ago. Contiguous with the Appalachian Trail, it’s one of the reasons I relocated here. Walking amongst the trees always helps my heart. Yesterday, I desperat
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a grey farm house peaking through the gardens of Willowwood Arboretum

Wandering Willowwood Arboretum

Hello Fellow Readers, What a delight to wander through Willowwood Arboretum, invited by dear friends Ruth and Jim of Hope, NJ. I had never heard about the public garden, free to visit; that’s part of the Morris County Park system. Tucked away in Far Hills, NJ, the journey throug
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comfort zone camp 2020 pin in the shape of glasses sitting on a purple flowering violet

Better than Twenty-Twenty

Hello Fellow Readers, We welcome a new year, with sentiments of good riddance to 2020. A year we entered with optimism. The number itself, 2020, invites the concept of balance, of “perfect” vision. But twenty-twenty is not a perfect vision. It’s an average vision. It
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Black and white photo of a smiling golden retriever in front of a boulder

Unexpected Furry Messenger

Hello Fellow Readers, As you know, Miss Ellie Mae is the mascot for our column since we began our weekly chats over eight years ago. With a heavy heart, I share the news that we helped her go home on Tuesday. She arrived unexpectedly eleven years ago during a tough time of transition.
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a sunset in a winter snow at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice

There must be more…

Hello Fellow Readers, The Press publishes a New Year’s pictorial issue to provide their staff with a week off between Christmas and New Year’s. I’ll admit I enjoyed the deadline respite too but wish to reach out to my faithful online followers – thank you for being so! As I writ
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