Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
fern fiddleheads unfurling in early spring garden showing healing after winter

Healing After Winter: In the Garden—and in Life

After a long winter, the garden begins to heal—revealing both damage and resilience. In this reflective post, I share spring pruning tips, plant care insights, and lessons from nature, reminding us to slow down, notice beauty, and find healing in the garden and in life.
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dog helping with early spring garden cleanup moving leaves on tarp

Early Spring Tending: What to Keep, What to Clear

As winter loosens its grip, early spring invites us to tend—clearing what’s too heavy, redistributing what can nourish, and making space for what’s ready to grow.
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Snowdrops and dog in early spring reflections along a roadside garden

Early Spring Reflections: What the Roadside Reveals About Belief

A roadside walk after winter’s thaw reveals more than litter—it uncovers quiet lessons in tending what doesn’t belong and noticing what begins to bloom. From snowdrops to a snapping turtle, nature reminds us that even after disruption, growth returns.
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Jolee running over a footbridge into the misty woods during a late winter walk.

A Late Winter Walk to Remember & March Folklore of Hope

A quiet walk in the rainy late-winter woods becomes a meditation on healing, March folklore, and the promise that storms eventually give way to new growth.
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a milkweed seed with silky feathers

What We Release – What We Grow

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. As we begin a new year, we tend to reflect on what no longer serves us and set intentions that grow in their own time. I’m writing this on a cold winter morning, shortly after a quick cross-country ski around the property. A light dusting of s
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Jolee, a white dog wiht a black mask looking into a bucket of holly branches.

The Garden Teaches Letting Go

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Decorating with What Remains I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was on a scavenger hunt to decorate window boxes and pots. Well, the holly branches chewed off Ellie’s memorial holly dried out amazingly fast, likely due to the buck’
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White pine branches layered in winter window box with holly and pinecones

Late-Fall Tasks into Décor

Hello fellow of all things green, Last week, I shared about the buck rub on Ellie’s memorial holly (link below) and how branches ended up strewn along the base of the tree. While rubbing, deer often chew on lower branches, then paw at the soil and urinate to mark their territory. I sa
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Ellie’s recovered memorial holly Jolee, a white dog wiht black ears.

Hope Unfolds in Holly’s Renewal

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, You may remember the story of the replacement tree planted in memory of Miss Ellie Mae, my rescue before Jolee. The first tree, a ‘Baby Blue Eyes’ Blue Spruce, didn’t survive. Its roots were severely cut and crisscrossed—what’s known in the tr
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a basket of a late season harvest of peppers, yellow beans and cherry tomatoes.

Lessons from a Late No-Till Garden

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I harvested the last of my vegetables from the garden—late by most standards. But tucked into that final harvest were unexpected reminders of the resilience of a No-Till garden and the quiet wisdom that arrives when we let Nature lead. Ripenin
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Swarm-of-Common-Grackles

Flocking Together – Wisdom from Grackles

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, Last week, I shared the sad news that the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice in Fredon, NJ, will close on November 14, 2025. As you can imagine, my final visits as a volunteer come with a swirl of emotions. On Friday, while chatting with the a
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