Garden Dilemmas, Delights & Discoveries, Ask Mary Stone, New Jersey Garden blog
A modest summer garden harvest with green beans, one cherry tomato, and Malabar spinach leaves.

Doing Nothing and Everything: Wisdom from Nature & Gardens

What if doing nothing is actually one of the most important things we can do? A modest vegetable harvest, one perfect cherry tomato, birdwatching, and peaceful moments in the garden remind Mary Stone that slowing down often reveals life's greatest gifts.
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Large edible rhubarb growing in a mulched garden bed

Rhubarb Edible vs. Ornamental— Kindness Helps Heal

From the difference between edible rhubarb and ornamental rhubarb, from blooming tea to rhubarb custard pie, Mary Stone reflects on friendship, healing, and the beautiful ways kindness helps us grow through difficult seasons of life.
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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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Red barns and tall silos reflected in calm winter pond water create a peaceful rural landscape of symmetry, stillness, and quiet seasonal beauty.

Reflections in the Garden of Life

In winter’s stillness, reflections reveal what shadows alone cannot. From mirrored ponds to garden design and the quiet wisdom of roots beneath the soil, this post explores how nature teaches us about healing, self-awareness, and the promise of spring in the garden of life.
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Jolee, a white dog wiht a black mask looking into a bucket of holly branches.

When 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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