Category: Blog

Blog

Sweet and Shy

ellenparkerwrites

They enjoy staying in the shade where humans need to seek them out. The reward?

Delicate white bells hanging from a slender stalk.

Lily-of-the-valley in this well-established bed began to show off their blooms in mid-April this year. Started from half a dozen transplanted at the wrong time of year, (The friend of a friend was building a deck in the heat of summer and the plants were faced with get moved or die.) they struggled for the first few years. Fast forward almost twenty years and I’m grateful I planted them inside a cement block edging. I think the lily-of-the-valley and the English ivy are having a spreading contest.

Janet, the heroine of the sweet romance, Comfort Zone, does not claim to be a champion gardener. But it’s nice to imagine a bed of this spring flower living against the shady side of her house. For more information on the book, follow the link: https://amzn.to/2ZvL0Av

Blog

My Brother’s Garden

ellenparkerwrites

When we moved from small town to a farm, one of my brothers was thirteen. Among the many things we discovered on the property, was a patch of iris growing in the ditch between the front yard and the county road.

I suppose it began as a joke — but the flowering perennials (these were white and yellow) became known as his garden. Very easy care. All we did was admire.

However, all good things – especially the free ones — have an end point. The iris patch fell victim to major road repairs several years after we moved to the farm. If planted in a safer location, this spring beauty will return, spread, and bloom year after year.

This deep purple is only one of many colors of the popular, easy-care iris.

Comfort Zone, a sweet romance, features a heroine with a flower bed in front of her home. While the contents are not mentioned, I like to think a few iris are among the plants. For book information, click on the link: https://amzn.to/2ZvL0Av

Blog

Grade by Improvement?

ellenparkerwrites

Certain topics lend themselves to measuring a student by the amount of improvement in a specific time rather than by the absolute mastery of a skill. Think of the arts and young children.

Sometimes I think my garden plants want to be held to similar standards.

Consider this azalea. The entire bush produced a total of two blossoms this spring. However, that is an improvement of two blossoms over last year. I’m beginning to think the St. Louis climate is turning unfriendly toward this plant.

According to experts, this is not a difficult plant to grow — provided you plant it in the right location. I don’t think that’s the problem. In the several years prior to last spring, the plant bloomed in a nice show of color every April. I see a dose of fertilizer in the near future — perhaps it needs a pick-me-up.

In the sweet romance, Comfort Zone, the HVAC tech heroine, Janet, proclaims her mother the best gardener in the family. I wonder if she has bright azaleas at the front of her home.

For more information on the book, click here: https://amzn.to/2ZvL0Av

Blog

Showy Creep

ellenparkerwrites

Usually I avoid creeps. I find them between unpleasant and scary on the human rating.

However, when it comes to plants, I’m more open-minded.

Creeping phlox, is the first to bloom in this particular raised bed. Spreading from year to year – hence the “creeping” — it is a bright spot and attracts early pollinators. If you want an accent ground cover near a walkway or garden feature, this plant deserves consideration.

Popular in gardens, this low-maintenance plant is the sort that would appeal to Janet, the heroine HVAC tech in the sweet romance, Comfort Zone. I can easily imagine her smiling at these blooms under a front window. For more information on her second-chance romance tale, click on the link: https://amzn.to/2ZvL0Av

Blog

Blossom and Bark

ellenparkerwrites

Flowering trees each have their moment in the spring. The dogwood, a large family, is no exception. A drive bordered by forest during a Missouri spring shows the white blossoms of flowering dogwood before other trees unfurl leaves and block the view from the highway.

You’ll find numerous varieties of dogwood in parks and yards throughout the United States. This example, was recently planted near a friend’s home.

Once, prior to 1614, spoken of as the whipple-tree, the dogwood has been valued for centuries. While the berries are edible and some species are valued by birds, the fruit seldom appears on a host’s table. No, the value in this tree to modern man is appearance and shade. Gone are the days when a person harvested a little bark to make medicinal tea to relieve pain and fever.

As the state tree in Missouri (and with similar honors in Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey) they are widespread. Serena Carter, the photographer in the sweet romance Morning Tryst was sure to have encountered dozens in her work within Missouri State Parks. For more on her second-chance romance, click the link: https://amzn.to/35gH37S

Blog

Magnetic in Magenta

ellenparkerwrites

The sight catches your eye and holds your gaze.

A tree of modest size with bright blossoms early in the season. Sometimes it appears as if every limb and twig is highlighted. I speak, of course, of the eastern Redbud tree.

This natural beauty, native to eastern North America south of Michigan, is popular in urban and suburban landscapes. This one is showing off in the St. Louis area in late March.

Leaves will follow the flowers. In the fall, the leaves show off in yellow and take top billing to the seed pods. Oklahoma residents can boast of this as their state tree.

Appearing in the under-forest, a mature tree is 30 feet tall or less, this tree is easy to spot if you happen across it on a Missouri State Park trail. In the sweet romance, Morning Tryst, the tree is not mentioned, but likely photographed. Learn more about the book by following this link: https://amzn.to/35gH37S

Blog

Love and Modesty

ellenparkerwrites

Poets applied these attributes to the violet. Perhaps that leads to the phrase ‘shy violet’.

This small, woodland spring flower can do some mighty things. Native to Eastern North America, it thrives in woodland but tolerates full sun.

Invasive? This non-expert gardener welcomes early violets into her flowerbed. Did you know the blooms are pollinated by bees and then the seeds distributed by ants?

If you live in Illinois, Rhode Island, New Jersey, or Wisconsin, the violet is your state flower.

When photographer Serena Carter visited all the Missouri State Parks, she would have encountered many patches of violets in spring and into the summer. Check out her adventures in the sweet romance, Morning Tryst. https://amzn.to/35gH37S

Blog

Pick any color — except Blue.

ellenparkerwrites

Spring flowers tend to bring smiles. In cooler climates, where winter keeps the ground cool for three or four months, tulips bring cheer.

Easy care? Plant deep after the first frost, enjoy winter activities, and watch for the leaves to poke up in early spring. The bloom stems will follow. If you select your variety with care, they will return for several years — but with smaller blooms.

Not much room to garden? Tulips will fare well in containers. Consult garden experts in your area to learn if containers may remain outside or need to be taken into cool shelter.

Tulips would have been a familiar flower to the Deutsch immigrants in the mid-19th century. I can easily imagine a few clumps of spring color near the front step of either a farmhouse or a residence in town.

Check out New Dreams, a sweet historical romance, to find a story of two 1851 immigrants — a baker and a thief looking to reform. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

Blog

Smile: The Daffodils are Here

ellenparkerwrites

Actually, I’m a little late with the greeting. In St. Louis, the daffodils have had their moment. Aside from crocus, these bright yellow, or yellow and white, blooms are cheerful indicators of spring.

Yes, some years the bulbs, like humans, misjudge the weather and end up blooming above a fresh snow blanket.

This happy looking group of daffodils was photographed on March 1st of last year.

Early to bloom in the season, daffodils often symbolize rebirth and new beginnings. Have a friend with a March birthday? Daffodils, a card featuring the bloom, are a spot-on token.

Pretty and cheerful, daffodils do come with a caution. DO NOT EAT! However, this has not prevented them from being used historically to induce vomiting or numbness.

During her year photographing Missouri State Parks, Serena Carter would have encountered daffodils throughout the month of March and perhaps into the first portion of April. Either wild, or escapees from long-ago farm gardens, daffodils bob their blooms in a cheery “hello” from all portions of the state.

Morning Tryst, the sweet romance featuring Serena, also introduces the reader to Zack Sans, a man of few words and many secrets. Follow the link to learn more: https://amzn.to/35gH37S

Blog

Montana meets Pennsylvania

ellenparkerwrites

Raindrops and snow melt high in the Montana mountains tend to slide and travel to the southeast.

Meanwhile, rain and snow from the western portion of Pennsylvania, and portions of New York state, end up with stream and river buddies floating west and south.

They meet in the Mississippi River. The Missouri River, with help from hundreds of smaller rivers and streams, pours western water into the river several miles north of the city of St. Louis. The Ohio River, carrying water from eight or more eastern states enters in a sparsely population region east of Charleston, MO.

In the above photo, they are well mixed passing New Madrid, MO. They have had a good many miles to blend.

When steamboats ruled the river and carried new immigrants to affordable land and growing cities, they passed a total of ten islands between New Madrid and the mouth of the Ohio River. Imagine young adults and families with small children watching the shore activities as they moved to a new home. Did any of your ancestors make a similar journey?

New Dreams, a sweet romance, recounts 1851 adventures going to and living in the fictional town of Elm Ridge, Illinois. Yes, a river town north of St. Louis. Book information here: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE