Heartland Gardening bloggers
(left to right: Michael Leach, Debra Knapke and Teresa Woodard)
Michael Leach, Teresa Woodard, and I were in Indianapolis in 2011 attending a GWA – The Association of Garden Communicators – conference. After a garden writers workshop we went out to dinner. Not an easy thing to do in a city where three other conferences were also in session. Over the second bottle of wine, while waiting for our table, we decided to create a blog together. We not only launched the blog, Heartland Gardening, but developed deep friendships.
In June, 2021, Michael passed, Teresa became more involved with her writing – please look for her book American Roots and her next book, Garden to the Max which will be published in March 2025. And I became involved with projects that focus on care for the Earth and and all who live on it. Teresa and I felt that it was time to let our blog settle into an archive as a beautiful testament to three gardeners who shared their passion for plants, people, and collaboration.
Enjoy.
Sharon Meadows Constructed Wetland
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyIgowQlYGE&w=560&h=315]Working with Mother Nature and the Community to Solve a Problem By Debra Knapke You may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. There has been a lot going on this past spring, summer and...
Brace yourself! Winter returns
Winter starts with an act of Congress. By Michael Leach How else can a gardener — or anyone else — look at the end of Daylight Savings Time? One night you sit down to supper in the fading amber glow of late autumn sunlight; the next, it’s a black expanse as vast and...
Counting Dragonflies
The Dragonfly Poem by Louise Bogan; images by Teresa and Brian Woodard taken at the Odonata 2017 conference. You are made of almost nothing But of enough To be great eyes And diaphanous double vans; To be ceaseless...
Inspiration: Columbus Park of Roses
Where Beauty and Wisdom Grow By Michael Leach In a world where social media and the daily news serve up an ever-increasing diet of violence, vulgarity and vitriolic verbiage, gardens and gardening are needed more than...
Houseplants with Attitude
Orchid Reveals Ruthless Gardener's Approach By Michael Leach This house is the Bates Motel for potted plants. I’ll grant you that my human keeper waters me more or less regularly, gives a dash of granular organic fertilizer at appropriate intervals, lets me spend...
Garden Fashion Forecast
By Teresa Woodard If there was a fashion week for the garden world, it would be this first full week of March as lifestyle magazines roll out the season’s latest plants and garden trends. Some of the themes that...
Brace Yourselves
Garden Questions Coming Your Way By Michael Leach A word of warning: The question season is returning. As soon as cardinals start singing songs of welcome to sunrises that come ever earlier, and determined green shoots begin pushing through the moldering autumn...
Why We Love Moss (III)
Our Fascination with Nature’s Green Carpet By Debra Knapke Many of our plant preferences are shaped by early experiences in the landscape or in the gardens of our parents or grandparents. Moss holds a place in my...
Why We Love Moss (II)
Bring Moss Indoors to Enjoy Close-up By Teresa Woodard On my morning dog walks, I often return home with carpets of moss tucked in my pockets. I can't help gathering the green tufts from rotting logs, boulders or the...