Hello,
The writer’s life (the gardener’s too for that matter) is largely one of solitude. Frankly, that’s one of my favorite parts. But even I am not immune to the magic of collaboration, of creating a dream team that puts A + B together and comes up with a sonnet.
Debra Prinzing is one of my dearest friends who has forever been my supporter and booster. She even made the connection that got me my first book contract back in 2006, an especially poignant gesture because I picked up the project following the death of a dear friend of ours. Hortus Miscellaneous, a Gardener’s Hodgepodge of Information & Instruction by Linda Plato and me is more than a little bit quirky, and sadly long out of print.
Most gardening books and journals are made up of facts and material that to the mere mortal appear to embody the concept of arcane with a capital A. Lunar cycles, weather patterns, design principles that include not only three dimensions but also are further complicated by notions of time and space, color theory, taste test, discipline, disease, pestilence, and physical labor—lots of physical labor, greed, envy, as well as most of the other deadly sins, and so much more—all held together by the thread of what many consider a dead language. Who cares?! We do.
– from the preface of Hortus Miscellaneous
Today Debra is the founder and creator of Slow Flowers Society (a directory, a podcast, and a series of events including a thoughtful annual gathering of flower people and a spring plant sale stocked by local flower farmers where I score specialty plants for my home cutting garden. Slow Flowers is a supportive community for flower farmers, designers, and consumers who value American grown, local blooms.
As longtime friends, Debra and I love travel, floral, garden and art capers. Which is why I am so excited to have been invited to be her co-host on a river cruise through Holland and Belgium in spring 2026. I asked Debra about her goals for our latest adventure. “It’s important to make this tour feel special through the places we visit and tour and personally enriching for floral lovers and garden aficionados who join in as guests. We hope to fill the days with a sense of retreat and restoration.”
Right now, we’re putting our heads together planning bonus activities and creative exercises designed to enrich the travel experience. These might include arranging with local florals, hearing from a Slow Flowers expert, or ways to use sketching and journaling prompts to enrich and preserve what promises to be a very special tour.
Don’t worry, there’s no pressure or obligation to participate, tour guests are invited to pick and choose their own adventure, as it were. Our hope is that everyone comes away with delightful memories and new ways of exploring and interacting with the natural world.
I cherish my friend and I think our tour is going to be amazing. But mostly I’m encouraging everyone to look around and be grateful for the people in your community who make us bigger and better than we are when we stand alone. This is a valuable message for days that leave me breathless with anxiety. I’m so glad you’re here.
xo Lorene
P.S. Thank you to Shauna Niequist’s recent Reading and Eating newsletter where she wrote,
“As I write this, I’m sitting on our little front stoop. The branches of the trees overhead are waving back and forth in the breeze, and the leaves are glowing green in the sunshine, with just the beginnings of gold, the first signs of autumn. I feel so grateful for this last month, for hard work that I’m honored to do, for time with people who inspire me and teach me and make me laugh, for the beauty and deliciousness of the world we live in, even while so many things feel complex and chaotic. Both can be true—both are true, always. Here’s to a true dream team and life-giving work and long lovely days and oysters and front stoops and great books.”
This time last year
Seeing Color
Hello, October is Mental Health Awareness month. I don’t generally pay much attention to the flavor-of-the-month but my friends, mental health challenges are near and dear to this human who has managed (and sometimes not managed) depression for more than 35 years. I am committed to removing stigma and showing compassion to people who suffer. Please, chec…
Color my World
Nature is so clever. The cup-and-saucer vine (Cobea scandens) that I grew from seed this year is finally blooming. Cue the fairies. The plant is now about 12-feet tall, scrambling its way up the GGW (Great Green Wall, i.e., the neighbors Leyland Cypress hedge)
I love seed season and can’t help but gather and bring them indoors like these bread poppy seed pods sprinkling their tiny black seeds everywhere. I wonder what would sprout if I began watering the carpet in my studio?
Puce, a sort of greyed out mauve on its best day, was first called couleur de puce, the color of fleas, by King Louis XVI who was commenting on the shade of a certain glossy silk gown worn by his profligate wife, Marie Antoinette. Even though most things sound better in French, the King was actually being disparaging the color with a reference to dried spots of blood that fleas left behind on bed linens. Sorry, I know it’s hard to unsee that.
Caramel, butterscotch, brown sugar, burnt honey – no I’m not in a candy store. This is what the leaves on the Katsura trees in the front garden smell like in autumn.
Shop Talk
Shipping of 2026 In Living Color calendars is well underway with packages going out all over the world. If you’ve been waiting to order yours, I’ve got plenty of inventory waiting to wing its way off to you.
Caramel, butterscotch, brown sugar, burnt honey...Yum, I bet those leaves smell amazing.
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