The Happy Cottage

Small Garden Journal

This blog began in Jan. 2017 on a cold bright winter day in our 1945 cottage home in Durham, NC. Photos of the Spring 2016 garden inspired me. Winter is after all, the perfect time for gardeners to daydream of Spring. Monthly posts highlight what's happening in our Zone 7 Piedmont garden which includes small wildlife and occasional updates of what's happening inside the cottage. In 2015 we renovated the house next door and are enjoying starting garden beds there as well.

Visit the Butterfly Compendium to see a catalog of pollinators in the garden and host plant information. View this and other favorites in the Featured Posts section of the blog (to the right of the most recent post).

Gardening/lifestyle ethos at The Happy Cottage: support Mother Earth and yourself by being as natural as possible. Avoid the use of synthetic chemicals and weed instead of spray. Include host and nectar plants for pollinators. Favorite garden medium: organic mushroom compost. It's the soil that mushrooms were grown in. Full disclosure: We do use biological mosquito dunks.

My gardening style has evolved over twenty years to include scent, food for pollinators, butterflies, birds and shelter for small creatures. A multi-dimensional garden will bring you years of enjoyment!

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First Full Day of Summer 2021

We had a rainy summer solstice this year, but the next day (June 21st) was hot and gorgeous. Okay, actually we were dripping there was so much humidity, but it's sunny! I've taken a few photos over the last few days. It's been a great year for the daylilies as usual. It is so pleasurable to dead head the spent blossoms and admire the new ones each day in June. The unusual purple daylily. We had an unexpected, but welcome visit from a Zebra swallowtail on the twenty-first. Th

Signs of Summer

We had a late start to Spring with the cold and then drought, but summer is here now. I feel like we are in the tropics. We've had lots of lovely rain, but with incredible humidity. We might just melt. Fortunately, some of our garden stalwarts are doing fine. I think this daylily is spectacular. I don't remember having a daylily with this deep purple. Is it a new hybrid or have our weather extremes this year affected the coloration? Worst case scenario, I have forgotten.