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!

Home: Blog

Small Surprises in Late August

So the heat is not a surprise in fact this WRAL headline says it all: Above average RDU counts 44th day over 90 degrees. It not all bad though. Ian's Moon flowers have performed beautifully this year. We've already had over forty blossoms. The highest count in an evening so far, has been eleven blossoms. August 13th in the a.m. brought two small, but beautiful surprises. An Eastern boxwood turtle- We rarely have a turtle in our yard. Ian sees plenty at Beaver Marsh, but

Late Summer Begins

The "lovely" rain that we anticipated on July 26th didn't happen until twelve days later. On Aug. 7th, we had much needed rainfall. This photo was taken on Aug 2nd. The gorgeous pink hue is likely caused by particulate matter from the forest fires in the West. 'Southern Charm' verbascum has attracted an Eastern bumblebee. Ian had a special sighting of a Green Heron at the Northgate Park retention pond. These herons are also visitors at the wetlands park at the nearby Muse