Monthly posts highlight what's happening in our North Carolina Piedmont flower and herb gardens with occasional updates of what's happening inside the 1945 cottage. We renovated the larger cottage next door in 2015 and are enjoying starting garden beds there as well. In Oct. 2023 our cold hardiness zone was reassigned from zone 7 to zone 8. We are getting warmer! The growing season starts in mid-February and lasts through late October. 

                                                 **** This blog is best viewed on a larger screen.****    ​

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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).

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​RHS Chelsea 2024:  Chelsea in Bloom,   Feature Gardens, The Art,The Pavilion and Retail

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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.

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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!