• Plants & Gardening

    A Tormented Gardener in a Garden of Bliss

    Vase in Garden, A Tormented Gardener in a Garden of Bliss, Karen Hugg, https://karenhugg.com/2019/05/24/garden-of-bliss/, #gardening #garden #plants #KarenHugg

    Good morning! Today I begin a series of Saturday posts on my garden of bliss (and torment). It’s a big garden, a garden on the edge of a ravine and creek, and a garden that’s made me both extremely happy and incredibly depressed. I’ll tell you why I was depressed in a future post. For now, I’ll tell you about the garden and its various growing areas. The Front Woods When you arrive at my property, you can’t see my house from the street. This was the first characteristic of…

  • Writing

    Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings: Part One

    Why I Wrote a Novel About a Tree That Sings, https://karenhugg.com/2018/11/12/tree, Karen Hugg #tree #novel #SongoftheTreeHollow #Seattle #book

    Hey everyone, I’ve published a short novel called Song of the Tree Hollow. It’s a literary mystery about a young woman who discovers she has a magical touch with plants — and unfortunately, a dark family history. It was fun to write, and one of my warmer, quirkier stories. I thought I’d offer this post on the origins of it. The book is available on Kindle for 99 cents, free on Kindle Unlimited. Please check it out! Thanks. Even though I grew up in a big Midwestern city, I’ve always…

  • Books

    Happy #Caturday! We’re Reading About Trees.

    The Hidden Life of Trees, https://karenhugg.com/2018/09/08/trees/, Happy #Caturday! We're Reading About Trees, Karen Hugg, #Caturday #trees #peterwohlleben #books #gardening #environment

    My cat Maddie snuggled up to a book I left behind this morning. She’s apparently interested in reading Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees. It’s a wonderful little book that posits stands of trees are like human families. They protect each other, communicate through roots, send nutrients to the ill, and a bunch of other amazing things. If you read this, you’ll be seeing beeches and birches and all trees in a whole different light. Have a great Saturday! For more book recommendations, click here.

  • Books,  Writing

    Ross Gay: Singing About Plants and People

    Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, Ross Gay, Ross Gay: Singing About Plants and People, Karen Hugg, https://karenhugg.com/2016/09/30/ross-gay/ #poetry #books #RossGay #AfricanAmericanpoets

    September is a month of transition. The warm, bright freedom of long days wanes into the chilly introspection of rainy nights. It’s a warning about the coming of the great sleep that is winter. It’s in the morning dew on cars and yellow leaves that swirl before us as we mow the lawn. September signals that we should give up our fantasy of taking a walk in the evening whenever we want or put off fixing that downspout or eating on the patio. We are at the mercy of the…