Welcome to A Writer’s Garden where writers who are gardeners or just love gardens will be sharing their garden and flower stories, as well as a bit about their writing. Today’s writer/gardener guest is Sally Brandle who will be sharing her garden and her garden pet partners. Welcome, Sally!
One thing about gardens, if you have good soil and rain, they will grow without any help. Of course, that includes persistent flowers such as forget-me-knots (aptly named as they reseed with fervor), wonderful geums, bee balm, euphorbia, Japanese anemones (also a bit pushy), iris, blue bells and a host of other plants which make their home in my yard. When I clip bouquets or prune, I’m generally not alone. Spock, the kitty, sees the pink harness and sits at the door. We have coyotes, and he chases birds, so he’s stays indoors otherwise.
My rescue pups, Ursa, the Heeler, and Maggie, the Shepherd, are willing to go outside and assist. When we brought them home and their outdoor help became a bit overzealous, we added a temporary (hopefully) wire barrier around the flower beds—at least until Maggie is out of her teen years. A former dog of ours was renamed from Dylan to Digger, as his determination to take out the yard ended up with us installing fake grass. We’ve had it for five or six years and love the easy care. We keep real grass down by the lake, but the no weeding or mowing advantage is hard to beat.
I was known as Sally G. Frog in college and spent my childhood loving frogs . . . now I cherish outdoor versions given to me by family and friends, and the occasional live resident.
Writing and riding my horse, Lance, who turns 31 on May 7th, keeps me busy. I’ve published four books in four years and its time for me to take a break and pull a few determined groundcovers and remove weeds.
Here’s my work in progress to fill in the flagstone with a few flowers and polite ground covers. I’ll do an update on a post in October. I pulled three garbage bins worth of a nuisance ground cover from this area. Uggh.
My parting words for happy gardening are that if you see horsetails beginning to grow, dig down carefully as far as the root goes and get rid of them! Happy almost summer, and happy gardening!
About the Writer/Gardener:
I grew up in a family of vegetable and flower gardeners. When I lived in an apartment, potted plants sufficed. The sense of being one with Mother Earth calms me.
I write clean/sweet romantic suspense. My stories contain sensual elements, mild swear words, and villains receiving non-gory justice—along with female friends supporting one another while they search for their perfect heroes.
The Targeted Pawn is a contemporary clean romantic suspense. If you enjoy smoldering romance, mercenary villains, and rescued animals, you’ll love escaping again to Emma Springs, Montana.
Visit Sally’s website for an overview of her books and to see what she’s about to publish next! www.sallybrandle.com
Threats forced her to flee Seattle. Honor binds him to Montana. A second chance at love tethers them together.
Elon Hardy’s romance skills are rusty after a loveless marriage ends, but upon meeting hunky rancher, Rane Calderon, sparks blaze hotter than her welding torch. To support her collegiate sons, she’s determined to acquiesce to the bullheaded, female-phobic boss until her divorce finalizes from her deceitful husband.
A woman Rane trusted ruined his life, and at forty, he won’t be fooled again. Blisteringly mad he’s hired a female bearing a man’s name, he fights attraction for the curvy, determined brunette while thwarting efforts to build a private prison atop his Blackfeet ancestors’ burial ground.
Can Elon and Rane realize love doesn’t have a “best used before date”? If you enjoy smoldering romance, mercenary villains, and rescued animals, you’ll love escaping again to Emma Springs, Montana.
Available on Amazon
Catherine Castle 
Sounds interesting! And I loved the pics of your garden…and the pets–your helpers! 🙂
Thank you, Carole. I am lost without furry helpers. Maggie, the Shepherd, is close to figuring out which weeds to pull. She’s super smart and willing. We’ll see!
Thank you, Catherine, for making my post shine…a bit cloudy today in the Pacific Northwest — a perfect time for gardening! Warm regards, Sally
You’re quite welcome. I loved hearing about your pets and plants. Happy gardening!
Truly enjoyed your delightful telling of pets and a writer in the flower garden and all that en’tails’.
Yup….we have bunny visitors, too!
I love frogs, dogs, and cats as well as gardening. And I’m so jealous that you have a horse. I’ve been trying to convince everyone it would be okay for me to have one in my NYC backyard, but to no avail.
The bigger cement frog is from my dad and the smaller one from a dear gardening friend. Both of them have passed, so they are special treasures. Here’s my horsey recommendation…begin with a lease, or volunteering (NYC mounted patrol?). You can get a great ‘fix’ that way without the total obligation. I leased Lance for a year first. With his opinionated personality, we figure he had been shuffled around a lot. He’s a super athlete, even at 31, and at the onset–after about six months and a bushel of mini carrots and treats, he began acting as if he liked me. He takes care of me, and I take care of him. I tell people I’m living out my childhood dream. Let me know if you find your pony dreams in NYC!
Thank you for sharing your gardens and dogs. I’ve never heard of horsetail. Is it something that is only in the area where you live? I live in Wisconsin.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m not certain, I’m in Washington…but ironically it came from aged manure from my horse barn…I think I recall it in Michigan, so beware!
Great post, Sally! I am insanely envious, though, as I have ALWAYS wanted a horse and just couldn’t make it happen. Love your other critters, too, and your beautiful location. Looks like we have a couple of things in common: 4 books in 4 years and living on a lake!
Nice! I feel very blessed. My latest book is the true story of a (fellow) horsewoman friend who rode her horse with her pet monkey in front of her on tropical trails or behind her while jumping! Truth is stranger than fiction.
I forgot to mention that Lance is the horsey cover model of this book. He was 29+ !