A Writer’s Garden—The Comeback Garden by Becky Van Vleet

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A Writer's Garden, Becky Van Vleet, children's book, Children's Picture Book, Garden blog, garden pictures, Talitha the Traveling Skirt

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 Becky Van Vleet talking about the resilience of nature.

Welcome, Becky.

Every year I look forward to planting my vegetable garden, knowing full well that my husband and I will enjoy the fruits of my labor with fresh salads almost every evening for a period of time. I get so excited when I see my rhubarb wake up after sleeping all winter. I can almost taste the raspberries that will appear later in the summer when my bushes come alive again.

Come April, all my perennials around our whole house show their sleepy heads and inevitably burst forth with all kinds of promises of blooms in the month of May. The spring and summer months invite me to a bright and colorful foliage party every year, and I never miss it, always praising God for his artwork right in my yard.

But this year my yard party not only stalled, but nearly did not happen at all. I was devastated when on May 29 we had one of the worst hail storms I can remember. The afternoon the heavens broke open with hail about the size of golf balls gripped me in fear. For nearly an hour, the sound was deafening as hail pummeled our roof. I feared broken windows, not to mention destruction of all my beautiful plants that had already emerged from their winter slumber, showing great promise of what was to come. I watched this storm for a few minutes from my kitchen window. But I finally had to walk away; I couldn’t take the scene that fell before my eyes.

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While I was thankful we had no broken windows and I believed our roof stayed intact, I went outside after the storm to assess the damage. I was heartbroken. My rhubarb was totally beaten to a pulp, my daisies and flocks and clematis in the front yard were flattened, my daylilies in my back yard as well as my cone flowers were no more. Even the heavy-duty branches of my mini rosebushes snapped. I couldn’t believe that within an hour, my beautiful yard turned from hope and beauty to ruin and ugliness.

What to do? Just accept it and look forward to next year.

But God didn’t leave me there. No, not at all. Slowly, ever so slowly, my flowers, bushes, and trees revived. I saw new promises of a beautiful yard, a comeback garden. I watched the progress each day while our sunshine and showers and rainbows gifted me.

Take a look at the “comeback” pictures to see the miracle God did with our yard! And isn’t that what God does with our lives? One day we are a mess and we feel hopeless, like there can be no comeback. But if we trust God and we’re patient, He will do mighty works to turn ruin and ugliness in our lives to new hope and beauty again.

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About the Writer/Gardener:

A retired teacher/principal, Becky Van Vleet makes her home in Colorado Springs where she enjoys gardening, writing, oil painting, and hiking. But her favorite hobby is spending time with her family, especially reading books to her eight grandchildren.  When they come to play at her house, they love to check out her vegetable garden to see if there are any pickings.

Becky is an award-winning author of children’s picture books, inspired by true family stories. She is currently working on her first novel, a young adult book about her father’s adventures in WWII aboard the USS Denver.

A little skirt that has been traveling around in her family for more than 70 years, passing through three generations, inspired her to write her first children’s picture book, Talitha, the Traveling Skirt.

Social Media links: Website Facebook Goodreads

Talitha, the Traveling Skirt

By Beck Van Vleet

Meet Talitha, a little plaid skirt that likes to travel. Through the years, she visits many two-year-old girls in a special family who wear her to get their pictures taken. But Talitha encounters problems when she least expects them. Filled with colorful and detailed illustrations, young children will delight in this heartwarming story about a little skirt’s adventures.

Purchase link

This delightful book, geared for ages 3-8, may be purchased at Amazon. Be sure to let Becky know if you’d like the free coloring pictures her illustrator provided. She can send those your way!

A Writer’s Garden–Theme Gardens by Emma Lane

Tags

A Writer's Garden, cozy mystery, Emma Lane, flowers, Theme Gardens, Whispers of Danger and Love

from Emma Lane

Theme gardens can be fun for adventurous gardeners who want to shake things up.

Photo by Emma Gossett on Unsplash

Colorful annuals. Their raison d’etra, reason for living, is to bloom and make seeds. To keep them full of their bright and beautiful blossoms frequent culling of the old blooms is the secret. Paying attention to color combinations will enhance bedding petunias such as blue and yellow; red, white and blue; primary colors-red, yellow and blue; all pastels.

 

Perennials are friends forever. The trick here is to plant staggered bloomers. Daffodils and tulips for spring give way to lupine and peonies in April and May. June is for roses (and brides) and July owns lilies. Hibiscus and other members of the family (Rose of Sharon) for late summer, and we all appreciate summer’s wind up with splashes of intensely colored mums and sunflowers. There are many beautiful perennials to be planted in between. Careful attention to foliage varieties is also important for a successful perennial bed: spiky Crocosmia, spreading Dianthus, and pretty round-leafed Baptismia australis which has an herbal gray cast to its foliage.

Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash

Butterfly and humming bird gardens are always fun. Certainly the tiny hummers appreciate blooms where they can dip in and steal a drop of nectar, but I’ve seen them take a tiny taste of flat but colorful yarrow. My son gifts me a huge fuchsia for Mother’s Day which is the very day I usually spot the first humming bird. They love this plant! Hummers prefer trumpet shaped blooms they can dip their long bills to drink the nectar, but I have observed them sipping from a daisy.

 

Shade gardens are wonderful underneath shaded walkways. Besides the enormous varieties of hosta, spring bulbs can be followed with blue bells and other shade loving perennials. Brunneria is a precious substitute for hosta. Deer treat it with disdain. Begonias have a large variety for annual shade; my favorite is non-stop begonia in their vivid colors. Spring blooming shrubs are glorious such as rhododendrons, azaleas, dogwood and many others that liven up the woods before the trees leaf out.

Cutting gardens are wonderful for those who appreciate fresh cut bouquets for inside. Reserve a bed especially for: gladiola, tall zinnias, phlox, sunflowers, snapdragons, lisianthus, lilies, just a few of the varieties that are splendid cut flowers.

 

… which leads me to call attention to my latest Cozy Adventure/ Mystery, Whispers of Danger and Love.

The heroine is a landscape architect who speaks gardening. She struggles with a client who demands a cutting garden midsummer, (and a hunky detective who seems bound to destroy her plants.) I enjoyed relaxing in her garden even as I created it from my own imaginings. It was also fun to watch the sparks fly between a couple who knew each other as children but must readjust their thinking as adults.

About the Writer/Gardener

Emma Lane is a gifted author who writes cozy mysteries as Janis Lane, Regency as Emma Lane, and spice as Sunny Lane.

She lives in Western New York where winter is snowy, spring arrives with rave reviews, summer days are long and velvet, and fall leaves are riotous in color. At long last she enjoys the perfect bow window for her desk where she is treated to a year-round panoramic view of nature. Her computer opens up a fourth fascinating window to the world. Her patient husband is always available to help with a plot twist and encourage Emma to never quit. Her day job is working with flowers at Herbtique and Plant Nursery, the nursery she and her son own.

Look for information about writing and plants on Emma’s new website. Leave a comment or a gardening question and put a smile on Emma’s face.

Stay connected to Emma on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out the things that make Emma smile on Pinterest.

A Writer’s Garden–What COVID Did for My Garden by Caroline Warfield

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A Writer's Garden, Caroline Warfield, COVID garden, garden pictures, historical romance, Longwood Gardens, The Ahsmead Heirs, The Wayward Son

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 Caroline Warfield who is sharing the good things that COVID did for her garden. Welcome, Caroline!

Gardens are one thing; gardening is another. I generally say I love the first, but I’m not fond of the second, nor particularly skilled. Covid turned that on its head.  We could no longer plan visits to the public gardens we’ve known and loved—from Longwood near Philadelphia to Versailles and the Vatican Gardens. Worse, we had no way  to visit ones still on our bucket list, such as Kew. All we could do is stare at our own piece of earth. Perhaps that was a blessing.

The plantings across the front had to go first. At the very beginning of the pandemic, we hired a crew (masked and outside) to remove ugly yew bushes and plant flower beds. We thoroughly enjoyed the sequence of blooms all spring and summer. Four little plants, short and unassuming in the very back puzzled me. I didn’t recognize them and worried they were unrecognized weeds. They weren’t. Imagine my  delight this spring when they shot up  into glorious bloom—Foxgloves.

We spent weeks staring at sprawling patch of grass out back. We removed the dead and dying pines that lined the back lane, and planted four trees.

Charging into the second spring, we raised the vegetable patch three inches and  filled it with mushroom compost.

Then  we plunged into a tougher project, a flower border along our back patio. Removing sod  to create a new bed exhausted us, particularly when we realized the spot was heavily  clay. We learned about the uses of gypsum and hard work, but we did it. We used the rest of the compost, and lined the patio with  bee balm and other hummingbird-friendly flowering plants. I’m rather proud of it!

By then restrictions were lifting and a visit from a friend gave me an excuse to visit Longwood Gardens again. Next year it will be back to visits to great public gardens, but our own ground will be much the better for our year of Covid.

Book Two of The Ashmead Heirs has a pivotal scene in a rose garden… but that is a story for another time.

About  the Writer/Gardener:

Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.

Connect with Caroline on her Website and Blog   Facebook    Twitter   YouTube                                            

The Ahsmead Heirs

About the Series

When the old Earl of Clarion leaves a will with bequests for all his children, legitimate and not, listing each and their mothers by name, he complicates the lives of many in the village of Ashmead. One of them grew believing he was the innkeeper’s son. He is the first of The Ashmead Heirs.

Book One: The Wayward Son

Sir Robert Benson’s life is in London. He fled Ashmead the day he discovered the man he thought was his father had lied to him, and the girl he loved was beyond his reach. Only a nameless plea from his sister—his half-sister—brings him back. He will not allow a ludicrous bequest from the earl who sired him turn him into a mockery of landed gentry. When a feisty little termagant with flashing eyes—and a musket—tries to turn Rob off the land—his land—he’s too amused and intrigued to turn away. But the longer he stays, the tighter the bonds that tie him to Ashmead become, strengthened by the powerful draw of the woman rooted on land he’s determined to sell.

Lucy Whitaker’s life is Willowbrook, its land, its tenants, its prosperity—and her precious  apiary—but she always knew it wasn’t hers, knew the missing heir would come eventually. When a powerful man with military bearing rides up looking as if he wants to come in and count the silver, she turns him away, but her heart sinks. She can’t deny Rob Benson his property; she can only try to make him love the place as she does, for her peoples’ sake. A traitorous corner of her heart wishes Rob would love it for her sake.

His life is London; hers is Ashmead. How can they forge something lasting when they are torn in two directions?

Available on Kindle Unlimited or for purchase: 

A Writer’s Garden–Herbs, Berries and God’s Grace by Tema Banner

Tags

A Writer's Garden, berries, Garden blog, Garden devotion, Herbs, Tema Banner

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 Tema Banner who will be sharing her herb garden with us. Welcome, Tema!

Lavender

Herbs are probably one of the first plants that a new gardener gravitates to, they are easy to grow and can be used on so many of the dishes we enjoy. Oddly enough, despite being raised by parents who had a large garden, the only herb I remember in our yard was mint. My father and mother would crush a few leaves and put it in their iced tea. Consequently, it was the first herb I ever planted. I listened to a wise gardener who told me to plant it in a pot so that it would not take over my garden or yard.  My favorite herb is Rosemary. I have seen it planted as a shrub in landscaping designs and thought it a smart move, it provides an evergreen presence and a clean, refreshing scent.

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  lavender and mint

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  lamb’s ear and rosemary

Several years ago, my husband and son made me lovely, raised garden beds and the herb garden was the first I put in. The nearest to my back door, it is a joy to walk out and snip basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and chives. Mint dominates two pots and last year I decided to try my hand at mint jelly. As an adult I rarely eat mint jelly but as a child I remember eating more than my share. One usually thinks of berries when making jelly and over the past several years I have canned strawberry jelly and last July added blueberry conserve and pie filling to the list. Why not try mint? It was a little time consuming, but how delightful to taste that first spoonful. I made more than we will ever eat. I expect it will make its’ way into Christmas gift packages.

Blueberries

I would like to say that the blueberries that I made into pie filling and conserve came from my own garden. Alas, of the four bushes I planted last year, two did not survive and it was determined that the soil was too alkaline. We are taking steps to save the two which remain by addition of peat moss, fertilizer, and coffee grounds. We hope to add blackberries to the berry garden as well as everbearing strawberries – you may be sure we have checked the soil to prevent further loss.

oregano

The joy and sorrow of gardening, always I am learning and growing. The plants show me what they like and do not like. Doesn’t that remind you of how we learn and grow as believers? We many times believe we know what is best for our lives and march right along and do as we please. Like me planting the blueberries in a spot I was sure would be perfect. I did not take the simple step to check the soil. We do not check with God or His word to see if indeed we are doing what is best, thinking we know. In my life, this has taken me to places of sorrow, loss, and regret. But God, our Father, Creator, lover of our souls, grows our roots into rich soil, even in the midst of our bad choices. He tends us with His grace and mercy, His truth and guidance the fertilizer we need to grow and flourish and reflect how great He is.

About the Author:

Outside of writing, gardening is my greatest pleasure. Planting, watching the metamorphosis of the plant from seed to fruit, it is a wonderful picture of how God works in our lives. I write Biblical and historical romance and am currently working on a Biblical fiction series, Daughters of the King. My website is www.temabannerauthor.com and I may be followed at Facebook or Instagram

A Writer’s Garden—A Spring Harbinger Garden by Carole Brown

Tags

A Writer's Garden, books, Carole Brown, garden pictures, romantic mysteries, Spring garden. flowers, The Golden Touch

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 author Carole Brown, who has loads of spring garden pictures to share with us today! Welcome, Carol!

Let me be honest. I love flowers and gardens. All kinds, all shapes and sizes. They make me happy, infuse peacefulness in our busy lives and encourage me to relax and enjoy the life around me. I have a lot of Spring-type plants, and today I want to share with you a few that are Spring’s harbingers.

But they do take work. Plus we have lots and lots of trees around us, so I have to make sure to find the right spots for the plants. Right now, we’re remodeling several parts of our land and property. Our gardens will get some make-overs, and I plan on adding a few more.

Here are a few of my favorite late, late winter, early spring flowers and trees that never fail to give us a bit of sunshine even though the cold lingers.

The first one is an Irish Lenten Rose. Loves the shade and is always the first to bloom!

The second ones to burst into bloom, as if they can hardly wait, are the Ornamental Pear Trees and the Redbud Trees. Some of my favorites! It’s almost as if they’re promising that better (warmer) days are coming.

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Soon after, the Lily of the Valleys show their stuff, shyly, of course, along with our Bleeding hearts.  They’re such a “hanging back” type of plant that you almost have to search them out amidst all the other more showy plants.

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I’ve babied a rhododendrum that FINALLY bloomed this year. The blossoms are outstanding, and I’m so happy I finally was able to see it bloom so beautifully! I’ve bragged on it quite a bit because I want it to continue to do well, year after year! 🙂 

Finally, I’ll share a couple of pictures of things that give these flowers an extra touch of specialness. One is of an old wishing well that I inherited from my aunt. It sits comfortably among the overgrown Snow on the Mountain vines, never asking for much, but a reminder of how fragile life is and to enjoy every moment. 

Last is a sweet little girl sitting on a bench with her little basket. She’s adorable, and I love glancing at her when I pass by. A reminder that there’s always hope.

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As Spring flows into summer, these flowers will be gone, but there’s a promise in them. That there will be another Spring, another year, if all goes well. Hold tight to that promise.

About the writer/gardener:

Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. An author of ten books, she loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?

 Connect with Carole on her Personal blog, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, or Bookbub

The Golden Touch

By Carole Brown

Not again… Ryle Sadler stared down at the financial statement lying on his desk. His investment firm had just sent him another record of overwhelming success. Time to sell his share in this stock. Ryle came from the poor side of the tracks, but that had no bearing on his success in life—which he keeps hidden from everyone, especially those in Appleton. But when he buys the local, rundown bed and breakfast, mysterious revelations from beneath the site are suddenly threatening to ruin his good standing with the citizens. Then along comes Jazzi Sanderson. Jazzi has a reputation of being wild, but Ryle sees more than is on the top layer of this woman. Beneath that tough, wild streak lurks a woman who wants to be loved by the right person, a woman who is tender-hearted and who is just finding out that God is real. Are Ryle and Jazzi’s worlds too far apart or can their differences help them solve the mystery that lies beneath Ryle’s bed and breakfast? Will the evil person behind it all be able to silence them, or can Ryle’s golden touch prevail in this endeavor too?

Want to read more? You can find’s Carole’ Romantic Mystery The Golden Touch on Amazon

A Writer’s Garden–Queen Mary’s Gardens by Linda Shenton Matchett

Tags

A Writer's Garden, British Garden tour, English Gardens, History of Queen Anne's Garden, Linda Shenton Matchett, Queen Mary's Garden, Regent's Park, Through the Garden Gates

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 author is Linda Shenton Matchett. Linda will be taking us across the pond to England to visit one of her favorite English Gardens. Welcome, Linda!

Six years ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to visit England. We scrimped and saved for this journey of a lifetime and spent ten glorious days split between London and Hastings. We went during the month of March and took plenty of foul-weather gear that we never used. The temperatures were unseasonably warm, and the sun shone every day we were there.

The reason for the trip (other than the fact I’m a huge anglophile) was research for my books, so we had quite a few sites to visit, two of which were Hyde Park and The Regent’s Park, part of the Royal Parks system. As much as I enjoyed Hyde Park, Queen Mary’s Garden in The Regent’s Park was my favorite.

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Named for King George V’s wife, the garden opened to the public in 1932. However, the land’s history stretches back almost 850 years! From 1086 (20 years after the Norman conquest) until 1538, the site was home to a medieval manor. It became a royal deer park in 1538, but by 1649 had been converted to a source of timber for warships. The next one hundred and fifty years saw the area used as farms to produce dairy products and hay. In 1811, it became the intended site of a royal palace, but the plans didn’t materialize, and in 1824 was turned into a horticultural nursery. Fifteen years later, The Royal Botanic Society, a membership only society, took over until 1932.

During World War II, the park was the site of numerous bombings, and rubble from buildings destroyed in the blitz was dumped onto the lawns. Fortunately, the damage was repaired, and gardens brought back to their original beauty.

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The rounded park, surrounded by terraces, a lake, a canal, and villas, was designed by John Nash, one of the foremost architects of the Regency and Georgian eras. His original plan included fifty-six villas and a second home for the Prince that were never constructed. In 1835, under the reign of King William IV, the public was allowed into sections of the park two days per week.

Local societies leased the space left by the unbuilt villas, and one of the first to move in was the Zoological Society. The Royal Botanic Society laid out the Inner Circle with lawns and a lake, and the Royal Toxophilite Society introduced archery. Between them, these societies created the mix of gardens and buildings that remain today.

With over 12,000 roses in eighty-five single variety beds, the rose garden is breathtaking. In addition, the Begonia Garden holds 9,000 begonias, and is planted twice a year with seasonal bedding. The Mediterranean Borders are a gorgeous highlight, and the Delphinium Border has been granted National Collection status. Shrubberies are strategically placed to add privacy to the gardens, creating a tranquil setting, and shutting out the noise and chaos of surrounding London.

A treasure to behold.

About the Writer/Gardener:

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who have done extraordinary things in days gone by. Despite being the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of farmers, her gardening skills are limited, instead she finds joy in the beauty created by others. Linda is the author of more than two dozen Christian historical novels. To learn more, visit her website. . Receive a free short story when you sign up for her newsletter. Follow her on Facebook or check out her YouTube channel Moments in History for intriguing tidbits and little known facts from our past at her YouTube Channel

Gold Rush Bride Hannah

(Christian Historical Romance)

By Linda Shenton Matchett

A brand-new widow, she doesn’t need another man in her life. He’s not looking for a wife. But

when danger thrusts them together, will they change their minds…and hearts?

Hannah Lauman’s husband has been murdered, but rather than grief, she feels…relief. She decides to remain in Georgia to work their gold claim, but a series of incidents makes it clear someone wants her gone…dead or alive. Is a chance at being a woman of means and independence worth risking her life?

Jess Vogel never breaks a promise, so when he receives a letter from a former platoon mate about being in danger, he drops everything to help his old friend. Unfortunately, he arrives just in time for the funeral. Can he convince the man’s widow he’s there for her protection not for her money?

Gold Rush Bride: Hannah is the first book in the exciting new series Gold Rush Brides. Steeped in romance, intrigue, and history, the story will keep you turning pages long into the night.

Purchase Link

A Writer’s Garden–Gardening in Texas by Kathy Bryson

Tags

A Writer's Garden, garden resources, Kathy Bryson, Texas Gardening, wildflowers, zucchinni

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 author Kathy Bryon who will be talking about the trials of Texas gardening. Welcome, Kathy!

One upside of the pandemic and working from home is that I got to observe the rain and light in the garden before putting in flowers. And what I learned was, I know nothing! My experience is all based on gardening in Florida which is nothing like gardening in Texas, and everything I look up may or may not apply!

The flowerbeds were easy enough to build out and thanks to sturdy cardboard bottoms, they’re pretty weed free. Unlike Florida however, the cardboard didn’t break up – even with a week’s worth of snow! Texas is dry to the point that new dirt feels like ash within a week, which is really weird because we have high humidity from breezes off the Gulf, but the moisture doesn’t always hit the ground due to hilly country or the Balcones Escarpment – https://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/041/index.html  – but wildflowers, like these bachelor’s buttons love it!

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  Cornflowers

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  Early Wildflowers

So watering is done by hand from a watering can with a chopstick to direct water into the ground. Watering by hand is actually a requirement from the city to conserve water. Lawns are problematic in Texas. Who knew St. Augustine grass could actually die?! But without water, it can, then the topsoil gets washed away when it does rain. May is when the rains start – thank goodness! Texas temps can go from 60 to 90 in a single day, seriously stressing the gardener if not the garden. However, May and June thunderstorms also create mini flashfloods that thunder downhill between raised houses, taking everything in their path with them.

This explains why people don’t mow their lawns. You need the grass to keep the topsoil and disperse rainfall. It also explains why people plant in pots. They’re are easier to move to manageable conditions. But we have some impressive gardening resources, so I’m determined to tweak the yard anyway:

• San Antonio Botanical Gardens
• Garden Style by San Antonio Water Systems
• The Big Red Barn by Texas A&M Univ.
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
• Wildseed Farms

The other big change is the lag in seasons. In Florida, I put out new plants over Spring Break in April. In Texas, plants don’t show up in the big box stores or Farmer’s Market until almost May. Spring bulbs are only just now sprouting, but the vegetables are already budding.

Zucchinni

The geraniums are happy. How many can I stick along the back fence? Will the veggies do better under my one shade tree next year? Nothing’s taken where the neighbors’ two-story house throws shade though! Ooh, how about ferns? Would the city fine me if I let the front yard go to wildflowers? Excuse me while I go look up the rules on bluebonnets again!

About the Writer/Gardener:

Kathy Bryson is the award-winning author of tongue-in-cheek fantasy that ranges from leprechauns who play the stock market to zombies who harangue med students. She’d like to say she’s climbed tall mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and saved small children, but actually she tends to curl up and read, is a life-long advocate of Ben & Jerry’s, and caters to spoiled cats. She also works regularly with student writing, so she can claim to have saved a few term papers.

Connect with Kathy onFacebook – Twitter – website – 

Available in ebook, audio & print at your favorite online retailer – https://books2read.com/ap/RDLNLR/Kathy-Bryson

Restless Spirits

by Kathy Bryson

Marilee Harper is desperate to find another job after she accidentally set fire to the home of the richest woman in town. Converting an old hospital into a bed and breakfast seems like a golden opportunity. Stressed and aggravated, Marilee wants nothing more than to redeem herself, even if faucets and lights turn themselves off and on, and old baseballs fly without help.

John Smith has every confidence in the bossy, strong woman he hired to launch his bed & breakfast. She handled difficult customers at the bank and now she’s handling electricity and plumbing and whatever unseen force keeps throwing baseballs. But when the angry, treacherous King of the Fairies shows up, can Marilee become his champion?

Available at your favorite online retailer –https://books2read.com/u/38MEnO

Available in ebook, audio & print at your favorite online retailer – https://books2read.com/ap/RDLNLR/Kathy-Bryson

A Writer’s Garden-Plants and Pets by Sally Brandle

Tags

A Writer's Garden, flowers, Garden blog, Pawn, romantic suspense, Sally Brandle

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.

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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.

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Writing and riding my horse, Lance, who turns 31 on May 7^th, 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

A Writer’s Garden–Bugs and Blessings by Susan Miura

Tags

A Writer's Garden, Bugs and Blessings, Christian fiction, Garden blog, garden photography, Surviving Carmelita, Susan Miura

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 Susan Miura who will be talking about one of  most gardeners’ least liked subjects: Bugs…with a twist. Welcome, Susan!

How did creepy, slimy garden creatures transform from “enemy” to “blessings” in my gardener’s heart? Years ago, as a little girl picking vegetables for dinner in our backyard, I dreaded the emergence of buggish things: the spider descending down a kohlrabi, a beetle skittering along an eggplant, bees hovering over cucumbers, and the worst of the worst…the big, fat, terrifying hornworm poking it’s head out of a tomato. It was truly the stuff of nightmares.

Fast forward a few decades and the little garden girl is a wife, mom, and author with a passion for nature photography. Over the years, those creepy crawlies have been the subjects of Creation lessons as I worked with my children among the flowers and veggie plants, talking about God’s amazing design of our world and all living things, and the science behind what they do and why. They’ve also been the focal point for many nature photos. But it was when I got a macro lens that everything, truly, came into focus. (See what I did there?)

Through the magic of my lens, I was able to observe what the naked eye could not, and even after years of using it, the images never fail to take my breath away. To see the tiny dot indentations on the beetle’s wings or the individual hairs of a pollen-dusted bee is nothing short of miraculous.

Even that scary tomato worm, artistically patterned with its dots, lines and a row of spots that resemble eyes, is both exquisite and whimsical when magnified 100 times.  And spiders? Their intricate designs are the stuff of art museums.

But it wasn’t only insects that emerged into things of beauty, it was the plants themselves. No one would be surprised to hear that flowers look downright otherworldly through a macro, but even simple vegetable plants transform into something mystically marvelous.

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As a gardener and photographer, I eagerly anticipate the planting and photography that comes with spring. And as an author, I can’t resist infusing some of my characters with my passion for nature, in all its forms.  

About the Writer/Gardener:

Susan grew up in an Italian-American family where much of the backyard was used for growing vegetables, with one circular area dedicated to flowers. She worked side-by-side with her father planting onions, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, and other Italian favorites. Her passion for nature, writing, and photography lead her to travel, write books, and create presentations using her nature and travel photos.

Susan worked as a Chicago-area newspaper reporter, then as a television reporter in Albuquerque before returning to her home state of Illinois. She currently works in public relations, teaches writing workshops, and gives travel presentations throughout the Chicago suburbs. She is president of the American Christian Fiction Writers Chicago chapter and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Her young adult novels have won the Readers’ Favorite, Moonbeam, Illumination, StoryMonsters, and Best Book awards, and her new release, Surviving Carmelita, is her first inspirational women’s fiction.

Connect with Susan on her Website: susanmiura.com  Instagram: susanmiura1  Facebook: susanmiurawrites  Twitter: miura10

Surviving Carmelita

by Susan Miura (publisher: CrossRiver Media)

 Where do you run when your world implodes?

“Mom?” Ashley’s shakes can be heard in that single, whispery word. “Mom, what happened?”

I take a breath, unable to turn my head. Unable to move at all. “I don’t know, Ash.” But somehow I do know, beneath skin chilled by the breath of demons, that whatever just happened will change everything.

It was Josie’s hands on the wheel, her foot on the pedal. Her fault. Now, sweet, beautiful Carmelita will never see her fifth birthday. Where do you run when the world implodes and you can’t even function as a mom? Josie leaves her Chicago suburban home to stay with a cousin in Key West, unaware her journey is guided by an unseen hand. Unaware that a trailer park pastor, a battered horse, a pregnant teen, and a mysterious beachcomber might just set her on the path toward an inconceivable hope and redemption.

Includes a recipe by cookbook author Nancie McDermott.

You can find Surviving Carmelita at Amazon Barnes and Noble and CrossRiver Media

A Writer’s Garden–Tomatoes, Tomatoes by Gail Sattler

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A Writer's Garden, Gail Sattler, Garden blog, Gardening in Canada, growing tomatoes, Mercury Rising, tomatoes

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 Gail Sattler, who loves to plant tomatoes!

Welcome, Gail.

To anyone who has followed me in previous years, here I am again, with yet another, and hopefully better informed, attempt at growing a small garden. Mostly, though, my goal is to grow another successful tomato garden, this time with tomato plants that I grew from seeds myself. Of course buying plants is still a possibility, but hopefully, this year I will succeed and not buy anything except packages of seeds!

Here is what I have planted, with the addition of oregano as an afterthought.

We have growth!

Even my oregano is growing.

As time goes on, everything is a little bigger. I’m pretty excited about this. I think most of them will be big enough by the time I can plant outside. A friend told me that I can plant them outside when the temperature doesn’t go below 10 degrees (Celsius) at night. For now, I’m putting them outside during the daytime for them to soak up the sunshine.

The more leggy plants 2^nd from the right (below) are cucumbers. They are doing the best. I was told I didn’t need to start them inside, but oh well. They’ve got a head start. I’m the most proud of these tomatoes. They are a variety called Manitoba, which is where I am from, so I’m really looking forward to these.

This is what I’m aiming for, this is my tomato garden last year, which is on the west side of my fence in order for them to get the most sunshine. All of these were bought as plants, but I hope my home-grown ones this year will be even better.

About the Writer/Gardener:

 Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver BC (Canada, eh!) where you don’t have to shovel rain. A grandma of two beautiful little girls, Gail and her husband and two dogs are staying home and social distancing despite missing the little ones. Visit Gail’s website at www.gailsattler.com

I don’t have a new book out, but if anyone is interested, please check out my last 2 on Amazon, The Other Neighbor – which is a romantic suspense, and Mercury Rising – which is an adventure with supernatural elements.

Mercury Rising

by Gail Sattler

Michael wants to save his daughter, but first he’s got to save the world.

Michael and Charlotte meet when Michael is trying to find Ashley, his missing daughter who has fallen into drug abuse, and Charlotte is searching for her son Jon, a brilliant and aspiring young scientist who has also gone missing.
Ashley and Jon should have nothing in common, but after the murder of Jon’s favorite professor, they become ensnared in a tangled web that becomes worse with every new discovery.
When Michael and Charlotte join together to figure what their children have become involved with, they, too, are sucked into a sinkhole for which there are no answers, only more questions.
When all seems lost, will they all recognize the source of strength offered to them, and… will they take it?