Calie the wonder dog

Woof! This is Calie the wonderdog. She's 3/4's standard poodle and 1/4 yellow lab which makes her a 100% lovable Labradoodle.

As you can see, she really enjoys the snow. We always though she was part polar bear too and now we can see the truth.

We got Calie one year ago, February 2006. Our intention was to get a Wheaton terrier but when the breeder brought out this fluff ball, our hearts melted.

Don has allergies so we needed a non-allergenic type dog. Labradoodles aren't always non-allergenic but Calie has been no problem.

We don't know what it was about her that sold us but the minute they carried her in the room we just knew she was meant to be ours.

Emily is the one in the pink shirt, Lauren is in the red and white striped shirt, Calie has the brown nose :-)

Unfortunately, we hadn't had a dog before and should have started training her from the moment we brought her home.

Little dogs do things that are cute, big dogs do things that hurt. We had no idea and neither did Calie. Letting her jump on people seemed cute at first but a 70 lb dog jumping in your lap is not cute!

So join me in a photo adventure of Calie the wonder dog and I'll try to pass on some of the do's and don'ts of dog-ship.

Warning, don't click on these photos, they will be gigundo. Firefox is giving me a problem with downloading photos to this site so I'll need some help before I can get small photos here again.

Don't: Aw, how cute. Calie is trying to get her liver treats off the table, let's take a picture!


Do: Teach your dog that silence is golden and no nipping allowed.

Don't encourage your dog to hang out over the baby fence. Calie still respects the fence but knocks it down when she tries this.

Do ask for help and bring a professional in to work with your dog. Thanks Mare!


Don't let them sleep on the couch or they will ruin it.


Don't let their hair get this long or it will get knotted (matted). Even if they look cute.


If you do let their hair get matted (I was brushing her almost an hour a day at that point) DON'T let the groomer get carried away! Poor Calie needed therapy after this hair cut.

Do take your dog for lots of walks. It's not only good for the dog but good for you too! Calie and I love to hike the Walt Whitman trails in West Hills (South Huntington) New York.


Don't expect your dog to consider any available trash can as anything but a candy shop.

But most of all, Do love your dog with all your heart that's how they love you.

P.S. Note, new couch but who's still on it?

The spring garden

Ah spring, a gardeners time for rejuvination.

Right now we've got a few more weeks, maybe a month to go before we can really start doing anything outside. As a gardener, my dreams of spring are as exciting as my dreams of winning the lottery. There's just so much that could be done, the possibilities are astounding.

Some people consider bulbs the first harbinger of spring. For me, it's the shade gardens. So many of the earliest perennials are blooming in the shade garden before the trees leaf out. Yes, there are bulbs here too but because of squirrels and rabbits, I don't have as many as I should. Plants like Hellebores, Pulmonaria, Primula, Dicentra (bleeding hearts), and Epemedium just make me melt.

This will be the first spring in 5 years that I'm not putting together a children's garden for the Hofstra Flower show. While on one hand I'm looking forward to the time off, on the other hand I will miss seeing all my friends there.

Oh and the vendors!

There's nothing like the excitement of shopping for plants and garden products in the spring.
Maybe this year I will find more fantastic Brunera or even some hot new Sempervivum.

Main Street nursery in Huntington always has some of Jim Glover's newest things, I think his plants are just awesome.
Tomorrow I'm having lunch with Mary Kay. It's sure to be a plant-a-holic kind of conversation!

This beautiful yellow Azalea has been in a pot for a year. I hope it's still alive. If so, I promise to get it in the ground this spring!

I've been so frustrated this week with these photos that I'm just going to get this message off even if it's rough. Hopefully there'll be something to see!

Lost Plants

My dear friend Gianna gave me this amazing Edelweiss. Never in a million years did I think I could grow it in my garden here on Long Island. Amazingly, it grew well and bloomed for three years before dying. Now I know that I planted it in the wrong location. Hopefully I'll find it for sale around here this spring and get another chance.


What is it about perennial collectoritis? If a plant dies on us the first year, we seem to be determined to grow that thing and we buy it over and over again. Yet, if we buy a short lived perennial we enjoy it for 3 or 4 years and then that's it. Maybe you don't have this problem but it seems to be one that I have here.

This Lamium was stunning in a pot. Why oh why didn't I plant it in the garden? Other Lamiums do well here so it would have been smart of me to try to grow this one on. I think the name is 'Anne Greenway'.

Over the past 20 years of gardening I've had wonderful Campanulas, Heucheras, Monardas, Baptisias, and so many more plants that thrived for a few years and then died out. Now I want them all back!

(I'm having problems attaching photos and getting the layout I want this morning so my apologies on the rough layout. These photos are coming from some scanned slides and I think that's part of my problem)

Why do I garden?

Why do I garden? Simply, it makes me feel good. Strike that, it makes me feel great!

Sunburns, stiff knees, aching back, poison ivy blisters, wasp stings, mosquito bites and a host of related pains doesn't change this. Gardening makes me feel incredible.

So, it's no wonder that whimsy in the garden makes me smile. I just adore finding out that others enjoy gardening as much as I do. The garden owner who put this in her garden told me that it was very theraputic. When ever she ran into this mean woman in her town, she'd come home and dunk this head under the water!




Of course when I saw this bird house I just had to have it. It's been in the garden for four years now but nobody's moved in :-(

I saw this garden swimmer while on a daylily tour. Isn't she delightful?

P.S. Thanks Mary Anne for teaching me how to reduce my images!

Planting Fields Arboretum

The Coe Estate at Planting Fields

Today seems like a good day to try something new. I'm adding a label for my posts to see if it changes the layout here. The photos in this post were taken in June 06 by my daughter Emily who was 12 years old at the time. She had come with me to Planting Fields where I attended a meeting of the Long Island Daylily Society. Instead of sitting inside on this stunning day, Emily took my digital camera and went on a tour of the grounds.

This first shot must have been taken near the Horticultural Center.

Here's the first of many arches we'll see.

What would an arboretum be without some specimen trees?

Just one example of the lovely statuary you can find at Planting Fields.

Be still my beating heart. These roses are amazing!

Oh what beautiful colors and textures.

Ok, not daylilies but what lovely yellow lilies.

Closer...

Closest yet!

Wish this was a scratch and sniff photo. These rose arches are stunning.

Up close and personal with one of the rose arbors.

Ha! I wish I had the name of this handsome fellow. I'll take a guess and say it's Eremurus, the fox tail lily?

Fairy roses tumbling all around.

Fairy roses and a Kousa dogwood.

Goldilocks would love this place!

Truly, a cottage garden.

Yet another arch, this one is all green.

What a nice place to sit for a while.

Here I thought I knew every inch of Planting Fields and yet Emily found a pond I have never seen. It's hidden well, but we've got some clues to it's location.

Mr. Turtle is sunning himself on a log.

Mr. Turtle and the goldfish have a lovely lily to gaze upon.


My smart girl took this photo and also took a picture of the garden name. So now I can tell you that this is the Heather garden. That sweet pond is hidden at the top of this photo.

Arches again, these are of stone.

This little pond is in a great spot, it just needs some more planting attention.

What a cool roof-line!

On beautiful days, one often comes upon wedding parties taking photos at the arboretum.

The End
(thanks Emily!)