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Garden Surprises in Spring

May 26, 2021 By Talya Tate Boerner

Garden Surprises

This spring, so many garden surprises have entertained me. Almost every day something reveals itself. Something unexpected, curious, even unusual.

It helps that I spend a crazy amount of time poking around outside. (The more time one spends with any activity, the more accessible and intimate the parts of that activity become.) Each inch of soil surrounding our home is habitat for fungi, bacteria, insects, tiny burrowing creatures and organisms. Healthy soil supports plant growth by anchoring and insulating roots, filtering water, holding oxygen, and supplying nutrients.  While soil provides life, it certainly enhances mine.

Our garden has been especially magical this year. Or, maybe I’ve simply fallen under its spell.Continue Reading

The Power of Porch Flowers! (and how I plant mine)

May 12, 2021 By Talya Tate Boerner

There’s great power in porch flowers, y’all.

Last week, I finally planted flowers in the pots around my front porch. As fast as spring seemed to arrive, I waited and waited before filling my front porch containers. Our temperatures kept dipping, and I didn’t want tender buds to suffer from cold weather. (And I didn’t want to cover them.)

This doesn’t mean for the last three months I haven’t been torturing myself by visiting all the area nurseries, lusting over flats of red geraniums, drooling over pea green foliage, inhaling the perfume of already open rose blossoms. Because I have been. It’s part of my early spring survival plan.Continue Reading

Sunday Letter: 04.11.2021

April 11, 2021 By Talya Tate Boerner

Sunday Letter

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Every spring day brings a bit more magic. In our neighborhood, those who came decades before us had the foresight to plant redbuds and dogwoods in parkways beside the street. Now, anyone who happens by is surely blown away by the blooms. I certainly am. Even though I see them every day, every day they are new to me.

That’s what we gardeners try to do—leave the world better than we found it. Gardener or not, that should be everyone’s goal.

This picture of our street doesn’t do justice to the reality.

Continue Reading

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Our Garden Mission Statement
  • Goodbye, 2025. Hello, 2026.
  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25
  • Maggie and Miss Ladybug: My New Children’s Nature Book
  • Sunday Letter: November 9, 2025

Novels:

Coloring Books:

Fiction-Themed Coloring Books

Backyard Phenology:

Children’s Nature Book:

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