plants

Saturdays in the Park: Win a Monstera Plant!

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*Updated* The winner of the Monstera plant is Leslie Larocca! Congratulations!

Monstera Deliciosa plant in pot.
Photo by Mike Marquez on Unsplash

If you’ve got a green thumb and you’re really into plants, you might be familiar with Monstera Mondays on Instagram. Plant parents with Monstera deliciosa plants celebrate the beauty of these plants by taking pictures and sharing them with the #monsteramonday hashtag.

A Monstera in its full glory is a joy to behold. Many of us would like one of these plants, but they are not easy to find. Your average store doesn’t stock them, so it takes some effort to find one to bring home.

If you live in the Boston or South Shore area near Quincy, you might be about to get lucky. This coming Saturday, August 3rd, I will be holding a free (in person) raffle for you to win your very own Monstera plant!

Since the first plant swap that I held a few weeks ago with the Wollaston Hill Neighborhood Association was so fun and well received, I decided to have another one. This will be the last of the Saturdays in the Park events for the summer, so I decided to take things up a notch.

I contacted Fruit Center Marketplace, a specialty grocery store with locations in Milton and Hingham, that I wrote about five years ago, and asked if they would be willing to donate a plant for a giveaway.

Since the Milton location is practically around the corner from the Wollaston section of Quincy, I’ve visited several times to buy items for myself and others.

Fruit Center Marketplace has an eclectic mix of gourmet foods and treats – ice cream, wine, craft beers, flowers, plants, gift baskets and more. During the summer, so many of us are visiting friends and family at home for gatherings, and would like to bring something special as a thank you for our hosts. You can definitely find something here!

Being much more than your typical grocery story, Fruit Center Marketplace is planning to start stocking Monstera plants on a regular basis in the near future! No further need to wander around aimlessly looking for them!

Since they are generous and have access to Monstera plants, they are donating a Monstera plant for the raffle. Yay!

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Plant Swap

The plant swap is being held from 12pm – 2pm on Beale Street in Wollaston at Safford Park with the Wollaston Hill Neighborhood Association.

If you want to participate in the plant swap, bring your potted plants, non-potted but rooted plants, and cuttings. Please label what you bring to help others identify the plants. Indoor plants and outdoor plants are all welcome!

At the last plant swap, people dropped off more plants than they took. So you may be able to take many plants home, because I cannot bring them all home with me!

Raffle

If you’d like a chance at winning a Monstera plant for free, stop by the plant swap table this Saturday, August 3rd to enter.

You don’t have to participate in the plant swap to enter.

It’s free to enter.

Only one entry per person.

Write your name, the city or town where you live, and phone number on a piece of paper and put it in the jar.

At around 1:45 pm, one name will be drawn at random and chosen as the winner. The name will be announced at that time.

In order to win, you either must be on the premises to bring the plant home or live in Quincy. If you leave before 1:45pm and live in Quincy, I will bring it to your home after contacting you by phone and making arrangements. Or you can come back for it before 2pm. I will not be able to bring the plant to anyone living outside of Quincy, so if you leave and your name is called, another name will be drawn.

None of my family or friends are eligible to enter. And obviously not me. Sorry! It wouldn’t be fair or look good if we won.

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Hope to see many of you on Saturday!

Saturdays in the Park: Plant Swap + Free Yoga

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*Updated*
I will be holding another plant swap on Saturday, August 3, 2019, 12pm – 2pm.
Stay tuned for more details!
Image of small potted plants. Saturdays in the park will have a plant swap.

Have you heard about Saturdays in the Park? It’s a new series of events this year in Wollaston’s Safford Park on Beale Street. Every Saturday for the next several weeks, 12pm – 6pm, there will be activities in the park.

In case you’re not familiar with Wollaston, it’s a section of Quincy that has it’s own beach and will soon have a newly renovated MBTA station.  It’s been closed for over a year and is supposedly on track to re-open in August. Fingers crossed!

It’s also where I’ve enjoyed living for many years. I’ve walked by Safford Park a million times, but have never actually used it. Saturdays in the Park was supposed to start last week, but was cancelled due to rainy weather.

So tomorrow, Saturday, July 6th will be the kick-off event! There will be music, games, a beer garden, food, free yoga and a plant swap!

Since I’ve been intentionally growing my plant family, the plant swap was my suggestion and I’ll be at a table from 12pm to 2pm to help you swap a plant or two.

Bring your potted plants, non-potted but rooted, and cuttings too. Please label what you bring to help others identify the plants.  🌿🌿🌿

Ironically the yoga class is at 12pm, as well. The same time as the plant swap, so I don’t think that I’ll be able to participate, but I will take some pictures.

I have some plants to swap as well aaaand I’m putting out into the universe that I would like a Monstera deliciosa aka Swiss cheese plant, or even a little cutting. It’s a beautiful plant that I first learned about on Instagram.

Hopefully, many of you will come by and say hello. It’s supposed to be a lovely day!

Stressed American Escapes with British Lifestyle Programs

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Blissed-out not stressed-out

There’s no need to go into the details of what’s causing Americans stress. There are way too many. It’s impossible to keep up. This country is a horror show.

A Bloomberg article called Freaked-Out Americans Desperately Seek to Escape the News, says it all. Many of us are probably familiar with what is explained in the article.

“Just this morning I had a guy come in who is so distracted by the news that he can’t get his work done,” said Jonathan Alpert, a New York psychologist. “The levels of anxiety and stress I’m seeing are profound.” Those heightened stress levels are reflected in Americans’ chosen leisure activities.

This phenomenon explains my obsession with British gardening and interior design shows. Season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale has to wait. I cannot bring myself to tune in.

When I tear myself away from rage tweeting, I’m tuning out the dystopian nightmare that is life under trump. I no longer capitalize that monster’s name.

Anyway, below are three wonderful shows that I’ve been watching on Netflix that will get you blissed-out instead of stressed-out.

Big Dreams, Small Spaces

Love Your Garden

The Great Interior Design Challenge

I’ve also been sprucing up my own indoor garden and hope that my new basil plant will keep growing. It’s quite nice picking a few leaves in the morning and adding them to a salad that I pack for lunch.

Blissed-out not stressed-out

After learning that wild strawberry plants can grow indoors, I’m hoping to add one of those as well.  Just looking at plants calms me down. Sort of like mini forest bathing.

Any good shows that you recommend? Please let me know and have a good weekend!

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Screenshot: Big Dreams, Small Spaces

Boston’s Latest Crafty Girl Craze: Terrariums

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Many terrariums and plants on a table for workshop.

Spring is finally here. It’s National Park Week and tomorrow is Earth Day. So it’s the perfect time to think about all the beauty of the earth.

Many of us don’t want to only enjoy the beauty of trees and plants when we’re outdoors, but we want to bring the lush greenery inside as well. I’ve been blessed with a green thumb and have plants and trees growing quite nicely in my apartment. Tending my plants is very relaxing and a kind of meditation for me.

It seems that I’m not the only one who feels this way about plants, because a new zen trend that I see growing 😀 is terrariums.

Trident Booksellers on Newbury Street has a weekly “Plant Nite” where you can build terrariums and enjoy food and drinks.  But it’s not the only place. Plant Nite, similar to Paint Nite, brings people together at different restaurant venues all around the Boston area where they can drink and go home with a terrarium.

Niche, focuses on urban garden supply and is located on Tremont Street in the South End. They encourage plant ownership and sometimes offer classes and workshops on terrarium building.

This Sunday morning, on April 24th, Shake the Tree, which is located on Salem Street in the North End, will be holding a terrarium building workshop along with mimosas and breakfast bites.

If you’d like to go west of Boston, on June 5th, Tovah Martin of Terrarium Wise will be speaking about terrariums and there will be a workshop as well. This event will be held at Brandt House B & B, located in Greenfield, Massachusetts and sponsored by the Greenfield Garden Club.

If you can’t make it to an event, or even if you can, maybe you’d like to wear a terrarium. Dara Cheek, of Hieropice, who I met at ASSEMBLED in Somerville, makes the cutest terrarium necklaces that you can buy from her Etsy shop.

You can also just make terrariums at home. West Elm gives a tutorial on making a tabletop terrarium. Sunset Magazine also gives some nice ideas for DIY terrariums.

Whatever way you choose to enjoy terrariums, you’re sure to have some fun!

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Flickr Photo Credit: Terrarium Workshop by Amy Gizienski