I have been neglecting my blog for quite some time! I was off to a good start then “life stuff” decided to butt in for a while. The interruption started around April of 2018, just when my pruning business was really kicking into high gear. My pruning calendar was completely booked every Saturday and Sunday from early February through mid-May. Sometimes three locations in a weekend!

Then in mid-April, I was pruning a tall privet hedge, my ladder squeezed between a climbing fig covered fence and the back of the privet. Thick, decades old roots underfoot. I stepped off my ladder and wouldn’t you know it? POP! I felt a pop in my hip that I later found out to be the labrum in my hip! I did suck it up and finish out my spring pruning clients, but I was in terrible pain and limping all throughout the next eight months or so. 

From there, sadly my mother suffered a stroke, and then another, before passing away two months later. She turned 80 the day before her stroke and died the Saturday before Thanksgiving. All I can say is that it was a horrible two months.

After settling her estate in the first months of 2019, I had no energy to manage anything but my day job. I was a couch potato and numb. But time flew by and my hip was starting to get stronger (thanks Pilates!). I did a few minor fall/winter pruning jobs for a couple favorite Master Gardener friends and started getting excited again about pruning and gardening in early 2020. Then guess who came to town?!?!

I spent the spring in fear and summer dedicated to my vegetable garden and didn’t prune again until December. But happily, I started January off by reconnecting with my friends at Shinzen and pruned my three lovely ladies for the first time in two years. It was a lovely start to 2021! Fresh pictures to follow.

Since COVID-19 will likely consume most of this year, I decided I needed to jump into a new gardening adventure. I’m very excited to say that I am starting the Floret Flower Workshop this month! I’m so incredibly excited to dive into the world of cut flowers! Amid all the virus fears and crazy news, I feel so energized that I get to learn and get drunk on gorgeous flowers at the same time! I hope to post more about my flower journey — here and on Instagram @greenlilydesign. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!