Discover an unexpected tropical-feeling garden created mainly with hardy plants at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas. Japanese toad lily was in full glory in late October.

My arbor is woven with memories as much as vines.

Thanksgiving week 2024: a fun, memorable family gathering that lasted for days in my niece’s new home in Atlanta. Still, I took the opportunity to hide in the guest bedroom for a moment because I had promised myself I would unapologetically find a treasure among the many Black Friday sales. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? Roses! The treasure I found was four own-root roses from Heirloom Roses . Not electronics. Not fashion. Roses. Yeah, surprised me too. I recently wrote about the New Dawn rose that has now reached the top of my backyard arbor. The other three were planted closely together until I could build and fill more raised beds. Then numerous peonies came into my life, a few refugees from other beds had to be moved and, well, these three roses are still in the same spot and way too close together. That won’t change anytime soon.  What also doesn’t seem likely to change is this insufferable heat and drought. Ten inches of rain in June, none since. Temperatures linger in the 90s and triple digits, and the forecast stays hot and dry through August 23

There is something slightly thrilling about standing in a world-famous garden and realizing that, for the moment, nobody else seems to be there. Public gardens are meant to be public. I love seeing people enjoying them, especially children encountering a garden for the first time. The more people who experience gardens and nature, the better. But every once in a while, through luck, timing or a little audacity, I have found myself practically alone in one.  Those quiet hours remain among my most magical travel memories

The photo is from the 2024 exhibit "Exquisite Creatures" at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR.

George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri

Everyone is talking about the grand reopening in June. More space. More galleries. More excitement. But waiting means missing something special. Here are eight reasons why I think now is one of the best times to visit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It’s free – which expands your freedom. Yes, parking and admission here are always free. That’s easy to take for granted since most Bentonville area museums do not charge admission. But that free admission means you don’t have to think about your budget and time in the same way as if you were paying a $20-40 entry fee. You can stop in to join a tour or fill time between appointments by visiting one gallery.

An exhibit on Maria Sibylla Merian is currently on display at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Drawn from a private collection, the works are well worth seeing. So is Philbrook itself—a 1920s historic estate built during Tulsa’s oil boom and now home to a museum surrounded by beautiful gardens. Art, architecture, and gardens together in one place? Definitely my jam. Who is Maria Sibylla Merian? Well, if anyone asks me who my favorite artist is, who is one of my sheroes, it’s Merian. She was a botanical illustrator, scientist, explorer. She was also fearless, curious, groundbreaking, and well-traveled. She was a single mother. She was open to other cultures and deduced her own opinions. She sold everything and brought her daughter with her to another continent at age 52. Oh, and she lived from 1647 to 1717.

“Add a couple bay leaves,” suggested a friend. I had been moaning that I had looked everywhere I could think and could not find Bruce’s pinto bean recipe. Soak the beans overnight, add onions, ham, cumin, salt, and pepper into the Crock Pot. I found a similar, delicious recipe, but it was not the recipe. And Bruce’s recipe did not include bay leaves. But Kris said every bean recipe should have a bay leaf. And there is a bay tree on my windowsill. OK—at about 14 inches tall, tree may be a bit of an exaggeration. Bay leaves are commonly used in Mediterranean, French, and Spanish cooking, adding a subtle, savory flavor. Bay is also traditionally recommended to help with upset tummies, flatulence, and digestion. Ah—so that is why you toss bay into pots of beans. I hadn’t heard that before. Nor did I know bay leaves are sometimes boiled into custards.  During my snowed-in week, I made two pots of soup and a pot of beans, snapping off a leaf or two of bay and harvesting from the vase of sage and rosemary for the soups. My bay has adjusted well to indoor life and has plenty of leaves to share. Fresh bay leaves are a bit stronger than dried—one book describes the fresh flavor as “more eucalyptus-y.” I’ve always thought of bay as very mild. Although they are evergreen trees in the Mediterranean, bay (Laurus nobilis) takes well to pruning and can be grown in a container. I plan to keep mine a manageable two feet tall and happily invite it into my kitchen every winter. If you see a bay plant, I recommend buying one. None of my books recommend growing them from seed, and it can take a year or more to grow one from a cutting.