Cottagecore Gardening With a Side of Trees

Season 7, Episode 1, November 20, 2024

Nov 19, 2024

Brew up a nice cup of tea and settle down into a comfy chair, or if you prefer, put on your walking shoes and take a walk with us as you listen to this week’s episode.

Or maybe you are out driving around?

However you listen, we hope you enjoy this episode—our first of our seventh year of podcasting—as we talk about cottagecore gardening style and using cottagecore gardening ideas in your flower and vegetable gardens. Plus, we share some of our favorite books on cottagecore-style gardens.

All with a side of trees and a few other topics! Dee just shared the story of her tree below on Instagram. She planted it 29 years ago.

Dee’s favorite this week is her giant maple tree. Dee is in the photo for scale!

We started off with a definition of “cottagecore” from Country Living, but if you’ve been anywhere online, you probably already know what it is. I even wrote an article about cottage garden flowers for Family Handyman back in the day a few years ago.

Oh wait, we didn’t actually start right off with our topic. We talked first about how much fun we had being the emcees of National Garden Bureau’s Book Authors Talk Gardening event last week. It’s on YouTube if you missed it! We were also in a breakout room with Stephanie Thurow and Michelle Bruhn, the authors of Small-Scale Homesteading, a book we hope to review thoroughly soon.

My favorite this week is lavender blooming in November. Silly plants. I featured it in my Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post.

We also answered a question about how to keep squirrels from digging up newly planted bulbs. Creating a barrier with hardware cloth or chicken wire is a good idea. Or some people use a deterrent like Plantskydd to keep the squirrels and other critters away.

Then we got around to the cottagecore topic! Along the way, I mentioned that I may try to grow cucumbers indoors this winter, specifically the variety ‘Quick Snack’, one of the Kitchen Minis I grew this summer.

And we gave a shout out to friend-of-the-show, Teresa Byington who knows all about cottage style gardens. Dee also mentioned her friend, Teresa Dawkins, whose garden is the epitome of cottage core.

On the bookshelf, we featured Life in a Cottage Garden by Carol Klein (Amazon link), a book Dee has and enjoys. And we re-shared The Cottage Garden by Claus Dalby (Amazon link), a book we reviewed in 2023.

For our dirt, we shared the sweet story of this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

Dee saw the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree back in 2019.

We also talked about Lego's new Botanical kits: Pretty in Pink, “Floral Arrangement," and Botanical Garden, which are recent introductions. I saw them all over my Instagram, and now, of course, I want at least two of them. Guess which two! Listen to find out.

In our rabbit holes, Dee got a new iPhone so she has been watching some videos on iOS18 that look pretty good. Even without a new phone, they are worth watching to update your phone settings to be more secure. (And if you want to see what my new phone case looks like, I bought it from The Novel Home.)

My rabbit hole was another Lost Lady of Garden Writing, Helen Snow Wilson Goddard and mycology, the study of mushrooms. You can check out the reel of my dissolving mushroom on Instagram or read my blog post about them.

Dee’s picture looking over the hill. Beautiful, as only Autumn can be.

Two other mentions that deserve a link. Those cute overalls Dee talked about are the ones from Duluth Trading Company… not an affiliate link, we just love them. And that Hal Borland book Dee and I both like to read… there are several, but one in particular is Sundial of the Seasons.

And that’s it, the beginning of new season of podcast episodes. Did I forget anything? Oops, just one thing, Dee’s blog post about ten ways to enjoy your garden more.

What was your favorite part of this week’s episode? Leave a comment to let us know.

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