Welcome to the Hazel Garden Journal / Blog

Here you will find news from the cutting garden, musings on plants and art, and some useful seasonal garden tips. I enjoy sharing these little glimpses of what’s growing, designs I’m working on, and my life with plants — and I love to connect with my readers, so please feel free to leave comments or suggestions for blog topics. Thanks so much for reading! — Annika

Autumn news/letter
Annika McIntosh Annika McIntosh

Autumn news/letter

Fall notes from Hazel Designs and the cutting garden plus a few announcements about upcoming workshops, seed & bulb sales!

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blooms + maintenance
Annika McIntosh Annika McIntosh

blooms + maintenance

Spring blooms in the house! Order your holiday flowers for the weekend, and come pick up the season’s first CSA shares this Thursday.

As I get busier in the garden I’m doing my best to remain mindful of the strengthening and stretching I worked on all winter, so I don’t repeat last summer’s back injury. I am learning more about responsible gardening biomechanics and maintenance for the long haul because I will most definitely 1) keep getting older and 2) keep gardening. I want to share what I’ve learned so far and I’ll be co-hosting a movement workshop for gardeners of all abilities later this season with a PT or other body work professional– stay tuned.

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Pencil Brook
Annika McIntosh Annika McIntosh

Pencil Brook

Picking a business name has been the hardest thing, and in the end I just stuck with the original “Hazel” for the sake of consistency. But here’s a peek into a parallel universe where I name my business after Pencil Brook, whose banks were my play ground and whose music was my lullaby.

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Gardening + children

Gardening + children

So this is my advice for gardening with children: invite them in, let them dig, make water available somehow, designate a pot or the end of a row for them to grow something, and allow a place for them to be messy. Teach them and then trust them to use clippers responsibly, and make sure they have tools that work. Then perhaps most importantly (because of your passionate belief in teaching kids to grow things and the myriad benefits attached): relax and pretend you don’t care.

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