First off, my apologizes to writer E.L. James for riffing on his popular novel title “50 Shades of Grey”. I rather doubt that my comments here will ever make it to the big screen. Just the same, the month of December in my garden is a pretty steamy mix of tan, brown, or black (and all the shades in between) emanating from foliage, seed heads, and bark, and frankly, I find it pretty stimulating…


The silky sweetness of chocolate seems to be nearly universally adored by humans, especially as we near the sugary holiday of Halloween. Plants are of course loved by all as well, right? I am certainly not going to compare the two, although I might just have to…