About

Everything in excess is opposed to Nature – Hippocrates

Hello. My name is Lucy and I am an excessive gardener. I have been gardening on and off over the years in various USDA Plant Hardiness Zones. I moved to Zone 10a from Zone 7b last winter .  My problem is that I am consumed by my  fondness  of plants. I can’t pass by a Home Depot or Lowe’s without stopping in to make a quick purchase at the gardening center.

I am a Biological Anthropologist with a lot of free time:  I had Stage III cancer and  did not weather the cancer treatment so well.  That said, I have become pathologically immersed in the ecosystem present in my yard, in particular:  insects that eat my plants and lizards, lots of lizards, that need to step up and eat the frigging insects. I am not growing a garden, I am defending it.

Won’t you follow me as I face pestilence, locusts, frogs falling from the sky, and dodge heavy limbs hurtling towards Earth from the “mostly dead” tree? There will be plant care and gardening tips;  backyard science, humor and commentary.

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40 thoughts on “About”

  1. Hi Lucy, nice to meet you and your mostly dead tree. Love the passion that shines through your blog.
    Thanks for visiting our blog, and for the ‘like’ on the post about ambition (or lack of it).
    Cheers
    Alison

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  2. Yes, I’m fascinated to follow you–and thanks for visiting my recent post re: the plants of Australia. I’ll be posting more & will tell friends about your site. Courage! You seem to be doing very helpful things for your body and soul.

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    • Why, sir. I am at a loss for words! Little ole me? I do declare you are a gentleman and a scholar, sir. In all my 2 months of blogging, I have never come across such a kind person. I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.Lucy

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    • Thanks, sweetie. I have such a hard time finding things to say about myself. Ten people? That one should be easy. Thanks again. Did you find the links to photo challenges on the Daily Post? Lucy

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    • How kind of you. Thank you. I am feeling better every day. Unfortunately the chemo left me with a few conditions that may or may not disappear over time. In the meantime they’re quite annoying. Thank you for your kind thoughts. Lucy

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    • Thank you very much. I’m from New Mexico. I’ve only been in Florida for 2 years. I am loving all the tropical plants. However, I have never seen so many plant pests and diseases in my life. Every day is a new battle. Every morning I go outside and my roommate hears: “now what’s eating the plants!” Since your soil sucks, how about container gardening? I do a lot of that here, too. You can control things better. If you need some suggestions or info on plants, let me know. Lucy.

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  9. Hi Lucy, in ‘excessive’ appreciation (did you see what I just did? 🙂 ) of your fine blog and your wonderful fiction, I’ve nominated your blog for the Liebster Award. Please understand there is no obligation to participate – but whether or not you’re interested, I wanted to recognize your blog.

    For details, please see this link: http://kateloveton.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/the-dreaded-liebster-award-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-procrastinating-and-accept-this-damned-award/

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    • I was just about to sign off when I saw that orange icon light up. Thank you so much, kate. I do appreciate it and I will follow the link. That’s so excessively nice of you. Lucy

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  12. never heard of Plant Hardiness Zone before. i too love plants but living in the city isn’t very conducive to gardening. looking forward to your posts and wishing you all the best with recovery…

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    • Thank you very much. Yes, those zones actually give you some idea of what you can and can’t plant. Thank you for the well wishes. Lucy

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  13. I too am an excessive gardener, defending my multiple flower beds in zone 5, where the three-lined bug, bunnies, and deer have caused me excessive anxiety. Love your writing and your blog.

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    • Thank you excessively. Zone 5. You have a few challenges besides the animal life. We have bunnies, too. Just found out my next door neighbor feeds the bunnies. They haven’t touched my plants lately. I’ll have to look up that bug.

      Thanks for coming by, I appreciate it.. Lucy

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      • Yep…we’ve got aphids, white flies, Japanese beetles, and at the moment, an excessive amount of rain. I’ve now got an unplanned stream along one bed. My cat likes to eat the baby bunnies but that just makes me feel worse. 😉 Hope your recovery is coming along…gardening and writing are both good for the soul.

  14. Hi Lucy,
    I hopped over here after seeing that Meg follows you–she has great taste. I share your love for excessive gardening…so much so that my husband keeps threatening an intervention. Like Meg, I’m a Zone Fiver and love the challenge it brings. Hail, locusts, elm beetles, droughts followed by floods…excessive heat and excessive cold. It’s all a journey and a blessing.
    You have no idea how happy I am to have stumbled upon your site. Your page is beautiful and your words even more so.
    I hope you don’t mind if I pop in from time to time to admire your flowers.
    Michelle
    (MamaMick)

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    • Come on over any time. I may be a zone 10, but I don’t discriminate. I used to be in Zone 5.. Let me know if you need any help or if you want to see more flowers, or whatever. I’m going to do a little ditty and photos about …no, I can’t tell you–I want it to be a surprise.. Keep it green, Lucy

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  15. I know the feeling, Sister. Been there, done that, then tried to hide from my husband as I brought plastic cartons of perennials through the house and into the garden. (Not easy to do). Thanks for your lovely blog.

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    • Hey, where did you go? I recently returned from nearly 2 months in a Nursing Facility having 5 IV antibiotics per day for the entire time. I will post about it on the Excessive Gardener. But where did you go? Lucy

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  19. I’m back from a grueling experience but with another surgery on the horizon. I asked for some down time before going back to the hospital. I’ll be seeing a specialist ortho surgeon who handles problem cases with total knee replacements. Right now I walk with a brace and a walker or sometimes I’m in a wheelchair. It’s exasperating. They had to remove the medial collateral ligament replacement because of the infections but now, having the ligament is out of the question so they have a special type of replacement but won’t know what to do until they open up the knee. This has been going on since January and I’m worn out. I live on morphine, sweet tea and cigarettes. I’m going to blog as much as I can. It’ll take awhile to catch up on all the posts. Hope everything’s been all right with you. See you around. Lucy

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Your excessive thoughts, please