No need to grumble at your idle, winter-weary garden: The Portland Flower Show is here. It’s not spring, but it’s as close as southern Maine is going to get for a while — and it is the promise of spring to come. The Portland Flower Show opens with its preview party and awards show Wednesday night and continues Thursday through Sunday, providing “The Enchanted Earth” in what otherwise has been several months of white winter landscape.
Tom Atwell
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Author Q&A: It’s all about me
… and you, and what makes us uniquely ourselves. Hannah Holmes’ latest book is a fresh, laugh-out-loud look at personality traits.
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What Ales You: Sampler finds Mean Old Tom has an even meaner brother
The past weekend was dedicated to some new beers – some absolutely new and some just new to me. Maine Beer Company’s Mean Old Tom is a stout fermented on vanilla beans, and the mix of chocolate malt and vanilla is enticing. It poured with a nice tan head, and was wonderfully dark brown. The […]
Posted inLife & Culture
Maine Gardener: Let’s talk tools
Important for the care and feeding of any backyard gardener: The right implements, properly maintained.
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Maine Gardener: Don’t be a slave to your plants — and that includes orchids
If you can grow houseplants, you can grow orchids. Be not afraid. Orchids have a reputation of being a difficult plant to grow, Kevin Kearns told a group of about 50 people at Skillin’s Greenhouse in Falmouth on a recent Saturday. Kearns is director of the Seedlings program at the Morrison Developmental Center in Scarborough […]
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What Ales You: Monster mash: Heady Belfast brews stand up to any stein
I made my first-ever stop at Marshall Wharf Brewing Co. in Belfast on Saturday, and I can say right now that I intend to stop whenever I go Down East. They make some unusual beers — including three smoked beers while I was there — and they make them well. But I am not going […]
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Maine Gardener: Looking for a new blueberry? Think pink
Nancy and I have been putting together our orders for spring planting this year. Some of the items we are trying are just for curiosity, while others seem to be improvements over what is available in the market. One of the big curiosity plants is “Pink Lemonade” blueberry, which showed up for the first time […]
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What Ales You: A short ABC’s of ales, beers, malt and hops
What kind of beer is that? The answer can get complicated. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different beer styles. But today, I’m going to offer a primer. It might be informative for casual beer drinkers, and true beer geeks can tell me where I’m wrong. The first dividing line is between lagers and ales. […]
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Maine Gardener: Here, there, everywhere – pinning down the natives
Paul Cappiello, a former University of Maine horticulture professor who is now executive director of Yew Dell Botanical Gardens in Crestwood, Ky., wants to limit the use of the word native in horticultural circles. “The word ‘native’ should never be used without a descriptive modifier,” Cappiello told the annual meeting of the Maine Landscape and […]
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Author Q&A: Beyond horrible
Some of Elliott Epstein’s book recalling a notorious Maine murder may be hard to read, but in its larger context of child abuse, it’s important and timely.