🌿 Introducing the Monthly Garden Keeping Journal

Tips, checklists, and real garden photography from Prescott's high-country - practical guidance if you garden in Zone-7, and a season-by-season look at an actual living landscape if you don't

If you’ve ever stood in your garden in early spring, wondering whether it’s really time to prune the roses, or whether that surprise frost will wipe out your tomato starts, you’re not alone.

That’s exactly why I created the Garden Keeping Journal:
A monthly guide for Zone-7 gardeners (and anyone who loves watching a living landscape move through it’s seasons) - who crave practical, encouraging, real-world encouragement and inspiration.

I write from the perspective of a lifelong gardener and landscape designer with deep experience in Arizona’s high-country, but also years tending gardens in coastal Northern California and Phoenix’s low desert. Those contrasts have taught me one thing: every place has its rhythm, and it’s nuances.

Whether you’re here in Prescott’s high-country or tending a garden in another similar four-season climate, that rhythm - the steady give and take of the seasons - is worth really tuning into. A little attention and care go a long way toward lasting success.

And if your garden looks nothing like mine - different zone, different climate entirely - I know you'll still find something here. Readers tell me they love the photography: real, unstaged shots from an actual garden, not stock images.

Ibis, the yellow lab, and Nellie Mae, our avdenturous Siamese mix, will definitely photo bomb many of the landscape images I share. Including this one of a peaceful porch sit on the actual whiskey porch here at Juniper Hill Cottage.

There’s something worth watching in a landscape moving through its seasons, no matter where you’re standing.

That’s what this journal is all about - helping you stay in step with the seasons so your garden (and your confidence) can thrive month by month.

What Is the Garden Keeping Journal?

Each month, you’ll get a personal letter:

• What’s happening in the gardens at Juniper Hill Cottage right now - what I’m planting, what’s blooming, last month’s lesson learned

• Beautiful images of my real landscape and gardens, photographed by me, no stock images

• Reflections on the seasonal rhythm and design notes for future months

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Every edition includes a detailed checklist for each of these topics, accessible by paid members:

Plants & Planting

What to sow, transplant, or harvest - and how to time it with our quirky frost dates

Water

Irrigation tips, watering schedules, and seasonal moisture strategies

Critters

Updates on pest activity, wildlife deterrents, and gentle interventions

Maintenance

What to prune, mulch, clean, or repair - plus soil care and seasonal transitions

Planning & Reflecting

Garden journaling prompts, seasonal reflections, or design notes for future months

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This is not generic gardening advice. It’s written from the ground up for the unique four-season, high-altitude pattern of Zone-7 life. (Here, spring can flirt with snow and summer arrives in a blink!) Still, the broader timing, mindset, and seasonal pacing will feel familiar to gardeners in many other regions too.

Why Subscribe?

Every free subscriber gets the monthly letter intro - what I’m planting, what’s blooming right now here at Juniper Hill Cottage, and the stories and lessons learned along the way. You’re always welcome here, whether or not you ever go further than that.

Paid subscribers get the rest: the full actionable checklist for the month - what to plant, prune, protect, and watch for, timed to our real frost dates - plus close-up images and the kind of specific, month-by-month guidance that goes beyond the intro.

An excerpt from a recent monthly checklist - this kind of ‘specifric’ - every month.

“I love this! Zone 10 next please 🌵” — Kelsey Crane, reader

The Garden Keeping Journal and full monthly checklist is available to paid members - Porch Companions (whether Monthly or Annual) and Studio Stewards.

Porch Companion - less than the cost of your weekly chai latte (even less if you go annual). Full access to the Gift Library and monthly Garden Keeping Journals.

Studio Steward - one year, for less than the cost of a single nice dinner out. Everything above, plus a closer connection to the studio - first notice on what’s coming next, including the Prescott Garden Collective.

Whether you’re gardening here in Prescott, elsewhere in Zone-7, or simply following along for the rhythm of seasonal living, I hope these Journals bring a little clarity, confidence, and joy to your garden year.

With contentment & possibility,