🌿 June in the Prescott Garden
Your Monthly Garden Keeping Summary from The Whiskey Porch

As the high desert moves into early summer, June in Prescott brings high temperatures, intense sun, and the beginnings of the monsoon season. It's a month focused on fine-tuning water habits and staying alert to pest activity — especially for new seedlings and recent additions to the garden.

A man in a mask with a mosquito fogger at the garden gate was not exactly what I expected during a client call.

But it became the beginning of this week’s World Environment Day letter - a small reflection on the imperfect choices that help us care for the living world close to home.

Read the full letter: The Dragonflies Would Like a Word.

One of the challenges with new-build homes is that everything can feel abrupt at first.

Stark walls. Bare soil. Little shade. No sense of age or belonging yet.
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This Prescott landscape project began exactly there - with an empty high-desert lot exposed to strong sun, wind, difficult soil, and wide-open surroundings.

The goal was to create a layered meadow garden that felt welcoming, rooted, naturalistic, and deeply connected to both the architecture and the surrounding landscape.

In this week’s Design Dispatch over on Substack , I’m sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the design thinking behind the project -  from blank slate to final landscape plan to a garden slowly settling into itself over time.  Plus lots of Before & Afters.

Bonus:  The Curated Botanical Guide.  A gorgeous 47-page companion guide that breaks down all of the plantings, color palettes, design principles.

🌿 Read the full story here:  A Meandow Landscape.

There’s something truly remarkable about herbs.

Long before herbs became little more than culinary ingredients tucked beside tomatoes in the garden, they were woven deeply into everyday life - valued for fragrance, beauty, tea, healing, ritual, pollinators, and household care.

Many herbs offer all of those things at once.

In this week’s Letter from The Whiskey Porch, I’m reflecting on the old wisdom of herbs and the countless ways they enrich a more sensory, grounded, and beautiful life - from lemon balm tea and rosemary shower bundles to lavender beside the bed and gardens alive with bees and fragrance.

This is less of a how-to garden post, and more of an inspirational story.
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The letter also explores some of my favorite herbs to grow for beauty, atmosphere, pollinators, and everyday rituals here in the high country of northern Arizona.

Read the full letter here:  The Old Wisdom of Herbs.

What began as the unexpected story of an old bungalow in the mountains of northern Arizona eventually became something much deeper - a simpler, more intentional way of living rooted in beauty, home, garden, creativity, and seasonality.
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Over on Substack I wrote a letter, where I’m sharing the story behind The Whiskey Porch, the philosophy that guides my work, and the ideas that continue shaping a smaller, simpler, more beautiful life.

Read the full letter here: Welcome to The Whiskey Porch.

🌿 May in the Prescott Garden
Your Monthly Garden Keeping Summary from The Whiskey Porch

May brings a shift into full garden mode here in Prescott. With the final frost typically behind us, this is the time to start planting warm-season crops, prep irrigation, and set yourself up for the dry summer ahead. It's a month of steady progress and deepening color in the high desert.

📝 Full Checklist is on our Substack.  The Prescott Garden Keeping Journal – May Edition includes:

• 🌱 Plants & Planting
• 💦 Water
• 🦌 Critters
• ✂️ Maintenance
• 📝 Planning & Reflecting

👉 Get the full monthly checklists on Substack  Exclusively available to subscribers of Letters from the Porch on Substack.  Subscribing is FREE.
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I’m moving all of my seasonal content — including these monthly garden checklists and my more personal reflections on design, simple living, and the art of living well — over to Substack.

It’s a quieter, more intentional space where I can share practical tips, stories, and behind-the-scenes moments — all without ads or social media noise.  And, we can foster a more personal conversation there which feels more like sharing from the porch than broadcasting into the algorithm void.

It’s still completely FREE to follow along, and I’d love to welcome you there.

​🌿 Start here to learn more and subscribe
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It's really fun to put these checklists together.  It forces me to sit down and gather all of my usual to-dos in a more logical and organized setup - which helps me too.  And I'm getting great feedback from you all which really makes it all worthwhile!

Let me know if you think anything needs to be added to this list.

Until next time, happy planting!
~Miriam

What if downsizing isn’t really about less?

What if it’s about creating more room for what matters most - time, beauty, ease, and a home that supports the life you’re actually living?

In this week’s Design Dispatches letter, I’m sharing the final piece in my smaller living series:

The Gift of Downsizing
A reflection on right-sized homes, thoughtful design, and the surprising pleasures of choosing enough.
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With contentment & possibility,

At Letters from The Whiskey Porch, over on substack, The Spring Porch Invitation is now open.
April 15th - 24th, 2026.
​Become a member or upgrade now
Receive a handmade studio thank-you gift
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I just opened a small and very special invitation for readers who would like to step a little further onto the porch.

For a short time, readers who join Letters from The Whiskey Porch as annual Porch Companions or Studio Stewards receive a small handmade thank-you gift from my studio at Juniper Hill Cottage in Prescott, Arizona.

The Spring Porch Invitation is open through April 24.
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​You'll find all the details on membership benefits and access at the link below. 👇🏼
Join the conversation and be inspired.

Gardening has a way of nourishing more than just the plants we grow.


Over the years I’ve found that tending a garden - whether it’s a few pots on a balcony or a full backyard landscape - offers benefits that go far beyond aesthetics or food production. It’s one of the simplest ways to reconnect with nature, slow down, and engage in a creative, hands-on process.

In honor of National Gardening Day, I recently shared a short reflection on this topic in my Substack letter:  10 reasons gardening is good for the mind, body, and soul.
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You can find the post over on my substack:  How Tending a Garden Nourishes the Mind, Body, and Soul.

🌿 April in the Prescott Garden
Your Monthly Garden Keeping Summary from The Whiskey Porch

​April in Prescott can feel like spring on steroids—or a flashback to winter. With tulips blooming one day and frost looming the next, this month is all about balance: nurturing emerging growth while honoring our persistent winter chill.
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📝 Full Checklist is on our Substack.  The Prescott Garden Keeping Journal – April Edition includes:

• 🌱 Plants & Planting
• 💦 Water
• 🦌 Critters
• ✂️ Maintenance
• 📝 Planning & Reflecting

👉 Get the full monthly checklists on Substack  Exclusively available to subscribers of Letters from the Porch on Substack.  Subscribing is FREE.
​
Coming soon: Bonus content and a private local garden chat just for Substack subscribers!  You won't want to miss the chance to join in on this!

Well thanks for following along.  I've gotten so many nice notes from readers on these checklists, and that really makes my day.  It's wonderful to be able to share a little info and help add a bit of structure to your garden-quest.

Let me know if there's anything else for April that I should have included.  I'd love to hear.

With contentment & possibility,