Fiction

  October had arrived on the balcony with cool mornings, pale sunlight, and the unmistakable feeling that the growing season was beginning to pack its bags. The tomatoes, however, had…

Two tween books by local award-winning author Debbie Noble Black have earned Chanticleer International Book Awards. Deetjen’s Closet: A Quest for Magic (Coalesce Press, 2023) received first place in fiction…

The amaranth arrived in a brown paper packet with no name on it. The Balcony Gardener found it propped against her door one morning in early June. Inside were a…

Photo by Mike Perry   By the first week of August, the balcony had forgotten what coolness felt like. The morning sun arrived far too early and settled itself among…

The perfect beach-reading companion this summer is a suspenseful mix of thrills, romance, and intrigue—plus head-spinning deception—all played out on the international stage in the high-class, high-stakes world of priceless…

Photo by Sonia   June had entered its unreasonable phase. The jasmine no longer climbed so much as advanced. During the night, it appeared to make private decisions of its…

Photo by Amin Safaripour   The Balcony Gardener and Madame Dupont sat side by side on the balcony in the clear light of a Paris spring morning. It was close…

Photo by Lance Anderson   The times I remember us throwing Smiley out the hatch on that plane always come two different ways. In the first, we all heave to…

The Balcony Gardener loved April. Spring had arrived again, and with it came a quiet accumulation of ideas for the new season’s balcony garden. April did not require announcement. It…

Photo by Paul Steuber   March arrives as it always does—with ambition slightly out of proportion to available space. The Balcony Gardener draws up three lists. Seeds to order. Seeds…