Some Things Never Change – Ready, Set, Go!
The best designed gardens will become the gardens from Hell if not properly maintained. The weeds creep in, the birds drop unwanted seeds of trees that we call volunteers, plants become larger than the catalogs say. It’s a never-ending battle.…
Now Is the Time – Maybe
[caption id="attachment_7432" align="aligncenter" width="460"] My snowdrops pushed their way through fallen leaves. The buds opened the next day.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7433" align="aligncenter" width="460"] The bright yellow of Eranthis is so cheery.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7434" align="aligncenter" width="461"] The bright purple of Crocus tommasianus…
Who’s a Toughie?
The dictionary definition of tough is “strong enough to withstand adverse conditions”. In the plant world, we are always searching for plants that are tough so they can not only survive but thrive in challenging situations. There are two situations…
Fireworks
[caption id="attachment_7393" align="aligncenter" width="461"] Fireworks similar to those of Inauguration night-sic.gov[/caption] I’ve been breathing again. Wednesday was a glorious day for our country and the fireworks at the end of the evening were spectacular. I’ve never been a great fireworks…
Yellow Will Make You Smile
The song “Home, Home on the Range” has a line: “The skies are not cloudy all day”. It epitomizes what we think is the weather in the West. Seems to me that the person who wrote those lyrics must have…
Old Favorites, New Cultivars
Talk to any gardener about the stalwart perennials and each one will have different favorites. The stalwarts are usually those that are long-lived, have few if any disease or insect problems, and are long-blooming. [caption id="attachment_7355" align="aligncenter" width="461"] Rudbeckia subtomentosa…
The Holiday Bookshelf – The Modern Cottage Garden
[caption id="attachment_7349" align="aligncenter" width="460"] Remainder of crabapple (planted in 1924) after sawing off as much of large branch as possible that was covering the front walk[/caption] Oh my goodness! Who could have imagined a foot of heavy snow on December…