If your housekeeping regime is anything like mine, there are bound to be surprises from time to time. Last week I shuffled the bins of knitting yarns slightly from where they had been pushed in front of the bedroom bookshelves. There under the shelves was a pot of bulbs that I had forced on top of the shelves last spring. And once again I had to cry Life Will Not Be Denied! The potting soil was dry and…
The last planting season of the year is late fall when gardeners are racing to get in all the crocus, daffodil, scilla, snowdrop and tulip bulbs in the ground so they can look forward to an early spring full of color. But fall is not the only bulb planting season. There is a whole array of bulbs that need to be planted in the spring to bloom gloriously and often exotically in the summer. Many summer blooming bulbs…
The gardening year really has two planting seasons, spring and fall. Spring planting season is all a-rush with excitement because you can finally get your hands in the dirt, carefully chosen plants are arriving and a casual browse through the local nurseries has sent you home with a truckload of new plants and plans. And then there is the bliss of working beneath an ever warmer and brighter sun. Fall planting season tends to be less exuberant, with…
My husband was amused to wake up yesterday morning and find me - and the gray cat - out in the garden weeding in between drizzly sprinkles of rain. I have been trying to weed for weeks, but somehow there hasn't been time. And there wasn't much time yesterday either, but you can get an idea of what is blooming right now: Miss Lingaard phlox hasn't quite given up, a pink phlox is in full flower, as is Blue…
Last fall my neighbor gave me several of his famous garlic bulbs to use as seed so I could plant my second garlic crop in the vegetable garden. My first crop was not very successful, mostly because I did not pay attention to cutting off all the scapes in the spring. My harvest in July was puny. This time I planted each clove in well tilled soil and mulched heavily with spoiled hay in mid-October. You can read…
I have not done with posts about my great trip to Seattle to tour amazing gardens with 70+ garden writers and bloggers, but I am so happy to be home and to see the glories of lily season. Our Daylily Bank is now in full bloom and it got a lot of attention when the Heath Gourmet Club was here on Saturday night to enjoy a delicieux dinner a la Francais. The Black Beauty lilies have been blooming…
For the past couple of weeks I have been looking at a budded plant in the Lawn Grove. It seemed to have lily foliage, but I couldn't remember planting lilies in that spot. And I never found time to go back and check my records for last fall. The other day the buds opened into these beautiful martagon lily blossoms. But the plant was not quite three feet tall. Is there such a thing as a miniature martagon?…
The garden centers are putting out their trays of blooming annuals, many of which will find their way into planters and containers of all sizes and shapes. They’ll be hung on porches, set out on decks and placed by doorways. It is hard to resist all that color and frilly form. Fortunately for us we don’t have to resist because those familiar annuals, impatiens, petunias, begonias and geraniums are inexpensive and put on a good and cheerful show…
I first noticed, really noticed, crocosmia or 'Lucifer' while visiting gardens in Buffalo last July with 70 other garden bloggers. Crocosmia is a stunning plant in a devilish shade of scarlet. I came home and what did I find? Crocosmia growing on the Bridge of Flowers. Yesterday we sold several potted up crocosmia at the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale. They don't look like much now, but just wait until July when they are three or four feet…
I don't think I have ever had this Bloom before on my blog. Several forsythia bushes were here when we bought they house : they are so old and entrenched that we have never been able even to contemplate the work it would take to pull them out. They rarely bloom, but they sure do grow. But this year! Not spectacular, but a regular profusion. A milder winter? Global climate change? I have no idea why, but the…