There are three ways to achieve flowering plants in your house during the winter. First, you can think ahead and order bulbs for forcing. Paperwhites are the old standby, but you can force other daffodils, and there are many cultivars to provide you with a variety of form and color. In the early fall you will find a host of different daffodil bulbs at your local garden center or you can go online. By the same token you…
Who needs Latin in this modern, high-tech age? Gardeners do! They need to know Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriaca is not a rose which is named Rosa. Rose of Sharon could be a hibiscus. Which rose do you want? Of course, if you want a hibiscus, the Rose of Sharon is a great perennial choice. Knowing your Latin will help you get the rose you want and not a Lenten rose, Helleborus orientalis or a rock rose, Cistus…
Trees have been growing on our planet for about 390 million years, in what is called the Middle-Late Devonian period. Those trees did not look much like the trees in our woods today, but they did meet a definition that paleontologists use describing a tree as a plant with a single stem that can attain larger heights because they have specialized cells. Trees were small back then. Nowadays we know how big the family of trees has become,…
If we do not think winter gardens are very interesting, we need to change our view. We can choose trees and shrubs that will create winter interest.
New Year’s celebrations have been with us for a very long time. The ancients have been paying attention to the movement of the sun, moon and stars for at least four thousand years. They were aware of the equinoxes when the length of day and night were equal. The Babylonians celebrated the beginning of the year with a great religious festival in late March, on the day of the vernal equinox. Not all countries or regions of the…
Today, January 1, 2019 is mild and cloudy, but our year of 2018 began with a snowstorm. Fortunately I have winter interest in the garden with my winterberries and beautiful exfoliating bark on the river birches. February was a month for reading and learning. George Washington Carver helped farmers turn to peanuts, and the world benefits today with Plumpy'nut. It was also a month of learning about trees, caterpillars and butterflies and their importance to our environment. It…
Our December holiday celebrations originated far away from North America. The days grow shorter, the nights are long and dark. Understandably the great religions celebrate with lights. Hanukkah Two of these holiday celebrations are days-long commemorations of ancient events. The Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days. The Talmud tells the story of Judah Maccabee and other Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil…
More Christmas books. There is no end of books to delight and inform the gardener. Kate Frey’s new book, Ground Rules: 100 Easy Lessons for Growing a More Glorious Garden (Timber Press $19.95) has a sweet cover with painted flowers and birds. It would be easy to dismiss this book as something only of interest for the new gardener. However, it does not take a long browse through each bright page to realize that there is always something…
Christmas gifts for the gardener range over such a large world of possibilities. Even though we’ve shopped at Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, we may not have finished our holiday shopping. Fortunately there are many places where we can buy everything a gardener, novice or expert, might need in our own neighborhood. I began shopping at the Greenfield Farmers Cooperative on High Street. I didn’t even have to go inside to see wonderful greenery waiting…
There are always wonderful new garden books with fabulous photographs, and written by skilled gardeners. However, I cannot help reminding people of some wonderful classic books about gardening. The two books I recommend today are not how-to books. The authors I have chosen were not ‘garden writers” who devoted their talents to writing about how to garden. They were writers who gardened and saw the humor, wonder and amusement to be found in the garden. Karel Capek and…