Cold Climate Gardening

Colchicum ‘Harlequin’ is apparently new enough that only Odyssey Bulbs, from whom I bought it, has any information on it: “With their pointed, twisted, creamy-white segments, blotched irregularly with purple toward their bases, the flowers (borne in September) of this aptly named and utterly distinctive cultivar really do give the impression of a jester’s hat […]

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The first time Colchicum ‘Lilac Wonder’ bloomed for me, I wondered if perhaps I didn’t plant it deep enough, it flopped so. I think I even made a note to dig it up when dormant and reset it deeper. It’s just as well I didn’t, because, as Bowles describes, “‘Lilac Wonder’ has a very long […]

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Winter has arrived. It has come swiftly, suddenly, and with savageness.
October was, over all, a mild month. There was no bitter chill, and even days when the weather was unusually mild. Frost, this fall, came very late. So, as fall gave way toward winter it was mild weather leading into . . . what? Last […]

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The weather has relented a bit for last-minute chores (and last-minute gardeners).

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As I write, it is 68 degrees F, quite possibly the warmest it will get for the rest of the year. We did general pick-up-the-yard-before-snow-comes over the weekend, and I mapped out half of the Juneberry bed. Would like to map out the other half tomorrow or whenever else it is mild enough, but duty […]

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