March 2005

I am very pleased to introduce to you our latest contributor. Innes and I "met" through the North American Cottage Garden Society (which no longer exists). I had asked her to be a contributor when I first started my blog, but she wasn't able to then. Now she has a bit more time and has [...]

I mean, did you miss my website? Access was denied (even to me, can you imagine?) for most of Saturday, all of Sunday, and most of Monday. It's all straightened out now, at least until the end of April. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to let you know that big changes are coming. [...]

Yes, the first of the snowdrops bloomed today, and not especially enthusiastically--their buds are scarcely open. It's even more anticlimatic considering a lone crocus beat them to the punch, blooming merrily this morning while the snowdrops didn't open up till afternoon. I think this crocus is the same one that bloomed first in 2003. And [...]

Doug Welch posted a photo on his blog that he says he took yesterday on a walk. Yesterday? Sometimes I feel like I live on a different planet, and not just the other side of the same continent. This photo features cosmos blooming in abundance. I happen to like cosmos. But in my garden, it [...]

All of my seeds are here, so now Spring can come. In fact, I'm beginning to get impatient now. . . Fedco had to substitute my Amish pepper for a similar variety. . .I guess a lot of people liked their discription! The things they had to substitute were cheaper, so they also sent two [...]

If you've ever ordered from Chiltern's, tried new basil or lettuce varieties from Europe, or have pretty hybrid plants from England in your garden (Verbascum 'Jackie', Heuchera 'Bressingham Hybrids', etc.)-------- you can forget about anything new. The USDA is slamming shut the borders on new plants. Maybe you're already aware of this. It is vital [...]

The proverbial (and over used) saying is that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. In truth March is a fickle beast and comes in as it wishes and goes out as it wishes. Some years you might have the bliss of March both coming and going like a lamb [...]

A couple of blogs that I frequent made mention of The Taming of the Band-Aid, so I thought I'd take a look. Thingfish23 is "documenting the rather daunting task of returning our 75' X 660' lot to some sort of natural equilibrium. [His] goal is for [his] house and . . . family to exist [...]

Up here in the U.P. we are still deep in snow, about 2-3 feet of it in my back yard. My windows are filled with plants - geraniums, aparagas ferns that were removed from planters and starts that need planting. Under lights in the basement are any number of ivy plants, also taken from client [...]