Cold Climate Gardening

I can hear, but still not see redwing blackbirds trilling in the trees, and this morning the Canada geese announced themselves with plaintive hooting and great lazy shadows crossing the lawn. We are perched on the edge of spring! I’ve been preoccupied for the last three years with other matters, and gardening has taken […]

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]

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. Shortly […]

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]

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 dimes […]

[Read more →]

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 […]

[Read more →]