Cold Climate Gardening

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 . . . other years March is the raging lion all month long. I think the one thing that can be safely said for March is that it is a fickle month.

However it shall leave, March has come in this year like a lion. Snow and more snow. Wind and cold. And more snow. Had enough? March is still not half over yet. March is fickle, but perhaps the second thing this month is known for is the number of people who finally crack and go insane from the length and madness of winter. By March a person is inclined to believe that they deserve spring and are inclined to grow increasingly irrational and unreasonable when this supposed right is thwarted.

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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 in a harmonious way with the plants and animals that have been forced to move elsewhere due to poor stewardship on the previous occupants’ parts.” It’s clear he’s putting a lot of thought into this, and learning as he goes along. It will be interesting to keep tabs on him.

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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 planters and being carried over. I have any number of babies from those, some still in water.
Last fall I had a bit of a puzzle - had ordered lilies bulbs and iris rhizomes for a client and then, the area that they were to be planted in did not get prepared before snow (required heavier equipment than I work with) so I’ve experimented. I …

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The other day I was looking for a website that had a good tutorial on how to start a blog along with a description of the major blogging programs. I googled the phrase “how to start a blog” and was really amazed at how many of the hits were business sites. Blog as sales tool, dontcha know? I don’t have any problem with a business owner publishing a blog providing information in his or her field of expertise and enterprise. Two come to mind right off the bat: The Clearwater Garden Journal and Scenic Nursery. Real people writing about what they know, and hoping, if you’re in the area, that you’ll buy from them, too.

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Thanks to Kent Swanson of Organic Rose Gardening, I discovered a whole site devoted to the rose hybridizing work of Griffith Buck. Dr. Buck developed roses that were pretty hardy (definitely to Zone 5, and often to Zone 4) and disease resistant. I thought he bred them for fragrance, as well, but I wasn’t sure about that. So I googled and discovered the Sam Kedem Nursery in Minnesota. I’ve had my eye on ‘Country Dancer‘ ever since White Flower Farm featured a very glamorous photo of it in their catalog (they no longer carry it) but now that I’ve seen ‘Chorale,’ I feel myself wavering. Of course, we all know the perfect solution to …

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I kid you not. WiseAcre Gardens: An Unusual Site Planted by a Blooming Looneytic is the name of the website. Half gardening website, half homage to Looney Tunes cartoons, the design of this site is a bit too–er, busy for my taste. Nevertheless, located north of the Adirondacks, the owner of this site has some solid horticultural information to share. And, if you happen to live in the North Country of New York State yourself, and need some rock work done, you may have found your man. The photos of gardens where he has installed stone walls, patios, and paths look great.

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David Goodgame asked me to take a look at Gardening, Alaskan Style, his personal website. The first thing you see is a photo of the summer garden he has created with Edith. If you didn’t know it was Alaska, you’d say, “Wow! Let’s move there–it looks like a great place to garden!” Roses, peonies, delphiniums all growing in luxurious abundance. A sight for sore eyes, let me tell you. Then he has several pages of information where he tells you more about his flowers and how he grows them–even where he finds the best buys. This bears further investigation. I can’t do it justice at the moment, but you can bet I’m coming back to read this site …

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