Cold Climate Gardening

Hi gals, isn’t it fun to dream of gardening when it’s raining too much to set foot in the garden? And, yes, Betsy, this is not the end of winter. In Boundary County we can have snow & freezes every month of the year so it’s not over yet. It’s a very […]

[Read more →]

I myself would like to meet Death in the flower garden–falling facedown onto a cushion of Dianthus gratianopolitanus, if it’s not to much to ask. ~ Elisabeth Sheldon, Time and the Gardener : Writings on a Lifelong Passion
But last and best, I’d like to thank my grandmother Elizabeth McIver, long dead, who when told she […]

[Read more →]

Ever since the Bookish Gardener posted this meme on her blog, I’ve wanted to try it, but with the additional twist of limiting it to gardening books. Then Judith of knitagarden tagged me, and I figured if I’m ever going to get around to it, winter is the time. It seems there are two versions […]

[Read more →]

Donna Marie emailed:
I am desperate! I have recently bought a property with a huge front and back garden. Both gardens are completely overgrown. Huge bramble bushes and unidentified shrubs loom out at me each time I walk out onto the tired old patio at the back of the house. The […]

[Read more →]

Forget the weeding. That was an anomaly. Back, sort of, to the real February. I say “sort of” because yesterday and today the temperature is hovering a bit above freezing, which is on the warm side for February around here. (Average high for the month is 30F, and my outdoor thermometer registers 35F right […]

[Read more →]

Is there anyone in North America not having an atypical winter? These twigs were photographed by Justin in January. After I took the photos for the preceding post the first Saturday in February, I was able to spend a good two hours weeding before being chased inside by rain. For those of you who live […]

[Read more →]

I took all these pictures on February 4th, when I was trying to decide on plant orders. It was mild enough to go outside and take a cold hard look at what’s out there. The photo above is the section of the Birthday Garden where I have uprooted 5 Malva alcea ‘Fastigiata’ and innumerable self-sown […]

[Read more →]