From the monthly archives:

April 2007

Green-eyed but not envious

April 29, 2007

Not much is going on that isn’t the same for all gardeners: snow gone, ground drying up, warmer temps, shoveling the ground for the first time this season, planting, weeding, mulching. I’m doing it and don’t want to read about it, so how about some pictures and a bit of relevant text instead?

Here was my [...]

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Pruning strategy for forsythia

April 27, 2007

Remember the forsythia I pruned so that I could force some branches? It doesn’t look so floriferous out in the open, does it? (For comparison, check out the forsythias here.)
When I’m faced with a plant that’s not doing as well as expected, I try to analyze the situation before taking action. In the case of [...]

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A Garden Labyrinth

April 26, 2007

And what is retirement for, if not to make a few dreams come true? And what is a garden for, if not to satisfy the longings of your heart?
I have learned a lot from watching the garden of my best garden buddy, Bub, develop. The most satisfying garden, for the gardener and for others, [...]

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What happened to the NY Flora Atlas?

April 25, 2007

Does anyone know what happened to the NY Flora Atlas? I can get a cached image of the site on Google, but my browser tells me the server can’t be found. Did the organization go under? Did they lose funding for the website? It seemed like such a worthy project, mapping native populations of various [...]

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One week later: Does this look like Spring to you?

April 24, 2007
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Servicing my watering needs

April 23, 2007

I had a conversation with a gardening friend about watering the other day. We each have strong personalities and the talk was lively and interesting, filled with opinions and advice. When the time came for “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” I did and I’ll share them with you too.
I have spent [...]

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Is vegetable gardening in the Rocky Mountains possible?

April 22, 2007

Readers, I’d like your help in answering this email:
I live at 8800 ft. in the Rocky Mountains ( yes, we have had snow recently also) and want to garden. I did not get 1 tomato last summer because nights are cold.–although my flowers and herb pots did well. This year I have cut [...]

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Does this look like spring to you?

April 17, 2007

This was the view out my kitchen door yesterday morning. We had rain which changed to snow as the day progressed. Because everything was wet, the heavy snow stuck to everything. When the wind picked up, the snow didn’t blow off the branches but added weight to the force of the wind. Consequently branches were [...]

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April Blooms: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

April 15, 2007

In contrast to what gardeners in many other parts of the country have endured, where Spring arrived in full force, only to be slapped down by Winter’s last stand, Spring has not really made its grand entrance. It’s only been peeking through the window, wondering if it really wants to come in.
The snowdrops are dangling [...]

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Thank you for the Mouse & Trowel nomination

April 15, 2007

Thank you one and all for nominating this blog for the Best Design of a Garden Blog category in the first annual Mouse & Trowel Awards. I confess I’ve always been a bit miffed at how garden blogs were so neglected in general blog awards, and I’m glad Colleen has taken the initiative and developed [...]

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Classic Garden Structures: Book Review

April 14, 2007

When I’m thinking of building a garden project, the first book I turn to for ideas and inspiration is Classic Garden Structures by Jan and Michael Gertley. I’ve read and leafed through many books on making and building objects for the garden but this one remains my favorite. Beyond their inherent usefulness, all of the [...]

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Northern Gardener Magazine praises Cold Climate Gardening

April 13, 2007

Look at the hardiness map for Minnesota and you will see that the whole state is in zone 4 or colder. The Minnesota State Horticultural Society, which publishes Northern Gardener Magazine, is devoted to helping northern gardeners. If you join the society, besides the magazine you will get borrowing privileges at the society’s library (they [...]

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Scanned snowdrops

April 12, 2007

Many people who commented on the Katinka Matson post encouraged me to try the technique of obtaining images of flowers by scanning them with a flatbed scanner (an HP Scanjet 2400) myself. So I did.
Even though it remains cold and we get some flurries every day, the snowdrops are slowly going over. Many of them [...]

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