From the monthly archives:

October 2008

Leeks: A Good Vegetable for Northern Gardens

October 31, 2008

When the days grow shorter, when we’ve had several freezes (and even a dusting of snow), and when we finally concede it’s time to drain the hose and close down the storm windows on the last remaining screens–that’s when we begin to harvest the leeks.

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Plants that still look good in late autumn

October 26, 2008

The mums and the last of the double colchicums are still throwing out new blooms, but after a hard freeze they look like wet facial tissue. All but the stubbornest trees have dropped their leaves, and most perennials, if they have any leaves at all, are looking either yellow, brown, or mushy. But there are [...]

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Keeping rosemary alive indoors

October 19, 2008

Most herbs taste much better fresh, and rosemary is no exception. That’s why every winter I try to keep my rosemary alive in a pot inside the house. Rosemary is not reliably hardy north of zone 7, so while southerners can grow this in the ground and watch it take on shrub-like proportions, we cold [...]

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2008

October 15, 2008

The double colchicums, which are later blooming, are at their peak:

Colchicum autumnale ‘Alboplenum’ is very floriferous and looks fantastic growing through dark foliage.
[caption id="attachment_1271" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Here's a closeup of those colchicums in the lilac-forsythia hedge."][/caption]

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Goldenrod: This native plant should be kept out of the garden

October 9, 2008

Goldenrod is my enemy
There, I’ve said it. I don’t care if goldenrod is a native plant; it is no longer welcome in my gardens. I tried to be understanding, truly, I did, but it just did not want to play nice with the other plants. It did not want to play at all: total garden [...]

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