October 2009

Lady-Slipper Seed Pods

– Posted in: Native/Invasive

Remember this? Now it looks like this: I discovered these while on my witch hazel walk. Lady Slipper Seed Germination As related by William Cullina in The New England Wild Flower Society Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers (affiliate link): "The typical lady-slipper seedpod contains between 10,000 and 20,00 seeds!" The reason they have so [...]

How to Plant a Lot of Crocuses

– Posted in: How-to

For years now, we've enjoyed the crocus display along one side of our driveway. This spring I decided it should be even bigger, and over the last two days I planted a hundred more, bringing the total to over nine hundred. The "soil" is compacted clay, making the corms somewhat difficult to plant, but, happily, [...]

First Snow of 2009-2010

– Posted in: Weather

Last night it snowed. That, in itself, is not unusual for the second half of October. But normally we get flurries mixed with rain, and no accumulation. Yesterday a weather record for snow accumulation was broken. The official new record is 1.2 inches accumulation. The old record was "trace." And unofficial reports coming in tell [...]

Colchicum Design Ideas from Montrose Gardens

– Posted in: Colchicums

Many gardeners complain that it is difficult to place colchicums in the garden because of their unusual growing cycle, in which their leaves grow in the spring, die down in the summer, and then the flowers emerge in the fall. The colchicum bed at Montrose Gardens in Hillsborough, North Carolina, pictured above, contained many colchicum [...]

GWA in Raleigh: The Movie(s)

– Posted in: Events

One noticeable difference between this Garden Writers Association Symposium and the one I attended in 2007 was the increased presence of video recording. Not just the movie function on the ubiquitous digital camera, but more sophisticated set-ups were also used. Here's a sampling of what's been posted on the web: I just happened to be [...]