March 2011

In That Spot: Lilactree Farm Garden Notes, No. 1, 2011

March 30, 2011

Surely this starting into growth is the true Spring in plant life, whether it be an awakening due to the melting of a covering of snow as with the true alpines, or the commencement of the rains in the African veldt; and so long as we can see some plant in the garden starting off [...]

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Not Your Ordinary Snowdrops

March 28, 2011

There are snowdrops, and then there are snowdrops. I, for the most part, have been content with the Galanthus nivalis (pictured below) I was given many years ago, which have multiplied greatly from my division and their own efforts at self-propagation. Others become obsessed with differences in pedicels, spathes, and inner and outer petals. We [...]

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Gardening With Tulips: Book Review

March 27, 2011

I have clay soil and several kinds of rodents in my garden, and I’d pretty much given up on growing tulips, but Gardening with Tulips by Michael King is making me reconsider. Not just because of the gorgeous color photos on every page, but because it’s filled with specific advice on using tulips as an [...]

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Mudseason Miscellany

March 23, 2011

The eighteen inches of snow that had fallen on the night of March 6th had finally melted this past weekend. (For a few dramatic pictures of that storm, visit Cold Climate Gardening’s Facebook Page.) And now it’s snowing again, to the tune of five or more inches. This is demoralizing. But cold climate gardeners are [...]

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Gardenscape, the Rochester Flower and Garden Show

March 22, 2011

Most people are surprised to hear I’ve never been to a flower and garden show. Well, to get to those shows, you have to travel and pay money, two things I never did much of before I became a blogger. And that’s just to get in. Once you’ve paid your admission, you’re not required to [...]

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First blooms of the year: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day 2011

March 16, 2011

Above is the view from my bathroom window, only reversed, as I took this picture outside and the window is out of sight at the back of the image. Even though it is the north side of the house, water from below thaws the soil and gives these plants an early start. It took me [...]

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Hellebore Clean-up: Mud Season

March 13, 2011

It was 36F and very lightly snowing. There was no wind, so I called it good enough, bundled up and went out to trim some hellebores–the ones no longer covered with snow. Why trim hellebores? 1) The new foliage and buds look better without the ratty foliage that persevered through the winter. 2) It lets [...]

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Two Plant-Related Children’s Books

March 10, 2011

I have pretty high standards when it comes to children’s books. I don’t like them to be preachy or didactic or otherwise disrespectful of the reader, who may or may not be a child. Last night D., my eight-year-old daughter, and I read two children’s books by Kathryn O. Galbraith that I received as review [...]

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Making Maple Syrup: Mud Season Harvest

March 6, 2011

Tapping Maple Trees Mud season is when the old-fashioned buckets and the new-fangled tubing used for collecting maple sap make their appearance up and down our street. We don’t tap maple trees for syrup, but some of our neighbors do–and so does my brother. Here is how he got started making maple syrup.–Editor It all [...]

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High Mowing Seeds Giveaway

March 4, 2011

Cold climate gardeners save themselves a lot of grief and aggravation if they purchase their seeds from companies in similar climates who grow, or at least trial, at their location all the seed they sell. If a company has successfully grown a seed in its cold climate, you can be pretty certain it will do [...]

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Mud Season: Where Is It?

March 3, 2011

. . . one has begun to search for signs of spring almost since January, and to receive them, like postcards sent on a long voyage to home ~A Year at North Hill The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the ground . . . is still covered in snow. At sunrise this [...]

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Plant Grafted Roses The Easy Way

March 2, 2011

Last October, when I planted some grafted roses, I explained how the graft needed to be four inches below soil level. And I pointed out how, with the roots extending a foot or more beyond the bud union, I wound up digging some pretty deep holes. Never again! Yesterday I heard Lee Ginenthal, who owns [...]

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