Craig Levy

Magnolias

– Posted in: Plant info, What's up/blooming

A strong argument for calling Magnolias Tulip Trees I grew up with a large Southern Magnolia in a small backyard. Its great size dominated the space, smothering the ground below and adjacent plants with massive quantities of leathery leaves and sucking up all available moisture with large surface roots. I was unknowing of its survival [...]

Green Frogs

– Posted in: Habitat gardening

Hmm, what's your name? If you were thinking Kermit you wouldn’t be far wrong. Winter seems to still be with me. The nights are consistently in the low 20s and snow remnants remain on the ground. Mostly on the north sides of hills and buildings, and hiding behind large trees and objects, the white has [...]

Kaleidoscope Skies

– Posted in: Weather

Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies I grew up during the Beatles era and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has always been a fave in my top five. From the start, there was speculation that psychedelic drugs influenced John Lennon when he wrote the dreamy, trippy [...]

Snow Days of Winter

– Posted in: Weather

Not the Valentines Day love-in I was expecting, this was a storm for the record books. Under a state of emergency all day and through the night, my county was closed down and everyone was told to stay off the roads. When it was over the snow totals came in. My little, almost unknown, town [...]

Seed info

– Posted in: Seeds and Seed Starting

Spring-like warmth and an absence of snow have conspired to create irresistible conditions for working outside in the garden. But not much beyond a little cleaning, mulching, and pruning can be done, as the soil is soaked and soggy and, as tempting as it is, it’s much too early to sow seeds outside. I’m channeling [...]

Pop Quiz

– Posted in: Plant info

I like quizzes, games, and puzzles and hope you do too. Here’s one I made up. What do the following plants have in common: hosta, allium, phlox, crocus, magnolia, geranium, fuchsia, astilbe, clematis, anemone, gladiolus, hibiscus, iris, impatiens, begonia, canna, dahlia, forsythia, zinnia, petunia, cosmos, wisteria, hydrangea, delphinium, rhododendron? Click on “more” for the answer. [...]

Fall Perennials

– Posted in: Plant info, What's up/blooming

Tick-tock, winter is coming. I was greeted at dawn with a few hours of light snow this morning. It melted as it landed, not like the snows that have recently visited Watertown and plagued Buffalo. It is a warning that fall is at a close and winter is coming. I spent this past weekend digging [...]

Last Call for Annuals

– Posted in: Plant info, Weather, What's up/blooming

We’re in the midst of the last warm days of fall giving way to cool and colder weather. Light and medium frosts have been visiting with hard frosts soon to follow. It’s interesting to see how the plants in the garden respond to the weather. Placement and severity of frost have brought an interesting – [...]

The Wedding Gift

– Posted in: Plant info, What's up/blooming

Some plants are bold. They would like nothing better than to be planted in the middle of the garden, flailing their leaves, emitting impossibly sweet fragrances. Others are more secretive, more sinister, skulking in dark places and hidden ways, hoping to be overlooked by humans while they continue with their mystifying activities. And then there [...]

Fireworks for Fall

– Posted in: Plant info, What's up/blooming

There is an explosion happening in the garden and its name is Molinia. With its unique flowers, Molinia separates itself from the crowd. With my wife’s lead, we have always found room in our gardens for ornamental grasses. There are very few we wouldn’t invite, so we happily picked up this little fellow at a [...]