In my mind there are two kinds of fall: "Good" Fall and "Bad" Fall. Good Fall is what we have now. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn color, temperatures have moderated so that you want to work in the garden again, the colchicums have started blooming and the many native autumn-blooming plants are at their peak, summer annuals are still going strong and some perennials are having a second flush of bloom. (Bad Fall is after the leaves drop and it's cold enough that they'd call it winter down South.) In this blog post, I'd like to share some of the best that autumn has to offer.
Colchicum season has started! In this post I highlight the earliest blooming colchicums in my garden, sharing what I like best about each of them. And guess what? I'm opening my garden to the public, and you're invited! Yes, it's true! Read more to learn all about it.
If you have to have a weed in your garden, jewelweed is a great choice. In fact, if it doesn't grow in your garden, I feel a little bit sorry for you. It's as nice a weed as a gardener could wish for--if a gardener needed to wish for weeds. Read more to find out why!
Thank you to everyone who wrote in and told me they were still getting blog notifications. Yes, thankfully the notifications sent via WordPress.com are still working. The issue is with MailChimp, affecting over 200 people who signed up to be notified via the form in the sidebar. MailChimp is working on the problem and they [...]
This is a test to see if MailChimp is sending out an email notification after I publish a new post. It didn't send out one after I published New Plants Blooming in August, or Rescuing the Madonna Lily, or What's Blooming in My Damp Meadow. If you signed up for email notifications, I hope you [...]
There is a comfort in seeing plants bloom when you expect them to bloom. You sense the rhythm of the seasons that is one of the pleasures of gardening. But if the garden were totally predictable it would get a little boring. That's why even though my garden is supposedly full, I continue to add new plants, even if it means taking out others. Read on to see the plants that are either new to me this year or just hitting their stride this August.
Have you ever rescued a plant in your garden that had almost died out? Sometimes we can move such a plant and nurse it back to health in a new location. Guest contributor Brian Bixley did just that with the Madonna lily, called by Helen Dillon "the loveliest of all lilies."
I get so engrossed with gardening around the house during the summer that I tend to ignore the wilder parts of our property. I decided to remedy that and take a walk through our damp meadow, and I'm glad I did. Why don't you join me, and we'll see what we can see. There are a few plants I didn't realize were growing on our property, and plenty of the usual suspects. Maybe you can help me identify some of them!
When I finally grasped the concept of placeholder plants, it changed my life. Well, what I mean is, it reduced my garden maintenance load and I enjoyed my garden more, with less work. Not precisely life-changing, but definitely life-improving. A placeholder plant is a garden-worthy plant that you happen to have a lot of, which [...]
What would happen if you didn't mow your lawn? We often let the grass get pretty shaggy before we mow for the first time, and you might be surprised at how pretty it looks. Also, learn the difference between a flowery lawn and a cropped meadow.
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