Cold Climate Gardening

I recently added The Occasional Gardener to my garden blog directory, and I have to say it is one of the most aesthetically pleasing blogs I have seen in a long time.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Most gardeners don’t start out as weather geeks, but I think most end up that way. The fate of one’s plants is just too tied up with the weather. Garden chores will be different depending on the weather. And while golfers and swimmers rejoice at yet another hot, sunny day, we gardeners know another sunny day is a dreadful forecast: WE NEED RAIN!! (You blithering idiots!)

Recently, Robin the Bumblebee was discussing weather instruments. I can easily understand someone spending over a thousand dollars on weather instruments. And unlike Robin, recording “precipitation, temperature, wind direction, humidity, air pressure and such” doesn’t sound like “geekery beyond what I can support or even humor.” No, it’s more like the ideal

Popularity: 19% [?]

Look at the hardiness map for Minnesota and you will see that the whole state is in zone 4 or colder. The Minnesota State Horticultural Society, which publishes Northern Gardener Magazine, is devoted to helping northern gardeners. If you join the society, besides the magazine you will get borrowing privileges at the society’s library (they mail you the books!), as well as other benefits that would mostly appeal to local members. Or, you can subscribe to the magazine alone.

This month’s issue featured an article on hardy magnolias, as well as a northern native (bloodroot in this issue), an article on hardier …

Popularity: 18% [?]

That is the question–sorry, Hamlet. And White Flower Farm has some help with the answer: an article on Plants Slow to Break Dormancy. They have a lot of other articles in the Newsletter section of their Garden Help.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Thanks to an eclectic garden, I learned about Value Seeds. This reminds me of Edward Hamilton Books, my favorite place to shop for gardening books. Someone else’s castoffs, but still good quality, one price for shipping no matter how much you buy, get-it-before-it’s-gone selection, and very low prices. I haven’t ordered from them myself, but the reviews on Garden Watchdog seem favorable. As the eclectic gardener aptly put it, “a cross between Thompson and Morgan Seeds and the Dollar Store.” Frugal gardener’s heaven!

Popularity: 26% [?]

In my series on Garden Blog Pioneers, I reported in the final part that Notes From Zone 4 was MIA. Well, they’re back.

If you ever had doubts that a cold climate garden could look good, take one look at their banner image and doubt no more. Then, appetite whetted, browse through their gallery. A sight for snow-blinded eyes.

As noted in their About section and other places on the site, they are very involved in raising animals now, and the garden takes a back seat. But of course, even in the animal department, they don’t do things halfway. I had never heard of Icelandic sheep, and wasn’t aware that any sheep breed could live on the …

Popularity: 18% [?]

Horticulture Magazine has jumped on the blogging bandwagon. Managing Editor Meghan Lynch and Executive Editor Sara Begg are both giving it a whirl. At the moment, though, you can’t get to them from the website’s main page. How dumb is that? The only reason I even found them is because I subscribe to the email newsletter. Since they’re just getting started, I expect a link will be up there shortly.

You might say Meghan discovered me. She (anonymously) wrote a sidebar praising this blog in the spring of 2005, and offered me the chance to write the book reviews for the April 2006. …

Popularity: 12% [?]