Cold Climate Gardening

Congratulations to Mary Laverty, who won a copy of Nightshade, the newest novel in the series by Susan Wittig Albert. Mary followed the link on Susan’s guest post to enter the drawing for the free copy. Each post in Susan’s blog tour has a unique link to a separate drawing for a copy of Nightshade. You’ll find a calendar and links here.

My main snowdrop “patch” exactly a year ago. They are not so far along this year. Click the photo for a close-up

With all my blathering on about snowdrops, I almost forgot to mention that Hitch Lyman’s garden will be the Garden Conservancy’s first New York state event for their 2008 Open Garden Days on April 5, 2008. If you are able to visit his garden, you will think you have died and gone to snowdrop heaven, because Hitch is the proprietor of Temple Nursery, selling the widest selection of snowdrops in the U.S. (growing over 400 different kinds, not all for sale) and the only one shipping them in the green. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Don’s Galanthus ‘Bitton’ and G. woronowii both originally came from Hitch Lyman’s land, even if they’ve made an intermediate stop since then. [Read more →]

Many thanks to Kathy for hosting me today! I’m delighted to be a guest at Cold Climate Gardening, to celebrate the launch of Nightshade, the sixteenth China Bayles mystery. China (for those who haven’t yet met her) is a former criminal defense attorney who has opted for a quieter life as the owner of an herb shop in Pecan Springs TX. Fortunately (for those of us who enjoy mysteries), life in the slow lane isn’t nearly as peaceful as she expected. In this post, we’ll be looking at the herbs in China’s first three adventures. Check the tour calendar for posts about the other books in the series. [Read more →]

The temperatures are still dropping into the teens every night (last night’s low: 17.5F or -8C) and even when the high hits 40F (4C) the brisk wind makes it feel chillier. But at least a hurried stroll around the premises is now rewarded with signs that Spring is slowly making inroads in Winter’s territory. These crocuses started blooming yesterday, but despite the sunshine they just can’t bring themselves to open fully. [Read more →]

Congratulations to garden blogger Nan Ondra, whose book Foliage was awarded a Garden Book Award from the American Horticultural Society. According to the press release, “books are judged by the AHS Book Award Committee on qualities such as writing style, authority, accuracy, and physical quality.” Go visit Hayefield and offer your congratulations.

When I was first approached about having Jeff Gillman, author of The Truth About Organic Gardening, write a post for my blog, I several ideas that I presented to Jeff. He was willing tackle all of them! I decided to relate how I have used Roundup in my garden, and let Jeff comment on my practices, for the education of us all. Here goes… [Read more →]

You tell me: do I have blooms for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day?

These snowdrops are the furtherest along of all that I have. They have “dropped”; that is, their buds are no longer pointing up, but have been released from their sheaths and are hanging from their pedicels.
Now these… [Read more →]