Posts tagged as:

cold_climate

The first frost: To cover or not to cover?

September 24, 2008

Carol over at May Dreams Gardens advises us to Embrace The End of The Growing Season For A Happier Life. She says, “Save yourself both time and worry and forget about covering plants in the fall.”

14 comments Read the full article →

Plants grow under the snow

February 20, 2008

A couple of days ago, Mr. McGregor’s Daughter was speculating that my snowdrops might be blooming under the snow. I was pretty sure they weren’t, but I took advantage of Monday’s thaw to confirm my suspicions (photo above). There were quite a few more patches of snowdrops visible now, but none are near blooming yet. [...]

14 comments Read the full article →

What is a cold climate?

February 7, 2008

This photo was taken two days before the digital thermometer bottomed out in January 2005

Quite a while ago, someone emailed me, asking what was a cold climate. I never did answer them, because I thought it was obvious. A cold climate is any climate too cold to grow the plants you really want to grow. [...]

32 comments Read the full article →

I live in a cold climate

June 7, 2007

What I saw this morning [Photographer: Kathy Purdy]

Just in case there’s anyone reading this who doesn’t yet understand what a cold climate is (I’ve had Australian searchers looking for “hardy plants” arrive at this site), I thought I’d give an illustration. When I got up about an hour earlier, the outdoor temperature was 36 [...]

16 comments Read the full article →

The Intimate Garden: Book Review

April 8, 2007

The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden by Gordon and Mary Hayward belongs to the rare breed of landscape design book that is actually helpful:

One private residential garden–not little glimpses of a dozen gardens
The garden was developed over many years. (They figured it out as they went along)
They tell you the [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

Spring is just around the corner

March 6, 2007

The trouble with that platitude is that Spring is so erratic around here that we often don’t recognize it when it comes. For the next eight weeks or so, every time we hit a spell of bad weather, we will repeat to ourselves, and each other, “Well, spring is right around the corner.” But we’re [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Notes From Zone 4: Garden Blog Pioneer Found

February 11, 2007

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 [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Eighteen inches of snow on the ground

January 13, 2003

I don’t have any bare ground for crocus to be poking up through–we have at least 18 inches of snow on the ground. Is it because the crocus are near the heated greenhouse that they are coming up? I hope some time this winter you and Judy both can tell us what size and type [...]

Read the full article →

Weather variations or climate change?

December 27, 2002

I had always thought you were in Zone 4, Ro, but when I consult my most detailed copy of the USDA Hardiness Zone map (which I got in an old issue of Fine Gardening) I see you actually are listed as Zone 5. Not that the map is the last word on what zone you [...]

Read the full article →

Decoy weather: Unseasonably mild

November 24, 2002

Decoy weather–an apt term. Somehow, once October is over, it’s hard to call it Indian Summer anymore. I have noticed around here that we consistently have one day in the first week of November that is warm and sunny. I always give the kids the day off from school then and have a general clean [...]

Read the full article →

Glitter and glory

November 24, 2002

18 degrees at 6am; back to cold weather again after a couple of weeks of decoy weather–days into the 50’s & even 60!
The frost was so beautiful at sunrise this morning (9:10 am because of Black Mountain & Katka peak) that I was mesmerised. It was land of glitter & glory: prismatic rainbows and [...]

Read the full article →

Prepare ye for frost

October 15, 2002

You were smart to bring them in. You don’t want the roots to freeze. Once they are in the ground, I would try to protect the tops for about a week to let them settle in. (The traditional vegetable garden protection is bed sheets from the house. You could also use the pot they just [...]

Read the full article →

Measuring the First Frost

October 8, 2002

Had our first frost last night, which for around here, was later than usual. I don’t know exactly how cold it got last night, but I wish I did. I’ve been looking at digital max-min thermometers, especially the wireless ones, for a while now, but the price keeps me from indulging. It always comes back [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries