foxgloves

Visitors asked about two plants at my Colchicum Open Garden. The first one is readily available at garden centers or online. The second one is a little trickier to find--it helps if you know someone. But visitors were also surprised to see so much in bloom at the end of September. It helps if you know my special plants and (not so) secret techniques. Click over to my blog post and I'll share them with you!

We had our first frost on Monday, 26F (~-3C). And another frost this morning, 27F (also ~-3C). We often seem to skip the light frosts altogether and go straight for the hard stuff. Buh-bye, dahlias, cannas, and cosmos. But there are plenty of plants still blooming. And let's not forget colchicums. I was recently called [...]

It's been four years since I started working on the gardens here at the "new" house. I thought it was about time I gave you a full-fledged tour. It takes a bit of time to see all the gardens, so prepare for a leisurely visit. Can I pour you something to drink? Let's start the [...]

I have been spending every free minute gardening this season and enjoying myself thoroughly. I focused first on getting all plants into the ground as soon as I acquired them, and then switched to weeding. Only another gardener could understand the pleasure to be had from setting a bed to rights, especially if the soil [...]

After a mild start to November, we have recently had snow and bitter cold*--down to 15F(-9C) one night and in the low 20s for several others. You would think there would not be any plant worth looking at after that, and you would be mostly right. However, if one looks carefully, there are still some [...]

Our first frost this autumn was later than usual, and was actually a hard freeze, dropping to 26F(-3.3C) on Sunday, October 10th. Most gardeners in warmer climates imagine a hard freeze like this: But cold climate gardeners know the scene can just as easily look like this: It takes more than one hard freeze to [...]

First, the good news. Unlike last year, I have plenty of foxgloves blooming this year. I have more foxgloves than ever, blooming in places they've never bloomed before. This is partly because my garden buddy Bub gave me some foxglove seedlings to plant last year, and partly because conditions were favorable to foxgloves this spring. [...]

The January thaw of last week provided me with an opportunity to "check under the hood"--or, in this case, under the snow cover. It's always thought provoking, prompting me to think about how different plants respond to this cold season. This snapdragon looked perkier the last time I saw it. I don't think it will [...]

To every plant, there is a season, and I find that pretty much the same plants are blooming that were blooming last year and the year before at this time. So even though I'm intoxicated with my peonies and wowed by my poppies, I'll use this post to showcase some of the other plants that [...]