Hardy plants for hardy souls
Often gardeners are encouraged to mulch with straw, especially for food crops like, um, strawberries. Too often, the gardener, severed from his or her agricultural roots, mulches with hay instead. In Missed stacks and mistakes: distinguishing between hay and straw and other heaps, Alan Ritch explains the difference: Hay, of course, is fodder for the [...]
When I was growing up, there was a game show on tv called "To Tell the Truth." The various contestants tried to trick the game show panelists into thinking they were the true zoo veterinarian or whatever weird occupation was featured that day. Sometimes I think my colchicums are trying the same trick on me. [...]
I was catching up on a few garden blogs when I happened upon a comment from one Brooke, who alluded to gardening in Alaska. Oh, goody, thinks I, another cold climate gardener. Once I get there, I realize she's Dirt Diva One at Dirt Divas Gardening. Huh? I thought the Dirt Divas were down in [...]
Colchicums as a whole are pretty miraculous, emerging from out of nowhere and blooming without leaves, but this particular variety (Colchicum agrippinum) takes the cake. I planted it in autumn of 2004. It didn't bloom then, and it failed to send up leaves in 2005. Not surprisingly, it didn't bloom in 2005, either. When it [...]
Isn't this a stunning specimen of Polygonum cuspidatum? The generous rainfall we've had this season has brought it into top form. Too bad it's on America's Most Wanted list. Yes, this is Japanese knotweed, aka Japanese bamboo, Mexican bamboo, fleeceflower, and Fallopia japonica. (I've been told that it's also known as privy weed, but I [...]
Autumn mornings here are foggy. It seems, on first glance, that we are in for another cloudy day. A consultation with online weather reveals that it's supposed to be clear. Then you realize that the hillside across the street is shrouded in mystery. By ten o'clock the fog will have burned away and the day [...]
Some plants are bold. They would like nothing better than to be planted in the middle of the garden, flailing their leaves, emitting impossibly sweet fragrances. Others are more secretive, more sinister, skulking in dark places and hidden ways, hoping to be overlooked by humans while they continue with their mystifying activities. And then there [...]
Okay, I am not big into lawns. We ourselves have what Ken Druse calls a "cropped meadow." But to each his own. If you were affected by this summer's drought, and your lawn has seen better days (or years), go read Yard & Garden Line News, published by the Minnesota Cooperative Extension, for some good [...]
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't.--Robert Benchley When it comes to gardening, there are two kinds of weeders in the world, those who say, "When in doubt, yank it out," and those who "On a whim, [...]
Carol of May Dreams Gardens made a wonderful discovery. Google has made several old gardening books in the public domain available for download. This sounds like a great project for the winter, once the seed and plant catalogs have been thoroughly marked up. The quotes she pulled from various books certainly make them sound enticing.
Recent Comments