Pruning is the only gardening chore you can do in mud season, because your plants (and the weeds!) are still frozen in the ground. It's a great excuse to get outside and do something--actual gardening! The weather is very unsettled during mud season, so it's best to be strategic about what gets pruned when.
Mud Season
Come Tour The Secret Garden With Me
March 27, 2020 – Posted in: Mud Season, The Secret GardenI've been fascinated with secret gardens ever since I read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. My favorite part is when Mary finds the key and enters the secret garden for the first time. My garden isn't very secret until the trees leaf out, but it still feels secluded and special. I'm in a different world when I'm there. Come join me!
Mud Season 2020
March 26, 2020 – Posted in: Mud Season, What's up/bloomingThe course of true spring never did run smooth, but it's getting off to an early start this year! How many different kinds of plants do you have blooming during mud season? Bet you I have more!
The First Blooms of 2019
March 17, 2019 – Posted in: Mud Season, What's up/bloomingDesperate times call for desperate measures. Thank goodness my “desperate measures” are already in place. I’ve been planting early blooming bulbs where the snow melts first for several years. And every time the snow starts to melt, I check all those places for signs of emerging sprouts. Do you want to see what I found during our most recent thaw? It's easier than you think to have flowers blooming sooner than your neighbors.
Crocuses: Plant The Earliest Flowers Where The Snow Melts First
April 21, 2018 – Posted in: Mud Season, The Earliest Flowers, What's up/bloomingCrocuses. I bet you think you know all about them, but I have some crocuses you've never heard of. And do you grow them in the lawn? Yes, squirrels eat them for some people, but not me. They are too busy eating the bird seed I put out for the birds. This is the third in my series about planting the earliest blooming bulbs where the snow melts first. Click over and read it!
Snowdrops: Plant The Earliest Flowers Where The Snow Melts First
April 19, 2018 – Posted in: Mud Season, The Earliest Flowers, What's up/bloomingSnowdrops are tied with winter aconites for the prize of very-first-bloom. They have become quite the "it" flower and single bulbs of rare cultivars can go for breathtaking prices. But save your breath and your pocketbook and invest in the varieties that multiply quickly, such as those described in my post. Buy a few and pretty soon you'll have enough to make a patch. And a patch will be visible from inside the house. Just sayin'. Click over to my blog and read all about them.
Winter Aconites: Plant The Earliest Flowers Where The Snow Melts First
April 17, 2018 – Posted in: Mud Season, The Earliest Flowers, What's up/bloomingThis spring has tested the hardiness of my hardy soul. I bet it's tested yours, too, especially if you live in the Northern Plains and parts east that were bombarded by "Winter Storm Xanto". In light of what my fellow cold climate gardeners are enduring, I'm not going to complain about my weather, which seems [...]
Yes, You Can Cut Back Dead Plants Too Early
March 10, 2017 – Posted in: Garden chores, Hellebores, Mud Season, WeatherI cut the dead foliage off my hellebores in February, and I paid the price in March. How was I to know we'd have the coldest temps of winter in March? Read on to find out what I did to fix things.
The Earliest Blooming Native Flower
April 10, 2016 – Posted in: Mud Season, Native/InvasiveThe earliest blooming flower in my garden is a snowdrop, Galanthus 'S. Arnott'. The earliest blooming wild flower is coltsfoot. But the earliest blooming native flower? For that, you have to look up. Way up. Because the earliest blooming native flower belongs to the red maple, Acer rubrum. I am always looking down at the [...]
Tartarian Honeysuckle Chokes Out Spring Ephemerals
April 1, 2016 – Posted in: Garden chores, Mud Season, Native/InvasiveOne lesson I learned from Sara Stein, author of Noah's Garden and Planting Noah's Garden, was that non-native (also called alien) plants typically start growing and blooming before the native plants--at least in North America. That is because the climate they originally came from was milder, or warmed up gradually and consistently, and that is [...]
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