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.
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Forcing Branches
March 3, 2021 – Posted in: Experiments, Forsythia, How-to, The Earliest FlowersIt can get addictive--bringing dormant branches into the house so they can flower early is one way to get the jump on spring. Click the link to find out how!
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!
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 [...]
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 [...]
Speaking in Manchester, Vermont
September 12, 2015 – Posted in: EventsHello, dear readers! I'll be speaking on Creating A Cabin Fever Bed this Wednesday, September 16th for the Manchester Garden Club at the Manchester Community Library at 1 pm. Would love to see you there! If winter starts too early and spring doesn't come soon enough, if you find yourself pacing indoors and gazing out [...]
What’s That?: When A Gardener Neglects Her Garden Journal
April 11, 2015 – Posted in: Mud Season, What's up/bloomingI actually like keeping records. I can get obsessive about it, and that has gotten me into trouble in the past. So last fall, when I was frantically planting out the plants I had kept in containers--some of them for two years--I left the documenting of that planting for "later," applauding myself for not getting [...]
Mud Season Mind Games: Dear Friend and Gardener
April 7, 2014 – Posted in: Mud Season, Plant infoDear Friend and Gardener, I have learned through my online friendships with many garden bloggers that spring comes late to my part of the world. Friends around the country (and the world) speak of snowdrops blooming when mine are buried under snow, and show off their daffodils while I am waiting for my first crocuses [...]
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