You could be forgiven for mistaking coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) for a dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) from a distance, especially if you didn't know that coltsfoot is the earliest blooming wildflower in northeastern North America. Can you tell them apart when I put them next to each other? Furthermore, coltsfoot flowers bloom without any foliage at all. [...]
mud_season
Sudden Freeze After Days of Warmth
March 24, 2012 – Posted in: Garden chores, Hydrangeas, Weather74F Last Thursday, 16F Predicted Monday Cold climate gardeners, we knew this was going to happen, didn't we? After the incredible, pinch-me-I'm-dreaming spell of beautifully warm weather, the real March weather is coming back with a vengeance. I don't think it got quite as warm here as it did other places in my general area, [...]
Hellebore Clean-up: Mud Season
March 13, 2011 – Posted in: Mud SeasonIt was 36F and very lightly snowing. There was no wind, so I called it good enough, bundled up and went out to trim some hellebores--the ones no longer covered with snow. Why trim hellebores? 1) The new foliage and buds look better without the ratty foliage that persevered through the winter. 2) It lets [...]
Making Maple Syrup: Mud Season Harvest
March 6, 2011 – Posted in: Mud SeasonMud season is when the old-fashioned buckets and the new-fangled tubing used for collecting maple sap make their appearance up and down our street. We don't tap maple trees for syrup, but some of our neighbors do--and so does my brother. Here is how he got started making maple syrup.--Editor It all started at the [...]
Mud Season: Where Is It?
March 3, 2011 – Posted in: Mud Season. . . one has begun to search for signs of spring almost since January, and to receive them, like postcards sent on a long voyage to home ~A Year at North Hill The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the ground . . . is still covered in snow. At sunrise this [...]
Mud Season: Clean Up Quandaries
March 25, 2010 – Posted in: Garden chores, Mailbag, Mud SeasonA fellow gardener emailed me earlier this week: Oh cold climate wise one, Have you seen the forecast for Friday?! Snow and lows in the high teens. What does this mean for all the little perennials I've pulled leaf mulch off of? Should it go back on? I'm really looking forward to actual gardening this [...]
Snowdrops, Winter Aconites, Crocus: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2010
March 15, 2010 – Posted in: Snowdrops, What's up/bloomingAnother March, another mud season in full swing. The snowdrops that had barely opened five days ago are now in full flower: The snowdrops that were buried under snow on March 7th are now in full bud, as you can see on the left. This is the path in the Secret Garden that I brag [...]
Mud Season Chores: Cleaning up
March 24, 2009 – Posted in: Garden chores, Mud SeasonI hate to admit it to you Southerners, but when the snow melts, what it invariably reveals is…a mess. I'm not just talking about the dead vegetation that needs to be cut back. There's human-made messes that ought to be dealt with, too. But let's talk about the plants first. Cut back and clear out [...]
Mud Season Chores: Pruning
March 22, 2009 – Posted in: Garden chores, Mud SeasonMud season, despite its fickle weather, not only has color, but its own set of gardening chores. For those of us living in cold climates, these chores anticipate the growth that will soon come as so many plants emerge from dormancy. Growth is so slow at the beginning of mud season that it is easy [...]
Mud Season Color: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2009
March 15, 2009 – Posted in: Mud Season, What's up/bloomingAs soon as the snow melts, before anything even blooms, there is color.If you are aware that some plants can grow underneath the snow, this is not a complete surprise, though I always marvel when it is an attractive garden plant that pulls this trick, and not just the tap-rooted and creeping weeds.The first flowers [...]
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