mud_season

Coltsfoot: It’s Not A Dandelion–Wildflower Wednesday March 2012

– Posted in: Mud Season, Native/Invasive, What's up/blooming

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. [...]

Hellebore Clean-up: Mud Season

– Posted in: Mud Season

It 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

– Posted in: Mud Season

Mud 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?

– 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 Chores: Cleaning up

– Posted in: Garden chores, Mud Season

I 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

– Posted in: Garden chores, Mud Season

Mud 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 [...]