I love to walk the path through our woods. And maintaining them as I walk along them, I feel like I'm gardening in the depths of winter. If you have woods on your property, read how I've created these paths and start some of your own!
secret_garden
Trout Lily: Wildflower Wednesday
April 25, 2017 – Posted in: Native/Invasive, What's up/bloomingI know rock gardeners who can coax rare alpine treasures into bloom, but have been stumped by trout lilies. They are common in the woods of eastern North America--do you know these ephemeral charmers?
My Spicebush Is Blooming! Wildflower Wednesday April 2016
April 29, 2016 – Posted in: Native/Invasive, The Secret Garden, What's up/bloomingMy spicebush is blooming! Only a mother--I mean, a gardener--could be so happy about the blessed event. See: Well--ahem--yes, they are rather small. Try this:Okay, let's really zoom in: I saw my first spicebushes in 2009 in the Mundy Wildflower Garden on the grounds of Cornell Plantation in Ithaca, New York. There were several of [...]
Gardening Books To Give Or Get
December 11, 2015 – Posted in: Book reviewsHenry Nicholson Ellacombe believed that every great gardener reads a lot of gardening books: I have always found that a lover of gardens and flowers is also more or less a lover and reader of books. … and the more they love their gardens and their flowers the more they wish to read about them; [...]
The Secret Garden
June 8, 2013 – Posted in: Design, New House, New Gardens, The Secret GardenThe Secret Garden is a path through the woods along the side creek on our property. (See map at the end of this article.) The creek comes under the road through a culvert and then drops several feet to the creek bed below. I refer to this as the waterfall, which may sound a tad [...]
A River of Snowdrops? You Can Grow That!
April 5, 2012 – Posted in: How-to, New House, New Gardens, SnowdropsWe noticed something about our new house this spring: no snowdrops! I set out last week to rectify that omission. My "river" of snowdrops at our old house was fifteen years in the making, but you can grow that!All you need is a dirt-stabbing tool, a clump of snowdrops, and pig-headed determination.Think I'm kidding? Above [...]
Snowdrop Bouquets
March 10, 2012 – Posted in: New House, New Gardens, SnowdropsOne six ounce glass of snowdrops… yields……eleven small but exquisite snowdrop bouquets. Snowdrops have a fragrance that is similar to sweet alyssum or certain daffodils (not poeticus or jonquils). We picked these at the old garden and the truck was filled with the scent of them on the way home. I will be moving as [...]
Queen of the Prairie: Wildflower Wednesday
July 27, 2011 – Posted in: Native/InvasiveQueen of the Prairie was introduced to my garden. The Gentleman Farmer found it growing in a roadside ditch about a quarter of a mile from our house and brought it home for me. Shortly after that, the road crew mowed the roadside down. I had previously grown this plant in the front southwest bed [...]
A Winter Walk
February 10, 2011 – Posted in: MiscellaneousMost people living in a cold climate would probably tell you it isn't the cold that bothers them as much as the endless succession of dreary, cloudy days. (Heck, even people in the balmy Pacific Northwest complain about how dark it is in winter!) Well, today it was sunny for a change, so I went [...]
Branches Bench in the Secret Garden
April 21, 2010 – Posted in: Acquisitions, Hardscaping and ProjectsI have long wished to add some seating to the Secret Garden, but not any old bench would do. It had to be durable and it had to fit in with the whole idea of a Secret Garden. This branches bench from Lowes fit the bill. It is made of aluminum, so it won't rust [...]
Recent Comments