The weather's been crazy, to put it mildly. With this second, post-Christmas thaw the snow is mostly gone. Monday it almost reached 50°F and it wasn't raining, so I decided to walk around the garden and check on things.
Snowdrops
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!
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.
Growing The Earliest Blooms: The Challenge Continues
February 16, 2019 – Posted in: The Earliest Flowers, What's up/bloomingChallenging myself to learn more about plants by trying new techniques and by researching and growing unfamiliar plants helps me grow as a gardener--and as a person. It's all about being a hardy soul and not letting winter get the best of me. Read what I've been up to the last month and let me know in the comments: What cabin-fever-fighting tricks do you have in your arsenal?
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.
How Hardy Souls Wait for Spring
March 17, 2018 – Posted in: What's up/bloomingThe tagline of my blog is "Hardy plants for hardy souls," because you have to be a hardy soul to endure the fits and starts of winter ending and spring arriving. Cold climate gardeners are resilient in the face of adversity and prepared for setbacks before winter is gone for good. Here's how I'm coping. How about you?
Spring Is Buried Under A Blizzard: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2017
March 15, 2017 – Posted in: Weather, What's up/bloomingI just knew a mild February would mean trouble later on. Spring in February doesn't happen here without some sort of counterbalance later on. But even I couldn't guess it would be the snowstorm of the century. I thought those sub-zero temperatures the week before were punishment enough. Read on to learn what was blooming before Snowmageddon and what is currently cheering me in the house.
The January Thaw
January 24, 2017 – Posted in: Weather, What's up/bloomingThe January thaw is an accepted part of weather lore around here--thaw being a relative term--meaning warmer than you would expect but not necessarily warm enough to melt all the snow. But this year almost all the snow did melt, save the piles that accumulate from removing it from the walk, driveway, and road. As a matter of fact, it was 58°F(14°C) on Sunday as I glanced at my phone and read "Winter Storm Watch in effect for Monday." What? It's gorgeous out! But--it is January, after all.
Spring, Rebooted: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day April 2016
April 15, 2016 – Posted in: Native/Invasive, What's up/bloomingThe early spring that showed up last month went on hiatus as the Arctic Express roared through with six inches of snow and bitter cold--it dropped to -3F on the worst night. It's almost as if the climate had to reboot to get back on track. But that is all behind us now and each [...]
Spring Has Sprung! Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2016
March 18, 2016 – Posted in: What's up/bloomingAs a child, I went to sleep on Christmas Eve with a sense of anticipation and excitement. What was I going to find under that tree in the morning? As a gardener, the first mild days of mud season bring that same excitement and anticipation, except now it goes on for weeks: What am I [...]
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