Snowdrops

Come Tour The Secret Garden With Me

– Posted in: Mud Season, The Secret Garden

I'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

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

Desperate 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

– Posted in: The Earliest Flowers, What's up/blooming

Challenging 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

– Posted in: Mud Season, The Earliest Flowers, What's up/blooming

Snowdrops 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

– Posted in: What's up/blooming

The 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

– Posted in: Weather, What's up/blooming

I 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

– Posted in: Weather, What's up/blooming

The 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.