The first small steps have begun to tidy the garden for spring. It is quite a mess, perhaps worse than usual with inordinate areas of mud and the usual piles of leaves. I have attempted, with limited success, to stay clear of well trodden paths, particularly the narrow, swampy area that leads to the lower…
Curiously, two witch hazels (Hamamelis x intermedia), the red flowered ‘Diane’ and copper colored ‘Jelena’, flowered in mid-autumn, with no weather related cause that I could determine. I was, of course, concerned at the time that flowering then would mean no blooms in February, an unwelcome tradeoff since there are numerous other flowers in autumn,…
I don’t believe it’s possible for the lower half of the garden to be any soupier than it is today. The repeated cycle of freezing and thawing opens air pockets in the soil that are now filled with moisture from recent snow, ice, and rain so that every step in the back lawn leaves a…
The assistant gardener is a fair weather sort, plagued by a variety of cold related irritations so that she’s rarely outdoors below fifty degrees. As always, I’m out slip sliding in the garden in ice and snow, and now sinking into the quagmire, no matter the heat or cold, though a visit on a breezy…
After the recent stretch of severe, though not unusual cold for early February, this is a week to savor with temperatures in the fifties and sixties, and a day when some spots peaked in the low seventies (Fahrenheit). More typical colder weather is on the way, but it’s winter and it should be cooler than…
The anticipation of an incoming few days of extreme cold, and the subsequent waiting to discover damage to the garden’s treasures is quite unpleasant, filled with imaginings of the worst that could happen. Previous experience, that injury is rarely as severe as feared, reassures somewhat that damage from a single night of two degrees below…
Three consecutive nights with temperatures below ten degrees (Fahrenheit), with the second freeze falling to two below zero, have destroyed the remaining yellow blooms of late autumn and early winter flowering mahonias (Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’, before and after, below). All of several cultivars were tardy flowering in November, but then also slow to…
Being on the backside of the aging continuum, I am more often confounded by goings on in this modern age. I don’t think I’m out of touch, but perhaps I am. The rock and roll vibe passed me by in the eighties, and amongst current mysteries is the “clean food” movement. Always, I’ve advocated that…
Have you struggled with houseplants in the past? That expensive palm tree for your living room turns yellow and brown no matter how well you try to take care of it? No matter what you do or how hard you work, your African violets wilt, your peace lilies droop from thirst, and everything in between fades…
Evidence of spring’s approach is scant, typical for this part of Virginia in late January, but of course, less than hoped for. Without a doubt, the winter hiatus from the garden’s chores is appreciated, three weeks seems adequate, and now I’m anxious for winter to be over. But, wishing doesn’t make it so. While flowers…