Supporting Our Local Garden Clubs
Experience is the Best Teacher
My appreciation for shade trees has certainly changed over the years. Like many gardeners, it was a group of plants I valued yet rarely used in designs or planted! Of course, perspectives change and I am now a huge proponent of planting shade trees. I have grown especially fond of trees that can tolerate the abuses associated with tough sites and are beneficial to wildlife…
September marks the start of getting the garden – and the gardener – ready for a long winters rest. Yes, it seems much too early to think of winter, but it is time to start planning for winter! However, we still have a good month until frost, so there is plenty of time to enjoy September bloomers…
Sweeping Together New Garden Visions
During my drive to work, I pass a number of homes whose landscapes mostly consist of a tidy row or two of shrubs paired with a neatly trimmed lawn. The spring may offer some floral enhancement, but by-and-large, the landscapes remain a steadfast green. Few homeowners consider replacing some of those shrubs and turf with a stylized meadow featuring sweeps of various flowering perennials and grasses….
To me, August epitomizes summer. The days remain long, with the daytime chant of the Cicadas and the evening chorus of Crickets and Katydids. Rainfall this summer remains ample and coupled with the warm temperatures, most plants have flourished.The flowers of Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’) and Naked Ladies (Lycoris squamigera) are certainly at their best this month….
The Frosting on the Gardener’s Cake
In this age of readily disseminated literature and specialty nurseries delivering novel and little-known plants to your doorstep, logic would have it that all the intriguing and easily grown plants would be well-known and at a gardeners’ fingertips…
