Supporting Our Local Garden Clubs
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…
Finally, the hazy, lazy days of summer have arrived – something many of us longed for during those snowy days last winter! The temperatures are warm, the days are long and hopefully the rain is ample! Your favorite plants are strutting their beauty, such as the leaves of Hardy Begonia (Begonia grandis), the orange to pink flowers of the native Plum Leaf Azalea (Rhododendron prunifolium) or the beautiful and edible flowers of Borage (Borago officinalis)…
Beauty is Worth a Second Attempt
I am not certain if it is forgetfulness or simply a lack of patience, but I am always astonished at the number of times I have grown a plant unsuccessfully and opted not to try it again until many years later. A case in point is Bowman’s Root, botanically known as Gillenia trifoliata. I remember exactly where I planted it in 1987 at a garden in Hawthorne, NJ and I did not give the plant much consideration again until some 35 years later!….
