Month: January 2019
Springfield’s Old State Capitol
This past weekend I ended up staying in Springfield on my own, so on Sunday I visited the Old State Capitol. It was the seat of Illinois state government from 1840 to 1876. The building was reconstructed in the 1960s, but still has the original stone exterior.
In Defense of Cup Plant
Just recently I read an informative post entitled “3 Problematic Plants in Native Plant Gardens and 3 Native Alternatives”. The post was on the Facebook page of Indigenous Landscapes, a native plant landscaping company based in Cincinnati. While the arguments made in the post were reasonable, I had a somewhat different take on the plants …
Perusing the 2019 Plant Catalogs: Prairie Moon Nursery
Prairie Moon Nursery, based in southeast Minnesota, is one of my 2 favorite online sources for native plants, the other being Prairie Nursery in central Wisconsin. Prairie Moon gives us all natives and nothing but natives. Straight species only – cultivars need not apply!
Perusing the 2019 Plant Catalogs: Brent and Becky’s
Now is the time of year for mooning over garden catalogs, dreaming of glorious blooms as the garden lies in frozen slumber. Fortunately, there are lots of catalogs to moon over. I have a stack by my side of the bed about 18 inches high, when they’re not scattered all over the floor. I should …
Plant Altruism
A growing body of research supports the idea that plants provide a helping hand (so to speak) to other plants. The research is summarized in an article in the January online issue of Science magazine.
I Sense A Disturbance In The Vortex
Was it really barely a week ago that I wrote a post entitled “Let Winter Be Winter”? Yes, it was – only a few days ago I was complaining about our eerily mild temperatures. And the weather gods could not resist the opportunity to make me the straight man in a little joke. The weather …
Some Grasses in Winter
Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), does keep its handsome looks in winter. The seedheads seem to shatter over a long period.
Meet My Buds
A couple of recent posts from Heirloom Cottage Garden and New Hampshire Garden Solutions inspired me to go out into the garden and take pictures of the buds on our woody plants. Too late I realized that you’re supposed to have a special lens, which we don’t have, to take this kind of picture. Nevertheless, …
The Strategic Garden Tool Reserve
Here’s an idea for gardeners who, like me, have a tendency to lose their garden tools. I never figured out how to carry multiple tools around with me while taking care of various garden tasks. Smaller tools usually get stuck in a pocket, which can result in pockets sliced open at the bottom, which is …
Let Winter Be Winter
There’s a compact Korean Spice Viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) just outside our front door. I give it a close inspection, if I’m not in a hurry, almost every time I enter or exit the house.
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