Mother Nature is a tease. Since early February here in Chicago, we have several times been granted a couple of lovely mild days. The snow would melt. Us gardeners would tentatively venture out to sniff the air and perhaps prune a shrub or two. We would start to think – this is it, we’re having …
The Front Island Bed lies between the Sidewalk Border and the low retaining wall of the expanded Foundation Bed. It is filled mostly with taller plants that enjoy lots of moisture, since the soil is a moist clay loam. It gets almost full sun, even though it is on the north side of the house. …
You can have year-round valentine gifts in the garden, you know. Take Judy and I. We’ve been married for almost 28 years. If you walk around the garden, you’ll see many valentines from me to her. For example, there’s the Lilac on the east side of the house. There are many shrubs I prefer …
About seven years ago I dug up an L shaped length of turf, with the longer section along the front sidewalk and the shorter one along the property line with the neighbors. The result was a border in almost full sun, 4-5′ wide and about 25′ long. The soil was rich and moist, even before …
I’ve probably already mentioned that I spend a lot of time driving for my job. Chicago to Springfield and back (404 miles). Chicago to Rock Island and back (354 miles). Plus various Chicago suburbs and other cities in the Land of Lincoln. I know what you’re thinking. Don’t I get jaded by all the glamour? …
It’s the end of January in the Midwest and I am suffering from gardening withdrawal. I’m feeling queasy, irritable, unable to concentrate. I must have plants! Herbaceous perennials, shrubs, small flowering trees, I don’t care! Just something! One way to take the edge off of gardening withdrawal is to order plants online. This produces a …
The Chicago Botanic Garden blog has just added a new post regarding the “snow drought” we are apparently experiencing here in Chicago. This makes an interesting follow-up to my last post looking back at 2012’s unsettling weather. I had always thought that drought was something we experienced only during the growing season. Apparently, this is …
In the Spring of 2012, a few months after I started Gardeninacity, I was dismayed to read that there was a workshop at the Spring Fling for garden bloggers that asked the question: is garden blogging dead? My reaction: WAIT! NOT YET! I’M JUST GETTING THE HANG OF THIS! Actually, I recently received an email …
The last few years our family has started a new way of observing the holidays. We pretty much do without presents, and take a trip together instead. This year we’ve rented a cabin in South Carolina on a tidal creek, just a couple of miles from the ocean. Our two sons, both in their mid-twenties, …
I’m very glad I recently took an evening class in botany. For one thing, I now know what a drupe is. You know when you are reading about some plant, say a serviceberry (Amelanchier), and the text says that the fruit is a small drupe? I no longer think that “drupe” is some random typo …
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