First, the good news. As a result of frequent applications of the Stare of Life, several of the plants on the winter death watch have broken dormancy. Specifically: both my two year old fringe trees (Chionanthus virginicus), the bluebeard (Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Longwood Blue’}, the ‘Blue Adonis’ compact butterflybush (Buddleia), and the ‘Conca D’Or’ orienpet …
I have been working very hard at not jumping to conclusions about which plants got killed off during our brutal winter. However, I am becoming increasingly fretful. Here’s the situation as of today. Gone forever After two seasons in my back garden, my flowering dogwood (Cornus florida ‘Appalachian Spring’) is pretty clearly a goner. No …
All avid gardeners feel compelled to inspect their gardens after any sort of lengthy separation. In fact, the separation may have been only between 8 am and 6 pm of the very same day. So you can imagine how I felt after returning from my prolonged hospital stay. The English garden writer Beverly …
At this time of year the blooms of the spring bulbs tend to get all the glory. But it is also worth paying attention to the tender green growth of later herbaceous plants, as well as the woody plants that are just starting to break bud. This new growth has a freshness and sweetness that …
There is an article in the April issue of Fine Gardening entitled “Big Blooms That Don’t Flop”. Actually on the cover it says “36 Big Blooms That Don’t Flop”, but the article only lists eight plants. The editors at Fine Gardening shouldn’t feel bad about this mistake, I’ve done the same thing several times. You …
Recently I wrote about five favorite blue flowers, limiting myself to natives of the American Midwest. The comments that followed revealed that I am far from alone in having a soft spot for blooms of blue. And so I found myself inspired to do another post on the topic, this time not limiting myself to …
Recently I had an exchange with Christina of Creating my own garden of the Hesperides about the possibility of all people being divisible into two types: those who prefer single blooms and those who prefer double blooms. Single blooms, we both agreed, were best. For me, single blooms are appealingly simple and unadulterated. Double blooms …
Along with perusing garden catalogs, now is the time for obsessing over where to move old plants or add new plants for spring. For example, I love my Yellow Coneflowers (Ratibida pinnata), so in the last couple of years I’ve planted a bunch of them. Next year the younger ones should really come into their …
Here’s a bit of winter interest for you. This picture I think is a good argument for not cutting everything down in the fall. A featureless garden covered with a blanket of snow would be so dull by comparison. The Joe Pye Weed ‘Gateway’ (Eutrochium purpureum subsp. maculatum) does an especially good job of standing …
There’s a flower border along my front sidewalk. I’m not satisfied with it. The issue is what to plant up against the sidewalk, between the Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) at one end and the Monarda, Short’s Aster (Aster shortii), and Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) at the other. It needs to be something relatively low-growing. When I first …
gardeninacity 