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Posted on November 25, 2018 by gardeninacity

Books I’ve Read (or Heard) This Year, Part II

Continuing my recent post on books I’ve read or listened to this year, alphabetically by author.

Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Non-Fiction. Thelincoln story of how Lincoln came to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and push the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, through Congress. Though against slavery, Lincoln shared many of the racial prejudices of his day and was no abolitionist at the beginning of his presidency.

However, he learned from interacting with African-American leaders like Frederick Douglass, from the war itself and especially from commanding Black troops in that war. He brought to these experiences a capacity for deep reflection (the contrast with our current President is too painful to contemplate), and came to understand that the Union could not be saved unless the Civil War became a war on slavery.

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Posted on November 23, 2018 by gardeninacity

Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving! This day is just as enjoyable as Thanksgiving, a day for cozy relaxation, digesting, reading, and grazing on leftovers.

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Judy cooks a mean turkey. She also excels at gravy and stuffing.
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Posted on November 20, 2018 by gardeninacity

Books I’ve Read (or Heard) This Year, Part I

So I thought this would be a good time to go back over the books I’ve either read or listened to this year. I’m making a note of which ones I listened to via audio book, as the experience is quite different from reading.

what a plant knows

I spend a lot of time driving for work, and I’m one of those people who prefer stories to music, most of the time at least. Though listening to audio books in the car has occasionally resulted in awkward moments at the drive-through, especially during poorly-timed salacious passages. More than once I’ve had to point out to the cashier that I was listening to LITERATURE.

Anyway, here’s the first installment of this year’s books, organized alphabetically by author.

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Posted on November 16, 2018 by gardeninacity

Rake or Leave the Leaves? It All Depends

It seems that if you scratch the surface, almost any aspect of gardening can generate some controversy. On the question of leaves, controversy was apparently sparked by a post on the website of the National Wildlife Federation entitled “Why You Should Leave the Leaves”.

The NWF advocates using fallen leaves as a resource instead of bagging them to be carted away like trash:

Let leaves stay where they fall. They won’t hurt your lawn if you chop them with a mulching mower. 
Rake leaves off the lawn to use as mulch in garden beds. For finer-textured mulch, shred them first. 
Let leaf piles decompose; the resulting leaf mold can be used as a soil amendment to improve structure and water retention. 

Keeping your leaves around enriches the soil, insulates plants, and helps insects and other wildlife to overwinter.

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Piles of leaves ready for removal in the Back Garden. Surplus leaves end up in compost or spread around behind that Siberian Elm in the upper right. By the way, this corner is where I’m trying to develop my mini “sedge meadow”.
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Posted on November 14, 2018 by gardeninacity

Crabapple Surprise

I’ve been disgruntled lately about the garden’s lack of fall ornamental fruits. This year in particular has been almost entirely fruitless. Then suddenly our ‘Golden Raindrops’ Crabapple dropped its bright yellow leaves, and – boom! Clusters of bright yellow fruits emerged, no longer camouflaged by the foliage.DSC_0727

I’ll be curious to see how long these golden fruits last before the birds get at them. Birds are supposed to prefer the smaller Crabapples. The fruit of ‘Golden Raindrops’ is about 1/4 inch in diameter. Even so, a mass of these fruits is conspicuous from a distance.

We have another Crabapple, ‘Donald Wyman’, with larger red fruits. Most years the fruits of ‘Donald Wyman’ are left uneaten, eventually just falling to the ground. This year, strangely, all were eaten by the end of October.

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That’s the neighbors’ house across the alley.

Now my only complaint is that only part of ‘Golden Raindrops’ is covered in fruits. It’s a young tree, though, so perhaps as it matures that problem will take care of itself. This tree if completely covered with golden fruits would be a truly stunning sight. I can’t wait!

 

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Posted on November 12, 2018 by gardeninacity

Another Couple of Bulbs You Really Need

In a recent post I concluded an orgy of bulb buying by buying some more bulbs. Specifically, two bulbs which you should consider for your own garden, assuming 1) you don’t have it already; and 2) the conditions are appropriate. The two bulbs of which I speak are Tulipa praestans ‘Fusilier’ and Camassia quamash, also known as Quamash or Wild Hyacinth.

Species tulip 'Fusilier'
Species Tulip Tulipa praestans
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Posted on November 9, 2018 by gardeninacity

Gently Fading Fall at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Autumn seems like it was slow to arrive this year and in a hurry to leave, like a guest visiting out of a sense of obligation.

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Posted on November 2, 2018 by gardeninacity

Forcing Crocus for Winter Blooms

So I planted the last of the new Tulip bulbs in their pots. But then last year’s bulbs were sitting in a bucket and demanding, “What about us?”

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Posted on October 31, 2018 by gardeninacity

Where The Bulbs Are

There comes a point with every garden where it starts getting difficult to figure out where to put all the plants that you (meaning, in this case, I) must have. It’s kind of like the irresistible mass meets the inflexible property line.

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Wild Geranium blooming in the Sidewalk Border on May 29. With luck, these blooms should be preceded by Glory-of-the-Snow, and followed by Drumstick Allium.
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Posted on October 29, 2018 by gardeninacity

Time Again To Pot Up The Tulips

Yesterday I potted up 160 Tulip bulbs in 8 containers. This is 2/3 of the total, so not too bad. There’s 80 Tulips and 4 containers left to go.

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