BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I start my summer garden in December and January, using a neat trick called “Winter-Sowing.” Winter-sowing is an outdoor method of seed germination (invented by Trudi Davidoff) which requires just two things: miniature greenhouses (made from recycled milk jugs) and Mother Nature. You can winter-sow your way to a beautiful garden, too...for pennies. Read more » Winter-Sowing 101
November 27, 2011
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I start my summer garden in December and January, using a neat trick called “Winter-Sowing.” Winter-sowing is an outdoor method of seed germination (invented by Trudi Davidoff) which requires just two things: miniature greenhouses (made from recycled milk jugs) and Mother Nature. You can winter-sow your way to a beautiful garden, too...for pennies. Read more » A Wondrous Weed
August 15, 2011
WHEN IS A WEED NOT A WEED? When it’s the incredible, edible Portulca oleracea. You might know this prolific plant with succulent green leaves, reddish stems and a prostrate habit as Purslane, Pigweed, Little Hogweed or Verdolagas. But after reading this post, I swear you’ll call it your friend. Look at the health benefits it… Read more »
The Psychedelic Caladium
August 10, 2011
IF YOU HAVE A DEEPLY-SHADED AREA ON YOUR PROPERTY, consider planting Caladium hortulanum there. The leaves, strikingly colored and patterned, are as effective as flowers. I certainly enjoy the psychedelic caladiums that brighten my dark Woodland Garden all summer. Closeups of these deer-proof exotics, and my tips for growing and overwintering them: C. ‘Frieda Hemple’… Read more »
August Flowers: Your Favorites & Mine
August 8, 2011
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN STACK UP FOR LATE-SUMMER BLOOMS? I’ll admit my own beds are more colorful in April than August. Still, the flowers which do emerge at this time — like the cranesbill geranium above — are choice. Would you like to see them? ‘Rozanne’ is probably the loveliest of all cranesbill geraniums. I… Read more »
An Old-Fashioned Shrub: Deutzia scabra
June 14, 2011
LONG BEFORE THIS 1826 HOUSE WAS MINE, some thoughtful gardener planted four deciduous shrubs in the broad bed outside the parlor (now my music room) window. Three of these were easy to identify: mock orange, azalea and pee-gee hydrangea. But the name of the fourth shrub, which drapes itself in snow-white bloom from June to… Read more »
Success with Lupines
June 2, 2011
CLIMB THE GENTLE STEPS OF THE SERPENTINE GARDEN here this month, and you will find, when you reach the top step, a techni-colored bed of ‘Russell Hybrid’ lupines. These came from seeds I winter-sowed back in 2010. If the plants teased me with a little bloom during their first summer, they have stunned me during… Read more »
A Sexy Plant: Primula japonica
May 25, 2011
BLOOMING in my Woodland Garden just now are the “Candelabra Primroses.” What a relief to see the colorful spires against an otherwise all-green setting of ferns and hostas. More pictures, and a little advice for growing this generous Primula Japonica: Like P. malecoides, the “fairy primrose” we all enjoy as a winter houseplant, japonica produces… Read more »
