The Gardener's Apprentice

New This Month

 

The press of non-garden business sometimes makes even the best gardeners neglect the beds and borders.  If this happens to you, remember that gardening and guilt should never be paired in the same thought.

Tips

If you can, spend ten or fifteen minutes in the garden in early morning or after work.  You will get maximum refreshment in a minimum amount of time.



Weeds Everywhere

WEEDS EVERYWHERE             This year our area has had a long, cool spring.  As the result, the spring flowers have lingered.  Plants that don’t usually flower at the same time are blooming simultaneously, giving the entire area the appearance of one big flower show.  The last of the magnolias are colliding with the lilacs.  Pansies linger while roses slowly make their way from bud to bloom.  Life in the garden would be perfection if it weren’t for one thing—I haven’t seen much of my garden in weeks and it is a mess. It happens to everyone from time to time.  The press of daily business gets a little out of hand and the weeds, opportunistic creatures that they are, take advantage.  I know several gardeners who ...

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May 21, 2013   by gardener   0 comments

Impatiens Plague

The print and online worlds are awash in a sea of discussion about impatiens.  For those of you who have been out in the garden or otherwise not paying attention, Impatiens walleriana, the bright, shade-loving bedding annuals, are suffering from an epidemic of downy mildew.  This blight, which shows up as a gray coating on the undersides of leaves, invariably kills the plants.  It spreads quickly and spores can live on in the soil through the winter, infecting “clean” plants the following year.  Hot humid weather provides ideal conditions for downy mildew, which has afflicted impatiens both here and in England.  As the result, many retailers, especially those in areas with sticky summer conditions, are not carrying bedding impatiens ...

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May 13, 2013   by gardener   0 comments

Greenwood Redux

Nearly a decade ago, I first visited Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills, New Jersey.  The owners of Greenwood, 28 acres of gardens, structures, outbuildings and naturalized areas, were beginning the process of making the transition from private property to public garden.  Deterioration was encroaching on the property, which had its moments of greatest glory in the 1920’s and ‘30’s.  Terraces were so unstable that they had to be roped off.  Wild vegetation had invaded garden areas and water features had long since ceased functioning.  Greenwood was a lovely relic, but it was desperately in need of a major infusion of money and attention. In the first third of the twentieth century, Greenwood was called “Pleasant Days,” a play ...

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May 6, 2013   by gardener   0 comments

Spring Epiphanies

Every spring I rediscover my spring/summer wardrobe, my garden tools and the clutter in my garage.  My wardrobe and the tools always seem fresh and new—at least for the first fifteen minutes.  The clutter in my garage is forever old and daunting.  Generally I ignore it in favor of making discoveries in my garden. This year’s big revelation was the clove currant—Ribes odoratum.  I planted it about five years ago after being intoxicated by one at Wave Hill in the Bronx.  The Wave Hill specimen was mature at about four feet tall, with lobed blue-green leaves.  It was covered with hundreds of small yellow flowers, each one exuding the sweet, spicy fragrance of clove.  I wafted home on that fragrant memory and ordered a clove currant ...

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April 29, 2013   by gardener   0 comments