The Gardeners' Apprentice If you are into wildflowers, the best place to find them is at the edge of a wooded area in early to mid spring. The first sightings of the year—at least in boggy places–are usually skunk cabbage, which are so smelly and unattractive, that many people don’t count them as “wildflowers”. Among the more typical … Read more
It is clear from even a brief tour around the garden that extensive squirrel landscaping has happened over the past half year. Little “tommie’ crocuses, or Crocus tommasinianus, sprouted weeks ago in the lawn and other areas far removed from where the bulbs were originally planted. Now, having played their role in the early spring … Read more
Spring has arrived and the winter ceasefire in my personal, perpetual war on English ivy has officially expired. A pile of the severed vines sits in the backyard, waiting to be obliterated in the mulching process. This was only the first salvo of the new growing season, but it gave me enormous satisfaction, not to … Read more
I love snowdrops, those wonderful harbingers of spring. While I am not a “galanthophile” who goes gaga over the slightest variations in snowdrop markings, I have been slowly amassing a collection of different varieties over the years. I bought most of mine from the Temple Nursery, a tiny concern in Trumansburg, New York, operated by … Read more
Sometimes a plant is not what it seems. A “rose of Sharon” is not a rose at all, but a member of the mallow or hollyhock family. Neither “peace lilies” nor daylilies are members of the lily or Liliaceae genus. Instead they belong to the arum and hemerocallis genera respectively. This is why I have … Read more
