The Gardeners' Apprentice

Gift Plants

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PLANT GIFTS/PLANT TRENDS             Every year about this time one of the big garden wholesalers sends me a box of tiny perennial plants to try in my home garden.  These plants, which are mostly hybrids, are either new to the market or new to the particular wholesaler’s inventory.  The vendor always includes an evaluation form … Read more

Edibles on the Way

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EDIBLES ON THE WAY             My goal this year is to incorporate edibles among my ornamentals and the plan is beginning to take shape.  Today I set out an entire flat of June bearing strawberry plants in two separate sunny beds.  Since strawberries and roses favor the same conditions, I put the latter near a … Read more

Dogwoods

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DOGWOODS             A friend of mine just got married.  He is a relative newcomer to this immediate area and loves our spring-flowering trees, especially the dogwoods.  A few weeks ago he called me to ask whether I thought the dogwoods would be in bloom for his rehearsal dinner on May first.  Like all good gardeners … Read more

Take It Easy

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TAKE IT EASY             I was out in the garden today–planting, weeding, trimming and rearranging things.  Just as I was about to divide a large clump of grape hyacinths, I became aware of the unmistakable sound of the Eagles singing the refrain of one of their best-known songs: “Take it easy, take it easy. Don’t … Read more

Lungwort

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LUNGWORT               Pulmonaria always takes me by surprise.   Sure, the soft, silver-splashed leaves cling to the ground on the edges of my shady beds, and I see them every time I pass by.  In fact, I see them so often that I take them for granted.  Then, every year in the early spring, a … Read more