Everyone loves wildflowers. Several weeks ago, when a wildflower “super bloom” occurred in a small section of southern California desert, tourist volume swelled to gargantuan size and the internet went crazy. It is a reassuring sign that we have not completely lost touch with the natural world. Despite all that love, wildflowers are disappearing in … Read more
At this time of year I am always envious of my neighbor’s fabulous daffodil array, which covers her entire front yard and sidewalk strip with a golden blanket of spring color. My own front yard has also awakened from its gray slumber, with hellebores still in bloom, more daffodils every day, a few remaining squills … Read more
Every year one or more forms or varieties of the many spring flowering plants—crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths—capture my imagination. One year it was lily-form tulips, another year it was the splendid pink-cupped daffodil, ‘Mrs. R.O. Backhouse’, still another season found me enthusing endlessly about a particularly vivid blue chionodoxa or “glory of the snow”. … Read more
In Western New York, where I grew up, we did not put away our winter clothes until Memorial Day. Now I live in a gentler climate and when the “official” first day of spring arrives, I expect the garden to be well on its way to mid and late spring glory. We have had a … Read more
‘Orange Glow’ is up and glowing, even though “up” is a relative term for a plant that is only a few inches tall. Though it has the same name as a popular cleaning product, ‘Orange Glow’ is in fact a winter aconite, a type of buttercup, belonging to the same Ranunculaceae family as the more … Read more
