The ordering season for fall-planted bulbs, including daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths, starts each year in spring when the flowers appear. It continues through the gardening season until about Halloween, with the few unsold bulbs languishing after that at the back of garden centers’ and nurseries’ display areas. Despite my best efforts at speed and efficiency … Read more
This morning I woke up and looked out the window to see five deer exiting my neighbor’s yard for a foray into the gardens across the street. My first thought was that the deer looked rather well-fed, probably as the result of dining on plants in my garden. I raced outside to take inventory of … Read more
Right now it is gray, drippy and chilly outside my window. Even though the last roses are still shivering on the bushes, I feel starved for color. Grabbing at emotional straws, I peer hopefully through the mist for the new growth on the scarlet willow or Salix alba var. vitellina ‘Britzensis’—but the little tree does … 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
The gardening season at my house is ending as it began, with bright blue and white crocuses dotting the beds. As in the spring, they are poking bravely through the garden rubble that I haven’t yet had time to clean up. People who see them think that climate change has fooled the spring crocuses into … Read more
