I planted Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs this year for holiday bloom. I haven’t grown them for a few years, and almost forgot how cheery and fabulously fragrant the blossoms are! Paperwhites (Narcissus papyraceus) are available during the holiday season, sold as bulb kits or as single bulbs in garden centers. The bulbs produce clusters of white fragrant [...]

We’ve had an inch or so of snow this past week, which makes everything look beautiful, but is not enough to be too hazardous. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I like to check out the tracks in the snow to see what creatures have visited the garden. In the past few days, [...]

About a year ago, I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. The book recounts a year that the Kingsolver family – Barbara, her husband and two daughters – spent as locavores, eating only locally grown foods. Accomplished gardeners, the family grew a large garden in southern Appalachia and spent the summer and [...]

For me, the Holiday season officially kicks off with the annual “Greens Get Together” at the Civic Garden Center. Each year, the CGC offers workshops which allow the participants to create beautiful holiday table arrangements, wreaths, swags or garlands from fresh evergreen cuttings and natural embellishments. This year’s workshops took place last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. [...]

Strong smelling soap is supposed to repel animals like deer and rabbits. With this in mind, I went to Costco last spring and bought an enormous package of Irish Spring soap. I nestled the bars amongst my hosta foliage, in an area devoid of Wireless Deer Fence, for testing purposes. Things went well until about [...]

I’ve been battling increasing numbers of deer in my landscape in recent years. Deer are creatures of habit, and will continue to browse in gardens that have provided a good meal in the past. Why not eat at the tasty Trusty Garden Buffet, with its terrific variety of tempting tidbits? I often see the deer [...]

Yesterday was a marvelously sunny fall day! According to the weather forecast, it was probably one of the last really pretty days we’ll have for a while, so I spent part of it winterizing my garden pots and statuary. Of all the different materials that plant pots are made of, I prefer terra cotta clay. [...]