Our unusually warm winter marches on. We’ve had mild weather most of the winter and almost no snow. Not a single snowman, and I miss the pretty snow blanketing the garden! Without snow, the landscape looks rather dreary. Besides that, how will this affect our gardens and landscapes? Plants that become dormant in winter must have [...]
I was making Italian wedding soup in the crock pot for dinner tonight when I decided to pick some kale from the garden to use (in place of spinach or escarole) in my recipe. Still picking greens from your garden, you ask? Credit the warm winter we’ve been having! And kale is the hardiest of [...]
It’s Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (GBBD) again. Thanks heavens! This is a great reminder for me to post a blog. I’ve been hit-or-miss at posting since I broke my collar bone last spring. It still hasn’t healed completely, and this has really restricted my gardening efforts. Whch has made me loath to blog. Not logical, but true! So the [...]
Conifers are trees and shrubs that bear cones instead of flowers. Conifers add structure to the landscape. And because most are evergreen, they are especially appreciated in a barren winter setting. Think how naked my garden shed would look without the evergreens in this image! The large plant to the left is a blue spruce, Picea [...]
December 15, and what is blooming? Not much. We are having an unusually warm spell (60 degrees!) and continuous drizzle, though I’ve braved the elements to get these few images. And I’m finally learning that the only thing normal about Cincinnati weather is . . . that it is never normal! Above, the intrepid perennial [...]
Yesterday, while turning the compost pile, I saw the first bloom of 2011 in my back shade garden. This is Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Cinnamon Snow’ from the Helleborus Gold Collection. I just received the plant last fall, along with ‘Pink Frost’ and ‘Joseph Lemper’ from the same collection. The plants are still young, but blooming [...]
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This time of year, the seed catalogs arrive on your doorstep, with their enticing pictures of vegetables, herbs and flowers. If you are like me, you want to plant one of everything, and you want to do it NOW! How can you possibly wait ‘till spring? Actually, you don’t have to – because you can [...]
What would you do if it was Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, so you want to blog about what is blooming, but all of your plants were enveloped in snow, with nary a bloom in sight, except for one frozen solid patch of icy snow-covered strawflowers (Bracteantha bracteata)? You could show pictures of snow instead of [...]
After a week of very cold and snowy weather, I think I can safely say that winter has arrived in Cincinnati! The neighborhood children are out making snowmen and forts . . . Speaking of neighborhood children, our family has acquired a temporary new teenager, Lili, who comes to us as an exchange student from [...]