There are many who do not garden in February, or do not choose to aim for a four-season garden. And while I understand this attitude, particularly if your gardens are covered in two feet of snow for the majority of winter, for me, February is a too-short month that allows me to take care of [...]
A new year, a new growing season. January is a wonderfully busy month in my garden, as I am given the opportunity to get on top of difficult areas of bramble and vine without the overwhelming and often impenetrable problem of foliage. This is the month I attack the woodland garden and the stream banks, [...]
December is a month of transition in the temperate gardener’s mind. I look at it like a well-deserved break and savor every second. It is a resting month in the Mid-Atlantic garden, which is certainly convenient as it is not a resting month in any other part of our lives. The holiday season – frantic [...]
At the top of my driveway, slightly hidden on a south-facing slope that could less generously be termed a rocky mound, there is a small gathering of snowdrops and eranthis that in a few short months will poke up amongst the stones and the chickweed. This grouping is visible only to those that pass our [...]
As if to punish me for my naiveté in penning an article in January on the subtle joys of a Mid-Atlantic winter, the Mid-Atlantic immediately doubled down, presenting us with icy wind, freezing rain and single digit temperatures. Eyes watched me carefully for retracted statements, but I had nothing to retract. The sooner the mud [...]
It may be cold. And windy. And fairly miserable at six in the morning when you’ve misplaced the car scraper. But with a little know-how and a bag of bulbs, we can bring the sights and scents of spring into our living rooms and offices. Some will point out that we can bring the sights [...]
The winters are tough out here. I know that I write from the muddied perspective of an ex-Californian (becoming more ex by the minute), but damn. I’m also aware, as the mother of a child now in North Dakota, daughter of a man who farmed cattle in Alberta, and correspondent of numerous friends and colleagues [...]
A winter scene has been setting up all night as we slept, and as I write these words, the snow has covered all. I will save the poetry and soupy language for another time lest I send you all to sleep again, and instead concentrate on what you might want to do for your plants [...]
How should one weed in the winter? Those with a strong attachment to their recliners might say ‘one shouldn’t,’ and leave it at that. I completely understand. I have a strong bond with my yellow tufted chair that goes quite beyond love and is entering the realm of soul connection – particularly in the winter. [...]
December. Joy, Mirth, and seventeen other one word slogans on cotton dishtowels. Are you ready? We are sent out to achieve the impossible this month. In the midst of lives already conducted at 75 mph, and without any real vacation time, we are asked to do the following ten tasks with a smile [...]
If you look carefully, there are very few places teeming with more stories than an airport terminal. In more innocent days when such things were still allowed, I’d hang out occasionally at the international arrivals gate watching people reconnect after time apart. The idea that I should have so much free time on my hands [...]
My mother has seed packets that are older than I am. Frugality plays a role here I am sure, but nostalgia is probably at the heart of it. I still keep a somewhat crumpled Martha Stewart packet, long emptied of its thyme seeds, just to remind me of how high-end marketing and softly lit photos [...]
Well, that’s December over with. I say this with a great deal of regret, as December is my resting month in the garden and it is always too short. Last night I happened across a differing opinion in an early essay* by British celebrity gardener and writer Monty Don. He sharpened his tongue against the [...]
It's over. Most people in the country are doing one of four things right now. ① Breathing a sigh of relief. ② Wondering where December went. ③ Feeling a bit nostalgic and determined to keep the spirit of the season going. ④ Grinning at the fact that they don't have a mess to clean [...]
Perhaps you’ve heard that approximately 2 ½ hours north of Central Maryland there is a world-class garden where fireworks and fountains explode every summer, horticultural splendor is commonplace and inspiration for the common gardener is calf-deep. A place called Longwood. A magical feast in The Music Room And perhaps you’ve ignored [...]
If you prefer to grow much of your garden from seed, the process of starting it can be a chaotic mess that will plague you from February till the growing season finally comes to an end in autumn. You’ll have two months off and then before you know it, you’ll be starting the process [...]
Well, it certainly feels as if we’ve thwarted the groundhog. Yet I have thought this many times during my life on the East Coast and ended up with two inch green stubs to harvest for an evening’s Caesar salad. Winter will bite back before it is all done, and neither we nor our plants will [...]
When the holiday buzz was blissfully over, you probably looked around your decorated surroundings with a calm eye and thought: “I’d like to find an [insert x] for next year” or, “An x sitting in that corner would sure look fabulous” or, “Did you see the beautifully lit x on their house this year? Gorgeous!” [...]
It may be cold. And windy. And fairly miserable at six in the morning when you’ve misplaced the car scraper. But let me remind you that we have already passed the shortest day of the year mark and there is hope yet ahead. If my words seem empty (they certainly do to me at the [...]
Winter is a time for research, and not just of the deeper contents of one’s drinks cabinet. Are there techniques that you’ve been wanting to know a little bit more about? Perhaps you want to familiarize yourself with some of the great garden essayists, or prepare yourself to visit a few of the big name [...]
