A Good Time For Planning: Flowers For Pollinators I Snow came down two days ago accumulating just three inches. Today the garden is still covered with snow and the temperature dropped down to just above 10°F. It’s a perfect winter day for bird watching through the patio door. Since the ground is covered with snow and the sources of water around here have turned to ice, they congregate around our … Continue reading Too Cold To Be Outside
Worth the Name The news announcing the cause of King Tutankhamun’s death was published recently. The new evidence of massive head trauma and multiple broken ribs fit a pattern consistent with falling out of and being run over by a chariot. Presumably his own. Hearing his name reminded me of a new plant I grew this past summer. A Sweet Pea ‘King Tut’ (Lathyrus sativus). … Continue reading King Tut Sweet Pea
Still Standing Fall is officially here, not just the date but temperature and the color of leaves. The ground is practically covered with leaves and the branches are becoming more bare everyday. We start grinding up the leaves for mulching and composting when we have days off. I don’t cut back much of anything except for the Butterfly bushes (Buddleja davidii). This lovely, fragrant and … Continue reading Before The Frost
Spring Is Finally Here Came back from vacation with hope to see some green and a little more warmth than when we left, but didn’t expect the temperature to be just like the tropics where we vacationed. It has been in the 70s in the last couple of days and the plants love it. There wasn’t much of anything above ground when we left, but … Continue reading Spring
Still Some Colors After uneven temperatures and one rainstorm after another, most of the flowers in our garden have just given up or rotted away. Only a few of them have kept blooming. As the years pass, more and more we see pounding rainfall in autumn that frequently strips the trees of what should be their proudly worn, colorful fall coat. Flowers, being the weaker … Continue reading October Garden
Bitterness Can Be Really Good This year is a great year for Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia). They cover three quarters of the vegetable garden fence. The thickness of the leaves and the bright yellow flowers spotted among them look very pleasant. The sweet scent of the flowers is a plus, especially in the morning when it seems to be strongest. Cutting leaves and fruits for … Continue reading Bitter Melon
Couldn’t Help Myself I grow Salvia in the garden for their color and for the bees. The ones in the garden are compact with small leaves and either blue or pink in color. Their colors make up for lack of scent, flower scent. I can smell them only when I brush against them, then the spicy, sage (S. officinalis) like scent, emanates upward. Another good … Continue reading Salvia ‘Black and Blue’
Moonflower seedlings Though it’s still cold and windy outside, it’s time to start germinating flowers and vegetables inside and get them ready for planting next month. Moonflower (Ipomoea alba) is one of them. I have been growing Moonflowers for years. Both of us love to have fragrant flowers in the garden, merely beautiful flowers just won’t do. A flower without a scent is like a woman … Continue reading Growing Moonflower
Petals and Wings 