Keep your planters close and your plants closer this winter, says Jean Vernon With the winter about to hit full force, I’ve been contemplating the fate of my many garden planters. The greenhouse is already packed out with overwintering plants and pots of my less than hardy garden beauties. From scented pellies and fabulous fuchsias, […]
There is something magical about Christmas in a greenhouse. Paperwhites are in full bloom, mixed with rich red poinsettias against a backdrop of greenery. To me, white, red, and green are the colors of Christmas, so a greenhouse is ideal for celebrating this season. For those who aren’t big fans of paperwhites’ classic fragrance, there […]
My favorite gardener’s present? A friend received a load of well-rotted manure, dumped on a tarp in her driveway with a huge red bow on top. It was accompanied by a note from her husband promising to spread it on the nearby beds. (He followed through.) Short of that loving extravagance, here are three great […]
In Phoenix, Arizona, a holiday luminaria display adds sparkle to the Desert Botanical Garden, showing off the local flora as well as the artistic talent. Time was when the most exhilarating event at a botanic garden was feeding the ducks. No more. This year you could stagger through any conservatory that had an Amorphophallus titanium […]
Some of the most welcome holiday gifts are fleeting: sweet treats, old songs, flowers that last just long enough to be a reminder of spring. Like paperwhites. Paperwhites are paperwhite narcissus bulbs, which you can easily coax into bloom indoors in the middle of winter. A conservatory is ideal for this, though a sunny window […]
Happier as warm greenhouse specimens than as houseplants are the gorgeously flamboyant Peacock and Zebra plants, the Calatheas, from Tropical America. Oh you can force some such as C. insignis or C. zebrina to live in a well lit house but most are much happier in a warmer more humid atmosphere, it’s their tropical jungle […]
Winter is a great opportunity to check over hand tools, replacing broken handles and sharpening blades of hoes, shears, loppers and spades. Brush off any soil, clean off rust with wire wool, then use a fine file to flatten notches on the cutting edge. Years ago when I worked on the local Parks’ department, Fred, […]
A readily available mulch will put the heart back into your soil – without you needing to put your back into it. It’s dragged on for long enough. That great day when I make, find or buy the time to push up my sleeves and ‘get on with it’ isn’t going to arrive any time […]
The Best Beloved and I have been at Spring Cottage for eleven years, almost to the day, and I’ve had to learn to share and that’s not an easy thing for me. You see I am a twin and I had to share everything from a scooter, to a toy piano, to roller skates. It […]
Veterans are back on the front lines; only this time they’re securing our nation’s food supplies and sustainability by unleashing their inner farmer and establishing small homestead and urban farms across the USA. Colorado Springs was recently ranked as #7 (of 100) in a Best and Worst Places for Veterans to Live. That it should […]
A few years ago, a major lifestyle magazine—which I won’t name—featured a glistening Thanksgiving turkey on the cover. Decorative berries and leaves were tucked around the bird. How luscious. Not. Turns out the decorations were toxic to humans. The retraction was swift. No readers ate the fixings. But if the magazine crew had checked with […]
Perhaps it’s the shorter hours of daylight making me appreciate the moments of sunshine that light up the garden and landscape in blasts of crisp autumn light. Or maybe it’s the fiery tones of the autumn leaves as they flutter ground wards in every breath of wind. But whatever it is, time spent outside in […]
