One thing I see less and less in gardens these days are gardeners that mix annual plants with perennials and shrubs. I’m not sure why, but it seems to be that fewer and fewer gardeners take the time to design border combinations using all kinds of herbaceous materials: annuals, perennials, and tender perennials like dahlias. [...]
Earlier this year in March, well before the hustle and bustle of the spring planting season, a fellow designer and I attended the Philadelphia Flower Show. If you have never been to the Philly Flower Show you don’t know what you are missing. Make a point of attending next year. There is no better [...]
Last week the residents of my town voted on a budget for the next fiscal year. There was some contention among the citizens regarding the need to raise taxes during difficult economic times, but the roads need paving, the police and fire departments must be funded, and the schools for our children staffed and maintained. [...]
Late winter in New England is never an easy time. The weather turns quickly, changing from frigid, to raw (a term I never used for the weather until I came to Connecticut), to warm, and then back again to cold or raw. Wet and heavy snow, like the kind we had a few weeks ago, [...]
Tradition plays an important role in every holiday celebration, especially Christmas. It may be a special food, a family event, or beautiful decorations that represent the best of the season to you and yours. I can remember when as a child I used to help decorate our tree with tinsel, carefully placing each strand one [...]
Savvy gardeners know that fall is for planting. The milder weather is less stressful on newly installed plants, decreasing the need to water them every day to keep their roots alive and to ensure the rest of the plant will thrive. The fact that plants are beginning to enter their seasonal dormancy also helps them [...]
Planting bulbs in the fall for spring flowers is a long standing tradition with many gardeners, but it is a tradition that has slowly declined in popularity. Many new homeowners–and therefore new garden owners–long for the spring show of tulips or jonquils (daffodils) that they remember from their mothers’ or grandmothers’ gardens, but most don’t [...]
Gardening, like most every other pastime, is an on going learning experience. Much of what good gardeners learn comes from what we read in books or magazines, which we then put to the test in our gardens. Yet, some of the best lessons are passed along to us from other gardeners. Simple lessons such as [...]