All vegetable gardeners are eager for spring planting in the garden. After planning new gardens and features in January, cleaning up, starting seeds and pruning in February and March, we are ready for planting as soon as possible. The real fun begins in our area in the end of March, when, if the ground is […]
Our hugely overgrown forsythia bushes (probably Forsythia xintermedia which gets to be 8-10’ high by 10-12’ wide—and ours is that large) are behaving badly and about to be entirely cut to the ground. Forsythia are only pretty for the few weeks when they bloom in spring. The rest of the time they have wild, […]
Last spring, one of the better things I did was take the Hardy Bulbs course at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The course offers wonderful detail on over 60 plants that are great choices for our area. It includes sections on daffodils and alliums (both wildlife-resistant options with unusual varieties) and a section on tulip varieties […]
With the delayed Spring this year, we’ve had the advantage of extended bloom times on spring-blooming bulbs while enjoying the regular festival of blooms at this time of year. Unfortunately, many of the bulbs in my front gardens were only visible next to completely windburned boxwood bushes (an ugly beige color) and horrible orange winter-damaged […]
Did you know that adding wood mulch to your planting beds every year can cause a lack of nitrogen in your soil? A better alternative is composted leaf mulch. Composted mulch will improve the soil structure as well as increasing biological activity and diversity. Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farm encouraged garden designers to embrace […]
