It was two weeks ago, when we were still enjoying mid 50-60F weather, that I looked out to my woodland garden on the side of the house and saw what I thought were some white blossoms on a tree. It’s probably just wishful thinking, I said to myself. I meandered out there anyway, with my[...]
I overwinter a host of plants in my cold dark basement. Every year I try new ones and am perennially amazed at what succeeds. Basically the idea is to trick a plant into dormancy, then keep it there. Cold-or at least coolness- helps. So does darkness. To survive, many plants need light, others need warmth,[...]
OK, so I’m a world-class procrastinator. That meant that the dwindling light of the other day found me outside, desperately preparing tender plants for their winter hibernation. Frost was coming, and a lot of my favorite plants do NOT like frost. That meant they had to come in. I’ve grown bananas in the ground[...]
Summer has now slipped into September, and the Madrone bark cracks. Like sinews along the branch, the bark peels back revealing a fresh new skin, vaguely green and ready for winter growth. The old skin exfoliates almost suddenly, brought on by heat in a seasonal pattern nature repeats every summer. A sure sign that, here[...]
I wasn’t going to post again so soon – after all, I’m a newbie at it – but I have to share about the impromptu garden parties at my house last weekend. Nighttime is a fairly strange time to gather in most gardens, but my friends and I had a reason: My night-blooming cereus bloomed[...]