There is always something to do in the garden, but twenty million things is perhaps a mild exaggeration. I admit there are times when the worklist grows long, with keeping up seeming hopeless, but by comparison there’s not a lot that must be done at the moment. Even in the busiest times I try to…

Every year, some or multiple events in the garden are deemed odd by the gardener, though these are rarely unusual. Yes, he thinks, we’ve been through droughts (floods, heat, or cold), but never like this one, which is almost certainly nonsense. Few gardeners would argue that our recent late summer drought and delayed coloring of…

By late October there have been a few warnings of frost and freezes, but so far no temperatures low enough to put an end to the gardening season. Certainly, that will come soon, at least for plants not tolerant of cold, and toad lilies (Tricyrtis, below) that remain at peak bloom will shrivel overnight. Several…

Again, I was surprised returning from a short trip out of town to hear of a freeze warning, though my return was delayed, and after dark there was nothing to be done about tropicals on the patios except hope for the best. The timing of the season’s first frost or freeze seems always to coincide…

I’ve nearly succeeded (again) in killing off the indestructible Tatarian daisy (Aster tataricus ‘Jindai’). Last gasp efforts will be made to salvage it, to find a sunnier spot where it can grow shoulder high and spread like the coarsely textured weed that it is. The typically vigorous aster has grown only a foot tall and…

A week ago, I began digging to level a pad in the sloping back garden to erect a small, six sided greenhouse. I was undecided about the purchase, and of course every gardener needs a greenhouse, or at least thinks he does, so when an offer for a two hundred dollar discount came in, I…

I’m in no rush for winter to arrive, but I’m all in for the recent cooler temperatures. The last hot day a week ago hit ninety-seven, so no one I know was sad to see days like that go away. Today, there are more signs in the garden from the heat and extended drought than…

Berries of hollies (Ilex) and beautyberries (Callicarpa americana and C. dichotoma) stand out along margins of the garden, but in the thicket just beyond a heavily berried vine climbs into the scrubby trees. This is Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), a lovely and vigorous vine if it was not invasive. Several years ago, extensive labor was…

Of all the treasures seen on a too quick run through the Chicago Botanic Garden, a Seven Son tree (Heptacodium micioniodes) caught my eye, reminding me of the tree lost in a storm several years ago. I’ve thought many times about planting another, but never found the right tree. In a well established garden, a…

I don’t recall ‘Oridono nishiki’ (Acer palmatum ‘Oridono nishiki’) as a constant disappointment, but in recent years new growth on the Japanese maple showed little color. Of course, then its health declined and finally it perished for reasons that are unclear. Its removal was somewhat a relief, though the loss of any large tree is…