Occasionally, there is a cost to my inattentive ways. A Flame Thrower redbud (Cercis canadensis Flame Thrower) planted in late summer was initially watered, then neglected until I noticed it defoliating more rapidly than other redbuds in our continuing period of minimal rainfall from late summer into autumn. I did not intend to push the…

A great joy in retirement is not waking hours before sunrise to witness the chilliest hour as I did for four decades. Of course, rising with the morning sun the nighttime low is long past and our current indoor thermometer does not register the overnight low temperature for later viewing. With lows forecast to fall…

The garden is entering the period when falling leaves and declining perennials open visual gaps that can deceive the foolish gardener into purchasing many more plants than can be fit into tiny gaps that will quickly fill with spring’s growth. I am that fool. The sparseness will continue through the winter months, and even into…

Yellow leaves from maples (Acer rubrum) and tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera) in the neighboring forest drift on the breeze to cover the side and rear gardens. In time for Thanksgiving guests, the paths will be cleared (for a day) but leaves will blanket the garden to decay over months. The deluges of June washed away…

The latest planting project, though so small in scale to barely register, was to complete planting of the stumpery. The grander part of this addition to the side garden was an accident of nature. The Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) that was its centerpiece was felled by a sudden storm in late June. I hope to…

The tall hostas have collapsed following the recent freeze while ones closer to the soil have not. The color remains in a few, even ones that are now prostrate with the exception of the many seedlings of the blue-green Hosta sieboldiana ‘Elegans’ that are now a sickly yellow. Preparing for winter’s cold, their sad appearance…