Just a few weeks ago, the threat of frost delayed planting of several small toad lilies that were stashed in the garage for a few nights. Today, friends wonder if spring has been skipped over, and are we heading straight into summer? Of course this is typical, the ups and downs of spring weather, and…
Category: landscaping
He’s back
My wife identified the snake as a Brown Water snake, and who am I to argue? As far as I’m concerned, any local snakes besides black snakes. copperheads, and rattlesnakes are garter snakes, but she insists otherwise. While this snake is native to habitats a bit south of here, what do I know? Until late…
Early May in the garden
Several warm days have dried the garden considerably, and now I can walk nearly to the back of the garden without muck boots. Crapemyrtles are just beginning to leaf, but I am concerned with the Franklinia and hornbeam that show scant evidence of foliage. Both trees have been weakened in recent years, and it will…
The spring tour
Occasionally, a reader suggests that I should include a few scenes from the garden rather than photos only of individual plants. A time or two through the year I will do this if I can figure angles that edit out the piles of brush, and my old sailboat that is hopelessly landlocked by the garden….
The native dogwood
Forget this foolishness you read that native plants are hardier, sturdier, or more drought resistant than non-natives. Yes, some are, but others require regular irrigation, or are difficult to maintain in a garden. Some are even aggressive (or invasive), while many non-natives are completely care free and well behaved in the garden. Generalizations about native…
The scent of spring
If I can smell it, anyone can. It seems a shame that a gardener is not able to enjoy the scents, as well as the sights of the garden, but if you ask my wife my hearing is not so good either. So, I’m challenged in many ways. On this bright and breezy afternoon I…
Caught up? Probably never
Finally, I have caught up, in the garden and on these pages. Today’s update will cover just about everything that’s been blooming over the past week or two, and then in coming days there will be viburnums, redbuds, and dogwoods, and the buds of azaleas are swelling noticeably. So, there will be plenty to talk…
A wonderful spring
After a winter that was too long and cold, the spring has been joyful. There has hardly been a day to complain about, and certainly the gardener must enjoy the few cool and rainy days that have made the ground ideal for planting. Many early bloomers were pushed a week or two late by the cold,…
White flowers at the forest’s edge
What strange bedfellows this odd spring has arranged. After early cold, one flower is weeks late, while another arrives on schedule in the warmth of more recent days. And so, along roadsides in mid April are splendid white flowers that must be closely observed to discern if they are invasives, or natives. First, in late…
Spring garden tour – day 2
With flowering of early magnolias and cherries delayed by the frigid late winter, today, in mid April everything is blooming. Well, not everything, but enough to salve the soul of the harried gardener. With a poor start to the spring clean up, messes that should have been taken care of weeks ago have been tidied…
Beyond words
There are days in spring when a garden’s beauty is nearly beyond description. But, not this garden, which typically in early April is somewhere between disaster and paradise. One part can be lovely, the next an eyesore, and so it is for another few weeks until the messes are cleaned up and enough foliage has…
At the forest’s edge in early spring
There is no more curious treasure in our damp woodlands than the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus, flower above, foliage below). The unremarkable foliage reminds of a large leafed, green hosta, but it is the late winter flower that is most odd. The bloom is recognizable only if you know precisely where the skunk cabbages are located…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 