I was surprised this afternoon to see that tiny Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae, below) has spread from a handful of bulbs to scattered coverage over several hundred square feet. I recall that a year ago I marveled that it had spread to a dense carpet covering fifteen square feet, but now there are…
Category: landscaping
A flowering tree?
My nose itches. My eyes water. The maples must be in bloom. This is not some exotic variety, but the native Swamp or Red maple (Acer rubrum, below). They’re everywhere, and there are a good number in the narrow swath of forest that runs along the southern border of my garden. The shallow roots make…
It’s finally (almost, just about) spring – what’s next?
After a few false alarms there is now some clear progress in temperatures warming to more typical spring weather. Night time temperatures continued to drop into the twenties late into last week, but there were a few daytime highs in the sixties, and now the forecast is for highs in the seventies. With a late…
Skunk cabbage
I’m certain that more manicured gardens than mine do not experience the pleasure of having skunk cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus) growing in their damp shade. Many parts of my garden are dry shade where planting is a struggle, but midway along the rear garden’s border is an area where a trickle of a spring surfaces. Here, native…
Catching up on spring gardening chores ….
….. And stopping for a few moments to smell the daphnes (Daphne odora ‘Aureo-marginata’, below). I don’t need to tell anyone that the weather has been most inhospitable for most of March, so I’ve fallen behind in taking care of the garden’s spring cleanup. In most years I’m finished (or nearly so) by the start…
The magnolia watch – when will they flower?
In past years ‘Royal Star’ (Magnolia stellata ‘Royal Star’) and ‘Dr. Merrill’ (Magnolia x loebneri ‘Dr. Merrill’) magnolias have flowered in early March in my garden, or sometimes nearer the end of the month. And, occasionally the blooms will arrive in late February or slip to early April, so there’s no early or late flowering…
I’m moving to South Carolina
A year ago I noted that the mild winter temperatures were more akin to South Carolina than to northwestern Virginia. I’m not at all certain that this was a result of the warming of the planet (that seems inevitable), or an anomaly, but I was all for it in the short term. If this matter were…
Unusual and uncommon March blooms
For the first time since I planted the Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica, sometimes referred to as Persian witch hazel, below) I’ve seen its unusual blooms. Parrotia is in the witch hazel family (Hamamelis), and the flowers are somewhat similar to other witch hazels. This tree was a late addition to the garden, planted long after…
So, this is the first day of spring?
Today is spring? I’m not impressed. There should be no surprise that the weather on the first day of spring is not much different from the preceding three weeks, and much the same or worse is forecast for the next ten days. It’s not exactly cold, but this doesn’t feel like March, or spring. It’s…
Mid March
Despite cool temperatures, March is dragging the garden (kicking and screaming against its will, it seems) into spring. On Saturdays’s gray morning I was convinced on first glance that the day was too inhospitable to undertake the garden chores that surely must be accomplished within the next few weeks or disaster will strike. Rain seemed…
Gun control
On several occasions my wife has been angry enough to declare that she is ready to purchase a gun and put it to good use. Not that I’ve done anything to deserve being shot, but it makes sense to me that a husband should not be in favor of arming his wife. There are too…
Almost spring
Prompt action in the early morning prevented all but minor damage to Japanese maples and evergreens that were bent from the heavy, wet snow a few days ago. Of course, I happily crow my successes (few as they are), and remain largely silent when schemes go awry. The garden has suffered considerably from heavy snow in…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 