On the heels of a 70 degree day a couple weeks ago I predicted that we would see a few more days with temperatures nearing single digits before we could call an end to Winter, and sure enough, a March 1st snow is followed by two days of highs in the twenties and lows near ten. While…
Category: My Garden
Confessions of a Rockhead
I love rocks. Mostly big ones, but little ones too. I’m frequently compared to them, not necessarily as hardheaded (although certainly that is occasionally true), but as in “that boy is dumb as a box of …..”. Mostly by my wife when I’m talking about adding more rocks to the garden. I have rock walls…
Garden show setup
“The garden looks like it’s been here forever.” But it’s inside a huge warehouse-type building. And the garden is “planted” on a concrete floor, so that’s impossible. How does the setup for a garden show garden work? And, how long does it take? The garden begins long before the setup in the show hall begins….
It’s not dead, just sleeping
Brrrrrrrr! It’s cold out there. Temperatures reached zero degrees this year on January 17, the coldest in northern Virginia in more than a decade. We’ve had another couple nights in single digits, and will probably have a few more before February comes to an end. And then comes 71 degrees on February 11, and a…
Variegated leaves
Variegated leaves are splashed, striped, or spotted with white, gold, pink, and other colors. Garden designers are told to beware not to use too many or they will clash. I don’t have any secret formula, but I have dozens, maybe hundreds of variegated plants in my garden. And it looks just fine to me. This is one…
Backyard wildlife habititats – certified or not
I recently filled out a questionnaire from the National Wildlife Federation to qualify my garden as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. The answers you give are on your honor, so I think that a toxic waste dump could probably become “certified”, but the concept is honorable enough. In fact, certification or not, my garden is inhabited…
Plant collections
I just have to get one of those. And one of this-or-that. And before you know it I have a bunch of this-or-that’s and some more of those. Such is the sad fate of a plant addict. The worry is, I often buy plants before having any idea where they’re going in the garden. I don’t recommend this for others, but…
Encore azaleas
I have been growing Encore azaleas in my mid-Atlantic garden since they were introduced, and in my position as a buyer for Meadows Farms nurseries and landscaping I have had the opportunity to test several varieties prior to introduction. In particular, it has been important to me to evaluate plants with a claim of improvement…
Flowering trees
What better time than a snowy morning in late January to contemplate additions to the garden. The most critical decisions to make in the design of the garden are the ones that take up the most space, trees. While shade trees often occupy large expanses, flowering trees are much easier to work into the landscape….
Color in the winter garden
Mahonia ‘Winter Sun’ ‘Winter Sun’ Mahonia is a great garden plant if you don’t mind the lethal spines on the leaves. I have several planted in a range from full sun to shade. The plants and blooms in sun are larger, although the ones in shade are doing fine. Mahonia beali seems to grow equally as…
Garden ponds in winter
Take a break, it’s cold outside. By early December there’s not much else left to do with your garden pond except wait for spring. If you didn’t cover your pond with a net to keep leaves out by early November then it’s too late now, and the leaves will have to overwinter in the pond….
Good grief, it’s not rocket surgery
“Now the gardener is the one who has seen everything ruined so many times that (even as his pain increases with each loss) he comprehends – truly knows – that where there was a garden once, it can be again, or where there never was, there can be a garden so that all who see…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 