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…
Category: Native plants
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…
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…
Edible?
Numerous plants that are included on lists of edibles seem hardly worth the effort. Sure, I enjoy peaches and apples, but is it reasonable to put forth the considerable effort to attempt to grow my own? In fact, I have grown a dwarf peach (below) for two decades with marvelous pink blooms and attractive foliage….
Adding a few vines
In this long established garden, spring planting rarely involves anything more grand than shoehorning a few hostas or hellebores between existing plants, though there are occasions when an area must be rejuvenated due to damage from storms, or when a space might simply become overcrowded. In early February, as I consider what can be planted…
Contemplating the garden
Without question, winter is time for contemplating the garden, though I readily admit I’m not much on planning. With cold temperatures and less labor there is opportunity to consider what went wrong, and no doubt countless minor tragedies befall the best of gardens. Also to consider, what worked, no matter how small the successes might…
January flowers
A single stem of the Vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, below) has begun to flower at the start of January, and though the blooms are small and not brightly colored, there is a satisfaction that the gardener has done something right to be rewarded with winter flowers. In fact, there is no particular skill in…
Dead magnolias
The dead magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Alta’) at the rear of the garden must finally be chopped out. The tree died in last winter’s cold, and for a few months into the spring I hesitated, hoping that this was only damaged foliage from the cold and nothing more serious. The bark on a tree that has…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 