Archive for February, 2012

Take Advantage of an Early Spring

Great Time To Transplant A few weeks ago, the hellebores were blooming vigorously. About two weeks ago, witch hazel came into bloom. Daffodils are starting to show color, but the ultimate herald of spring arrived this week, new outdoor plant material at the big box stores. I have been crying “spring, spring” for weeks now [...]

Stone in the Landscape

If it’s possible to be surprised as well as delighted to encounter a monolith in the landscape, a wall created by master stone designer Lew French can certainly pull off such a feat. Admitting to infrequently designing on paper, instead, after conceptualizing an overall picture, French relies on instinct and the experience of more than twenty [...]

Mild Winters, Fruits and Flowers

Mild Winters, Flowers, Insects, & Disease Last week we looked at weeds and mild winters, now let’s look at fruits flowers and fungi. There are some advantages to a mild winter, flower buds on fruits trees are less hardy than their vegetative buds, so a mild winter will allow more flowering and later more fruit. [...]

Weeds in a Soft Winter

The Winter That Never Was: Weeds With the help of Accuweather and other predictors of the weather, we predicted a cold winter with lots of snow. The original prediction was 27” of snow for New York for example and we have had maybe 4” inches so far with highs in the mid to upper forties [...]

Ten Garden Design Thoughts For This Spring

10 Design Ideas: 1) Think of your home with nothing around it “naked”; what should NOT be covered up by plants? windows? architectural features? 2) What do you want to hide with plantings? Downspouts? electric/gas meters? 3) What features (of your home) do you want to draw attention to maybe through framing them with plants? [...]