MOTHER NATURE'S GARDEN
Mother Nature’s Garden: February is an in-between month
February is an in-between month for wildflower enthusiasts. It’s still winter, but there are glimmerings of life in the woods. The skunk cabbages are up ...
February is an in-between month for wildflower enthusiasts. It’s still winter, but there are glimmerings of life in the woods. The skunk cabbages are up ...
My gardening friends in England and Scotland are bemoaning the rise of what they call eco-rectitude. They’re all responsible gardeners who never use pesticides or ...
For my family, the period from Halloween until the end of the year can be a wild, crazy, mad time of celebrations, food, decorations, and ...
During the height of the pandemic, baby Anca and I would sit on the porch steps and listen to the late-night sounds. The world seemed ...
When we moved into our current home 35 years ago, our street was lined with dogwoods, and nearly every house was surrounded by trees. Since ...
December is usually a quiet time in the garden. The days are short, and the temperature is crisp. It’s a time for rest, reflection, and ...
Many years ago, everyone’s front parlor had one. It sat in a dark corner in that cold, seldom-used room where it was definitely out of ...
Several times this past summer, strangers stopped me to ask about an odd plant they’d seen off Milnwood Road. They all said that it looked ...
When we bought our house over 30 years ago, it was surrounded by massive oak trees. They provided shade, protection from wind, and much pleasure. ...
There are two kinds of alleys in my hometown: The neat, tidy ones with pavement and carefully trimmed edges and then all the others. The ...
Curiosity killed the cat! Cats are, indeed, known for being curious and for getting into trouble because of their curiosity. I suspect that gardeners are ...
Several days ago, I took a very early morning walk through my neighborhood because I was hoping to avoid the heat while still getting a ...
Way back in late January, when I was still browsing plant catalogs and making wish lists of plants that I would, oh so love to ...
Who was Bouncing Bet and what was she doing? And how did black-eyed Susan get her name? The common names of plants are colorful, imaginative, ...
It’s hot and humid and my garden has a bad case of the blahs. Truth be told, so do I. We both need an injection ...
Every year people get super excited when the first Virginia bluebells appear. And when the pink lady’s slippers bloom, well, there is almost mass hysteria. ...
There’s a certain amount of serendipity involved in taking people to see wildflowers. You just never know whether the plants you saw four days earlier ...
There is a long history of clubs just for men – social, botanical, historical, culinary, even ones for explorers. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case ...
Several years ago, I visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. The gardens were at their peak at the end of the 1800s, and ...
While plants don’t move around like animals, that doesn’t mean they’re incapable of reacting to their environment. For example, they respond to gravity. Roots respond ...
Gardening is supposed to be peaceful, calming, and restorative. Most of the time that’s true, but once in a while, things don’t go according to ...
The earliest spring ephemerals have finished blooming, but there’s still time to see twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla.) Several years ago, I was desperate to find this ...
Gardens seem so peaceful. We talk about them as refuges, great places to relax, read, meditate, and just escape from the hassle of everyday life. ...
“If you are afflicted with melancholy at this season, go to the swamp and see the brave spear of skunk-cabbage buds already advanced toward a ...
“Ditch lilies are native. I know they are; I saw it on the internet!” “Dandelions must be native. They’ve been here forever!” Explaining what makes ...
It’s February, that short month that seems to go on forever. It threatens us with cold, wet weather and then teases us with warm, breezy ...
It’s Boxing Day, and life has mostly returned to normal here at Mother Nature’s Garden. The dogs are slumped on their beds, refusing to make ...