As we wind down the final days of the 2018 gardening season I find myself struggling to find something to say that will seem profound and lasting. In light of all the political and worldly trauma, the suffering and hunger and homelessness and generally disgusting things that mankind continues to do to one another, talking about the garden seems so trite. And yet, for me (and I suspect many of you), spending time in the garden is what keeps me sane…

I kind of short-changed you all last week with only two suggestions (although they were fabulous ideas in my humble opinion).  Here are a few more to sink your soon-to-be acquired Hori-Hori into…

Let’s take a break this week from the endless garden chores I am constantly throwing out at you and look at a few cool gift ideas.  This is, after all, the season of giving, so whether you are looking for something for your favorite gardener or just for yourself, here are a few things to think about…

I think it is fair to say that most of us are not going to be spending a whole lot of time in our gardens this month, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still find ways to stay connected to them…

Customers that visit my garden will invariably ask me if I have a favorite plant and my standard (and somewhat flippant) reply is:  “They are all my favorites or I wouldn’t have planted them in the first place”.  In reality, what qualifies as my favorite depends on the time of year - whether it is sun or shade, wet or dry, annual, perennial, shrub, tree, or bulb.  In other words, I have lots of “favorite” plants for lots of locations in my garden and at some time during the year each plant in my garden becomes my favorite for that brief period of time.  It just so happens that at this exact time of year my favorite plant(s) are my Fatsias.  Let me tell you all about them…

I always like to take a minute this time of year to reflect back on the season and recall some of the things that I am thankful for.  The weather is always at the top of the list….

There is rarely a time in the garden when something doesn’t need pruning, and the month of November is certainly no different.  What is different though is that…

Fall and leaves are fairly synonymous terms in my book.  It is pretty darn hard to talk about fall without blathering on about all the fabulous colors of leaves and how they set the tone and mood for the season.  The yellows of poplars, the reds of maples, the multi-colors of Sweetgums and the oranges of spiraeas all combine to give us a great deal of pleasure this time of year.  But once the leaves are off the trees and on the ground the battle begins.  What to do with the leaves has been a gardener’s dilemma forever…

Reality check!  The days are getting shorter, our yards are getting wetter and while our desire to continue to work with plants may not be diminishing, the joy of working out in the garden is fading.  The obvious solution is to move inside the house… we might as well improve that time by surrounding ourselves with plants that will generate oxygen, filter our air, and generally make us happier….

For most gardeners, when we talk about spring-blooming bulbs our minds go to the fields of tulips and daffodils we can see just north of us in the Mt Vernon area in the months of March and April. Where ever your memories come from, for the most part they probably encompass drifts of the major hitters like tulips and daffodils or maybe hyacinths.  While these are wonderful flowers to plant in our yards, I am here to tell you that there are dozens of bulbs that bloom way before these standard classics that gardeners need to educate themselves about and incorporate into their gardens.  Here are just a few to sink your teeth into…