Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
Dahlia experiments
Whoever says that gardening is a completely stress-free (a)vocation must never plant anything let alone those plants that come with their own set of instructions. Like dahlias. For starters, dahlias are generally sold as tubers … Read more.
Leaf gawping
I’m not crazy about the term “leaf peeping”. Not only is it a little too tweely alliterative but it seems to suggest something furtive and illicit. I’d much rather point and stare openly at the … Read more.
How to let go
I know I’d be complaining bitterly right now if we had had a frost or (heaven forbid) a snow but it would be so much easier to let go of the gardens if they looked … Read more.
A little action on climate change (and bloom day)
It’s a big day in the blogosphere. Not only is the fifteenth of every month Garden Bloggers Bloom Day but the fifteenth of October also happens to be Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers around … Read more.
Glow in the dark
The tiger eyes staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger’ Tiger Eyes™) has been driving me to distraction all day. This is what happens to me in the fall. I can’t ride down any road without nearly … Read more.
Blown away
It’s certainly not over (there’s truly no such thing as over in the garden – slowed down maybe; hushed a little; moved inside, perhaps) but the blustery winds of change have made the seasonal shift … Read more.
Moving the garden inside
I’m having a really hard time doing my job today. Gail has set an all-moved-into-the-greenhouse deadline of October 15 and that means I need to get busy now digging up the tender plants and loading … Read more.
Horticulture is Dirr(ty) work
If you tell someone you found it in “Dirr” they’ll know you mean the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses (now in its 6th edition). But Michael A. … Read more.
Scarecrows come in all shapes and sizes
I still haven’t seen any of our super scary yellow and black orb-web spiders, but it’s been a week of other frights – which of course makes me think of Halloween even though we’re still … Read more.
Totally equinoxious
I have been reluctant to call it fall yet probably because we were a little (a lot) gypped by summer. But regardless of how I feel about it, the asters and Jerusalem artichokes have started … Read more.