(Via Gardening Question of the Day (from the Old Farmer's Almanac))

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 20:00:00

How do I get rid of crabgrass in my yard? (answer).

From The Old Farmer's Almanac.

(Via An Iowa Garden)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 14:25:00

There is more than one plant that I wish I had never introduced into our garden... the lamium from hell being a prime example. Bluebells, a native spring ephemeral, with their sweet, dusty blue and lavender flowers would hardly seem like a garden thug, but turn your back on them and they somehow sweetly end up taking over a flower bed. They came into this garden riding along with something I transplanted from my first garden. That garden was on the edge of a beautiful virgin woods full of wildflowers, and so bluebells, dogtooth violets, and bloodroots soon found my first garden to their liking.
The problem with bluebells in a woodland garden is that when they die down in late spring, their tall, lanky foliage just flops all over everything, and can soon smother out smaller neighbors. The woody roots tangle themselves through and around the other plants, so they are hard to remove; often pieces break off and just regrow. Also the dying foliage itself is hardly the perfect accent to a garden in its prime blooming season.
Bluebells are certainly a wildflower that tugs at my heartstrings; I can remember hillside after hillside of them blooming every spring when I was young, their dainty pastel flowers waving in the warm breezes of April... those hillsides now are covered with houses, the bluebells gone.
Well, not completely gone... they are currently occupied in taking over one of my azalea beds.

(Via An Iowa Garden)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 14:25:00

There is more than one plant that I wish I had never introduced into our garden... the lamium from hell being a prime example. Bluebells, a native spring ephemeral, with their sweet, dusty blue and lavender flowers would hardly seem like a garden thug, but turn your back on them and they somehow sweetly end up taking over a flower bed. They came into this garden riding along with something I transplanted from my first garden. That garden was on the edge of a beautiful virgin woods full of wildflowers, and so bluebells, dogtooth violets, and bloodroots soon found my first garden to their liking.
The problem with bluebells in a woodland garden is that when they die down in late spring, their tall, lanky foliage just flops all over everything, and can soon smother out smaller neighbors. The woody roots tangle themselves through and around the other plants, so they are hard to remove; often pieces break off and just regrow. Also the dying foliage itself is hardly the perfect accent to a garden in its prime blooming season.
Bluebells are certainly a wildflower that tugs at my heartstrings; I can remember hillside after hillside of them blooming every spring when I was young, their dainty pastel flowers waving in the warm breezes of April... those hillsides now are covered with houses, the bluebells gone.
Well, not completely gone... they are currently occupied in taking over one of my azalea beds.

(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 14:13:43

Junipers if used correctly can form the basis of an extremely satisfying garden composition. For gardeners in dry and Mediterranean climates, they are especially relevant.

(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 13:24:14

A few weeks ago, I was doing some cleaning. It's kind of like spring cleaning except that it takes place long before spring is even close. And guess what, I found packages of wildflower seeds. Spring seeds! It made me long for the summer. And... it made me decide to create my own spring. Wanne join me? Here is how to grow seeds. Let your Spring begin!

(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 13:06:50

Gardening catalogs can help you plan your garden even if it is the dead of winter. Find out how beginners can use this resource to get started.

(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 12:33:12

Bringing nature into your home is a sure way to add tranquility and beauty to your living space, and the indoor Bonsai Tree is the perfect way to do this. The Bonsai Tree is a miniature tree that has been created by a combination of nature and by precise pruning of the crown and roots on a regular basis. The size that the Bonsai Tree reaches greatly depends on the size of the container in which it is kept.

(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 11:34:18

Bonsai Gardening is an exciting hobby that allows you to use your imagination to create a sculptured plant to suit your taste and set off your garden. There is a form of artificial bonsai gardening gaining popularity.

(Via Home and Family: Gardening Articles from EzineArticles.com)

Posted by admin to Uncategorized on 2008-01-31, 11:21:58

Bonsai Gardening is an exciting hobby that allows you to use your imagination to create a sculptured plant to suit your taste and set off your garden. With a bit of care nearly anyone can participate with some attention to detail.

(Via grow this)

Posted by admin to Piet Hein, luncacy and Imagination, moon phases on 2008-01-31, 10:25:00

“As things so very often are
Intelligence won’t get you far.
So be glad you’ve got more sense
Than you’ve got intelligence.”

Piet Hein

My imagination waxes and wanes with the moon, and sometimes it feels like sense and intelligence seem to ebb and flow inside me. Lunacy or imagination?

These nights, here at 32° 46'13" N, 116° 57' 22" W, the waxing moon is still only a part of itself. Each night, outside my bedroom window, it rises in the east a bit earlier, but still looks like an old woman haunted by loss. Yet when the moonrise finally creeps above the trees, the light seems distracted – perhaps by other planetary events beyond our view from earth – and not paying full attention to me below.

Of course, through the miracle of the interweb (sic), you can go Here to calculate your very own longitude and latitude.

The night is no longer young. Before the moon rises, night is lost in middle age. The shadow of pallid moonlight on the dew-damp stones outside the window makes each stepping stone look like it’s shrugging its shoulders. It looks like the preoccupied gesture a weary mom makes, brushing her arm past her tired face, in wordless reply to a persistent child needing attention.

The moon is a mere shadow if its former self. The first month of this new year is almost over, but the waxing moon promises there’s life after January. The phases of the moon usher in and out seasons. Not a blunt and banal four seasons, but more like 400. More than once a day, the whole world changes right before my eyes.

Take, for example, my back yard. My garden is like a river: I never step into the same garden twice. During the waxing moon, my imagination seems to swell, and I seem to have more sense. Then later, like the waning moon, I realize that while I may be better informed, I’m often none the wiser. So much for internet intelligence.

While it may be obvious to the point of banality, Seasons always return, but each is different. This winter may be similar to last winter, but it is not the same. And this waxing moon is smiling at me.

This post was inspired by a post from From Greeny at Sometimes You Get What You Need with a picture of a smiling moon...