Now that spring bulbs are in full bloom and shrubs and flowering — trees are decked out in bright colors, take time out for some soul warming visits to spring gardens and displays. Bring along a digital camera, a notebook and fill it. Study the new bulbs and other plants, especially the combination’s you could […]

Bulbs come first on the southern gardener’s agenda for May. Those bulbs which are definitely finished blooming and have ripened foliage should be dug and replanted now, if they are crowded. Seeds of summer and fall plants can be sown directly over them. Narcissus, scillas and muscari can all be separated this month. Do not […]

The longer I garden the less anxious I am to make plants grow. Instead, I let them achieve their own happy effect of busy, jostling life. Each year my compost pile increases in length and width and enriches my hillside of gravel. Each year it becomes harder to find room for this or that untried […]

For the northern gardener April is the busiest month of spring; one of the busiest of the year. The planting schedule alone includes all kinds of trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials and other hardy plants; the sooner they are set out the better. Orders for plants, seeds, fertilizers and other supplies top the list of chores […]

Pruning time is here for the early spring shrubs which have finished flowering. Pruning provides the new wood on which they will bloom another year. The honeysuckles Lonicera fragrantissima and L. maacki (two of the first flowerers), Exochorda racemosa (E. grandiflora), called the pearl-bush, and the spireas all are now ready for the shears. Cut […]

The gardener’s check list of unfinished and urgent tasks is longest in spring. Planting must be finished as soon as weather and time permit. If you haven’t already placed your orders to nurseries and for seed, do it at once. Delays now in filling orders are unavoidable; if you don’t act quickly, the season may […]

Despite all that may be said or that may be read, most of us learn by example rather than by precept. Visiting a garden is usually a most enjoyable occasion and very frequently a most profitable one, for the opportunity to make one’s own appraisal as to the value of practices and material is not […]

The old saying “the early bird gets the worm” applies to gardeners as well as to birds. Those in the East who get an early start save themselves a lot of worry and fretting later on. They will also probably save themselves some money spent for plants. On the other hand, those who try to […]

Except for the extreme north corner, early April is the opening date for the spring planting and gardening season up North. In the far north it generally does not start until the first part of May. The first item on the agenda in April in any part of the north corner is the annual spring […]

The early blooming wild flowers in the West soon will be dotting the countryside with color – dogtooth violets, pasque flowers, frittilaries and trilliums, to mention only a few others will be blooming shyly in the woodland. Spring in the air stirs the gardener into activity. There are many chores to do. Dead perennial stalks […]