THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES: Gardeners, like their gardens, benefit from a bit of dormancy, and the time is upon us. Enjoy it. I’ve already shared some of my winter plans, and here’s the rest of one of the easiest of the year’s to-do lists: [Read more...]
my december garden chores
November 30, 2009
a plant I’d order: spiraea thunbergii ‘ogon’
November 30, 2009
ONLY ONE DECIDUOUS SHRUB HERE STILL HAS ALL ITS LEAVES, and what amazing leaves they are. Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’ remains the richest gold, weeks after any other shrub but evergreens and fruit-filled hollies were worth a second look. I can’t stop looking at ‘Ogon’ (Japanese for “gold”), which catches my eye even though it’s at the farthest edge of the garden, beckoning. [Read more...]
homegrown thanksgiving (edible bits and not)
November 25, 2009
MY LIST OF HOMEGROWN INGREDIENTS FOR THE THANKSGIVING TABLE starts with the bumpy, oddball makings of a centerpiece. Gourds (like the warty or Bule ones), though delicious to look at, are more decor than dinner, but I did grow many edible parts of the harvest feast this year: sweet potatoes (which I’ve cooked with you here before) and Brussels sprouts and white potatoes and winter squash and green beans—and come to think of it, there might be something on the menu made with my apples, too, and garlic and parsley and sage and…well, you get the idea. Did you grow something that’s making its way into, or onto, your spread? Whatever the answer, may yours be a glorious meal, hopefully one shared with those you love, warts and all. Happy Thanksgiving.
stray thought: a way, or away, to garden?
November 20, 2009
I USED TO BECOME IMPATIENT WHEN PEOPLE would type the name of my blog as Away to Garden. Yes, I know; in a url address you cannot tell where words start or end, but the blog was named for my funny old book: “A Way to Garden,” as in the way I garden, here; just my way, one way among many, yes, but the only one I can really offer first-hand, with conviction. Like in the bright green box up top. Now, more than a year and a half into rural living, with glimpses of the city life I knew fading fast, I find myself falling prey to the trap: I, too, am unconsciously typing Away to Garden, as in: I moved away from the city to garden (or live in the garden, at least). How do you hear the name of the blog in your head? Nutty, huh?
doodle by andre: revenge of the conifers
November 19, 2009
NOBODY LIKES TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED, including plants, and those who did the under-appreciating (read: me) the last few months are now in hot water as the weather chills out. I sense an uprising about to happen, a conifer uprising. Thanks, Andre Jordan, for reminding them it’s time for a hissy-fit. But you are correct: Conifers are for life, not just for Christmas!
soldier on, yucca ‘color guard’
November 18, 2009
IAM NOT SURE IF YUCCA ‘COLOR GUARD’ EVER HAS A BAD DAY, hair or otherwise. This flashy, white-whiskered creature is regarded as among the best in a genus of plants that I didn’t even like, or grow, until this variety came along. Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’ is a must when a never-say-stop attitude and a lot of color-power is called for—much appreciated right about now, with the garden going largely toned-down. [Read more...]
gardening with bear (and other late arrivals)
November 15, 2009
I DIDN’T THINK ANYTHING COULD TOP SUMMER 2009’s appearance of the family of gray fox, or the Biblical-seeming abundance of serpents that were simply slithering everywhere here this year. But here on Animal Planet, you just never know who is going to walk in the gate–or who is going to walk through the fence, I guess I mean, as in straight through the middle of one section, tearing down the heavy mesh above it and crushing the whole thing in the process. Hello, bear. [Read more...]
doodle by andre: paranoia strikes deep
November 12, 2009
YOUR NEW JAPANESE MAPLE MAY NOT HAVE ROOTED well, but it sounds like the Buffalo Springfied lyric paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep has rooted itself thoroughly into consciousness, hasn’t it? If we recall correctly, first you were going to pass the hot (homegrown?) potato for your plant problems back to the nursery the things came from, and now onto your neighbor? Oh, dear. (Is that the same neighbor whose fence you coveted, by the way, and considered stealing?) When I’m looking for reasons for why my plant died, I just refer back to this favorite poem; it mercifully has something to explain every situation. Thanks, dear doodler Andre Jordan, and we will light a candle for your tree. Just know this: It happens to the best of us, no matter who lives next door.
pineapple sage, heroic late bloomer
November 11, 2009
ISMILE AND NOD WHEN GARDENERS FROM ELSEWHERE tout pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) as a hummingbird plant. “Elsewhere,” as in wherever the plant blooms before the hummingbirds have been long-gone for six weeks, meaning decidedly not here. Yes, after probably 10 frosts, my pineapple sage decided to bloom the last week or so, even with its foliage all frost-tinged, brave soul that it is, sole survivor among the tender garden plants used as “annuals” here in 2009. [Read more...]
I WAS BLESSED TO visit many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as garden editor and then as editorial director. The places we published included my upstate New York home. Take a tour of 
