THERE ARE SO MANY GOODIES hidden here between the floorboards and inside the walls—you know, in the blog’s archives, where I went scavenging today for greatest hits from Marches past (now that we’ve reached our fifth March online!). Look at the stories I found that are perfect for this month of 2012, too, including (above) a daphne that’s about to pop and a frog that’s always the first to signal the unfolding season:
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Which reminds me to wonder if the daphne mezereum plants I sent you a couple years ago survived? I hope most of them did, though I guess they’d still be too small to bloom this year.
Only six weeks away from Memorial Day, when we can plant! (Although, to be fair, wintersowing helps, as will that cold frame I’m about to build…)
I am about to reach my first year of blogging and realized I should have started a bloom calendar. I cant wait for the time I have 5 years of information to share. Thanks for sharing yours.
Good idea, Mo. I am terrible about this — better since I started the blog in 2008, and have those records online, but not good otherwise!