4 Shares

AFTER WINTER SPENT UNCEREMONIOUSLY IN HEFTY BAGS IN THE BASEMENT, the non-hardy bulbs at my place are striking up a chorus of Elvis’s “Love Me Tender,” trying to get through to me that they want a kinder, gentler life than the one I offer here at A Way to Garden. How did Andre Jordan, our official doodler, know my cannas and dahlias and such had filed complaints with the Department of Bulb Welfare? I’m not that mean when I tuck them in for the winter, or when I wake them up, am I?

Categoriesbulbs

6 comments

Kelly Thompson says:

May 20, 2011 at 2:46 pm

I met you at the Master Gardener Symposium in Princeton, NJ back in March. Your gardens were an inspiration…. I was so touched with your connection to Mother Nature :-))) Love the latest color of your home too. Love your book. You’re fabulous!

Reply
1. Margaret says:
  
  May 20, 2011 at 7:59 pm
  
  Welcome, Kelly. What a wonderful event that was. Glad you are enjoying the book! Holler if you need anything; am here.
  
  Reply
Cheri says:

May 20, 2011 at 8:42 pm

I just wanted to tell you, Margaret that I really, really love your website. It makes me happy and I smile at every post. I live alone in the woods with my gardens too. You speak to me, lovely lady, with your knowledge and splendid quirkiness ; ) You are such a wonderful teacher. (dreams of dear and crows eating my garden are freaking me out!)
Thank you.
Also-enjoying your book every day.

Reply
1. Margaret says:
  
  May 21, 2011 at 6:46 am
  
  Welcome, Cheri. How sweet of you to write in with such kind words, thank you. Yes, quirky — that is what Martha Stewart always called me. Hope to see you again soon.
  
  Reply
Tricia says:

May 22, 2011 at 9:32 am

Hi Margaret.
How fortuitous — I was just wondering (‘aloud’ on my blog) about how to tell what side is the top side of the dahlia bulb? My first time venturing into dahlias and really couldn’t figure it out — and now, only half of them are emerging so I think I might have got it wrong. Thanks for any insight you can give me. (although it might be too late — they’ve been buried for two weeks now.)
Tricia

Reply
1. Margaret says:
  
  May 23, 2011 at 9:45 am
  
  Hi, Tricia. I tried to find you something illustrated so it would be clear, and I found this dahlia-planting video that shows putting the tubers in the hole sideways (lying down, NOT standing up, like a potato 2 or up to 4 inches below the soil surface). Ideally you’d face the “eye” or bud on the stem end (the opposite end from where the roots will emerge) upward, but the thing will figure itself out if you don’t.
  
  Reply

smarter fall (and spring) cleanup, with doug tallamy

WHEN I TALKED to Doug Tallamy in February around the publication date of his latest book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” I didn’t want to go on and on about the advice in it regarding smart fall cleanup, which is one of the ways I know I’ve dramatically shifted the way I manage my own garden compared to 10 or even five years ago. But we were looking ahead to spring then, not fall.

I’m grateful that Doug returned to the podcast in autumn to do just that. Want to plan your most ecologically minded garden cleanup ever, and understand the consequences of each potential action you can take—including next spring?

The subtitle of University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy’s recent book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” is “A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard.” Meaning: The choices we make all year-round, including the very important one of how we clean up, can help counteract an overdeveloped, fragmented landscape that puts the food web to the test. You and I are nature’s best hope, and I’m glad Doug joined me again to help us learn to support it.

(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)