The Daily Gardener

Does your garden have a signature plant?   If you can't decide, maybe it's time to let your garden do the talking.    Complete the following sentence: My garden has the perfect spot to grow....(fill in the blank).    For instance, you may have the perfect spot to grow anemone.   I remember going to my friend Carmen’s house in the spring. I came around the corner and stopped in my tracks when I saw her happy anemones - so cheerful, so vibrant,... and so demanding...

Do you have pet names for your plants?   Amy the Amaryllis.   Jerry the geranium.   Once I bought some dahlias at a private plant sale.   Before I drove away, I rolled down the window to ask for the sellers name; they’ve been my “Doris“ dahlias ever since. Doris and I have stayed in touch over the years, and I have to say; she’s as lovely as the bloom on those dahlias.

William Cullen Bryantwrote,    “There is no glory in star or blossom  till looked upon by a loving eye;  There is no fragrance in April breezes  till breathed with joy as they wander by.”   That pretty much sums up what happens with the plants I’ve dubbed "double-takes".    A double-take plant is the one you first ignore or blow off - but them something about them causes you to take another look; to appreciate what you didn’t see the first time around...

“The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.”   ~ Robert Frost   April can be a challenging time in the garden.   How many truly lovely Aprils does one get in a lifetime? I’d venture to say maybe five or six.   Often, the gardens are too wet to get into; provided you could even get to them. Even with the rain, the snow hasn’t completely melted away.   It’s too cold to turn the spigots on, so you’ll have the thrill of trooping through the resid

William Kent wrote:   "A garden is to be a world unto itself,  it had better make room  for the darker shades of feeling  as well as the sunny ones.”   I’ve usually think about my garden as my happy place.   It’s a natural mood changer for me.   But I remember one time when I was out in the garden with feelings of a definite darker shade.   I was very pregnant with John and I was wearing a hideous, striped, maternity tank top.   It was super hot out and I looked like an absolu

I was looking at the cute brass plant labelson the Target website the other day - I was trying to find the link to that adorable garden tote I was telling you about and I thought about the evolution of a gardener when it comes to using plant tags.   First you start out needing the labels - is that dill? What does basil look like again?   Then you label only the newcomers or the look alike  parsley or cilantro - who can tell without smell...

How much do you care for your garden?   Does your time and attention stay pretty constant throughout the season?   If not, why not?   What would your garden look like in August if you loved it then as much as you do now?   What do you need to do to sustain a high level of care for your garden all season long? Fewer tomato or pepper plants? More raised beds? Getting regular garden time committed on the calendar? Removing high maintenance plants?

Just when you thought you had winter beat… You thought wrong.   Surprise.   Unpredictable weather. Dicey temperatures. Gardeners need resilience.  If Spring’s arrival is dashing your hope,  start to look for the survivors in your garden. In your neighborhood. In your city.  On your social media feed. Every Spring - no matter the conditions, there are successes...

Today’s thought is exactly that: How we think when we garden. Emerson wrote: “Blame me not, laborious band, For the idle flowers I brought; Every aster in my hand Comes back laden with a thought.” How wonderful our gardens are for thinking. Creatively. Therapeutically. Soulfully...

Have you given much thought to the layout or shape of your garden beds? Do they follow the natural lines and slopes of the landscape? Are they geometric? (Long beds with corners?) Maybe you’ve tried a circle garden. If you’re just beginning - border beds - beds anchored by a backdrop (like a house or a fence) are the easiest to plan and execute. Often overlooked, one thing to consider in border beds is to add some stepping stones or even a small path along the back to provide access points that mak

It’s decision time in the garden. What will your projects be this year? Often, we have no idea if our dreams for our gardens will come true. Gardeners may dream bigger dreams than emperors, but we can often get stuck, too.

Have you started to think about your garden in geographical terms? Aside from the zone you are gardening in, what are the micro-climates in your garden? What is the composition of your soil? Get to know your garden’s topography and micro-climates; then situate (or relocate) plants accordingly. The more you know, the better your plants will grow.

Think about your own landscape. If it is an outlying part of yourself, what does is reflect about your mood and feelings? Where are you at today? Where do you want to be this season? We are not static. As my youngest son said to me the first time he ate spaghetti sauce on his noodles, “People can change, Mom.” We are not static… and our gardens aren’t either.

What are you curious about in your garden? What are you hoping to learn this season? You might be signed up for something you didn’t plan to learn. Our gardens, are classrooms. And those classrooms are filled with many teachers or Upah Gurus. Upah Guru is the Hindu word for the teacher next to you at any moment.

It's the 1st of April - April Fools Day! April is derived from the word aperit- which means to open. Yet, every Prince fan, or northern gardener, knows that, sometimes it snows in April. So, April flowers should take heed; open at your own risk.