Blog

  Creeping Phlox, Quick Carrots, Let's Eat Dandelions and Pruning Hydrangeas   Spring arrived on schedule in our zone 5 garden, then it decided to go on vacation. So now we get snow showers, chilly nights and flowers that are in suspended animation. It will change and I'm okay with the slow down. Things were moving along quite fast there for awhile. One plant that's showing lots of life is the creeping phlox. This is one of the first perennial flowers to bloom in spring and the colors put on quite a show. I talk about varieties...

    Peony Splendor, Perfect Peppers, Climbing Roses and Controlling Japanese Knotweed     With lots of rain in Vermont, we have lush, overgrown growth throughout our gardens. We've been spending time weeding, edging, transplanting (the rain is good for that chore), and caring for all our seedlings and new plants. We've been dividing and moving late bloomers, such as tall garden phlox, and transplanting self sown seedlings of lettuce and calendula. It's fun to watch it all come together as June approaches. In our zone 5...

  Saving and Growing Gladiolus, Winter Plant Protection, Fall for Parsley and Poinsettia It's almost Thanksgiving and time to really close up shop for winter in our zone 5 garden. We're scurrying to finish up garden chores before the nights really get cold and the ground freezes. The snows a week or so ago really got us moving. While we've dug the dahlias, we're just getting to the gladiolus. That's okay. Gladiolus are hardier than you think. I had three corms I forgot last fall and they actually overwintered in our garden and they bloomed...

   A Better Joe Pye Weed, Troubleshooting Brussels Sprouts, Paw Paws, and Montauk Daisy    After a bit of cold weather, here and there, that gave us a fright, we're back to sunshine and warm temperatures, even though is late September in our zone 5 garden. I've officially dubbed September a summer month since it now seems that warm temperatures persist throughout the month and many flowers and vegetables continue to grow. One of showiest of the , and most beneficial one for bees, birds, butterflies and pollinators, is Joe Pye...

      Gardening for the Birds: Webinars, Podcasts and Stories   There has been a lot of bird activity in our yard this summer. The nesting of bluebirds, swallows, robins, wrens and others has been largely successful leaving us in late summer with lots of adolescent birds hanging around. We removed the netting from the blueberry patch because we picked as much as we like, so now the birds can have a summer treat, too. It got me thinking about all the things we do in our yard to encourage birds to come and stay. That's...

  End of Year Gardening Webinar Sale Continues!    And   2 Openings for our Chelsea Flower Show and Gardens of Southern England Tour    Before I launch into my End of the Year Webinar sale, I just wanted to let everyone know, we've had some cancellations for our Chelsea Flower Show and Gardens of Southern England tour in May, 2026. Follow this link for more information. We'll take people on a first come, first serve basis. Thanks! Webinars are a great way to learn, especially in winter. I love watching webinars during...